Those of us who have a hose reel and have not added a second tank fill. Consider this.
Impending snow storm, single digit temps, winds gusting to 50-60 mph. Fresh water tank is 1/4 full. I go out side to dump tanks and fill the fresh water. It's late afternoon, getting dark. SNAP! hose breaks.
I grabbed a couple of water hoses from the storage bay. Unscrew Pex fitting from reel but the fitting is 1/2 NPT and my hose is 3/4 MHT. Off to Lowes, it's getting darker and colder. Find a 3/4 to 1/2 reducer at Lowes, it's not NPT but it's also not a permanent fix. A quicker fix for me (I still had about 25' of good hose remaining) would be to just buy a 3/4 female hose fitting but a 16 year old hose needs to be replaced. I finally return from Lowes but the faucet which had been left slightly open but I closed it when I was about to fill tank is now frozen. It's way past happy hour, so I call it a night. We nurse the 1/4 fresh water tank for the next two days.
Finally warms up, snow melts, get another 100 feet of garden hose and hook up to different faucet that won't freeze. Discover pex fitting is leaking where I was moving it around trying to connect to garden hose. I fill up the water tank and it's off to Lowes to get pex fittings.
To replace the hose I am going to call the RV Water Store RV Water Filter Store: Standard Filter Canisters for Whole RV (http://www.rvwaterfilterstore.com/Hoses.htm), that Chuck and Jeanie mentions in this post Water Hose Replacement (http://www.foreforums.com/index.php?topic=27312.0) The OEM hose is $175.
I think I am going to use this opportunity install a top fill modification and water filters. I removed the reel now rather than later. If I need to fill again before the hose is replaced it will be a lot easier w/o the reel in the way.
Photos: New and old leaking pex, end of OEM reel hose with 1/2" stainless steel NPT fitting, SS female fitting where hose attaches.
Wow! Talk about a similar problem! Our hose broke 2 days ago and I have been trying to fix it. We are in 20 degree weather with a snow storm going on as I write this. Our windshield wiper motor apparently stripped gears with the heavy snow this morning coming across North Dakota. Not my plan, but had to stop, as I could not see well enough to continue. Hope to find the weather better in the morning, as we are at camp Walmart after fueling up in Fargo! UGH! Will do a write up on the windshield motor R&R. Going to put some additional holes in the dash to assist with the install.
Replaced our hose 4 years ago and it still looks and feels just like brand new. Has held up great. Very satisfied with that purchase.
When I was in freezing weather I never pulled out the hose reel, just used a hose from the faucet to the hose reel. I learned that from my friend who had broken his hose by pulling it out in freezing weather.