I got this.
Last week There was a hard freeze warning issued, so I turned up the gas heat in the front of the RV and the electric heat in the back. I raced to do a load of laundry and shower, then filled the water tank. I then disconnected the water and sewer lines and made sure the hoses were drained as best I could. We were good to go. Boyd, who was visiting back home for the weekend, would be so proud! I was not only monitoring the weather, but had also made adjustments to accommodate for the unexpected turn.
hmmmm…..
The next morning, I quickly noticed the water pump did not turn on when I ran water (so there was no water). I checked all of the faucets and toilet. Nothing worked. I checked the outside faucets and found no leaks. I even looked underneath the RV. I did find that the in ground water pipe was frozen, but nothing to indicate to me why the water pump in RV wasn’t working. By this time I had a huge knot in my stomach fearing that even with my best efforts, I had let the pipes freeze and burst or frozen and destroyed the water pump. What to do now?
The phone call.
“I think I broke the RV.” I don’t think I even said good morning.
“What do you mean?” Boyd asked patiently. He’s good like that.
As I explained to him what I had done and my troubleshooting up to that point, we finally came to the conclusion I would just have to wait for the sun to warm things up enough to see if we could get water flowing again and what the damage was.
The longest 5 hours ever.
So I waited. During this time, I wondered how much a new water pump costs. I wondered how much a new water tank would cost or how hard it would be to replace the water lines if they were broken. There are so many horror stories about broken water lines, etc. and all of the resulting problems, that I was nauseous with worry.
Throughout the next several hours, I periodically checked the in ground water spigot. Eventually I was able to turn it on, but still no water. Another hour and there was a trickle. Eventually I was able to get the water working and hooked back up to the RV. I held my breath as I turned on the water pump and waited for something to happen. It kicked on no problem and I had water again! No leaks. All faucets and toilet working as expected. HUGE sigh of relief.
Lesson learned?
The gas heat should be on in the front AND back when freezing temperatures are expected. There was another hard freeze warning the following night and with the gas heat on in both, we had no issues with the water.