Hello everyone, even though I just registered and this is my first post I have followed the forums for some time just never felt the urge to contribute till now. This is an informative post for those owning a newer, after they started using electric lifts for the roof, 850SC that may find themselves in colder climates. (this may apply to the 650SC as well) I found this out I guess the hard way and it was a complete suprise, not necessarily a pleasant suprise at the time.
I bought my 2020 850SC this last February and of course have had the usual warranty issues, all but one have had to do with the components used in the camper, the same components used by the vast majority of RV's on the road today. My first night after picking up the camper it got down to around 20 degrees, no issues. I have had it in temperatures in the mid 20's to low 30's a hand full of times until my recent trip to Montana no issues.
On my most recent trip to Montana the first night it got down to around 15 and stayed that way all the next day. I made very sure to keep the inside of the camper above 32 degrees because I had water in the tank and the camper has the SUB Zero package so I figured I would be good to go. Well the second evening, still right around 15, as I parked for the night the furnace again decided to quit blowing warm air, the sixth time since I have owned the camper. Like every other time this has happened I removed the sail switch, replaced the same sail switch in the same sail switch spot, and the furnace was good to go again till it decided to do it again a couple days later, no suprise here, just frustration.
Anyway so I got the heat going, also started my Buddy heater, which I cannot say enough good about and thought I was set. Well, when I went to wash my hands with nice warm water, I had no water, frozen water lines. It took me minutes to try and wrap my mind around this, how could this happen? I kept the inside of the box, camper, above freezing where all the water was, (where I thought all the water was), the whole time it was below freezing and I had the SUB Zero package so what the hell?
Well after some tracing and investigation I figured out that Northstar ran the water lines from the water pump, water heater, outside the heated, insulated portion of the camper around the refrigerator to the kitchen faucet and did not insulate them. The only thing protecting these two water lines from the elements was a small, plastic, vented cover to access the bottom of the fridge which provides no R value that I could think of. Kinda frustrating. Anyway after a few hours in the nice MT sun the next day I thawed but froze again the next night cause it was down to around 11 again. I did wrap the water lines with a couple of hand towels but not enough.
All I'm saying is if you have one of these campers and plan on going where its going to get cold take precautions. Good news, even though the water lines froze two nights, I got the issue figured out the third, no damage was done. FYI
I bought my 2020 850SC this last February and of course have had the usual warranty issues, all but one have had to do with the components used in the camper, the same components used by the vast majority of RV's on the road today. My first night after picking up the camper it got down to around 20 degrees, no issues. I have had it in temperatures in the mid 20's to low 30's a hand full of times until my recent trip to Montana no issues.
On my most recent trip to Montana the first night it got down to around 15 and stayed that way all the next day. I made very sure to keep the inside of the camper above 32 degrees because I had water in the tank and the camper has the SUB Zero package so I figured I would be good to go. Well the second evening, still right around 15, as I parked for the night the furnace again decided to quit blowing warm air, the sixth time since I have owned the camper. Like every other time this has happened I removed the sail switch, replaced the same sail switch in the same sail switch spot, and the furnace was good to go again till it decided to do it again a couple days later, no suprise here, just frustration.
Anyway so I got the heat going, also started my Buddy heater, which I cannot say enough good about and thought I was set. Well, when I went to wash my hands with nice warm water, I had no water, frozen water lines. It took me minutes to try and wrap my mind around this, how could this happen? I kept the inside of the box, camper, above freezing where all the water was, (where I thought all the water was), the whole time it was below freezing and I had the SUB Zero package so what the hell?
Well after some tracing and investigation I figured out that Northstar ran the water lines from the water pump, water heater, outside the heated, insulated portion of the camper around the refrigerator to the kitchen faucet and did not insulate them. The only thing protecting these two water lines from the elements was a small, plastic, vented cover to access the bottom of the fridge which provides no R value that I could think of. Kinda frustrating. Anyway after a few hours in the nice MT sun the next day I thawed but froze again the next night cause it was down to around 11 again. I did wrap the water lines with a couple of hand towels but not enough.
All I'm saying is if you have one of these campers and plan on going where its going to get cold take precautions. Good news, even though the water lines froze two nights, I got the issue figured out the third, no damage was done. FYI