Heated water hoses

[Jason Worman]

I was wondering if anyone has used heated water connection hoses and if so what brand they recommend. Living on the Central Oregon Coast and weather does not rarely dip below 32 degrees. At what temps should I be worried about freezing pipes?

Jason

[Joel Ashley]

We’ve been in Idaho for Txgiving in ice and snow and caught in a 2-day blizzard in Rawlings, WY.  You fill your water tank and leave the hose and park faucet off (if the park even has its water on in winter).  You don’t need to spend money on heat tapes or heated hoses for the coast.  Most rigs have heated bays so as long as you keep the living area livable or set at least at 40F when not occupied, your pipes and tanks should be safe.  When stored here but not winterized, and night time temps go into the 20’s or stay below freezing for a day or more, I turn the HydroHot on and thermostat to 40 until the weather warms.  Plus, the outside temp would have to be below 30 for a very extended period before it could penetrate bay walls and floor, and then pipe walls, enough to be a threat.  And then only if the coach heat was off altogether.

[Fred Cook]

I begin to worry at about 28 degrees.... only if it stays that way for several hours. Don’t believe you will ever have problems if the temp rarely dips below 32. We usually hover in the teens at night and sometimes below zero.

[Gerald Farris]

Jason,
As long as you are using your propane heating system to heat the coach instead of electric space heaters, your basement and water tank compartments will be heated enough to prevent freezing of your water tank and lines because the heating system ducting has outlets in those areas as well as in the coach.

Gerald

[Jason Worman]

Thanks everybody for the great information, joining this club was definitely worth the price of admission.

Jason

[Keith Moffett]

Costco has La Crosse weather stations for about $20.  The sensor is wireless and the monitor is ac with battery back.  Last night I put the sensor in the MH basement and to my surprise the monitor read it in the house. 
With no heat on in the MH anywhere and outside temp at 35, the basement got down to 46 deg after 6 or 8 hrs.  My plan is to use the electric water heat to keep the basement from freezing and an electric heater in the basement set real low as back up.
One draw back so far is that the heat register for the basement has a fan that runs all the time. 

[Fred Cook]

Costco has La Crosse weather stations for about $20.  The sensor is wireless and the monitor is ac with battery back.  Last night I put the sensor in the MH basement and to my surprise the monitor read it in the house. 
With no heat on in the MH anywhere and outside temp at 35, the basement got down to 46 deg after 6 or 8 hrs.  My plan is to use the electric water heat to keep the basement from freezing and an electric heater in the basement set real low as back up.
One draw back so far is that the heat register for the basement has a fan that runs all the time.

Do you plan to winterize your AQua Hot? My understanding is that basement heat will not reach the AH.

[Doug Allman]

Just one issue we have found in winter is with the outside faucet in the water bay.
When crossing from Wyoming into Utah going over the pass into Salt lake on I-80 it got to 15 below zero for 2 1/2 hours of travel. No problem with anything interior but found that the faucet in the water bay had the movable brass spout split all along the top. Never before thought of making sure this shut off and was drained. It was a 10" curved spout so it must retain water when shut off.

[Gerald Farris]

Fred,
The basement heat in your coach is supplied by the Aqua Hot, so if the basement heater is working, the Aqua Hot unit is operating and therefore it can not freeze. In Keith's case the electric water heater is the Aqua Hot unit, so if it is operating, the Aqua Hot unit is hot. The problem arises when someone just uses an electric space heater in one basement bay with the Aqua Hot turned off or malfunctioning. In this scenario the Aqua Hot and the water bay are not protected in cold weather because the space heater can not circulate heat to these areas like the built-in basement heater that operates with the Aqua Hot unit. So in really cold weather, Keith's space heater back-up plan in the case of electrical power loss or if the Aqua Hot unit malfunctions, it may not work, and we have all seen both things happen at sometime. Therefore, with a coach that is stored in really cold weather I always recommend that it be properly winterized with RV antifreeze only (the pink stuff). 

Gerald

[Keith Moffett]

Do you plan to winterize your AQua Hot? My understanding is that basement heat will not reach the AH.
[/quote]
The sensor for the weather stn. gives me a constant basement temp read out and it sits on top of the AH.
 I turned on the AH electric element but it was just heating the basement.  Basement temp went up to 70 when the outside temp was 40.

Winter temps here get down to 20s sometimes but any lower is unusual.  I hesitate to use pink antifreeze as the fresh water system cant be drained fully.  The water tank always has some left and the fresh water air tank (air hammer?) cant be drained at all.  I will also have a light bulb in the wet bay and an electric heater in the adjacent bay for back up.

Does that sound reasonable?

[Joel Ashley]

The winterizing adapter port, at least on mine, is in the line just before the water pump.  Antifreeze doesn’t get into the water tank because it enters the system between the tank and the pump, there’s a shutoff valve between there and the tank anyway, and it is drawn into the pump and pushed to whatever water outlet is open.  That includes open manifold drains if ineptly left open after draining water prior to adding antifreeze (yeah, I was brilliant enough to once do that and wonder why pink wasn’t showing up at an inside faucet).

Doug’s caution re the water bay or other outside wall faucet is valid... it has more exposure and if the rig is not winterized, that one may not get enough protection.  Good idea to drain at least that one where practical.  The fridge ice maker solenoid, right behind the vented outside fridge access door, is also more exposed than most, so disconnecting its lines and blowing out the solenoid is advisable unless it’s wrapped in 12v heat tape that auto-activates at 40F.  But manually cycling the ice maker to get air (or antifreeze) through the solenoid is tricky if you’ve never done it.  Heat tape is best.

Joel