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tjc41

Winter camping

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My 2013 Holiday Rambler Ambassador has a full road side slide out. Underneath the slide are three hoses (or water lines): one blue, one red, and one black. These lines are completely exposed to the elements, especially freezing temps which I experienced recently in Jackson, Wyoming. Can it be that 65 years old Holiday Rambler did not consider that the lines would freeze when the slide is out? Afraid of disaster, I spent my whole time in Wyoming with the slide retracted, something very inconvenient as it makes it very difficult to get into the bathroom in the night!

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tjc41, Welcome to the FMCA forum!

I also have an HR coach with my kitchen on the slide, all of my plumbing is on the inside. Your coach is actually built by Navistar, not HR (they just bought the name). I agree, in cold weather i.e. winter camping this could present a huge problem.

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Good thing is, the red and blue are both Pex, freezing will not burst them, but the fittings are a different story. That spray foam that is shown in the picture could be used to insulate the pipes if sprayed further down to include those fittings. I make a carboard cover (form) with a small hole, use the pipe that comes with the spray foam to insert in the hole, then spray until the foam overflows. That black pipe is probably butyl, and is not forgiving in freezing conditions.

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Yep that would make me say unpleasant things about the engineers that thought that was ok.

First, when looking at the pictures I see a couple outher things that trouble me. one thing is the self drilling screws holding the support to the lip of the beam. I would replace them with appropriate length hex bolts with self locking nuts then cap seal them to prevent chafing on the nuts or put the head on the top and the nut on the bottom. The water lines could shift and chafe on the sharp pointed screws. 

The next thing is, what are the 2 big threaded bolts/studs with no nuts on them holding? They also look like a potential chafing point.

Next tear off that foam where the hoses go into the coach it isn't sticking to the coach or doing what it was supposed to do. We can replace it latter. 

Can you get a picture of the lines with the slide in? I have some ideas on how I would insulate it but would like to see what it looks like with the slide in.

Bill

 

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I think...know if that was our coach, id move them inside. I am actually shocked that someone thought that was a good idea, the sad part for many years under the Monaco regime those were inside, looks like the took a short cut to save a few $$

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I wondering if the original owners manual (the one we never read) has a limited liability statement about freezing weather and "possible" damage to plumbing, water, holding tanks, etc. Thank you attorneys !!

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