RVing in Sub-Freezing Weather (boring technical stuff)

Sally & Betty at Mountain Valley RV Resort
Heber City, Utah

Emily and I decided to spend some time this winter in Utah to take advantage of the excellent skiing. Initially this was going to be a two-month period, but one thing led to another and that period was extended. We arrived November 16 with the plan to leave April 1.

I was going to title this winterization, but that generally means putting your airstream in storage for the winter. In a cold weather climate you need to protect the water tanks and lines from freezing and potentially damaging tanks and lines. Winterization does have some overlap with what we needed to prepare for winter use in Heber City, Utah. I started this process by reading the section on winterization in the Airstream operators manual. 

The winterization process was important to us, because we planned to leave our trailer for some extended periods. While gone we wanted to take similar precautions against freezing that one would take when putting an RV in storage.

Here is what we did:

•             Empty all tanks: black, gray and fresh water
•           Drain the water heater
•           Remove water filter and replace with bypass tube
•           Open faucet and shower valves, connect a special fitting to fresh water inlet which allows you to connect air compressor, connect air compressor and run until water stops spitting out of the faucets.
•           Pour RV antifreeze down the three drains to displace the water in the drain traps

We remained connected to shore power and did not want our trailer to actually freeze, so we varied from the winterization process with the following:

•           Turned off the water, disconnected and drained the hose
•           Turned off the hot water heater
•           Turned the thermostat down to 45 degrees

For storage you will also want to put your battery on a tether or turn off your battery connect switch.

All the storage information is well documented in the Airstream operator manual. Additionally, there are helpful alternate processes in several of the Airstream blogs one may find useful. The process isn’t very difficult. It took us less than an hour first time through. I was very pleased with how the process went.

I was unsure because we had not talked to anyone who had winterized. The people we have met and quizzed about the specifics of Airstreaming have been from our local San Diego Airstream club, and the NorCal club (which adopted us during the Journey into Darkness Caravan.) All live in a climate that doesn’t get below freezing. With centuries of collective Airstreaming none of these folks ever had to winterize (at least not the ones we asked.)

The more interesting tasks involved getting the Airstream livable in a below freezing climate. We arrived in Utah two days earlier than we expected. The first night it was extremely windy. Talking about it the next day, we realized we had the same thoughts during the night – could the wind knock our front jack off its block? Of course, that didn’t happen, but we felt better the next day after we blocked the wheels on both sides of the trailer and got our support jacks in place. This is a good place to start.

Jacks at the tongue

     1     One aspect of trailer life that is different from living in a house is that when one person gets up and moves around, the other person feels it. We tend to rock about even with the stabilizer jacks down. Since we were in one place for a longer period we took some additional actions to stabilize the trailer (this is relevant to any long-term stay, not just cold weather.) We bought a set of stabilizer jacks and placed two in the front under the tongue, as far rearward (and therefore outboard) as possible.  In the rear I placed bottle jacks under the rear bumper, again as outboard as possible. This made a huge improvement. At Emily’s “request” we also put down the stabilizers (belts and suspenders) and as I mentioned, we blocked the tires on both sides of the trailer. I have noticed, if we don’t have the wheels blocked and Emily is walking in the trailer, it appears to move more than if the wheels are blocked. Maybe this isn’t the case.

And then there are all the other things we did:

2.       Added heat tape to the water hydrant. Heat tape looks just like an electrical cord and has a sensor on one end. I wrapped this around the hydrant retaining it with zip ties in strategic places, making sure the sensor was secure against the pipe. The end of the heat tape plugs into a 110-volt outlet.

Heat tape and electrical connection

3.       We also purchased a 25-foot Camco heated water hose. It turns out we could have used a much shorter hose, but I bought this in Oregon when I happened to be picking up a few things at Camping World. We had just had the first frost the night before. The cashier said it was a good thing I bought it now because "after it starts to freeze, these fly off the shelf, and you may not be able to find one". Well this wasn’t true, but it was fortunate I bought it because we stayed at a site a few nights later with an odd setup and I needed a longer hose than the one we had. The heated hose also plugs into a 110-volt outlet.

