When to winterize in the SW

We're in Albuquerque and I usually blow out the water lines in early November. I just watch the weather forecasts and blow out the lines before we have a hard freeze. Just takes a few minutes. I keep the tanks drained unless I need fresh water in the tank for an upcoming trip. A little antifreeze in the p-traps and toilet and I'm done.

kyle86 wrote:
If you're livng out of your rv what do you do? Have to use the bathroom/shower and use the faucets. What is the routine?

Keep the heat on.

depends on what elevation you're at (NM varies widely) and whether you're using the RV. I have a winter ranch in southern NM and I never winterize or drain either of my RV's there. I keep a small space heater on in the water bay. It gets down in the 20's regularly, but only for a few hours; its sunny and 60 during the daytime.
I don't winterize because I use my RV's all winter for short trips all around the SW and then return to the ranch for a break to plan the next trip.

DrtEMaxChvy wrote:
Living in NM i am curious when most of the SW folks end up winterizing. I am thinking prior to the second week of November.
Thoughts?

kyle86 wrote:
If you're livng out of your rv what do you do? Have to use the bathroom/shower and use the faucets. What is the routine?

Disconnect the water hose and drain it. Keep the heater going inside and it keeps the fresh tank and all the lines warm. I have so many air leaks in my RV that I suspect I keep the whole area warm.

I have only been caught in real cold weather a couple of times while in the RV but if you are living in it the heater should keep everything from freezing.

If you're livng out of your rv what do you do? Have to use the bathroom/shower and use the faucets. What is the routine?

last years southern freeze caught a lot of folks off gaurd! Texas, Georgia, trashed their units.

Are you talking about those couple of cool months around Dec./Jan. in Phoenix? :-)

Lyle

2oldman wrote:
I migrate to the sw to avoid having to winterize.

Same...

We follow the warm weather and haven't winterized in years.

RoyB wrote:
I do the same as NMDriver... For me just getting down to 32 degrees is not going to be a bother especially when camping if it is going to warm back up the next morning.. Its those couple of days in the high 20's that freezes things up hard for my OFF-RoAD trailer...

Using the blow out method works fine for us since most of our camping is OFF-ROAD and back off the trails alot... It only takes 5-10 minutes to winterize using the drain the big tanks and blow-out the inside lines method...

My problem is always finding fresh water after I drain my out haha... I have saved as much water as I can in jeri-cans a few times and keep it inside with us where it is abit warmer over night...

It really doesn't get below freezing for extended periods much here in the Northern Neck of Virginia area.. Of course with all of the weird climate changes on-going this too may change here locally... We are having 95 degree days here in Sep now... I may have mowed my yard for the last time already a couple of weeks back due to it dying from heat...

Roy Ken

Sounds a bit like what we do in the NW, I watch the weather and if it is going into the 20's for more than one night I go up and blow the lines and drain the HW tank. Last year I only had to do that once in the fall. We went out over the first of the year, and after that never got cold enough to worry about. In other years I have had to do it three or four times.
We camp year round, so I want it ready to go.

I do the same as NMDriver... For me just getting down to 32 degrees is not going to be a bother especially when camping if it is going to warm back up the next morning.. Its those couple of days in the high 20's that freezes things up hard for my OFF-RoAD trailer...

Using the blow out method works fine for us since most of our camping is OFF-ROAD and back off the trails alot... It only takes 5-10 minutes to winterize using the drain the big tanks and blow-out the inside lines method...

My problem is always finding fresh water after I drain my out haha... I have saved as much water as I can in jeri-cans a few times and keep it inside with us where it is abit warmer over night...

It really doesn't get below freezing for extended periods much here in the Northern Neck of Virginia area.. Of course with all of the weird climate changes on-going this too may change here locally... We are having 95 degree days here in Sep now... I may have mowed my yard for the last time already a couple of weeks back due to it dying from heat...

Roy Ken