Storing rv in desert heat

[AnnieCobey]

I’m leaving my fifth wheel set up in an rv park for the summer months Any tips on what I should do to before I leave. I won’t be returning until late fall. Also can I leave food or drinks in the rv or should I get rid of them. Any advice would be great as this is my first year doing this

[tazwing]

joshuajim wrote:

tazwing wrote:
We always use milk jugs but put each one in a disposable aluminum turkey roaster.

Wouldn’t it be easier to just fill the turkey roasters with water?

Probably, but the narrow mouth jugs release the moisture slower than the roasters. We also put a large garbage can in the bathtub and fill it about halfway, that's just my husband doing overkill though.

[Elizabeth24]

Lots of great advice,be especially careful with leaving cleaning products, bleach explodes and eats flooring. Know that the hard way!
We would leave several 7 gallon water containers full with the lids off and when we would return in the fall they were 3/4 empty.

Never really had problems with mice but sand would get in no matter how
we sealed everything up.

[joshuajim]

tazwing wrote:
We always use milk jugs but put each one in a disposable aluminum turkey roaster.

Wouldn’t it be easier to just fill the turkey roasters with water?

[tazwing]

We always use milk jugs but put each one in a disposable aluminum turkey roaster.

[timmac]

I would never store my RV outside in the southwest summers, besides the extreme heat our sun intensity on a scale of 1 to 10 is 12..


I would at least invest in a RV cover to keep the sun off the RV and will help keep it cooler inside, even if the shade cover got ripped in our many winds we have here.

Here is how I store my RV in Vegas.

[doxiemom11]

The silver sun screen stuff works very well - we used on in our windshield of the motorhome for the summer in N Mex. If it were me, I would put that inside all windows and vents as it will help keep the interior cooler. Ours was heavier duty with an insulating material between 2 sheets of the silver stuff. Well worth the extra cost over the cheap ones everyone has for their cars.

[moisheh]

Never leave anything elastic. Of course do not leave any food. Especially anything that would attract bugs or mice. Dirty clothing will never become clean. Detergent bottles will explode. Spices loose their oomph.

Moisheh

[bobsallyh]

gbopp, we are also from PA., lived there 50 plus years before going fulltime in 2003. The desert presents things we never heard of or thought about until fall of 2003. If somebody would have told us we would become desert rats back then, I would have told them they full of mud!

[bobsallyh]

We have had and seen the bottoms of milk jugs deteriorate and slowly let the water leak onto the floor. Haven't had it happen if jugs are placed in sinks. So I don't know if chemicals or what in carpeting or linoleum cause some kind of breakdown.
Something else I missed , was make sure you remove the battery from any smoke detectors. They have a bad habit of draining over the summer and then emit a slight beep telling you the battery needs changed. This slight beep is real PITA if a close neighbor returns to the park before you.

[AnnieCobey]

Thanks for all the information

[gbopp]

bobsallyh wrote:
DO NOT use milk jugs.

I'm in Pennsylvania so I don't have to be too concerned about the heat.
I'm curious, why no milk jugs? Are they too small or does the heat melt them, etc.?

[joshuajim]

I live in the Mojave at 3500 MSL, not the coolest place in summer and the solar intensity is high at this elevation. I’ve stored my trailers uncovered for the last 23 years with no special preparation. Other than some fading of decals nothing damaging has happened.

I’m seeing a lot of solutions in search of a problem.

[Dick_B]

Sunshield tarp with silver side up.

[azdryheat]

I can speak for my trailer left in the AZ summer sun for over 4 years. The graphics on the front cap fried. The so-called leather upholstery in the living room started separating from the backing material. RV's do not like the summer heat. I had it covered but the winds tore the cover to shreds. Make that two covers.