It is possible to predict the weather anywhere to a certain degree. Usually, the weather forecast is about 14 days right. Beyond that and it’s getting worse and worse to predict the right weather forecast. Tacoma weather is unpredictable like anywhere.
But that doesn’t stop sites such as Accuweather in predicting many months ahead even in Tacoma. We at Distrita have been following that weather forecast site for over 2 years now and can conclude that their predictions are more correct than expected. But in the last 3 months for some reason, their Months predictions have failed totally for Oslo, Norway.
Our writer Arnold has been in the Washington state of the USA. This is not the capital of the USA. It is the state with the same name! Tacoma city is where he traveled safe and sound in this city and the popular wintertime between November 2017 to March 2018. He promised us at Distrita a nice review at Tacoma where the weather changes rapidly all the time. The wintertime in the Tacoma area is at nicest at that time of the year each year he writes.
Tacoma in Washington state got a population that was counting a population 198,397 back in 2010 according to Wikipedia. This area of the USA got lots of nature which anyone should visit. Also, the wintertime is perfect because of fewer insects in the air so Arnold recommends it and here is the advises when visiting this area of the world. Welcome to Tacoma which you can also read about on the Travel Tacoma website.
Cold Tacoma Weather can happen in the Winter Months each year
In the city center of Tacoma, the weather is between 8C and 13C during the winter. But in the mountains surrounding this town, it can be much colder. But sometimes you need to be prepared for colder weather. Last December, the temps went below freezing in Tacoma which is very rare. So, when the temperature the first night there got down to -9 C our team that went there was totally caught off guard.
Here’s what happened on his trip. On the trip, he experienced some very cold temperatures. The hose connecting us to water froze at the camping site. Then the plastic pipe leading to the freshwater tank froze also in the end, the gas/propane furnace ran most of the night. Terror from the sky.
Arnold’s Rexhall Aerbus RV which is a good quality motorhome vehicle that is said to coup with freezing temps had serious issues as all the pipes are enclosed and access is through a sealed exterior bin. This is a typical truck-bus-car where you take your belongings with you on a longer trip and Arnold simply thought that would be enough if the temps got down to freezing or just below.
Truth is, had is only been a couple of degrees below freezing, his Rexhall Aerbus RV would probably have been totally fine during that time of winter. The problem was that it got more than just a little below freezing! So, he decided to write an article about being prepared even though weather forecast sites such as Accuweather tell you it will be warm. Going to Tacoma in wintertime between November and February you never know what will happen.
#1 Always Be prepared for icy weather in Tacoma! Keep the Pipes From Freezing
If your water connections or any of your water lines are exposed to the outside, even temperatures just below freezing can freeze and crack your lines. Even if your lines and fill points are enclosed in bins or compartments, if those areas are not heavily insulated and heated, just having the sewer line or water hose coming up through an access hole can bring in the freezing temps and problems… as we found out first hand.
In countries like Iceland where the freezing temps are often happening during the winter. They put lots of effort into making sure that the pipes can keep up with the freezing weather outside. But in Tacoma where freezing temps are rarer. When it hits. You should be prepared!
#2 Build a built-in temperature sensor is a Very Good advice
Arnold’s simple solution was to wrap a heat tape with a built-in temperature sensor that costs about $20.00 in the USA. It is put at the exposed pipes and valves. He got it from the local hardware store in Tacoma which is a very nice American city. It’s the kind meant for outside or crawls space water lines. It looks like an electrical extension cord that has no plug at the end.
It is important to know that when anyone is in any area of the world that has the potential in getting freezing temps, it is important to just plug the heat tape into our full hookup power box via an extra extension cord (heavy duty) and the sensor takes care of turning on when needed.
That’s all we needed to keep the bin and connections from freezing. It’s important to not connect the water hose in freezing temperatures. You just fill the freshwater tank as needed. If you were staying in one place for the winter, you could use another heat tape and some insulation wrapped around it on the hose to keep your hose from freezing too.
For boondocking or dry camping, you could also stuff the compartment full of insulation or heavily insulate your exterior water lines to keep them from freezing in all but the coldest of temps. Be always prepared for the minus degrees to hit. Especially in Washington state of the USA which is the neighbor to Canada.
#3 Heat Guns and Plastic Water Lines Don’t Mix in the freezing temperatures
Arnold also recommends using a heat gun if it is not on the highest blow that many uses for heat shrink on wires and windows. His advice is to use a heat gun to heat up the pipes and get the water pump working again. But if you don’t do this the right way you can end up doing a huge mistake!
Using the heat gun is a good idea for frozen pipes, but he didn’t know how warm and how fast it could work. Instead of just slowly warming the whole compartment, it is possible to make a huge mistake of blowing directly on the plastic water lines.
In less than two minutes you can be unlucky where you unluckily heated up the plastic water line too much so that they became soft and with the water line pressurized from the pump… It will form a bubble just like bubble gum which can result in a tragedy.
Remember to have bought the right size plastic water line. So, all you need to do is finish thawing things out, slowly, and then fix the popped water line if the frozen pipe is broken. That was just two fittings, about 8 inches of new plastic water line, the heat gun to warm the ends only and then you simply screw all back together in less than 30 minutes.
It easily could have been a couple of hundred dollars of repairs if I had to have a repair shop do it.
Here are our biggest and important tips for Tacoma RV weather experience
* Don’t let the colder weather stop you from enjoying your RV year-round.
* It is important to test it’s cold weather abilities close to home or family, just in case
* Keep extra incandescent lights & insulation handy for backup and repairs.
* Always thaw frozen pipes and tanks slowly
* Do always check the weather forecast in these parts of the world
* Use a heat gun but use it in a way that you won’t damage the pipes!
Source: TravelTacoma.com, Wikipedia
