Heat on vs winterizing

Depends on the time below 32 degrees. Just having the 'heat' on at 50 won't help the pipes under the cabinets at all.

Now, I keep my entire unit in a heated enclosure so no winterizing needed.

Get a RV Blow Out Plug. Use your compressor to blow the water out of the lines.
Pour RV antifreeze in the traps and you're good for freezing temps.

It's quick and easy. You can get blow out plugs on Amazon or any RV store.

Even using the blow out method,you will still have some water trapped in the water pump,and if you have one, the water valve for the ice maker
After I blow out the lines
I disconnect the water valve,and shake out any water,for the water pump just enough antifreeze to enter the the pump with a hose into the antifreeze bottle

It only takes 10 minutes to winterize once you have drained your HW tank and turned the shutoff valve. Don't burn your expensive propane to heat the trailer plus as others said 50 degrees won't be enough to protect the tanks below. With my Bullet, I don't blow out the lines, I use a $10 Camco winterizing hand pump I got on Amazon to hook up to the city water faucet, stick the hose in a gallon jug of $4 Walmart RV antifreeze and pump it through with my wife inside turning each faucet on until pink comes out starting with furthest faucet from connection ( Kitchen faucet). Then I do bathroom faucets, shower faucets, toilet flush and outside shower. . Then pour a cup down each sink and shower drain, and a few cups in the toilet drain and DONE! Total time-- about 10 minutes and 2 gal of $4 antifreeze! Why risk your expensive bullet having freeze damage for the easy task of winterizing? Then close er up and if you decide to go winter camping, either bring bottled water and use CG bathrooms and showers ( if they are operating) Otherwise if not, just winterize again when you get home.. It is such a fast and inexpensive easy task, you should not take a risk in not doing it!

Leaving the heat on is inviting mice in.

I live just down the road from Nashville. I blew my trailer out with air, put anti freeze in the drains. Easiest way to go.....so if you want to take it out, not that much of a problem. Even running Anti-Freeze through the whole system isn't an expensive way to go if you might want to use it later.

gbopp wrote:
Get a RV Blow Out Plug. Use your compressor to blow the water out of the lines.
Pour RV antifreeze in the traps and you're good for freezing temps.

It's quick and easy. You can get blow out plugs on Amazon or any RV store.

X2. Then just run the water pump dry for a minute. There wont be enough moisture left anywhere to cause any harm.

SidecarFlip wrote:
Depends on the time below 32 degrees. Just having the 'heat' on at 50 won't help the pipes under the cabinets at all.

Now, I keep my entire unit in a heated enclosure so no winterizing needed.

Not all of us have a heated enclosure.

I beg to differ about the pipes freezing. It depends on the amount of air circulation one has. I have a 3 season trailer and have left my heat on set at 50 plenty of times between winter trips when the night time temps were in the upper 20's. I've even just left a ceramic box heater with fan running on the kitchen counter top.

The return air for the furnace is a louvered plate in the cabinet wall next to the furnace allowing air to circulate under my cabinets all the way from the sink at the side, then under the stove, then under the fridge, then around the furnace which is under the closet, then under the tub at the rear, then the bathroom sink and then around the water heater. If it gets into the low 20's I leave the kitchen sink cabinet and bathroom sink cabinet doors open to make sure the pipes don't freeze.

I never drain the water heater or fresh water tank between trips either. The heating duct has a hole in it where it passes over the fresh water tank for blowing hot air over the top of the tank which is under the floor and covered with coroplast on the bottom keeping the tank from freezing. If it is going to be in the low 20's for a few nights I'll light the water heater and put it on the lowest setting.

Thank you guys. I figured since it had the four seasons package it would be ok to leave heat on. One question though. It did get to 29oc overnight here once really early in the season and it caught me by surprise. I had not drained the water heater or turned the heat on. How would I know if I caused a line to freeze up and blow? Is this likely for one night below freezing?

There's really no guaranty as to whether a pipe will take a night of marginal temps.
I hate worrying about such things so I just take care of it.
We do leave a space heater running to keep it just above freezing inside. I've seen too many vinyl floors crack (like my neighbor's across the street) because they get too cold.