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sbowman871's avatar
sbowman871
Explorer
Apr 14, 2014

Short cut winterizing

Just finished up our first weekend of camping. Weather was great, high 70s. On Tuesday, they are calling for a low of 27 with wind, snow, sleet, and all. So I parked my TT at home, outside and did the following. Drained the fresh water, drained the HW heater, drained the low pint drains, and left all faucets open. I think I will be ok for the day or two at or below freezing. Did I miss anything?
  • Any time the temperature drops for a night or two I leave the furnace set somewhere around 45-50, expecially if I can reach a 110 cord from the house to the camper, and have never had any trouble. Would be about the same as camping in 24-30 degree weather at night.
  • When you blow out the lines, do it to all of them.
    We lost a shower head this year to a 36 hour freeze. We had blown out the shower line, but assumed the shower wand itself, lying in the tub, was empty.
  • The amount of time below 32 degrees is the important thing. If it drops to below during the night, but rises well above during the day, all will be well. If it drops below 32 and stays below for several days and nights, you need to take measures as suggested above. Good luck with whatever you do.
  • Hi,

    I would also suggest blowing out the lines with a compressor. If you would rather, then put a electric heater under the sink, and that will keep most of the lines above 32, afterall they are inside the RV.

    If you have tanks enclosed within the basement, like my Bounder motorhome, then you should be fine, even without the heater, because the RV normally stays warmer than the outside temp.

    Fred.
  • There will be water in the lines.

    I'd go and get an air compressor (I used 30PSI) and a blowout plug, then go valve by valve (including the toilet and shower) to get the water out... at the minimum.

    Do this at your own risk, but I used a pump to get vodka into my city water connection, which I ran through all faucets... then blew out the lines with compressed air. My rig withstood the worst winter in Texas since 1997 pretty well.