So I’m relocatibg out of AK 1 Oct and will be trekking it through AK then Canada in a few weeks. I’ve talked to a few folks about how to NOT freeze your pipes up in case it gets into the freezing temps at night. The plan is to open all cabinets at night and run the furnace and a space heater and insulate the windows in the back bed area where my wife and baby will be sleeping. Any other quick easy suggestions? Don’t want to winterize because we need the ability to have water. Being first week of Oct I should be good. Suggestions? Thoughts? Thanks!
Do you have heated waste tanks? If so turn on those heaters (if they have a switch--they are often on a thermostat anyway and don't heat the tanks unless its colder than 40F).
Get a ceramic electric heater as well. The furnace can really eat up the propane when temps get cold (we used a full tank over a weekend when it was 32F out the whole weekend).
Temperature wise the beginning of October you should be fine. The problem you may encounter is finding RV parks open with plug ins for the heaters. A lot of northern places close at the beginning of October.
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2018 Four Winds 31Y
right, finding ‘plug in’ options after September is difficult - so when you need heat the most, when parked overnight, it will be hard to come by if you’re not running your generator, or engine itself.
Running water takes much more to freeze, so if temps do drop below the 30s for more than several hours, you’ll want to periodically run the water to move it thru the interior lines, mainly for those in the more exposed wet bat area.
Who knows - you could see no nights with any temperature issues, or you could see every night(and day) freezing - you’ll not know until then...
one option, if you have no external power and you expect many hours of overnight freezing temps, could be to simply use your ‘low point’ drains to drain your lines. Make sure your water pump is off when you do. You may even need to drain the water heater. Use bottled water if needed overnight. Matter of fact, unless you really HAVE to take showers, bottled water can be easily used for everything, even flushing.
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You've gotten the correct advise. Where possible use small space heaters vs your furnace. It will take a hard freeze to damage your plumbing. As you've said, leave your cabinets open (especially around your water pump - it has some very thin plastic parts on the connection - that is the voice of repairs). Leave your tank heaters on (if your model has them). Top up your fresh water tanks and disconnect your hose at night (it will be one of the first things to freeze). Keep your gray and black tanks emptied when warm. Opening and closing valves can be difficult when frozen and can lead to breaking them.
With that said - you should be okay. We envy your trek down the AlCan. We've made it twice and LOVED it. Can only imagine how beautiful it will be. Take a look at Watson Lake for our sign in the sign village. I've attached some pics to identify the sign. ENJOY!
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Challenger 37TB
As an indicator just 4 kicks. I will leave a few bottles of water out. 1 outside, 1 inside, 1 in compartment. Surprising how long they take to freeze if they even do. I'm in NW Indiana. Cold climate.
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Agree finding parks open will be a challenge. If you do they will probably only have electric service available. Keep your onboard fresh water tank on the fuller side. Went up early June this year and ran into that in upper BC and Yukon. Frost was still in the ground. Also very few parks have 50 amp service so make sure your are 30 capable. Even ran into one park in Whitehorse with only 20 amp service.
Do you have heated waste tanks? If so turn on those heaters (if they have a switch--they are often on a thermostat anyway and don't heat the tanks unless its colder than 40F).
Get a ceramic electric heater as well. The furnace can really eat up the propane when temps get cold (we used a full tank over a weekend when it was 32F out the whole weekend).
Unfortunately I do not have heated tanks. I will check out the ceramic heaters, thanks.
Agree finding parks open will be a challenge. If you do they will probably only have electric service available. Keep your onboard fresh water tank on the fuller side. Went up early June this year and ran into that in upper BC and Yukon. Frost was still in the ground. Also very few parks have 50 amp service so make sure your are 30 capable. Even ran into one park in Whitehorse with only 20 amp service.
Good to know thanks. I do have a 20 amp adapter. I’ll keep feeling her up with water at gas stations. Thanks!
As an indicator just 4 kicks. I will leave a few bottles of water out. 1 outside, 1 inside, 1 in compartment. Surprising how long they take to freeze if they even do. I'm in NW Indiana. Cold climate.
You've gotten the correct advise. Where possible use small space heaters vs your furnace. It will take a hard freeze to damage your plumbing. As you've said, leave your cabinets open (especially around your water pump - it has some very thin plastic parts on the connection - that is the voice of repairs). Leave your tank heaters on (if your model has them). Top up your fresh water tanks and disconnect your hose at night (it will be one of the first things to freeze). Keep your gray and black tanks emptied when warm. Opening and closing valves can be difficult when frozen and can lead to breaking them.
With that said - you should be okay. We envy your trek down the AlCan. We've made it twice and LOVED it. Can only imagine how beautiful it will be. Take a look at Watson Lake for our sign in the sign village. I've attached some pics to identify the sign. ENJOY!
Perfect! Yeah we drove through Watson coming here. We even stuck a plate up. We’re shooting down towards Seattle this time. Glad you had fun. Thanks for the info!
Looking at the western BC route via Cassiar Highway for next year with the RV. I haven't dug out Milepost to see how it helps with campgrounds. I'll be interested to know your experiences. Enjoy!!!
__________________
US Army Retired - Loving The Road Trip
Challenger 37TB
You've gotten the correct advise. Where possible use small space heaters vs your furnace. It will take a hard freeze to damage your plumbing. As you've said, leave your cabinets open (especially around your water pump - it has some very thin plastic parts on the connection - that is the voice of repairs). Leave your tank heaters on (if your model has them). Top up your fresh water tanks and disconnect your hose at night (it will be one of the first things to freeze). Keep your gray and black tanks emptied when warm. Opening and closing valves can be difficult when frozen and can lead to breaking them.
With that said - you should be okay. We envy your trek down the AlCan. We've made it twice and LOVED it. Can only imagine how beautiful it will be. Take a look at Watson Lake for our sign in the sign village. I've attached some pics to identify the sign. ENJOY!
The Totem poles in Stanley Park in Vancouver, BC look pretty good too. Oh yeah, while you are up that way, check out Capilono suspension bridge too.
Looking at the western BC route via Cassiar Highway for next year with the RV. I haven't dug out Milepost to see how it helps with campgrounds. I'll be interested to know your experiences. Enjoy!!!
I live just north of Edmonton, Alberta Canada and we camp in our vans and now our Thor Freedom Elite 23H in October. The big issue as many have correctly identified is lack of open campgrounds, and services. A couple of suggestions that I have used. One we often camp at small airports. They are less secure than US ones, and many times if you arrive early enough in the afternoon you can make arrangements to plug your motorhome in. It maybe 15 amps but it will recharge your battery, and allow your furnace to run all night and your microwave. Cost will be about 10 bucks if they charge at all.
At some airports we can use the public washrooms because as pilots we know the door codes, others are open 24/7.
The next issue is dumping tanks and adding fresh water. My municipality (St Albert) forbids Walmart camping, but does have free dumping stations, but for fresh water you have to hook up to a gas station. The dumping stations are used all winter for carpet cleaning /steaming trucks to dump their scuzzy water at the end of the day. The city does not object because the hot water cleans up some of their lines each day all year round.
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