by flboy » Fri Feb 25, 2022 7:53 pm
Made it safely home today. Diesel heater worked flawlessly in 22f weather on way home. I believe the diesel gets more viscous after 15 degrees and gels below 0. That is the range I had issues in. Maybe just need to buy an additive if I ever do this cold weather stuff again.
Learned and expensive lesson on way home. I did not run the heater while towing and the camper was in 3F to 10F weather most of the day Wednesday as I traversed Nebraska, Missouri, and Southern Illinois. Did warm up into 20s before I stopped for the night just southeast of St. Louis in Illinois. I got caught up in that winter storm which turned into freezing rain. I pulled off for the night to avoid the slip and slide.
After I stopped, I noticed it was 24F inside. I had a hard freeze inside and my kitchen faucet literally cracked off at swivel joint and my OD water heater appears to be damaged as evidenced by dripping as it thawed. Not sure what else is damaged until I can pressurize the system. I'll troubleshoot early next week.
Rest assured that I will be adding drains and a Schrader valve to blow out the pipes for extreme cold circumstances. As long as I had heat during the -5F extremes I saw at night and kept air circulating under the raised floor, no problems, but cannot leave heat on while towing, also need to be able to drain if heat quits on me. ROOKIE Florida boy mistakes..won't get me twice.
Anyhow, all in all, a great adventure for 6 weeks and about 5,000 miles. Got a few weeks to fix plumbing before I go camping again in Ocala National Forest nearby. I think I like warmer weather better. Extreme cold is hard on everything!
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Last edited by
flboy on Tue Mar 01, 2022 11:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.