Important to make sure your skirting is in good shape

Repair help for the do-it-yourselfer.
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terrifromohio
Posts: 76
Joined: Thu Aug 20, 2009 9:31 pm
Location: United States

The underbelly should be sealed up real well. I paid the guys extra to do that this summer when they installed new skirting. They were supposed to go under and seal everything up real good with insallation and tape.
As for the GFI I have no idea where it is, there are no outlets along the outside of the trailer and none marked in the breaker box, so I can only hope it might be connected to the GFI in the bathroom.
1987Commodore
Posts: 383
Joined: Mon Oct 25, 2010 9:53 pm
Location: Steuben County, NY

That is where mine is.
Steve S.
Posts: 117
Joined: Sat Apr 21, 2007 7:41 pm
Location: Maine

calderhill wrote:OK, I guess I'm just lucky. My water supply line comes straight up out of the ground into the closet where the shutoff is and continues as I posted. My heat tape is plugged into the outside GFI receptacle which just happens to be right next to the water pipe. I'm on a slightly sloping lot with the rear only a couple inches off the ground and 70' later, 3' high at the front.
That's the same set-up I have. Water supply line comes straight up through slab and directly into belly to pressure tank...only about 4 feet of pipe exposed to cold air (I have the best heat tape Frostex...now 18 years old and still going strong, as well as insulation wrapped in plastic). Like you, I have good snow coverage around the skirting to insulate from wind intrusion and I make sure the belly material is wholly intact and patched.
It was -22F yesterday morning here in Maine and no frozen pipes(only a dead car battery)...the only time my pipes froze was when an icestorm 15 years ago knocked out my power for 10 days. I have a fireplace, but that doesn't help the pipes when my furnace can't run. That is my biggest fear is losing electricity :( One of these days I'll get a generator...but can't really justify the expense.
terrifromohio
Posts: 76
Joined: Thu Aug 20, 2009 9:31 pm
Location: United States

This polar vortex needs to go. After 2 days of -35 degrees today I turned on the bathroom sink in the back and it was partially frozen but broke loose. I have a heater back there and left them dripping but its just to cold.
So, I hope this ends soon.
User avatar
Greg
Moderator
Posts: 5696
Joined: Wed Feb 28, 2007 8:01 pm
Location: Weedsport, NY

Be VERY careful with dripping faucets. If you have to let them drip, use a bucket then dump the bucket. What can happen is that you move the problem from frozen water to frozen sewer lines. A constant slow run can freeze in the sewer line. They are designed to handle a fast short flow, not a continuous slow flow.

Greg
"If I can't fix it, I can screw it up so bad no one else can either."
UmpJJ
Posts: 110
Joined: Sat Oct 08, 2011 11:39 am
Location: Brazil, IN

I've been away from home (stranded) for a couple of days, and when I got home this afternoon my wife said her bathroom pipes were frozen. I walked around the back of the trailer and sure enough, the skirting had blown in along an 8 foot section, leaving a gap of several inches along that wall. Probably just enough to allow those pipes to freeze.
That's another good reason to "walk the perimeter" after winds of any significance and duration.

UmpJJ
calderhill
Posts: 51
Joined: Sat Aug 17, 2013 1:37 pm
Location: Oneonta, NY

I'm in big trouble. One day it was -11F and snowing, the next it was 40F and pouring rain all day. My mighty insulating snow barrier is gone, Completely. I may have enough mud though to hold things together :mrgreen:
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