Airline pilot Full Time RV

Draining the fresh water tank, the hot water tank and Blowing out water lines is not a tedious job and once adept it should take 15-20 minutes at most. A little antifreeze in the traps and you are good to go

Look for a trailer with a "4 seasons" package. At a minimum this should include double-pane windows, and a heated/enclosed underbelly.


For the winter months at least, find a location with electricity, fresh water hookups, and a relatively mild climate if possible. You might also look into a large propane tank commonly called "extend-a-stay."

Make sure that your water pump is easy to access and is set up with a bypass to add antifreeze if needed.

Disconnect the water hose, blow out the check valve on the inlet. Leave the water heater on, the furnace on, and the thermostat set to some fairly low temp. The furnace should keep the underbelly and waste tanks in good shape. Leave the cabinet doors open so plumbing along the walls can get heat.

It would be a VERY good idea to have a reliable knowledgeable person to check on the heat for you. You could also install some sort of network-enabled temperature sensor, that you can check from your smart phone. Then if there are problems you could get someone over ASAP, even if you were not home.

Otherwise you could learn how to do a quick winterize. Drain the lines and water heater, blow out the lines, and pour some antifreeze in the drains and toilet. After you do that a few times it won't take but a few minutes, and would be cheaper than keeping the heat on, and simpler than worrying about it.

Staying warm is one of those "It depends..." things.
It depends on how cold it is outside.
It depends on how well insulated your rig is (but they're all relatively poor).
It depends on where your water tanks and lines are, whether they have supplemental heating pads.
It depends on how warm you want to be.

If you're going to hit the teens (*F) as a low, and hit them rarely, then there are some pragmatic things you can do to keep the water from freezing and stay warm. It'll take some money to buy some supplemental things, and yes you'll want to be someplace where you can plug in (or run a generator). And you'll want your propane tanks full.

But an occasional drop into the mid teens wouldn't be a deal-breaker for me. There are solutions.

Cold weather requires some actions to take before leaving your RV for days at a time. You have to worry about anything with water in it freezing. Most RVers will unhook the freshwater hose drain it, blow out any remaining water and store it in a compartment until they return. Same thing at night if freezing temps are expected or you can wrap the hose with a heating tape.

Buy an RV with heated freshwater and holding tanks or have heating elements added.

I've read that many folks will leave a low wattage incandescent light bulb on inside the RV or a couple for a larger RV. This seems to provide enough heat to keep things from freezing inside when they are away. A thermostat equipped portable heater will also work but there may be a fire risk with an unattended heater.

Good luck with your new adventure.

Old article.

http://articles.latimes.com/2009/jul/20/local/me-lax-colony20

As a fellow pilot, you'll learn that ATC is not going to keep traffic away from you. :)