How cold can an Oliver go before freezing?

[DonnaDuane]

id like to know how cold it can be outside before the tanks, but especially the plumbing,  freeze. What’s your experience?

 

Does running the furnace keep it all from freezing?

 

Are there other steps one can take to keep things operational (ie. light bulb in valve/pump compartment) at colder outside temps?

<p style="text-align: center;">how cold will an Oliver go before freezing if you’re living in it and taking all possible measures to protect the systems?</p>

[bugeyedriver]

8 degrees Fahrenheit with a wind chill of -6 for three days will do it (plugged in, with electricity). Water lines froze to the sink and bathroom.  I speak from experience.  The Wonder Egg is hull  #14 and does not have the same insulation you more recent folk have, but I am not sure you'd fair much better at those extremes.  Since then, I've mitigated the issue by installing bilge heaters between the hulls near the water pump and external shower,

 

 

[ScubaRx]

That's darn cold, Pete.  Eight degrees for 3 days should freeze the balls off a brass monkey so I'm not surprised the plumbing bummed out.

 

In our experience, with the coldest we've been in around the mid to low 20's, if the interior temps are comfortable the spaces between the hulls are OK.  I have a system of eight temperature sensors installed in and around the OO-II with three between the hulls that all transmit to a single console so I can monitor them at a glance.

 

FYI everybody, wind chill has no effect on inanimate objects.  The trailer will never go below ambient outside temperature no matter the wind speed.  However the wind speed will affect how rapidly the temperature of an object will reach ambient.

[Alison]

Steve,

 

What temperature gauge system are you using for your 8 gauges all reading to the same display?

 

Alison

[ScubaRx]

Steve,

 

What temperature gauge system are you using for your 8 gauges all reading to the same display?

 

Alison

 

This is the one we are using. The way it is shipped it requires being plugged into 110VAC. To me, this is never optimal in our trailers. The unit is supplied with the “wall wart” and cord. Close examination of the wart reveals that the output voltage is 5VDC. I bought a USB cord with the proper end on it for the monitor so now it gets its power from the trailer via one of the USP ports. As you probably already know, USB output is 5VDC.

[sailorashore]

Pete:  The bilge heaters is see in the marine catalogs are both powerful (high wattage) and expensive. Is that what you used, or did you find something smaller?  Would like to know how you did it.  Best wishes for the holidays.  John Shkor, SailorsAshore

[bugeyedriver]

John, I installed two 300W heaters by XTreme Marine Corporation, both between the shells, one near the water pump, and the other near the external shower.  It required the addition of two 110V outlets between the shells, near the power distribution box.