Seasonal Sites....do's and don'ts

I have had a travel trailer on a seasonal site since 2006 and actually have two trailers on seasonal sites right now. I leave it plugged in, fridge on, water and water heater off, and only leave stuff in the fridge that will survive until the next trip (beer, cheese, butter, drinks, eggs, etc). I leave the slides out . I have Maxx-Air and AeroFlow vent covers over all of the vents and I leave a vent open in each camper. All sewer valves are left closed and I use PVC pipe instead of the slinky.

TOOBOLD wrote:
The temperature can get into the mid 90's do you leave the A/C on?

I unplug my trailer so I do not. Some parks you pay for electric some it's included. My RV sits in North MN so it's where I go to get away from hot weather.

The temperature can get into the mid 90's do you leave the A/C on?

We also completely disconnect our water. Ours is connected across our back lawn to a spigot on a utility building. I worry just as much about arriving to water running out the door as I do to finding a chewed up hose courtesy of a lawn mower. We keep an enclosed hose reel on the bumper rack for convenience and tidiness.

Fridge on "auto". Awning in. Slides out. Water heater off. A/C on reasonable. Windows closed. And maybe a few mousetraps for good measure.

Although it's simple to lock the door and leave, I still created a to-do list for our not-entirely-dependable sons if they are the last to leave.

As Dutchmen Sport said, I take everything perishable out of the frig. I had a park employee unplug my trailer while weed-eating the area. I came back to spoiled meat and that smell was so rank it was all I could do to clean out the frig. I turn off everything and run the slides in. When I get there I plug in turn on A/C and frig and go to bed. The next day I go to store and stock what I need. Most dry goods stay in RV.

Congratts on the seasonal site. I feel lucky as well to get mine, two page waiting list.

Don't leave the dump valves open. Only dump the tanks when they are pretty full to avoid bugs and critters from getting into your unit and avoid crude build up in your tanks.

Be sure the park office knows your contact phone number.

Congrats on the site.
If the campground allows it, use pvc pipe and rubber couplings to plumb the tanks to the sewer.
We also leave the camper plugged in so we can keep the refrigerator on. Water heater is turned off and water turned off at the spigot.
Buy a vent cover so you can keep the vent open a couple inches for circulation. A couple buckets of Damp Rid can help with moisture too.
We also filled any gaps with Great Stuff to prevent critters from getting in. Try to crawl under the trailer at night with all the lights on inside. Have someone use a flashlight to shine in the corners and under cabinets from the inside while you're down there too, there can be gaps where the gas and water pipes enter and exit underneath. If you see light shining through, fill the gap with the foam.
We use some of the old wives' tales like dryer sheets for pest prevention too. Ant and glue traps as well... even between trips.

Best Wishes and keep us posted on your setup. Would love to see pictures too.

As soon as you get there take a walk around and look what others do.
At our park you can just lock up everything when going home. I'm sure every park has its own peculiar things.

Slides in/out? That's your choice. It does not hurt anything to leave the slides out as far as the mechanics of the camper go. Personally, I feel better with them "in" when not in use a while, just so the roof stays cleaner (bird poo), leaves, bugs, and windy debris (tree branches falling), hail, ect possibly damaging the roof. Why risk it? But as far as the camper goes, they can stay out all the time.

Fridge: We keep our fridge on 24x7, even when parked at home. Our new Outback, we turned it off over the winter (first time we've turned the fridge off any camper in over 10 years). Does not hurt to leave them turned on. We empty our fridge, except for ice and canned soft drinks. Anything perishable goes back in the house. In the event of power failure and if the propane ran out, we don't want anything to spoil and stink up the refrigerator. But just leaving it "on" will not hurt anything.

I would definately turn the water off at the outside faucet. We do this even in campgrounds when we're going to be away from the camper for even a couple hours. The last thing you want is to come back to your camper after a week and find out you had a line inside the camper break and water's been running inside for the last 6 days! Always a good idea to turn off the water at the spigot, but no reason to drain the lines in your camper unless you're winterizing.

And yes, if you're going to be gone for a length of time, it's best to turn the water heater off. Same reason as above, the potential for a water leak is there. It only takes a few minutes to reheat water. (especially if your turn the outside spigot off).

I'd put the stinky-slinky away if I were gone a few days. You're correct, critters can damage them. Why take chances? Kids can trip over them. Vandals may damage them. It's a quick thing to do and you have peace of mind knowing they are safe-out-of-site.

There's not much you can about mice or bug infestations, except make sure every nook-and-cranny is button down tight. Look for any holes and pump them full of foamy "Stuff" or something to keep the critters out!

Keep your windows close tight and doors locked tight when not there. Don't tempt a thief.

When your gone through the week, button it down just like you would your house. Leave nothing readily available for damage or theft. It's a sad day when you have to start replacing things, and if it's a human that caused damage, such damage can make you loose faith in people real fast, and cause serious doubt about those who are parked beside you too! Button down. It's the best thing to do.