Frozen plumbing in winter?

[Helifan93]

Hey guys, was going to go towards a box truck build, but now im leaning towards a Cargo trailer. feels like it would be right for the situation im going to find myself in. ive been looking up a lot of different layouts and have found some that I like. I will be full timing and splitting my time equally between 2 places that get the full effect of winter. so im guessing I will need to keep my water storage, and grey water tank and all my plumbing inside of the trailer to keep it from freezing on me? anyone have experience full timing in places that regularly freeze over at night?

 

[AMGS3]

Hey,

So what you're looking for is a setup like an icehouse. An RV made for ice fishing. Many are really basic (no plumbing) but it is really common to have icehouses with full kitchens and bath/showers nowdays.

The plumbing in these has to be inside the heated/insulated portion of the house, not unprotected from the weather.

There are lots of different manufacturers if you care to research it. Here are a few - Ice Castle, Glacier, forest River Ice Cave, Yetti, Core.

For instance, in mine all the plumbing is under the built in futon loveseat thing and a false floor in the bathroom at the nose of the trailer. These are areas that are heated. In fact my furnace is under there too. (Please see the photos in my icehouse thread for pics of the layout). It's heavily insulated too. Last winter we had a week of overnight temps that were in the mid 50s below 0. My furnace kept up nicely.

~angie

Edit - to be clear, I'm not suggesting you purchase a pre built rig. I am suggesting that if you build it you take some inspiration from the design principles that the people who build icehouses operate under.
Also, in the interest of full disclosure, I have not yet used my water tanks because I have serious trust issues and I can't afford to repair the damage it would make if a pipe were to burst in the winter time. The lessening of stress more than makes up for the hassle of hauling five gallon jugs of water.

Sent from my VS501 using Tapatalk

 

[Helifan93]

Thanks! ill get to researching that!

 

[bullfrog]

Most of my Colorado friends never use their water systems as many travel and don't heat the camper while traveling. They instead use separating toilets and gallon water containers (which can easily be moved from the heated tow vehicle to the camper once warmed up) as it can be difficult to completely drain water heaters and tanks. The ones with full hookups end up using electric heat (less condensation to deal with) and leaving the water trickle (some leave the hot trickle as lines usually run parallel and it helps the other from freezing) to keep the supply and camper water lines from freezing as well as insuring the drain hoses have a good slope to completely drain as not to form a "poopscile". A gym membership or nearby public bathroom solves a lot of problems many just camp close to facilities and use minimal water systems but most with manufactured campers end up with going someplace with full hookups or warmer climates as in the end it can be a real challenge to keep things from freezing. Be very careful about using external heat on tanks as I did with a heat lamp and melted a hole in a plastic black tank while trying to thaw th contents out!

 

[mainesail]

Another .02    not sure if covered. As an offshore sailor, I'm very big on self reliance and redundancy-ain't no tow truck out there. I am slowly building out a 16' tandem cargo with those principals at the fore. The reason I chose a cargo trailer is that it's a blank slate, My prime considerations are prime insulation and draft barrier, internal self-contained water and waste systems with max conservation. No black water because I use a dry toilet. No freezing since storage and waste is inside insulation. I use 12VDC power inside with minimal access points for 120 VAC. Solar hot water (often) with other heating when necessary, and power (usually) and a big battery bank so not always worrying about pushing them too hard.
Cheers

 

[highdesertranger]

mainesail you might want to rethink the no black tank as some areas restrict usage for those with no black tank. also depending on where you are some jurisdictions consider dish water as black water. where are you planning on dumping you grey water and your dry toilet contents? highdesertranger