Electric Heater vs Winterizing

Keizer, OR speaking here. I never ''winterize'' as we use the camper year round. I do keep the water tanks all drained during the winter.

I keep the camper hooked up to electric all the time at home.

If we are dipping close to freezing I set the furnace at the minimum to keep the fan blowing into the basement. I then have a space heater i set at about 55 only when its freezing at night. We freeze about 45 nights a years. A Cold streak for us is the 20s.

This way i just need to add water and we can leave.

Vet Man wrote:
Why not winterize?

Getting the fresh water tank clean after winterizing is a pain.

I did go one winter without winterizing giving me the option to use the camper without having to de-winterize, re-winterize each time. I used a Thermo Cube to control an electric heater to keep things just above freezing inside. My camper doesn't have a basement so all I needed to do was keep the cabinet doors open to keep the plumbing thawed.

Installing a winterizing kit that by passes the fresh water tank will allow you to pump RV antifreeze thru the water lines. No antifreeze in the fresh water tank.

Using a space heater is like a light bulb in the forest. The darker the forest, the smaller the light penetrates it. A heater will do the same. The colder the surrounding area, around your camper, the more it will start penetrating from the walls inward. What you are contemplating is not a good idea.

I have spent multiple months of below 21F degree days and more, everyday. Some of the nights were -10F. There are lots of steps needed to have a water system in a camper survive. It is not just your tanks that will be damaged. The faucets, toilet, water heater and water lines are in danger, as well.

Space heaters are a great supplement, but when it gets as cold as Denver, and surrounding areas (I worked outside, in Colorado, for more than 30 years) supplemental furnace MUST be used. So plan on buying more propane and switching out your tanks, frequently.

One person in your area, that uses his Lance camper for winter trips and ski excursions, blows out his system and keeps his furnace turned down. But, he does winterize between his trips when necessary, btggraphix.

If you do plan on going through with your plans, make sure you have your camper in the sun, all the time and protected from the wind (I'm from Boulder so I know wind!) and have multiple heater cubes in all areas, not just in the center of your camper. Take all items out of cabinets where the pipes are, open doors. Open all faucets and remove shower nozzle (inside and out) and sink atomizers. Pour some RV antifreeze into the bottom of your toilet and p traps. Tap the City service inlet, to break the surface tension. Get some remote/wireless temperature monitors and put the senders in areas most susceptible to freezing (service bay, Hot H20, heater, under sinks in cabinets) and put them in your home and monitor them.

Keep two gallons of RV antifreeze handy, so you don't have to run and get some when the temps fall -30F below, some night and know the procedure to get this done, quickly.

Oh yeah, remove any can goods out of any cabinets next to camper walls. Don't ask why I know this. :B

Best of luck to you.

b

I know CO is very different than the PNW...but if you are not using your TC just evacualte the water lines empty the tanks, leave the taps open, unscrew the water feed on the back to the potty, drain water heater leave plug out...have a small heater inside to keep everything above freeezing say 40F...shouldn't that do it? Why all the fuss of winterizing if everything is clear?

I have temp monitors as well, just to be safe.

I have a 1000watt therostat controlled wall heater I leave on all winter, with water in my tank but waste tanks are empty and don't have issues when it is below freezing, but we don't get the prolonged day after day cold like CO.

sh410 wrote:
Installing a winterizing kit that by passes the fresh water tank will allow you to pump RV antifreeze thru the water lines. No antifreeze in the fresh water tank.

Ditto.

I winterize. It's cheaper than running an electric heater all winter. If I wanted to run a heater, I'd have to put in some auxiliary fans to blow heat in the basement, which uses more electricity.

The tanks are empty anyway, so it's kind of useless in my case to need to heat them - but that's because I take the camper off the truck and don't use it in the winter.

It takes maybe 15-20 minutes from the time I start gathering up the air hose, air fitting and antifreeze, and then put everything away after I'm done.

It only takes about a half gallon of RV antifreeze to do my AF811.

I first blow out the lines with low pressure compressed air, then use the suction tube in the plumbing to draw antifreeze directly out of the jug.

Geewizard wrote:

sh410 wrote:
Installing a winterizing kit that by passes the fresh water tank will allow you to pump RV antifreeze thru the water lines. No antifreeze in the fresh water tank.

Ditto.

Ditto x2.

My AF811 has one from the factory.

hedgehopper wrote:
Have you tried keeping tanks warm with a small electric heater instead of winterizing. How has that worked for you?

Yes, but not just the tanks.
I've used an oil filled radiator type heater to heat the whole camper.
Some of the digital controlled electric heaters will reset to "off" when there is a power interruption.
Weather wise, it rarely gets into sub-freezing temperatures for more than two weeks.

I want the camper ready as a standby shelter.
We sometimes get power outages of a few days.