Freezing temps

[Adam Hicklin]

For the first time since I’ve owned the Beaver I will encounter freezing temps; 26 degrees over night.  Is there anything I need to do to the coach to prepare for this?  We are in a campground.  Full hookups.  AquaHot is up and running and heating the inside.  Advice?

[Steve Huber Co-Admin]

Adam,
The coach should be fine. There is a thermostat in water bay that turns on a heat exchanger & fan when temps hit 40 in the bay. The bays normally stay fairly warm over night in any case. The only precaution I'd take is to disconnect and drain the external hose from the shore supply to the coach.
Steve

[Bill Sprague]

Adam,
We got stuck in a surprise South Dakota blizzard near Sturgis one year in our '04 Monterey.  I-90 was closed for a couple days.  The wind blew up to about 50 mph.  An awning blew off the next rig and a few picnic table rolled by.  The temperature dropped to 15 below, yes, below zero.   We kept the slides in for the toppers and the only heat was the HydroHot.  It did fine!  We stayed warm and comfortable. 

I did begin worrying about what would have happened if the HydroHot broke.  Over time I made some small changes to the electrical system and kept a few cheap electric heaters in the bay.  I never had to use them. 

20 degrees is nothing for a Beaver.  As Steve said, your hoses will freeze.  Fill the fresh tank, empty the waste tanks, close the valves and drain the hoses.   

[Eric Maclean]

Adam
Your only real concern is the hot water supply line to your aquahot ( or should I say cold water supply line ) as in my coach the aqua hot is out side of the heated storage bags .the aqua hot has to be running or active to keep the domestic hot water loop warm but the cold water supply line to the domestic hot water loop is at risk of freezing in the unconditioned space between the bags and the aquahot just check to see that the cold water line going to the aquahot is insulated and as in my coach I bundled it in with the hot water line coming back from the aquahot and put them both together in a foam insulating tube so the cold line would share heat with the hot line.
Of course if it real cold you could always winterized the hot water loop.

If the lines are insulated you should be fine
Eric