This is the third time in five years I’ve spent part of the winter in New Mexico, and it’s been – by far – the coldest one yet. I’m not alone in thinking this, though. My fellow campers have said much the same thing in our discussions the past week about how we fared in the cold. And by cold, I mean 15F (-9F) four nights running. Yikes… How did my Alto do?
Forecast vs. Reality
When the weather forecast showed bitterly cold weather for that storm starting around February 2nd, the original radar projections showed central New Mexico (where I was) on the edge of the whole mess. The local forecast was a few nights around 20F and then warming back up into the usual low 30s overnight. How wrong that was! In the end, I experienced six nights between 15-20F, (-6 to -9 C) with daytime temps barely reaching into the mid 40s (around 7C) most of that time. So, yeah, super cold.
Despite anxious nights and obsessive checking of pipes and water pressure, the Alto plumbing survived surprisingly well. My water pump, which had been slowly failing, did fall victim to the cold, with a cracked filter, so I ended up replacing it (details below).
Protecting the Pipes
The best thing I ever did for cold weather was cover every inch of piping I could reach with 1/2 inch foam piping insulation, picked up from Home Depot. I zip-tied insulation to the plumbing lines that run underneath the Alto (moving freshwater from the tank to the hot water heater and kitchen area). Inside the Alto, I have the same insulation on the pipes coming up to the water heater and all the pipes in and out of the water pump. I installed the under-Alto insulation in May 2016, so I’ve definitely gotten my money’s worth out of it!
Faking a Trailer Skirt
Fancier rigs, built for winter, have skirts you can buy that cover the area from trailer bottom to ground, creating a warmer space underneath the trailer, which is where the water tanks are hanging out. Four-season trailers either have a thick layer of foam insulation over the tanks, or a second floor, so that the tanks are fully enclosed. And they usually have tank heaters.
My Alto is a three-season trailer, so it doesn’t have tank heaters, enclosed tanks, or a fancy skirt. So I took a tip from the weathered rPod trailer down the row and created my own skirt with the materials I had on hand. This was one time I wished I was near all those farms and hay bales I saw last year, because hay bales would have made an awesome skirt.
Keeping the Inside Warm
The water pump and most of the inside plumbing is inside cupboards (kitchen and under the bed) so it can get really cold in those places. I leave the cupboards open 4-6 inches when outside temps go near or below freezing to keep the pipes and pump warm. This round, though, with temps predicted to be so much colder for longer than I’d ever experienced, I bought a $20 space heater from Walmart. I cleared out the front half of the underbed cupboard and aimed the heater at the water pump and surrounding pipes. My experience from last November, when one night of 15F low turned the water into slush had me nervous enough that I went with the space heater this time around.
How Did It Go?
I had filled up the fresh water tank and then drained off a bit of that, so it never froze, as it turns out (much to my relief). I think the skirting helped block the bitterly cold north wind, along with using the Ridgeline as a windblock in front of the trailer (which was pointing north because that’s the site orientation here).
The pump didn’t fare so well. It did keep working enough that I could move water from fresh water tank to each outlet (sink, toilet, shower, etc.) so I knew the pipes had survived without major damage. But… the water came out with a lot of air, so it was endless series of sputters and spits rather than a smooth flow of water. Sigh. Googling youtube videos suggested a few things to try but none of them resolved the issue. So I bit the bullet and called the only RV repair shop within a 30-mile radius. The guy that answered listened to my plight and I could almost see him nodding his head as he said he’d already replaced a few pumps this week. He had a pump and availability, so I hitched up and headed north 25 miles to O’Neall’s RV Repair in Elephant Butte.
He found the filter was cracked, and replaced it. At that point, the water was flowing, although the pump itself was a bit dicey. Almost six years old, with constant use since I’m a full-timer, it sounded like it was struggling every time I had used it the last few months. So I deicded to have Rick go ahead and replace it. I trusted him and — as full-timers know — the next place down the road might not be as good or have a pump. Better to get it done now and call it preventive maintenance. Living in a trailer without a good water pump isn’t all that fun. Now I have shiny new water pump and I realize how bad the old one had gotten.
What About Next Time?
I don’t plan on camping in such super-cold temps again but the vagabond life can be unpredictable so it’s best to be prepared. What would I do differently or in addition to this round’s actions?
The obvious answer would be to move to a warmer location. This time, that wasn’t an option because it was the same bitter cold 200 miles in every direction. From Big Bend to eastern Arizona, it was all going to be cold and miserable. Because the original forecast was for only 2-3 nights of that cold, I figured I could get through it. (And it’s not like I believed just one forecast, I actually have four different weather apps I consult and all of them underestimated the depth and duration of this cold snap.)
I bought an extra filter for the new water pump, because that’s the weakest point (the first to crack in the cold, as it turns out) and also the easiest and cheapest to try when the pump is struggling. It’s smaller than a baby’s fist, so easy to store in my bin of spare parts (yes, I have one one, thank you very much).
