Thread: Winter camping
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Old 07-13-2011, 12:43 PM   #6
campingcpl
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Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Elkhart, Indiana
Posts: 420
We camp in the Dakota's sometimes into late fall and early winter with temps that stay below freezing even during the day. We have found that a lot of the parks have the water shut off when it starts getting that cold. Usually they have frost free hydrants that we can fill the holding tank. A couple of ways we keep things from freezing up was to add heat tape around the termination valves and then wraped with a little pipe insulation. That has been enough to keep our tanks from freezing along with adding a little rv antifreeze to both the grey and black tank. As for the fresh water tank they have stick on 12 volt and 120 volt tank heaters that you can get that work pretty good to keep things from freezing up. You can also put these on the grey and black tanks. As for the low point drains I have never really had a problem with them freezing up because ours come out right next to the water heater and the heat from the water heater is just enough to keep the pipes from freezing. But like hankpage, I think that the foam pipe insulation helps give a little piece of mind, if it works or not. We have the Polar Package on our unit and we still prep things for freezing conditions! Personally when I think of a "Polar Package", I think it would come with something better then R7 rated insulation, thermal windows, insulated holding tanks with tank heaters, a larger furnace or a heat pump, and a truely "sealed" underbelly.
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