In the last two years the DW and I have been camping well into November in northern Indiana with a run of the mill Dutchmen TT. I have found that a 20 degree night is not all that bad if the next day is sunny and in the 40's or 50's. It seems it is not cold enough long enough to freeze up the pipes. We usually just get by with an electric space heater and save the propane.Since winterizing is simple enough, if we have a sustain cold snap coming; I bypass and drain the hot water and connect the pump to the bottles of antifreeze then run the facets till they flow pink.I was wondering how late others folk push the season until they have to dry camp?

A lot depends on how long it stays below freezing at any given time, in the 20s for a couple of hours is ok, but if it starts staying cold for 4 to 8 hrs at a time, time to winterize.

Completely understand waiting if you are still able to use your RV. I take a different approach at it though as my work (yes, four letter dirty word) schedule can have me drop things at a moment's notice and head off to the airport. So, when it gets near the end of the season, Sept/Oct, I will go ahead and winterize although I have had good luck with compressed air and just draining WH, blowing out lines, dump tanks. No pink stuff in the lines, only in the p-traps and toilet. I don't want to get caught away with an early sustained cold snap where there is nothing I can do about winterizing while out of state. Obviously, even though it was winterized, I can still use the trailer and choose to only use bottled water and just quickly winterize it again when home. It actually doesn't take very long to blow out the lines so it is not something that I mind.

Normally we do it towards the end of October, around the time they come around to blow out our sprinklers at our house. But it's being done right now this year, as our trailer was in the shop anyway for body work, so we figured we might as well have them do it now since we have no plans to camp the rest of the year.

Depends. I always hope to go out over Thanksgiving, but have yet to actually make it. Usually completely winterize late November, early December, depending on weather. I've also been known to run the furnace a night or two is i'm still hoping to get out. Only winterize when I know I won't be going out for a month or two.

... truthfully, some years it is about 5 minutes after the weather portion of the 11pm news where it shows a cold front moving in that night and staying cold for awhile... we scramble to get the water heater and outside shower taken care of, usually already have the fresh water tank dumped, so open the low point drains... suck up some rv antifreeze after making sure WH bypass is turned.

When do you winterize? | Good Sam Community

22 Replies

RedRocket204
Explorer
Oct 03, 2016
Completely understand waiting if you are still able to use your RV.

I take a different approach at it though as my work (yes, four letter dirty word) schedule can have me drop things at a moment's notice and head off to the airport. So, when it gets near the end of the season, Sept/Oct, I will go ahead and winterize although I have had good luck with compressed air and just draining WH, blowing out lines, dump tanks. No pink stuff in the lines, only in the p-traps and toilet. I don't want to get caught away with an early sustained cold snap where there is nothing I can do about winterizing while out of state.

Obviously, even though it was winterized, I can still use the trailer and choose to only use bottled water and just quickly winterize it again when home. It actually doesn't take very long to blow out the lines so it is not something that I mind.
rstanek
Explorer
Oct 03, 2016
A lot depends on how long it stays below freezing at any given time, in the 20s for a couple of hours is ok, but if it starts staying cold for 4 to 8 hrs at a time, time to winterize.

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When do you winterize?

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