Outside storage in snow

[lots2seeinmyrv]

First time living in snow country...for those of you who store your RV outside:

1) Do you keep your trailer plugged into the house and put a small space heater inside and set it at 40 degrees?

2) Keeping the battery charged...if I keep the trailer plugged into the house it will stay charged. OR is it best to pull out the battery and put it in the basement so it does not freeze.

Would like to know your procedure.

Thank you.

[atreis]

lots2seeinmyrv wrote:
First time living in snow country...for those of you who store your RV outside:

1) Do you keep your trailer plugged into the house and put a small space heater inside and set it at 40 degrees?

2) Keeping the battery charged...if I keep the trailer plugged into the house it will stay charged. OR is it best to pull out the battery and put it in the basement so it does not freeze.

Would like to know your procedure.

Thank you.

1) No!! What a horrible waste of electric that would be (even at 40 degrees).

You do have to winterize the plumbing so that it isn't damaged from freezing water.

2) Assuming you're using a stock converter, leaving it plugged in could be bad for your batteries. I leave mine unplugged and let the solar panel keep the batteries charged, but without the solar panel, I would make sure the batteries are fully charged, disconnect them completely, reconnect them every couple months for a few hours to charge back up. Fully charged batteries won't freeze in MD. (Dead batteries could.)

[lots2seeinmyrv]

Thanks for all the replies everybody. Sounds like if we want to remove the battery...just fully charge it and put it in our basement utility room. It will be fine for 3-4 months without charging?

Just bought a cover for the air conditioner and we will cover the refrigerator vent. Finished putting lap sealant on the roof, caulked all the sides. Just have to get the pink stuff in.

I'd rather be camping all winter!

[jml]

All options are ok but for me I just fully charge the batteries, disconnect them to avoid discharge from parasit load(mostly propane detector) and I leave them outside in the RV. I do that since 2007 with the same batteries.

[Opie431]

Message did not appear so I resent it. Than of course there were two. Sorry.


Ours stays outside, no heat with the battery inside the house. We are gone for three months during the winter and charge the battery just before we leave. Last winter was cold, cold, cold, and the TT came thru it fine.
We do cover the TT but the one year we could not it came thru the winter fine.
We probably have colder winters then you will.

[Opie431]

Ours stays outside, no heat with the battery inside the house. We are gone for three months during the winter and charge the battery just before we leave. Last winter was cold, cold, cold, and the TT came thru it fine.
We do cover the TT but the one year we could not it came thru the winter fine.
We probably have colder winters then you will.

[bdlaise]

Wax, winterize, tape up (blue painters tape) the vents, and remove the battery, every few weeks check inside, when it get warm reflate the tires

[stetwood]

ScottG wrote:
I keep ours heated to about 43 degrees.
Every spring I read dozens of stories about both RV's and boats having their vinyl flooring split because of cold temps.
Heating also keeps the woodwork and its finish from being damaged and keeps the RV drier.

Our 5ver has spent 12 years of winters in temperatures to 30 below zero with NO heat and no problems with woodwork or vinyl flooring. We save the energy to heat our homes and workplaces.

[GaryWT]

We winterize, take all food and clothes our, unplug the trailer and bring the battery in the house. The trailer is plugged in May to Nov but we do not leave it that way over the winter.

[myredracer]

KS56 wrote:

BE CAREFUL when disconnecting and reconnecting the battery to avoid shock! Can be very dangerous, make sure you know what you are doing!

How does one get a shock from a 12 volt battery? Except for maybe in the spring when you go to reconnect it and it won't hold a charge anymore...

[dadmomh]

If for no other reason than peace of mind I would winterize. Regardless of the past history of freeze/thaw, weather is definitely changing and for less than an hour's work and about $10, it's not worth taking a chance. Though not positive since it's not part of my job description, I believe DH charges the battery and then brings in into the garage for the duration. The first year with our HTT we did the battery thing wrong and were in for a new battery in the spring, so check carefully on how to handle that.

[Bull_Rider]

Blow out all of the lines with compressed air, pull the hot water anode and drain the hot water tank, pull the caps off of the low point drain lines last and blow them out too. Put a couple of cups of pink antifreeze into the pee traps, and the toilet. Drain out the fresh water tank too.


Make sure you take in cans, bottles, etc. that could freeze and break. Put out some mouse traps, turn off the heat and tell it goodnight.

[KS56]

Our Travel Trailers have always sat outside without heat and without any covers during the harsh winters of Western New York.
We winterize the water system and remove the battery. The fully charged battery gets stored in a heated basement till we de-winterize in early May.
BE CAREFUL when disconnecting and reconnecting the battery to avoid shock! Can be very dangerous, make sure you know what you are doing!
In addition to the above, we place drier sheets all over the inside of the trailer, seems to keep out critters and bugs.
This has served us well for the last 16 years.

K. Scharf
Apex 215RBK
Just love our new camper!

[bhh]

What (s)he said :

Gdetrailer wrote:
Outside 24/7/365

Plugged in convertor ON, batteries connected (this is provided you have at least a 2 stage or 3stage modern converter which will not boil the batteries to death).

NO HEAT what so ever. Unless you are planning to camp in the winter, winterizing the water system IS your best bet.

I personally would not recommend depending on a small heater or even using the RV heater when not in use. Just wastes your money on electric and propane and if depending on it to keep your water lines from freezing you might find that you will need to keep the temps up much higher than 40 and if you have a power outage risk of freezing..

Keeping battery charged..

Provided you have a modern 2 or 3 stage converter you can typically leave the converter on with battery attached. Just be aware than if you have a power outage (or somehow the RV loses power) there will be a constant drain on the battery (from the 12V devices in the trailer like fridge control board and propane detector) which can flatten a battery in a week or two.

Alternately you can simply disconnect the battery and once every month connect the battery and power the converter a few days to top off the battery..

Or you could pull the battery and store in your garage, but you still will need to put a charger on the battery at least once every three months to top off the battery..

Fully charged batteries will not freeze however, partially charged or completely flat batteries can freeze. It is always best to ensure the battery is fully charged at all times for best life of the battery..

Leaving a battery in a partially charged state will reduce the over all life of the battery..

[ScottG]

I keep ours heated to about 43 degrees.
Every spring I read dozens of stories about both RV's and boats having their vinyl flooring split because of cold temps.
Heating also keeps the woodwork and its finish from being damaged and keeps the RV drier.

[pugslyyy]

I keep mine plugged in an use a small electric heater set low. My camper is fiberglass (well insulated) so I don't have huge power bills from it.

I drain the water lines but don't add antifreeze.