No question is to dumb, right? My new travel trailer will sit outside all winter but I do have electricity to it. I will winterize it. Do any of you place some electrical heat source in your RV during the winter months that is safe or is this is just a crazy idea and not even necessary? If you do use some kind of electrical heat, what device do you use?

As long as you have all of the water o ut of the tanks, water heater, lines and sewer traps you should have nothing to worry about. If you have an outside shower make sure that is also free of water. I use air pressure to winterize mine and pour a little pink stuff in the traps to get the water out. The heat will do nothing but run up wour heat bill.

RV's set on dealer lots all winter with no heat.

Things are a little dryer where you are then where I am. (well west of the mountains). I keep heat (low ~40) and a dehumidifier going all winter.Yes, dealers don't heat their rigs, but they are trying to sell them NOW, not keep them in great condition for 10 or 20 years.

A lot of rigs sit over the winter, and if they start leaking during the PDI, the dealer likely would have to pay for it.I live in TX, so I have some leeway. A bottle of cheap vodka pumped into the city water and run through the pump and faucets, then blown out via an air compressor, and my rig is ready for the relatively moderate Texas cold.

A fully charged battery will not freeze until it gets to somewhere about -90 F. I keep a Battery Minder on my house battery and a trickle charger on my chassis battery and run my generator from time to time. Some people just charge them up and leave them there, others bring their batteries inside.I don't use a heater of any kind.

Winterized RV/Electric Heater? | Good Sam Community

subcamper
Explorer II
Sep 17, 2013
Years ago, I tried using the TT in winter as an "addition" on the house. I covered the area under the TT with bubble-wrap concrete blanket (used by builders to keep concrete warm during winter curing)skirting. Then I built a short "air-lock" to attach the entrance to our enclosed deck. Then I ran an electric heater inside. As soon as the temperature dropped below about 45 degrees the electric heater ran continually and when it got colder outside it required the propane furnace to come on every so often. This was just an attempt to keep the inside of the TT at 60 degrees. I gave up after one winter because it was too expensive.

An electric heater (1500 watt) running for 24 hours (at an electricity cost of 15 cents per killowat-hour) will cost $5.40 per day to run. This is a lot of money.

Steve
frankdamp
Explorer
Sep 17, 2013
I prefer not to let the inside of the RV get below freezing, as frozen condensation can do a fair amount of damage. In our soggy winter climate, condensation is a permanent issue.

I use one of those oil-filled radiators and a plug-in digital thermostat. The t/stat bottoms out at 45 degrees, which is higher than I really wanted, but I put it in the vicinity of the heater. I have an indoor/outdoor thermometer and I put the "outdoor" transmitter on the doghouse of the RV and take the display into the house. It has max/min readings, so I can keep tabs on how cold it gets inside the RV.

I run the power cord through a Kill-a-watt meter to see how many KWh the heater uses and in last year's fairly mild winter the total used in 4 months added up to around $35.
wanderingbob
Explorer II
Sep 18, 2013
We keep a " milk House " heater turned on in our TT on the few nites it gets colder than 25 degrees . We never winterize as we use our TT many times all winter .

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