Found myself in freezing conditions, I’m not a winter camper, how to prevent damage?

TourDeForth

This was unexpected, I fortunately was traveling with a nearly empty freshwater tank (less than third but reads E now.), and very little water in the grey tank. I’ve been driving at least 6 hours in below freezing conditions I did not plan for or prepare for, I’m in it for 3 days. Plans I can’t change. I’ve done no winterizing. When I parked for the night I was able to connect to 30 amp electricity. I’ve got the cabin warming up, I set the heat priority to propane and started getting an increase in glycol temps immediately. I’m at 51 F on the inside after an hour but it is still increasing. My question, is there anything I can do now to prevent damage to the water system? When I first opened the door I found an icicle hanging from the kitchen faucet. Am I just out of luck have to hope for the best?

note: 2023 320s Boondock

Binghi

Set the Alde temp to 70-80F and leave the system on propane to make sure it produces enough heat to keep up. If you run out of propane set the electricity to 2K. With the cabin kept warm, we have endured outside temperatures as low as 20F without plumbing damage.

BandB

@TourDeForth I'm sorry you got caught in unexpectedly cold weather. Going forward, from what I've read on this forum, you could add antifreeze to your shower trap and toilet, etc. Sorry I'm not much help. I'm hoping that with the Alde heating the T@b that you'll be ok. We're planning a trip through possibly cold weather next month so we're not going to dewinterize until we get far enough south.
Best wishes to you.

pthomas745

The larger issue for you is any water left over in your gray tank, and the gray tank drain valve.  There is not much you can do to protect that valve, so if you can somehow find a dump station and drain the gray tank, that would give you some edge. And, drain as much of the other water out of the trailer, also.

The main question is: how far below freezing will it be, and how long will it remain below freezing?

TourDeForth

It’s 5 F right now with a -13 F wind chill. Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny and 20 F same for my last day. 

Cherokee

We've camped in cold weather and had no problems - but if you do have hook-ups don't connect your water. Though your Alde will keep the trailer plumbing warm enough, water hoses outside will freeze 

qhumberd

From my Unofficial Guide:

If you can get a small air compressor to hook up to your fresh water inlet you might blow out the lines after draining the tanks.

WINTERIZING WHILE ON THE ROAD

Sometimes your trip will either be long enough or travelling on the cusp of season changes, or both, and you will need to winterize the T@B while on the road.  nüCamp put a sticker by the City Water Inlet advising use of a pressure regulator set no higher than 50 PSI and that rating is the same for water or air pressure. Since the outdoor shower has a factory rating of 40 PSI, we will be using that lower pressure for winterizing and will go no higher than 30 PSI

BridgerSunset

You might be OK with internal piping;  however, I wouldn't chance it.  I'd advise you to drain the FW tank via outside drain valve, and leave it open  Open all faucets inside & leave all of them open.  Includes outside shower.  Run toilet as best as possible to drain water.  Drain the hot & cold lines via outside valves.   Drain the Alde lines via the yellow valve(s) under the bed.  And yes, if you can't find a dump station, do add antifreeze to all drains & toilet bowl drain.  Do keep heat going as mentioned above.  Good luck!

TourDeForth

I’ll see if I can find some anti freeze today, things are cold outside. I have liquid water on the hot side. Nothing on the cold side but my water pump comes on. (I’m leaving it off for now.) I’ll try the drains later when the wind chill subsides. 

My cabin stayed warm until sometime in the night the Alde system reduced the temperature to 64 F and stayed that way all night. It’s back to 72 F which is what I set last night. I don’t know what triggered the temp reduction? I checked day and night timers, all off. I set their temps to 72 but no effect. I checked the clock time, I have no clue why the Alde system suddenly stayed at 64 F during the night despite my higher settings? I had an electric space heater going through the night to keep me warm.

pthomas745

Look at your Alde and find the various "timers" and "Day/Night" settings in the Tools menu again.  If you have to, you may have to find the "system reset" in the Service menu and start all over with the Alde.

We can debate forever "if I leave the Alde on" or leave a faucet dripping and on and on.  The best reason to winterize, or be ready at all times to winterize (it is February) is to prevent this sort of worry.

Many owners have been in your situation, so you are not alone, and we hope things work out! 

We have plenty of winterizing threads and instructions.  With a little compressor and a couple hours of practice, you can prevent going through all this stress.

manyman297

What I would be most worried about is the alde flow tank. That seems to be susceptible to freezing temps and is the most expensive component in the mix. Were you using hot water at all? If the alde had water in it then there’s always that risk that it could rupture.

Seeing as you were in freezing temps with no heat for 6 hours it probably is unlikely the alde was affected but the icicle on the faucet is evidence of just how cold it was inside the camper.

TourDeForth

I’m finally out of ice conditions. Everything works, no damage. After I warmed up the trailer, I found the grey tank frozen, the p-trap to the shower and the water pump froze. I got some anti-freeze (the pink stuff) and put some in the grey water holding tank even though it was already frozen there was only a few gallons in there. The bathroom and kitchen drain did not freeze. After a day or two of the Alde system working the p-trap in the shower drain thawed. The pink stuff I had sitting in the drain for a couple days finally flowed into the grey tank. End of day two the water pump unfroze and was able to pressurize the system. My 1/3 full fresh water tank never froze. Lesson learned, if you think you may encounter freezing conditions, winterize, or do a partial winterization: anti-freeze in the p-traps and grey water tank. I think next time I’ll travel with empty tanks and dry lines. I found an irrigation blowout fitting. I’ll carry 10 gallons of water in my truck. If the conditions are right I can pump it into the fresh water tank. If I had done this I would have been warm and cozy with hot water available. I am impressed with how comfortable I actually was in 5 degree F weather with a -13 F wind chill. 

pthomas745

Whew!  Quite an adventure.

We have plenty of threads and instructions on how to blow out the trailer's water lines with a simple compressor, so, just ask.  Lots of good info available.