Update

[TYR]

Well, we're froze up this morning.

Something's frozen - pipes and/or water pump.

No water flowing upon arising. Turned off outside valves - thank goodness they weren't frozen. (Dave has them heat taped, insulated and a shop drop light hanging over it.) Some water did flow through faucets but still none on the hot side. I really don't think it's the HWH check valve as mentioned in my other post; most likely this is cold-related.

DILEMMA: Unsure if there is still water in the HWH. Don't know whether to turn it off to prevent burnout or turn it on to propane to keep it from totally freezing up if there's water. Sounds like a danged if you do/danged if ya don't situation to me. Guess I could go try the high-pressure relief valve and see if anything comes out.

Turned on water pump and it did not run. So that's frozen.

Took off compartment wall to expose pump; have a fan-type heater running in there.

So by draining some water out of the pipes, perhaps we'll avoid any leaks when things thaw out. I'm pleased there was some flow. Well, until it stopped completely.

Good news is that we went through this in December 2010 when parked by a lake while workamping (I mean right on the lake with howling winds and consistent below-freezing temps. We lasted there about a month and, when promised wages never materialized, we boogied outta there and went to warmer conditions.

Other good news is that we have a bathroom in the office trailer and there's water still going there! Yay!

Guess you could say more good news is that I won't be doing a lot of cooking - at least the kind that creates a lot of dishwashing - till we thaw out.

I am also convinced that we will have to seriously look at rigging up some type of skirting if not for the rest of this Winter but for next if we are still here. It will have to be relatively quick on/off but yet still able to withstand the winds we get here. Look for me searching topics on that and posting about soliciting ideas in the future.

Not optimistic we will thaw out till next week - high around 25 today and then a rain/ice/snow event tomorrow into Monday. Oh well. We're warm, have food/shelter/warm clothes and a working bathroom we can use! I'm a 2-time cancer survivor and no one has said "You're cancer's back," so - hey - Life is good!

Cheers, ya'll
Betty

[K0LCB]

I sure hope y'all thaw out soon! Cold is bad

[Bigboomer]

Betty,

After last winter we decided to skirt when our belly froze up a bit. I did not build a wood skeleton and mount the insulation. I bought 3/4" foil faced foam insulation at Lowes for $10 a sheet and used 10 sheets. I cut it so it can be wedge between the bottom of the trailer and the ground. I only went right in front of the trailer frame all around and cut around all the protrusions. Did not do the slides. I also used heavy duty foil tape to secure the joints and patch around holes. So far all has held up and we can definitely tell the difference with the floor and basement. We did put a small heater in the basement and only turned it on this week with the forecast sub zero temps. The temperature read out so far shows it staying at 56 deg in there.

I also have a temperature monitor under the trailer inside the skirting and with 10 below last night it read a toasty 20 deg so with the skirting there is a 30 deg difference which shows how important it is.

I will try and get some pics to show the skirting and how it looks.

Keep warm!

Les

[steelpony5555]

In those kinds of temps you got to have skirting. The wind will take away what ever heat you get into the belly.......

[DQDick]

As a temporary measure (and some have used it all winter) people have put the small square bales of straw around their trailer. End of the cold and it can usually still be used in horses stalls.

[TYR]

Les,

Thanks ever so much! I have finally convinced DH it's the thing to do.

Doubt we'll get it up before tomorrow's storm, but temps are to be in the 40s next week. We'll just have to hang tough until then.

Photos would be sincerely appreciated.

I think I owe ya one!

Betty

[JandC]

X2 on everything that has been said about having skirting when temps fall below zero. I am still a big fan of leaving the water dripping on "warm" during the night to keep the pipes from freezing. Sorry you are having problems.

[cdaniels]

We live in the country and a lot of trailers on construction sites do the straw. I wonder if that creates another issue with mice?

[steelpony5555]

Bad thing is its suppose to be colder yet come Monday morning.....good luck I don't envy you, I would hate to be up there this week..

[Irlpguy]

DW and I lived in a Mobile home back when we were young and could not afford a real home, we spent one winter in Northern Alberta skirted with straw bails and fought a mouse problem all winter. There is no way I would want to repeat those days in any kind of a TT or 5er. I would stay away from straw bails.

Lots of heat going into the area of your HW tank and piping and you should thaw out. I would leave a cold water tap on a bit and a hot water tap also open a bit, as the flow starts it will more quickly thaw the line. Check often for leaks in case a pipe has broken.

Nothing worse than not having water, been there done that even in our S&B before we were hooked to city water. Good luck, hopefully the weather will warm sooner than later.

[TYR]

Thanks, everyone.

No way we would do hay bales. There are too many field mice in the area. We'd have a condo happenin' and I'd have to start charging rent! There's also the possible concern (valid or not) of the fire issue.

Dripping taps is also not something we do. Have seen the results of others doing that and it's not pretty, trust me.

Water pump now comes on but nothing out of the taps yet. We're screwed until possibly next week. The "polar vortex" is heading our way in the next 24-48 hours.

So far we have water still flowing in the office trailer and we have plenty of bottled water. We were off the grid 2 weeks following Sandy. It's a freakin' hassle, but we'll get through it.

Betty

[tweber502]

Betty, You might have a saving grace on its way, I just looked at the weather and looks like you're supposed to have temps reaching into the upper 30's and 40's tomorrow and Monday. Hopefully you can thaw out then. Also, just a suggestion, in anticipation of the following bitterly cold temps could you possibly leave the hot and cold water dripping from your water spigot in the convenience center? You could hook a hose to it, run it through the port in the bottom, then maybe into your sewer. You would have to stuff a rag or towel in the hole at the bottom of the convenience center to insulate. I would also definitely keep heat in the belly storage and as I suggested in your other thread, if you have a small fan to put in there as well, this will help circulate the heat a little better. Hope this helps and wishing you good luck and hope you guys stay warm. We're expecting around 8" of snow here in Ky and -0 temps following the snow! Tim

[Bigboomer]

quote:Originally posted by TxYellowRose

Les,

Thanks ever so much! I have finally convinced DH it's the thing to do.

Doubt we'll get it up before tomorrow's storm, but temps are to be in the 40s next week. We'll just have to hang tough until then.

Photos would be
I think I owe ya one!

Betty

Betty,

Just glad everything is working out for you. It can certainly be fustrating this time of year with this weather as there are a lot of factors that can affect us.

Here is a link to some pics of what we did with the skirting.

http://s962.photobucket.com/user/myb...ler%20skirting


Good luck!

Les

[Bigboomer]

Oops hit the button twice

[scott-pati]

Nice job on the skirting! Your hired!!!! How long did it take you?

Scott

[Bigboomer]

quote:Originally posted by scott-pati

Nice job on the skirting! Your hired!!!! How long did it take you?

Scott

Thanks Scott. Total it took about 2 hours and some patience crawling around the ground but it has been very effective.