Occasional Winter RV use - tips for winterizing??

[MRHicks]

We bought our first motorhome (a Damon Daybreak) back in August, so this will be our first winter with it. We've been taking it out between once and three times a month and have been having a blast, and are also planning to take it on a few trips over the winter. We're in MD near Annapolis, so the winters are *fairly* mild compared to a lot of places, but it still gets (and stays) pretty darn cold.

So my question is, will we need to fully winterize the coach every time we put it in storage for a week or two, or are there tricks we might be able to use to keep the water systems safe for that amount of time? The coach is stored in an open-air lot with no power available but sunshine...

[denochs]

I think the only practical thing to do is winterize. However, I might suggest you blow the lines out and drain the hot water tank rather than pump or cycle the pink antifreeze thur the lines. You need to put some down each trap. But that's not a big deal.

I live in NC some during the winter and feel the need to winterize when I'm here in cold weather.

Dave

[johnandcaren]

I agree with above post. We live in Northern Virginia, park in Frederick, MD not far from you in the big picture. Last winter was our first and we did the pink antifreeze. It wasn't too hard or time consuming, but takes longer than blowing out the lines and buying the antifreeze.

Last weekend, November 07, I only blew out the lines. Seemed to work well and we will try this as we're going on a week long trip to Georgia at Christmas, so, like you didn't want the full winterizing.

Since I didn't really trust my compressor fully, I made a little setup with a ball valve and pressure gauge from Lowes. You can buy adaptors from RV suppliers for about 6 bucks, but I wanted better so built my little deal with a water hose connector on one end. I connected my drinking hose to the RV, and the other end to the adapter I made. Its set so I can see the line pressure BEFORE opening the valve to the RV so I don't risk overpressurizing the system. Worked great. Closed the heater bypass, opened all the valves everywhere one at a time, drained tanks, etc.

I hope it works but believe it will. Good luck.

[skigramp]

I grew up on a farm without running water ... {we carried buckets of water into the house from the well house} and we used to tent camp.

If you can get along without showers during the weekend, you can use your RV in the winter time while it is "winterized" ... use plastic milk jugs (or buy fresh water containers at Wally World) to store fresh water ... use that for drinking, cooking, and wash ups (heat the water in a kettle on the stove) ... you probably need a couple of gallons per person per day ...

We use windshield wiper fluid to flush the toilet ... probably a half gallon a day per person will be adequate. {It is cheaper than the pink stuff and doesn't leave as much residue}

When you return home, dump, and pour some windshield wiper fluid down every drain that you have used over the weekend.

We live in Wisconsin ... we leave here in December or January every year ... this is how we live in our motorhome until we reach warmer climes and are able to dewinterize

[mach buster]

We take our rv and park in ski area parking lots for the weekend in northern michigan to ski. Some nights have been below 0. We use water in milk jugs for dishes and buy drinking water. Windshield fluid down drains and toilet works well. dump at flying j on way home. Never been cold, and have had alot of fun

[transpro]

We use our coach year round, keep jugs of water for washing & drinking & use windshield fluid in the traps. If your coach has a frig with an ice maker, make sure you disconnect the line to the valve and let it drain. air pressuer won't clear it unless you disconnect the line.