March Camping in PA

Diane · 01-14-2009, 10:57 AM

Does anyone have experience camping near York, PA, in March? Madison will be entered in her first AKC dog shows in York and I would far rather stay in the TT than a hotel. There is a campground open all year with full hookups about 5 minutes from the show site. I'm concerned that the tanks and pipes may freeze if the weather is too cold. Other than telling Marshall to get the underbelly heated and enclosed >grin>, I'm looking for suggestions. Thanks!

**Tweety** · 01-14-2009, 12:10 PM

March is really variable here. Beginning will most likely be freezing, the end could be balmy or freezing. I'd say your best bet is to not unwinterize and just use your trailer dry. I only remember 2 blizzards in March

Diane · 01-15-2009, 06:26 AM

March is variable here in Maryland as well and perhaps staying in a hotel is the best bet. I don't think the CG will have open bathhouses that time of the year. I'm just spoiled with having my own "stuff" when I'm away from home.

MACK C-85 · 01-15-2009, 06:47 AM

What Campground are you looking at? Check with them about what services would be available.

Old Mill Stream in Lancaster is open year round and their bathhouses are fully functional. We stayed there in late November (weekend before Thanksgiving). We didn't have any issues with being "wet", however we do have heated tanks and we disconnected the water hose and kept it in the tub overnight. It got down to the low 20's overnight.

Diane · 01-17-2009, 02:36 PM

We were considering a campground in York but I think we'll just book a room in a hotel. If the underbelly was heated and enclosed, the CG would be our first choice. Sounds like a good project to me!!

MACK C-85 · 01-20-2009, 11:32 AM

Our tanks are heated, but not enclosed. All three tanks are mounted underneath the trailer. We did not have any issues with low teen (my mistake on earlier post, it was teens!) overnight temps. In comparison, many of our neighbors did have frozen pipes over the weekend. So, I guess what I'm saying if you install the tank heaters, you may not need to enclose the underbelly.

Diane · 01-20-2009, 01:11 PM

Good point! We've been considering the lift as well as heating and enclosing. Right now we are in the "talking" stages about how to proceed.

Mark · 01-20-2009, 05:20 PM

Perhaps this will help:

Weather Average for March in York, PA:

http://www.weather.com/outlook/trave...nth=3&x=13&y=6

Diane · 01-22-2009, 07:48 AM

Great website!! Thanks for posting. Marshall talked to a local RV dealer yesterday to discuss heating the tanks. The dealer told him he could just travel with the water heater and furnace on and that if we were at a site with full hookups, use the city water rather than the fresh water tank and we should be okay. Comments??????

MACK C-85 · 01-22-2009, 08:58 AM

You will end up with a 25' long 3/4" diameter ice cube!

i.e. A frozen water supply hose

Depending on where your tanks are located, i.e. if they above the floor deck (under the bed,couch, etc.) running the furnace would probably keep them from freezing. If they are hanging below the deck, like ours are, the furnace provides no heat to them at all.

How we handle a cold weather trip (with full hookups): Travel with empty tanks, upon arrival we fill the fresh tank and turn heater on. Then we hook up the city water and put some water into black and grey tanks and turn on thier heater. We have a standard issue Sunline double 12v switch located above the sink, one controls fresh tank heater, second is for black/gray. We also make sure the water heater is full and turn it on. If the overnight temps are going below freezing we disconnect the water hose and store it in the shower. We run off the fresh tank for potty flushes and incidentals overnight.

We rarely, if ever boondock. DW's attitude is "We have the ammenities, why not use them"

But, we could travel with fresh water and use tank heater in route.

Diane · 01-22-2009, 11:31 AM

This is why I'm skeptical about RV dealers giving advice <grin>. Were your tank heaters factory installed or aftermarket? I know we can get the aftermarket 120V heaters done pretty easily but that gives us no protection traveling. I don't mind traveling with dry tanks but am concerned about cold nights in the campground.

MACK C-85 · 01-22-2009, 01:46 PM

Our Heaters are 12v and were ordered as options on our trailer. I just did a quick search and most of what's available aftermarket are 12vdc or 12vdc/120vac dual voltage. Never had an issue with them overrloading the electrical system, but as I said in one of my earlier posts, we rarely boondock, so were running them off the converter more so than the battery.

Another thing to look at is where your drain valves are located. On our trailer the valves are at the tank outlet on both tanks, which means the pipes to the sewer hookup are "dry". Don't know if this is something Sunline did on all the coaches or just the ones with tank heaters. If your drain valves are at the sewer outlet, all the pipes from the tanks to the valves are "wet" and also subject to freezing. They make heaters for these applications too.

We saw one trailer on our last trip that had a exposed 1 1/2" drain from the front kitchen to the rear of the trailer (30' to 35') with the valve at the rear, guess how big his ice cube was?

In this case an additional valve at the tank outlet would be easier than heating it.

Al in PA · 01-23-2009, 07:25 PM

Diane:

I live 20 minutes north of York. Don't count on using your water system around here in March. While there are a few warm days, you are asking for frozen water lines throughout the month of March.

Diane · 01-24-2009, 08:06 AM

Al,

Thanks for the info. That is really what I expected to hear. I'll be making reservations at the Red Roof Inn in York for the four days of the dog show. I'm so spoiled by having a TT and my own "things" that staying in a hotel seems strange.