I thought of buying tank heaters that you can stick onto the bottom of your tanks and plug into 120v outlets, but it turns out that no one could deliver them in time. Would I buy them now? No, because they’re kind of big and awkward to store. But, and this is a huge but, if I had enough warning of stupidly cold weather, I’d order them delivered to a UPS outlet and pick them up. The rPod guy installed some and said they worked well, although the middle of them didn’t stick as well so he recommended applying them very carefully to super-clean tanks. The thought of scrubbing the outside of my tanks while laying underneath them doesn’t excite me at all.
Closing Out the Cold Snap…
… by reading the new pump manual and having a drink. I think I deserved it after this past week!
Let me be the first to tell you, drinking alcohol is the worst thing to do in cold weather. Hot soup is the best because the process of digesting food helps to warm you up.
Morgan Freeman
(I’m going to respectfully disagree with Mr. Freeman on this occasion.)
I was about to buy one of these based on your great experience with it and following your link, this was the first review:
Customer Review
cacc
1.0 out of 5 stars DO NOT BUY! Water will BACK UP into your fresh water tank and overflow ABOVE 30psi
Reviewed in the United States on August 19, 2021
Verified Purchase
I work at a RV repair facility, we purchased 10 of these and everyone of them has a weak check valve. When hooked up to city water above 30psi which is EVERYWHERE, the water will back flow through the water pump and fill up the fresh water tank till water is overflowing from the fresh water tank.
DO NOT BUY THIS AT ALL! ABSOLUTELY TRASH PRODUCT!
I installed one in my own rv to test and same back flow water issue!
Of course this is just one review from who knows who. So I will be interested to hear if you will also have this issue with the pump. I assume you use a water pressure regulator, and if so, is it adjustable or preset, and if adjustable would you be able to minimize this issue if it arose. Thanks for your fine website and openness with your trials and tribulations. And all your wonderful photos!
I actually never, ever leave my water hooked up to the “city water connection” in my Alto. I fill the fresh water tank and then remove the hose. It’s one less thing to go wrong; leaving the water pressure always on (as with the city water connection) puts stress on the system over time, and that’s why I don’t do it.
Maybe that place got a bad batch. The RV repair guy in Elephant Butte said he’s been putting them in for more than a year, and not had any issues. He depends on repeat business and on referrals (which is how I heard of him) so I figured he knew what he was doing recommending it.
Thanks for your answer and advice on disconnecting after filling. We are on a city hookup so rarely, I never thought much about stress to the system. I think I will replace the original with the Flow Max, I like the specs better, and with the filter, for the price.
I hope it all works out for you. So far, so good with the pump, and I do like how it is variable speed. If I turn the faucet on just a bit, the pump works just a bit, too!
You’ve become such a great vagabond MacGyver Annie! Thanks for sharing your tips and tricks, very resourceful!
Glad you made it through, you are very ingenius and resourceful, and that’s why you get through stuff like this. New Mexico is on my short list of places to move to someday. VS Arizona where it’s so hot, I think NM would give me that desert lifestyle but also some seasons. Husband, of course, does not agree. Sigh.
Great information! Thanks for sharing. Like the idea of insulating the pipes. You are so right about limited options while adventuring on the road but we wouldn’t trade it for anything. We made a run for Terlingua, TX and rode out the worst of the freezing night temps without any serious problems.
Annie,
Very interesting piece to us since we have the same camper. We’ve experienced cold weather in the southwest but not the extreme you just went thru. Now my wife and I are chatting about what we would do in that situation. Although this year we’re in Florida we will be back out west next year. We’ll get a space heater and improve our outside plumbing insulation. We are wondering if your new water pump is the same brand and model as the original that came with the Alto.
The water pump is not the same, it’s one the RV repair guy recommended (you can see the model info in the last photo). It’s a Flow Max pump, this is it on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3GLXKoE (12 volt model). It is supposed to handle freezing temps better than the ShurFlow pump, so that would be a bonus. I’ve gotten snowed on in NM and the temps were only 28-30 that time. I had 15F for one night last fall in CO, but this was definitely the longest, coldest, and I hope I don’t get caught in such a thing again!
Yet another thing us non-vagabond hadn’t thought about.
Oh my! camping in the cold is certainly a challenge. So glad it all worked out ok. We’ve been doing some winter Florida camps, but it’s been cold here too.. Cancelled a reservation for next week at Fort Clinch– due to be cold, and we are a couple of wusses!
Florida has definitely gotten some serious cold weather this winter. Stay warm, and, no, you’re not wusses!
All the cold weather went south this year! So glad that you’re ok and you are definitely great at improvising. Hope that you never have to go through that again either!!!
Been worrying about you and this, cold, cold winter. Not much fun for camping. Hope it warms up soon.
Thanks, Rhea! Hope you’re staying warm up there. I need to call you this week and talk…