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Old 11-28-2020, 07:43 PM   #1
S1thomas
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Question Need to leave for 4 days in cold temps!

We are partial timers in our new 331RL. Meaning we spend 4-6 months a year in the North Georgia Mountains and the rest of the year in Phoenix Arizona.

Next week we are expecting night temperatures in the low 20’s and mid 10’s and daytime temps in the 20’s and 30’s. We need to leave the RV for 3 nights to go see a new grand baby and I’m not sure how we should leave the RV.

Should we leave the heater on at 50-60? Tank heaters on? Water drained? We are on city water so I have heard we should disconnect? Hot water heater drained?

We just got the HC 3 weeks ago upgrading from a 2006 Outback. Wow what a difference so I want to make sure I do the right thing so I would appreciate your thoughts.
 
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Old 11-28-2020, 09:10 PM   #2
rohrmann
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Some years ago we were in those temps north of KC, and we would run through a 7 gallon cylinder of propane in two days. So, two cylinders would last four days. We had park power, so the water heater and the fridge run on electric and the batteries were kept charged. We also got an electric hose before the temps got that cold, so the water hose never froze either. If you aren't connected to power, your batteries won't last three days running the furnace. We never had anything freeze doing this.
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Old 11-28-2020, 09:36 PM   #3
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Scott,

With a little compressed air and a gallon of antifreeze you can winterize it in about 30 minutes. You never know if your 3 nights could turn into 5 or the temps could go lower. If you have power, keep it plugged in and run a small electric heater.
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Old 11-29-2020, 07:16 AM   #4
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In your situation, I would:

1. Disconnect the water hose, drain it completely and stow it away (even if that is just under the trailer on the ground.

2. Turn off water heater, bypass, and drain.

3. Blow the remaining lines with compressed air. Being a previous trailer owner, you should be familiar with this process. Blow everything, including the low point drains, outside shower, even the ice maker in the refrigerator if you have one.

4. If you have slides, pull them in also. It's safer, and in the event something happens and you are gone longer than expected, you know it's secure as possible.

5. If you have wet items inside the camper (like jars of pickles in water, Ketchup in bottles, bottles of soda, beer, even cans of green beans, cleaning solutions like bleach, liquid floor cleaners, liquid laundry soap,) all of this is subject to freezing and those cans and bottles with ANY? kind of liquid can freeze, break and cause a horrific mess. But since you are going to be gone a few days (and hopefully nothing delays you), if you have electric heat, electric on and hope there are no power outages while you are gone.

6. Keep your furnace on, both bottles of propane open, and turn the thermostat down to about 40 degrees. Yes, the trailer will get cold at that temperature, but nothing will freeze. And your propane will stretch out longer. No one is going to be there, it's OK to drop the temperature down.

7. Make sure your black and grey water tanks are emptied completely.

8. Pour some "pink stuff" down the drains to displace the water in all the P-traps. Sinks and shower.

9. You might be away from the camper for only a few days, but when the temps drop blow freezing, you have to plan as if you are leaving forever.

10. If you KNOW you are going to be gone longer and temps are staying below freezing long-term, then you do need to remove everything containing water and just shut the whole thing down completely.
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Old 11-29-2020, 11:04 AM   #5
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I would winterize it if you can’t take it with you.
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Old 11-29-2020, 06:35 PM   #6
S1thomas
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Still no grand baby!

Looks like we will be here through the temps in mid 10’s.

Amazon will deliver the heated hose tomorrow and we have a lesko space heater we will keep in the living room. Anything else?
Based on above we will full winterize before leaving for a few days.

Appreciate the comments.
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Old 12-06-2020, 01:36 PM   #7
DaveK
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I have a 331. You'll need over 2 gallons of antifreeze to winterize.
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Old 12-06-2020, 02:37 PM   #8
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I live in those kind of temps all winter.
Turn off the city water, and drain the hose.
Drain the tanks or leave the tank heaters on.
You don't have to drain the water heater & internal lines, but you have to leave the water heater on if you don't.
Turn the heat back to 55.
If you are on electric hookups, add an electric heater set to run in the 60s. That should help the propane last longer, but the furnace will still run to keep things from freezing in the basement depending on your RV.
I added a 250 watt heater ($10 at Walmart, it has no thermostat) in my basement to keep it from freezing with an outlet plug that turns on at 35, and off at 45.
You can find the outlet thing at farm & ranch type retailers, or just let it run while you are gone. This is plugged into a spliter on the outlet in my basement that runs my vacuum.
YMMV
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Old 12-06-2020, 04:24 PM   #9
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I don't winterize for the winter months in Texas. Except for this year, we've used our RV all year long. Sometimes we get several days in the twenties and/or teens, back to back that don't get above freezing. I set the furnace around 45 to 50 degrees, plug in an electric radiator set around 60 to 65. If in the teens, I put a small electric heater in the belly (safe area away from combustibles). All hoses put away. I don't have tank heaters. Never had a problem here doing it like this, but if wind is blowing pretty good, this might not be enough. I have my RV parked where it's partially protected from the wind.
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Old 12-06-2020, 06:29 PM   #10
Jester
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Scott, don’t cheap out. Spend the couple of dollars and winterize it. The $50 you spend will be cheap insurance against the potential damage you could cause to the fine mini home. Do it. That’s all
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Old 12-06-2020, 10:32 PM   #11
Mikelff
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Quote:
Originally Posted by S1thomas View Post
We are partial timers in our new 331RL. Meaning we spend 4-6 months a year in the North Georgia Mountains and the rest of the year in Phoenix Arizona.

Next week we are expecting night temperatures in the low 20’s and mid 10’s and daytime temps in the 20’s and 30’s. We need to leave the RV for 3 nights to go see a new grand baby and I’m not sure how we should leave the RV.

Should we leave the heater on at 50-60? Tank heaters on? Water drained? We are on city water so I have heard we should disconnect? Hot water heater drained?

We just got the HC 3 weeks ago upgrading from a 2006 Outback. Wow what a difference so I want to make sure I do the right thing so I would appreciate your thoughts.
As others have mentioned, if you will be gone for a few days and it will be freezing and into the mid 20’s or below, safest thing would be to filly winterize. If you are not able to blow out your water lines, you will have to use the pink stuff. If you have water lines for washer/ dryer don't forget those. If you blow out your lines you will need a couple gallons of the pink RV antifreeze for your P traps. Drain your tanks including your hot water tank. DONT get any pink stuff in your hot water heater. If you are camping in this freezing weather, a heated fresh water hose is a good idea. Also use the electric space heaters as others have mentioned but keep your furnace on as a back up in case the space heaters struggle in the coldest part of the day. Keep your hot water tank on using the electric heat. If you have tank heaters might as well keep those on as well. Keep warm!
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Old 12-07-2020, 05:34 AM   #12
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We got caught in a winter storm in late Oct this year on our way back to Montana from Ohio. The last two days day time temps did not get above 10 degrees. We stayed in RV Parks at night so we hooked up electrical. Didn't hook up to water as it would only freeze. Filled the fresh water tank instead. Our RV has the arctic package. During the day we ran with the heat set at 55 and left the water heater turned on. While parked we keep the heat to the comfort range for us. Nothing froze up during that time. If you're not plugged into power you should definitely winterize. We used a 30# propane tank everyday during those last two days. If you have any doubts, winterize.
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