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Old 01-04-2014, 05:02 PM   #1
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Rv idling.

My MH is in my garage. My garage is 20 foot wide by 40 foot long. Not very insulated and high ceilings. Now, i have two heaters out in the rv. Because heating the garage would be a battle. Currently at -10 it will stay at 58 in the mh. Next cpl days their talking -45. Sooo i was thinking idling it for half hour let the vent heat from dash warm up rv. Have you guys ever idled your gassers for long periods of time? Any proven problems caused by this? Exhaust is hooked up to tubes and vented out.
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Old 01-04-2014, 05:09 PM   #2
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My MH is in my garage. My garage is 20 foot wide by 40 foot long. Not very insulated and high ceilings. Now, i have two heaters out in the rv. Because heating the garage would be a battle. Currently at -10 it will stay at 58 in the mh. Next cpl days their talking -45. Sooo i was thinking idling it for half hour let the vent heat from dash warm up rv. Have you guys ever idled your gassers for long periods of time? Any proven problems caused by this? Exhaust is hooked up to tubes and vented out.
What are you trying to do here? Is it winterized? Don't start the engine for heating purposes, if you are winterized......leave it sit. If you are not winterized.......with the temps. you posted(winter zone) shame on you.........for not taking care of your Coach If your Coach was not sitting in a climate controlled garage, it should of been winterized a long time ago.........
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Old 01-04-2014, 05:11 PM   #3
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I bought it in late november i dont know for sure if he winterized it.
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Old 01-04-2014, 05:18 PM   #4
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I bought it in late november i dont know for sure if he winterized it.
????????????
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Old 01-04-2014, 05:24 PM   #5
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My MH is in my garage. My garage is 20 foot wide by 40 foot long. Not very insulated and high ceilings. Now, i have two heaters out in the rv. Because heating the garage would be a battle. Currently at -10 it will stay at 58 in the mh. Next cpl days their talking -45. Sooo i was thinking idling it for half hour let the vent heat from dash warm up rv. Have you guys ever idled your gassers for long periods of time? Any proven problems caused by this? Exhaust is hooked up to tubes and vented out.
If the coach isn't winterized, the damage is already done. You won't do any good to run the engine at idle, if you can't drive it at highway speeds. All idling does in this case is builds up condensation in the engine, transmission, and exhaust. Let it sit.
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Old 01-04-2014, 05:35 PM   #6
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I bought it in late november i dont know for sure if he winterized it.
-45? Yikes. That's why I like the deep south.

Sounds like your electric heaters are doing well. Why don't you turn on the water pump, open a faucet and see if you get pink antifreeze being pumped out. If yes, then it's been winterized. If no, I'd put some type of heat into the wet bay and any other storage compartment that may have plumbing.

Good luck

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Old 01-04-2014, 05:49 PM   #7
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Engine oil was changed wednesday. Quart of lucas added. Tank is full with stabil in it. My water tank has water in it but its not frozen. Im assuming the warmth of the inside and it being close to the floor it has stayed thawed. Like i said i bought it and it was already freezing. Garage takes blunt of wind. So it stays decent in garage. No idea of actual temp. Just a little worried i spose.
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Old 01-04-2014, 05:53 PM   #8
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I'd get someone out there to winterize if you do not know how. Too much chance to free up expensive plumbing.

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Old 01-04-2014, 06:03 PM   #9
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If you don't know how to winterize your mh, watch a couple of YouTube videos as soon as you can... They do a good job at giving you a basic understanding of what needs to be done... For right now.... try to drain and run as much of the water out of the freshwater holding tank as you can. Also, Open all the faucets and drain the hot water heater.
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Old 01-04-2014, 06:40 PM   #10
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Engine oil was changed wednesday. Quart of lucas added. Tank is full with stabil in it. My water tank has water in it but its not frozen. Im assuming the warmth of the inside and it being close to the floor it has stayed thawed. Like i said i bought it and it was already freezing. Garage takes blunt of wind. So it stays decent in garage. No idea of actual temp. Just a little worried i spose.
I'd be a LOT worried. Water freezes at 32F (I know you know that..). I keep my coach in an unheated barn, and it's just as cold in there as it is outside.

Like I said, chances are you're already frozen up. To minimize the damage, I'd have the coach winterized by a professional. First thing is to thaw it out in a heated shop, pressurize the system with air testing for leaks, and then winterize. Don't expect to hold the professionals accountable, as the unit has most likely sustained damage from freezing already.
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Old 01-04-2014, 07:00 PM   #11
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if it was not winterized winterizing is not brain work does not take long and it is never too late as long as damage is not done. So winterize even if you are just blowing out the water lines at your temps antifreeze is beat

a simple thermometer inside the building will tell you the temperature there.


electric heaters and light bulbs in the bay and basement will protect water lines there

you need to get moving on it though
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Old 01-04-2014, 07:06 PM   #12
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As mentioned, determine if it is winterized. If not, the practical thing to do is to run the furnace fan continuously which will circulate air to the basement. Also put small heater in the basement set about 50 degrees. Don't run engine. Of course, get it plugged in to 120volts and make sure your master switch is on or closed. Make sure the water pump is off and all faucets are open to reduce pressure in the pipes in case one of them does freeze. Being plastic chances are freezing will not burst the plastic pipe. It things do freeze, damage will likely be minimal. A pipe has to freeze at both ends first with liquid in between. This traps the fluid in the middle and as that liquid cools to about 36F it expands and it is at this point the pipe may burst. If one end has not frozen it just pushes the liquid out the unfrozen end. Of course dead ends in the plumbing system is bad news. The whole piping system can freeze and not do any harm. Even the tanks are pretty tolerant of freezing since they are seldom full and the modern ones are plastic.
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Old 01-04-2014, 07:10 PM   #13
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Put heat on things immediately. Go buy a knipco now and put heat in the garage. I mean now - not in the morning. Spend $300 now on heat as a frozen water system is going to get expensive. If it takesw two knipco's - buy them. Get the garage to 40 ish. Turn on the furnace in the coach on and get it warm...runnning your motor is not going to help much - get the furnace running and get heat on the water system....then get someone out to winterize.
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Old 01-04-2014, 07:20 PM   #14
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Being from Minnesota - been there done that...don't chance freezing anything. If the water expands and pushes water out the end theory holds true - traps would never freeze - and they do. Water freezing does wierd things and you will never avoid a problem unless you do one thing - do not let things freeze....Just my two cents worth. Going to be a high of -17 here Monday....actual temp - not a wind chill temp. Any tank - no matter how many gallon tanks - is going to be froze rock hard and the seams are going to be boke....took a gallon jug of RV antifreeze out of the shed the other day - rated at -50...the jug was froze just about rock hard and the bottom of the bottle was bulged out...water would have split it riight open.
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