How Cold Before You Worry ?

[smilnjac]

I own a Class A "Renegade" by Harney Coach works (Now part of Monaco by way of Safari).

I live in North Central Florida near Ocala. We are starting to get a few nights when the temp will slip down to freezing or a little below, My question is how cold for how long before I should take any precautions ?? My basement is heated, although obviously no help unless I run the furnace.

I store the coach in a pole barn so it is pretty exposed.

Thanks

[rossboyer]

Having had a Renegade, these are some things you might do. I had once had the ice maker water line freeze. This line is exposed to the outside air. You would need to disconnect the lines on both sides of the electric valve. One comes from the water supply and the other goes up to the ice maker.

Since the Renegade has Mana Bloc water manifold, I would blow out all the lines. I found that I had to remove the water heater drain plug and close the water heater bypass. It takes 40 to 60 pounds of air pressure to blow out the lines. If you use higher than 40 pounds pressure, never have all water valves closed. If you open all the valves in the coach (don't forget the outside shower) and close all but one Mana Bloc valve, you can blow out one line at a time. Open another Mana Bloc valve and close the first. Continue through all the valves. I found that I needed to cycle through all the valves at least 3 times before all the water was out.

To make blowing out easier, you might go to the hardware or big box store to get parts to make a water hose male to male air line fitting. I even added a shut off valve.

Because the Mana Bloc valves have a plastic stem, they tend to break easly. There is a maintenance procedure to remove the stem (special tool available from Mana Block when you order a valve) then grease the valve stem with plumbers grease.

You will also need to put a cup of RV antifreeze in each drain to prevent the traps from freezing.

I assume that your engine and generator radiators are protected with antifreeze to below you lowest temperatures in your area.

[wolfe10]

Living in south TX, I understand the "at what temperature do I need to do anything" question.

You will have several factors you need to evaluate:

1. Exposure to outside air by various components (like mrboyer's comment about ice maker line). Some of these may be able to be addressed individually-- a light bulb plugged into the refrigerator 120 VAC plug will give you a few degrees higher temperature in the refrigerator outside compartment. Smaller containers/lines are more susceptible to freezing than large ones like holding tanks.

2. How long will it be below freezing? If the day was warm and the below freezing temperatures are for only a few hours, that is quite different than 10 or more hours at below freezing temperatures.

Said another way, in many cases it is a judgement call. Erring on the side of caution is perhaps a little more work, but often a LOT less expensive.

Brett