How to freeze a Pirit hose by over insulating.

[D2Reid]

I know, it sounds improbable, so I will simply tell my story and let the reader decide.

The Pirit hose has the temperature sensor on the male end of the hose. When the temps get above freezing the thermostat shuts the power off. Soooo, on my Momentum there is a heater vent that feeds directly into the water connection box. The hose comes in through a hole in the bottom. I had to extend the male end of the Pirit hose so that the thermostat would extend to outside of the water connection box. Worked pretty good.

Then I put the skirt up. It's sealed pretty good, but the Pirit thermostat was under the skirt. I had left the plastic port open where the water hose comes in. The temps dipped to subzero, the heater is running constantly. Because the heater vent is right next the furnace the heat coming out is pretty warm.

The constant heat from the vent was essentially being forced out the bottom hole in the water box directly on top of the Pirit Water hose temperature sensor, thus warming it sufficiently to cause the heat in the hose to cease. Frozen.

I have a multi-sensor weather station, I taped one of the sensors next to the Pirit hose thermostat, 45 degrees. I plugged the plastic hose hole with a rag and pulled my skirt up, so to speak. Outside temp is 3, temp next to the Pirit sensor is 23, water is flowing. Tomorrow I will pull the skirt back down and test it with just plugging the hose hole, possibly taping off part of the vent. It will take a few tries to get it dialed in.

Sometimes I am my own worst enemy.

[Country Campers]

Dallas

It is important to keep your skirt pulled down in the winter time to keep your spirit hose from freezing
(sorry couldn't resist)

Brian

[[email protected]]

I've heard of other issues with Pirit hoses. We went with a Valterra. I was told that it has several heating zones with thermostats. I can't say that is true, but I do know that there is one on the female end (as is the electrical connection). There are also some m/f adapters that you can get to reverse it if necessary, which might solve your issue.

We did have a Valterra hose develop a small leak after a couple of years. It was still in warranty (three years), and 1 photo and e-mail later the factory sent a replacement.

[Canyonlight]

Dallas - still lol ! Your wording in your story conjures up some funny visuals. You may be giving Tom a run for his money. Kilts and Scot ski patrol members is out there somewhere I suspect.

Dan

[Nuffsaid]

I have a question about skirting. How is it that the temperature inside of the skirting is warmer than the ambient temp unless the rv is leaking heat to warm the area? Hence my theory for spray foaming the frame.

[JColeman]

I have a question about skirting. How is it that the temperature inside of the skirting is warmer than the ambient temp unless the rv is leaking heat to warm the area? Hence my theory for spray foaming the frame.

There is no doubt that foaming the frame rails will have some effect, how much will be determined over a little time. But you are not making the entire trailer invisible to a heat signature. All these units give off heat everywhere and the reason skirts work is that they stop the convective heat loss from the wind moving under the trailer and thereby conserve some of the inevitable radiated heat.

[D2Reid]

some of the inevitable radiated heat.

Well said. My engineer buddies will have fun with this.

IMHO, 5th Wheel RV's totally suck when it comes to insulation. They leak heat like a rusty bucket leaks water. The only way a 5th wheel is comfortable in cold weather (0 to 20F) is by infusing them with massive amounts of energy.

If you start off with this premise, then adding insulation and mitigation techniques makes the RV appear to be more comfortable and efficient.

So having no other scientific information other than my cold fingers in the morning when I check the propane tanks I put forth some irrational , unsubstantiated opinions on what effectively improves comfort level in cold weather.

Skirt - As JColeman says it stops some of the heat from being stripped away, you make a good point for there to a warmer temp inside the skirt there must be some heat leakage, absolutely, but with a skirt it does not immediately go away, it lingers.

Dual Pane windows - they are not the be all end all answer, they still allow conductive cold to seep in. I like plastic shrink wrap overlays. They add a pretty good layer of dead air, but they too are not absolute cold stoppers. I am in the process of putting plastic shrink wrap over my big kitchen double pane windows. It is not an absolute answer, it just helps a little.

Slide seals - Good well maintained slide seals to not stop all air movement and temperature transfer. I will put some masking tape around the edges, not much for insulation, but it does cut down on drafts when the wind is blowing.

Therma-Slide covers and foam board insulation. Kind of rare to see. But Therma-slides are skirts for the slide outs, vinyl that wraps around the slide box. You then put some type of insulation under it, foam board, fiberglass batting, etc. Again, not a perfect solution, it just adds a little bit of insulation around the extended slides and again it helps cut down drafts when the wind blows.

These things were never designed to sustain sub-zero weather. Houses are.

Covering the frame with some type of insulation makes sense to me. Like all the other things we do it doesn't make a huge difference, it makes a little difference.

Each little difference adds up until you have some improvement.

This coming from a fellow who spends 3-4 months a year living in a 5th wheel at a ski resort.