Insulated hydrant & hose

I don’t know if everyone experiences the unexpected as often as we do in our travels. It always seems there is something going wrong that we have to figure out and correct. This was the case when I added the heat tape. I wasn’t sure if the tape should feel warm or not after I plugged it in. I wasn’t even sure at what temperature the sensor turned the current on and off. Anyway, the tape didn’t feel warm and it got me thinking about things. As it turned out the 110-volt outlet at our site only worked if you wiggled the cord just right. They will fix it, but for now I have it powered from the outlet on our trailer. If I had just assumed it was working we eventually would have been in for a surprise, like our neighbors whose hose split during the night. I wish I had a picture.

      4.       The hydrant and hose also had to be insulated. I got 2 15’ rolls of fiberglass insulation designed for wrapping pipes. I think it is about 4” wide. I got the type that has a vinyl backing so I didn’t have to wrap it with a additional material to protect it from the elements.

26-gallon LP tank

5.       We also rented a 26-gallon LP tank through the RV resort. We will not need to fill our tanks as frequently and it should carry us through the times we are away from our trailer. Theoretically the Airstream is designed such that the ducting for the furnace keeps the tanks heated, preventing freezing. This is something I am not sure is true. If it is, the emptying of tanks and purging of water, we did before we left was a waste of time, since we did keep the heater running. However, I wanted to be conservative and thought it worth the precaution. I imagine a scenario in which we lose power and the battery supporting furnace operation eventually goes dead. I didn’t want to have those worries while I was away.

Window Insulation

      6.       One very important aspect of keeping the trailer comfortable is insulating the windows and vents. I purchased 2 rolls of 4 ft. x 25 ft. air double reflective polyethylene insulation from Home Depot. This is the material that is used to make the screens people put in their car windshields to block the sun while parked. For the fixed windows, vents and skylights, I cut slightly oversized pieces. I pressed these into the openings and when I pulled them out I could see an outline of the window. I then cut the pieces about a ½ inch larger than the window size. I pressed them back in nice and snug. For the windows that open, I cut the pieces about 1 inch larger than the window inset. Emily opened the window and I put the insulation between the window and the screen. Emily closed the window and that was that. 

   We don’t generally open our bedroom curtains and don’t plan to use the vents in the winter, so for these we leave the insulation. The others we put in when we leave for long periods. I have to say, I was very happy with the result. When I placed my hand behind the curtain of an un-insulated window I can feel a cold draft. For the insulated windows I just feel room temperature. I was so happy about this I kept making Emily feel behind the curtains. The insulation also looks quite good when in place. Emily finds it very important that our rig not only function but look nice as well. She says the silver insulation is PERFECT on Betty!

7.       Planning for a long-term stay took a lot more turns than I expected. I think I changed our reservation about 6 times. The final change was due to the windows. We have a 25’ FB and spend most of our waking time at the dining room table. Therefore, the windows we use are at the rear of the trailer and the left rear side. I realized, with our original site, these windows would be facing north. We would get no sun. So, I changed sites. Our rear faces east so we get good sun in the rear and left side during the day. Our first sub-freezing morning I noticed the impact the sun had on warming of the trailer, by 11:00 I turned the heat off. I am so happy I thought about this before we lost the opportunity to change sites.     

Betty fully Winterized

8.       I seem to be going in random order here because the first thing we worked on was a skirt for the trailer. This will keep cold air from blowing under the trailer sucking warm air from the trailer and specifically from the tanks and plumbing, which are susceptible to freezing. The first source I looked at was located in Colorado and custom-made skirts for your specific trailer. The estimate for our trailer was about $3000.

Tall section over the wheel wells

Moving on, I came across EZ Snap, which provides kits. I ended up buying a shorter kit for a longer skirt because the wheel housings required a slightly longer skirt than the rest of the trailer. I purchased the 60-inch wide vinyl. I split the 60” for the length of the wheel housings into 40” and 20” (roughly), the 40” I used for the wheel housings and the 20” for the rear bumper. The rest of the material I split into 30” width and used for the rest of the trailer. 

Note both gray and black fasteners
Can you see them?

