There are still many places that fill by weight, so you only pay for what you use, vs paying by the tank.

There are still many places that fill by weight, so you only pay for what you use, vs paying by the tank.

I had a 30 lb. cylinder (completely empty) filled and a 20 lb. one topped up at a Tractor Supply (TSC) store for about $16 total for both, they fill by the gallon not by the cylinder. That's the best price I've seen here in the US.

There are still many places that fill by weight, so you only pay for what you use, vs paying by the tank.

I had a 30 lb. cylinder (completely empty) filled and a 20 lb. one topped up at a Tractor Supply (TSC) store for about $16 total for both, they fill by the gallon not by the cylinder. That's the best price I've seen here in the US.

Thanks for that suggestion. We have a few around us. I'll check and see if they carry propane.

Propane was $1.39 a gallon at the farm supply store here in the northwest yesterday.

Propane was $1.39 a gallon at the farm supply store here in the northwest yesterday.

Sounds like we have a scam going on around here!

Any others out there want to share their current pricing?

$1.99/gallon Mesa, AZ. Paid for only what was pumped so could top off a not completely empty bottle w/o getting over charged.

Here in Borrego Springs at the resort, you put the cylinder at the end of your site, they fill it and return it for about $2.50 a gallon and they give you a ticket that records the gallons, the charge goes on your monthly statement. More expensive (like most stuff in California) but not lugging around the cylinder makes the charge worth it. At 7 gallons, the fill will cost about $17.50, not a bad price.

OK...Had the chance to crawl under the rig and "expose" the valves for the Black and Gray Tanks...

I had thought about pulling and replacing each and installing the electric valves. This will still be the plan but for now, it's a rush job. Today, it was 74 degrees. As of tomorrow beginning at noon, we'll start dropping. The lows are heading to the 20's. There is no warm up in site. So, its better safe than sorry when you start a project like this...

After exposing the valves, I found a simple lubrication was all that is required for right now. The valves all work much easier and they now fully open and close. So far so good.

What I did discover in all of this is that there is NO insulation in or around the tanks. There is ONLY CorPlast and the silver bubble wrap. And that is tight up against one of the Gray Tanks. The other Gray and Black Tank are up higher in the frame work. I also discovered that both Gray Tanks are "sagging" on the bottom of the tanks. OBVIOUSLY, this will hold water throughout the winter and will subject the tanks to freezing. It looks like I can't put away the pink stuff after all...How sad.

Next spring/summer (when more daylight and time allows), I'll pull all of the CorPlast off and re-support the tanks. I'll change out the valves to electric. I'll see if anything can be done to add more heating ducts. Our downstairs is cooler than our bedroom upstairs by far. We have to leave the doors open or we'll burn out. Then, I see that the ice maker line is NOT insulated or heat traced. I'm glad I took the per-emptive strike to drain that out before the last freeze we had. I'll insulate that before next winter...

The more I get into this, I guess I should have just built my own RV...Who knew you would have to rebuild a new one in order to make it right. :angry: IF I EVER buy another one new, I will stand at the factory the entire time and stand over their shoulders until it is right. And it won't leave the lot UNTIL it's right! This week, I have 2 electrical plugs to fix. They are not holding in the 1/8" paneling. Luckily, these two are in a location where I can add additional supports behind them. Be careful when you pull your device from the outlets. Put one hand on the outlet and then pull your device out. Otherwise, you may tear thru the paper...

Going back to the valves...I see that screws were put into the CorPlast inverted where the upper frame meets the lower frame. I guess you have to take ALL of the CorPlast down starting at the rear of the RV and work your way to the front? You can't get the front ones out?

I've attached pictures showing what I am having to fight...

On Gray Tank #2, the Corplast is not secured on the outside edges like the lower frame is. Instead, they tucked it up over the frame lip. The problem with that is the CorPlast is starting to curl up on the edges allowing cold air to infiltrate the bottom. This will also be yet ANOTHER fix for next year...

I hope your experience with your RV is going better...

Gipc
You may want to check further on your sagging grey tanks. When I replaced my black after it fell out of its support. It came with a belly in it. The greys are built the same

Gipc
You may want to check further on your sagging grey tanks. When I replaced my black after it fell out of its support. It came with a belly in it. The greys are built the same

Are you suggesting that they are built this way intentionally? What purpose would that serve?

Not sure why as the drain outlet is 1 1/2" up from the bottom. Maybe the sloe on each side to the belly help in draining

On the electrical outlets we had a similar problem. If you take the face plate off you will find 2 screws that are attached to "wings" on the back, their job is to turn out and grab the thin paneling when you screw them down. One of our outlets was hard against a 1X3 wood stringer so one of the wings wasn't extended. If I recall correctly what I did was to back off on the screw enough so that the wing grabbed the stringer, I either did that or I notched the stringer. I think that the installer just didn't back off the screw enough so that the wing didn't go our over the stringer.

It was an easy fix.

On the water tanks I have had the residual water freeze over the winter (no A/F) on previous RV's and haven't had a problem and that's in Canada where it gets cold! Just make sure that as much water is taken out, it helps to run around the block with the FW valve open.

On the electrical outlets we had a similar problem. If you take the face plate off you will find 2 screws that are attached to "wings" on the back, their job is to turn out and grab the thin paneling when you screw them down. One of our outlets was hard against a 1X3 wood stringer so one of the wings wasn't extended. If I recall correctly what I did was to back off on the screw enough so that the wing grabbed the stringer, I either did that or I notched the stringer. I think that the installer just didn't back off the screw enough so that the wing didn't go our over the stringer.

It was an easy fix.

On the water tanks I have had the residual water freeze over the winter (no A/F) on previous RV's and haven't had a problem and that's in Canada where it gets cold! Just make sure that as much water is taken out, it helps to run around the block with the FW valve open.

Thanks for your suggestions. The bummer side is that we are full-timing and really can't drain off. The cold front arrives tomorrow. Heading for 16 degrees. We'll be testing our full-timing capabilities.

Earlier, we got the Camco heat-traced water hose. It advertises to -20. We'll see. I put a little water in the tank. If the hose does freeze, we'll back up to the pump.

This will really test Redwoods claim to 4-Seasons...

I hope we haven't missed anything. I do know that the sheets are very cold when we climb in. We might have to break down and get an electric blanket to warm it up before crawling in. Seriously, I bet the sheets are cold as it outside!

We use a twin size electric blanket laid across the foot (bottom half) of the bed & turn it on 15-20 minutes before crawling in & then turn it off, usually it's only our feet that's cold, works great, can't stand it too warm for sleeping.

We use a twin size electric blanket laid across the foot (bottom half) of the bed & turn it on 15-20 minutes before crawling in & then turn it off, usually it's only our feet that's cold, works great, can't stand it too warm for sleeping.

Same for us usually. But when your sheets are -20, that a bit to cold! I know what it must be like for those coaches who get a bucket of ice water dumped on them! :woohoo: