Winter use and freezing pipes - Vectra 40FD

[KCVectra40FD]

We just bought our first rig - 2006 Vectra 40FD. We love it. I have been around motorhomes all of my life - just never owned my own. We live in Kansas City. I grew up in South Texas. We never worried about freezing pipes even in our homes. But here I am - midwest winters stink. But I want to use my rig. This Vectra does say it has a heated basement. It appears when using gas heat, the outside vent does run above/through the water compartment basement. My guess is that will help when the temps get in the high teens or 20's. I have yet to crawl under and see how much or how well the fresh/gray/black tanks are exposed to that compartment to get some heat. I do not think the tanks have heating pads. I am curious about any other owners using their rigs in winter. What things have you done to make sure no frozen pipes? We also have a dishwasher and washing machine in this rig. Those water lines run inside. I am assuming when the heat is on and we are in the rig we are producing enough heat to keep everything from freezing? We are fortunate enough to have underground storage with a constant 60-65 degree year round temp. So, when we are not using it, I do not plan on winterizing. If we get it out, it will be to use and keep warm. I did buy a heated fresh water hose for incoming water from the post. We plan on doing some boon docking also. I am guessing with no hookups we are good to a certain point as long as we keep the gas heat on and the inside warm.



I have been lurking here for a month or so, but go easy on me as this is my first post. I have already learned a tremendous amount just by lurking with all of you. Thank you for that! Jay

[creativepart]

The walls are thin and you have many pipes in them close to the outside.

If you still lived in Texas you'd be fine. If you camp in freezing time over a couple of days (constantly below freezing for days) even with the heat running you do run the risk of frozen pipes. You worry about the "tanks" and such, but a burst pipe behind a fixed wall is your absolute biggest risk.

By the way, pipes don't burst from the freezing. Freezing creates a blockage that causes the water pressure (between the blocking freeze and a closed faucet) within the pipe to rapidly rise to as much as 25,000 psi and it's that pressure that bursts the pipe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuPO5hKdo8A

[Jim_HiTek]

Use your onboard tank for water. I was with friends one not-that-cold winter and the 3 RVs using those heated hoses all had them go bad.

As I said, use your onboard tank. Fill it up during the warm part of the day, drain and keep the hose inside until needed again. You'll be using your water pump to supply water inside so all you need do typically is switch it off when not using it. Then open a faucet to relieve pressure. I do that in the washroom, the kitchen, and then flush the toilet just before bed. No pressure, unlikely there will be any burst pipes. My 60 gallon tank provides me and my cat with water for 10-20 days.

You likely have a 50 amp rig so use all that 24,000 watts of power. Refer on A/C, water heater element running, put a heater in the wet bay basement (I use a 72 watt light bulb). Find, borrow, buy, or pick up 5 electric heaters from a thrift store and scatter them around the house. Set the propane furnace on say, 68 F, and let the electrics do most of the work. You pipes are 'freeze tolerant' based on the age of your RV, but check them...if they are milky white, great, if they are grey, possible trouble with freezing.

Really doubt the design of that Winnie routed the pipes in the exterior walls but I don't know for sure. If you have dual pane windows, than no, they wouldn't be. But I don't know about pipe routing for kitchen sink in the slide though so better check that if you have one.