I had to buy some additional fasteners because the wider kit was for a shorter trailer. This worked out well because the 3M adhesive fasteners come in different colors. For most of the trailer I ordered black (as part of the kit) because these attached to the black portion of the trailer under the bright trim. For the wheel housing area, I purchased grey because they attach to the aluminum above the trim. These stay attached to the trailer all the time, so I wanted something that did not stand out too much. The work the buyer is required to do is first attach the adhesive fasteners every 5” around the trailer. This must be done when it is above 60 degrees. You do not want to wait until you arrive at your winter camp site. I did this and rough cut the skirts a couple months before arriving and nothing more until we got to our site.

Finished skirting with fastener caps

Then Emily and I attached the pins to the adhesive fasteners, placed the vinyl into the current location and pushed the vinyl onto the pin. This took more effort than expected. I ended up using a small socket with a screw driver type handle to push the vinyl onto the pin. This worked great. Then we placed a cap over the pin. After this is done, one rolls the vinyl under the trailer, places an appropriate length of 1’ PVC pipe along the bottom and clips the vinyl to the PVC pipe with a clip EZ Snap offers for sale. (Note to EZ Snap: Emily wishes these clips were offered in black to match the vinyl). This keeps the skirt hanging straight. The most time-consuming part of the process was cleaning the trailer and attaching the adhesive fasteners. The total time to get all jobs done was around 6 hours.

Skirt with PVC and clips

9.       In many of the blogs I’ve read, people successfully supplement or replace the LP heat with electric heat. We decided to try an oil filled radiant heater. The reviews on Amazon and the Airstream forum were good. There were comments like “this heater turns our trailer into a sauna in a matter of minutes” – well maybe not that strong. One aspect of the Airstream LP heater is that while it is running, it gets the trailer very warm, but as soon it shuts off, it get cold rather quickly. In theory the radiant heater keeps you at a nice level temperature. Unfortunately, our experience was not good. The radiant heater could not get our trailer warm, even on high. The instructions said to set it on high, when it gets to the right temperature, turn it down until you here a click, and then it will maintain that temperature. Obviously this one did not have sufficient heating capacity. We had to supplement the radiant heater with the Airstream furnace, which is basically the same as running the Airstream furnace, so we returned it. We thought about buying a Dyson, but for now we are going to see how going without works for us.

10.   One other thing that is up in the air is humidity. I have read a lot that says humidity is going to be our number one issue in cold weather. LP, people, showers all give off moisture and in an unventilated trailer this means problems. We bought a dehumidifier but haven’t set it up yet. We haven’t been at this long, but so far, I have no indication moisture is a problem. I also purchased a humidity monitor. I will see how that goes and setup the dehumidifier if necessary. Our plan is to put it in the shower, so it is out of the way and this allows the water to drain into the shower pan. That way we do not have to monitor and empty the reservoir.

Since we haven’t had much cold weather, I cannot say for sure all is well and good, but I do feel confident. We will keep you posted on any significant developments.

Costs and Equipment Details

·       Special fitting to connect compressor to city water inlet on the trailer. I bought ours from Camping World for about $3, but have seen them at multiple retailers selling RV products. For a compressor I used what came with our Porsche. I thought it might be insufficient, but it worked well. We did let it run several minutes until sputtering stopped at all faucets. We also went through a sequence of just opening one faucet at a time.

·       Camco 25’ heated water hose on sale at Camping World for about $90.

·       Set of 4 stabilizer jacks, about $45 from local RV supply store. Bottle jack was about $25 from Home Depot. I already had one, so only needed one additional. I also purchased a 2x8 from home depot for $13, which they cut into shorter sections and I used between the trailer and top of the bottle jack to protect the trailer and under the jacks and stabilizers.

·       Heat tape, 6’, $20 on Amazon.

·       Extension cord, 8’, $13 at Home Depot.

·       Two 15’ foot rolls of insulation, $8 each at the local hardware store.

·       The rent for the 26 gallon LP tank is $15/mth and $5/mth for the hose.

·       Two rolls of 4 ft. x 25 ft. Air Double Reflective Polyethylene Insulation Roll from Home Depot for $30 each.

·       EZ Snap 40’ RV skirt kit $583, velcro kit $57, skirting pipe clamp $85, extra EZ snaps $105, all from EZ Snap. The PVC pipes about $18 from the local hardware store.

·       Frigidaire 30-pint Dehumidifier, $169 from Amazon.

Thermopro Humidity Monitor, $10 on Amazon