Winterized, but still want to use

[ckacosta]

Long time lurker here. I recently became a new class A RV'er and have a few questions.

I live in eastern Colorado and have just returned from a trip to Florida. I winterized in FL before I left.
- drain all tanks
- drain HWH, blow-out, bypass
- blow-out all faucets, showers, toilet, clothes washer, low-point drains, ice maker water line/run dry cycle
- turn on water pump and run the faucets dry
- pour 2 cups of antifreeze down all drains, toilet, washer/run drain cycle
When I got back home to CO, I decided to blow the lines again, and I'm glad I did. Several more ounces of water came out of several of the faucets. Just to be safe, I blew out everything again, then re-did the antifreeze in the drains.

I want to continue using the RV during the winter. I will not fill the fresh tank, and will flush the toilet with washer fluid. My question is about the batteries, generator, propane, furnace, AC.

Should I winterize the batteries, generator, propane, furnace, AC, so that I can continue to use them every month or so? Should I leave everything hooked up and run them all for a few minutes every week to keep the batteries alive? Do I need to do anything special with any of these?

Thanks

2003 Fleetwood Bounder 36S

[ckacosta]

Thanks

[jsmart]

We use ours also all winter. I just blow out the lines and keep it plugged in. We've done two short trips this winter.

[csamayfield55x]

We use ours all winter!! Matter of fact I have winterized and unwinterized 3 times already. When you get the pattern down it takes just a few minutes! I can do my whole trailer in 10 minutes and use less than 1 full gallon of Pink stuff to do it

WE love winter camping and love camping in the snow

Chris

[Grit_dog]

Just use it. No different than your car. Do you winterize the batteries in your car?
Run no E gas in the generator if it's gasoline powered and you won't have to worry about it sitting idle for awhile either.

[wbwood]

We run the antifreeze through the lines. That way we don't bother with blowing the lines out and hope to get all the water out. Matter of fact, our local Camping World will not winterize the RV's here without running antifreeze through the lines. They say they can not guarantee them unless the antifreeze is through the lines. The antifreeze is non toxic and after you run water through the lines, you can't tell it's been there. But we do not drink the water from the RV either.

Over the winter, we will take the RV out once or twice camping. What we normally do is keep the RV winterized and just don't use the inside plumbing. We make sure we go to a campground/RV park with decent bath houses and park not too far from them if we can. Then we just use the bath house as if we were tent camping. If we gotta go or need to take a shower, just go to the bath house. That way, we do not have to worry about dumping anything. It makes camping about half as easy as when we hook up water and a sewage hose. Depending on location, we may go out to eat for dinner or lunch. Any food that is prepared at the RV is done normally. We just make sure not to put any water down the drain (we bring water with us in jugs). We heat the water on the stove to wash the pot/dishes (if needed) and wash them in rubbermaid tubs. We then pour the water down the outside sewer trap. Some places may have specific rules about dumping dish water if you don't have a sewer connection at your site. You can plan your meals to make them easier to have to avoid washing things.

If on hook ups, we will use an electric heater inside. Saves on propane.It can be done and just takes some small sacrifices. But I would rather sacrifice a little to be able to continue using our RV during the winter.

We got about 9-10" of snow last night. This coming friday, we are heading south for the long weekend to Hilton Head Island Motorcoach Resort. It will be in the mid 70's there and low in the high 50's. I will dewinterize for that trip and rewinterize when we leave. But it will only take a few minutes to do so. I will already be dumping the tanks. Just need run the lines dry and antifreeze through them. Then we are good to go. We may get another trip in during the month of march, but we have a week long tri planned to florida in April...can't wait!

[ckacosta]

That makes sense. I inadvertently blew-out the pipes before I ran the pump dry. I'm glad I ran the pump dry then blew-out again.

I never thought about a small solar panel just for trickle-charging the batteries. Great idea.
Like most people, I would love a large solar panel to run everything in the chassis, but $$$.

My converter is a 'Progressive Dynamics InteliPower 9130'.
Any idea if I need a Charge Wizard for this if I am going to keep a charge applied to it full-time?

Thanks

[DrewE]

There's nothing to do to "winterize" the batteries, propane system, and other appliances. You should make sure the batteries do not get discharged (either by charging them fully and disconnecting them completely, or by maintaining their charge with a maintenance charger or solar setup or the converter). That's true for non-winter storage, as well, although in warmer temperatures they will self-discharge at a much faster rate. Likewise, if the RV is going to be stored for an extended period of time, the fuel tank should be filled up (so that there's essentially no air space and hence no condensation) and perhaps fuel stabilizer added--again, just as for long-term summer storage. It is also not a bad idea to run the generator for awhile every now and again to keep the brushes and slip rings clean and free, also regardless of the time of year.

By the way, I'd guess that most of the water you got the second time you blew out the lines came from running the pump dry after blowing them out the first time. If you ran the pump dry first, you should be able to blow out virtually all the water in the system. A few drops in the bottoms of the pipes and fittings won't hurt anything; there's plenty of room for that little bit to expand when it freezes without bursting anything.

So long as the water is out of the plumbing, it's not necessary to heat the RV. It also isn't harmful, though it does waste energy assuming you don't need to have it warm for other reasons (like you're staying in it). If it is unheated (and even if heated) you should probably think about removing most water-based products that you may have stored in the RV, like window cleaner or beer.

[Tom_Barb]

your generator coolant system should have antifreeze in it, so that should be good to set.
keep the batteries fully charged. Propane should be good also, furness should be good too, as the AC isn't needed should be OK too.
be certain you run antifreeze thru the fresh water pump circuit.
running it or keeping the heat on won't hurt either. we use two little bee hive type electric heaters for that.