Frozen Spigot

[Buckeye]

What is the best method to keep the campground water spigot from freezing ?

 

[danemayer]

Hi Buckeye,

At campgrounds that are open in freezing weather, this is usually handled by the campground by way of heat tape, or an enclosure, or both. The heat tape is often plugged into the 20amp receptacle on the power pedestal. Or they shut off the water when temps drop below freezing. If they don't protect the exposed plumbing, or shut the water off, they could have freeze damage.

I suppose if you're visiting the exceptional campground that leaves the water on without heat tape, you could bring your own tape, wrap it around the riser and faucet, and tape it tight to the pipe and faucet.

 

[Ray LeTourneau]

When using heat tape be sure to not cross the heat tape over itself. It could melt and ruin the heat tape.

 

[Buckeye]

Thanks for the help. We were at a campground last week and several campers had buckets over the spigots. I am assuming that they were also using some kind of heat tape as well.

 

[dewwood]

If the campground has drain back hydrants, which drain when disconnected, the best option is to fill your on board fresh water tank and use it. Be sure to disconnect your hose and drain it also.

 

[robertsfd]

The policy of the campground resort in which we are staying is that if you use the water through the winter the RVer is responsible for protecting the hydrant from freezing. I wrapped heat tape around it. I also:
Bought a 32 gal plastic trash can.
Cut a slot in it for the water line to exit.
Used spray adhesive and lined the inside of the trash can with rolls of 4-5" wide pipe insulation.
Attached a heat lamp fixture to the inside of the trash can and installed a 150 watt heat lamp.

So far, it works well. No problems at all.

 

[traveler44]

I thought that I would suggest how to thaw one out if you freeze one up. I used a conair hair dryer on the one in Ok. on the way through this winter. It thawed out the spigot and the ends of my hoses enough to get them loose so we could travel on. After that I used heat tape on the water hose at the next RV park and the park had their own on tape on the pipe and spigot. So that worked out real well for us. I put an outdoor transmitter for the thermometer inside the UDC and the heat from the heat tape around the hose actually provided heat in the UDC. Tom

 

[Wharton]

We would just leave the spigot dripping a little after unhooking the hose.