RV sitting for two to three weeks in 10 degree weather

You need to completely winterize, and remove all food and toiletries that can freeze.

This is a good checklist for winterizing. Except turn off the water heater FIRST.

Me thinks it would be better to just drive your car up there for four weeks and go back home and get the RV,then head out on your trip

As others have explained, doesn't matter if you have a hard freeze for one over-night or 50, if you don't winterize, things will CRACK! PERIOD!

Either completely winterize it or do nothing. Simply draining the low drain points gives you zero protection. If using air you need to blow every drop of water out. I would use antifreeze to be safe.

Cmccain13 wrote:

Sandia Man wrote:
Best to plan on winterizing, your unit is new to you and unless you know how it will hold up in those temps you should take every precaution. We live in NM and unless there is a major storm going through daytime temps usually rise above freezing most winter days. I have always just blown out my water lines adding a bit of antifreeze to sinks, toilet, and shower.

Works for us, but I know our rig's capabilities very well, no issues over last 20 years, plus we are always ready at a moment's notice to head south to AZ or TX for a quick respite from winter if we feel the urge. Good luck, hope your journey for the next couple of years in your new Class C goes well and is everything you imagined it would be.

we will be in the sandia mountains, but it sounds like its going to be a bad idea since this is my first time in an RV. when you say put anti freeze in the tanks you mean fill them up?

LOL, funny Sandia Man replied!

So, OP AND all the professional RVers here, pump the brakes for a minute.
First, yes if you're locking the door and letting it sit there for a month in the winter, it should be winterized. Second, that is EASY. figure it out now, don't be a rveetard. Blow the lines out, drain the tanks and drop a little pink juice in the traps/tanks. Then when you're ready to hit the road, filler up and go!
Third, like Sandia Man said (I lived in Edgewood for a while), it "generally" gets above freezing most days and very sunny. Not warm enough to lock the door and just hope it don't freeze, but likely enough to keep it heated and not "have" to winterize. He!!, you may want to live in it after a couple weeks, I mean days, with the mother in law! From your post, sounds like it's gonna be parked at the house where you're staying.
4th. Have fun! I loved living up there and winters are awesome if/when there's snow!

Don't even think about NOT winterizing.

Not necessary to fill the gray/black tanks with RVAF. You just want to cover the bottom and the exit drain to the dump valves.
If you can empty all of your tanks, leaving the low point and main fresh water tank, and gray/black tank valves open. That leaves a path for water to freeze along if it decides to freeze. You can then use your water pump to blow out the lines. The ShurFlo pumps are made to run dry for a long time. Run yours for an hour or so, then shut it off. Close the gray/black dump valves. Then I would pour about a gallon in total, into all the galley/bathroom sinks, the shower drain, and let some sit on top of the toilet bowl flush valve. If you have a water filter somewhere, make sure you empty it, too. Is it really going to be that cold for days and days that close to Albuquerque? I'm not a climatologist.

If a dump valve should freeze a little , a hair dryer is your friend.

PartyOf Five wrote:
One night in freezing temperature could give you a crack in a pipe, like we got in the tub drain of our shower. You would think the water would freeze and come upward through the pipe...

Water freezes from the top surface down. Same as a lake. In a pipe the ice forms a cap and the bottom will burst at the weak point.

One night in freezing temperature could give you a crack in a pipe, like we got in the tub drain of our shower. You would think the water would freeze and come upward through the pipe...