Its getting cold in TX so its time to drain everything

Its early December in Texas and starting to get cold (for us). I decided to go ahead and drain everything. We did not have a trip planned for a few weeks and I was concerned we might really drop in temp. I did not want to do this procedure for the first time at night when a norther was blowing in, freezing my butt off outside hopping I did it all correctly.

I opened the door of the wet bay and followed the directions to the letter. Step by step winterizing directions are on a sticker on the wet bay door. One a side note, I am copying this sticker, printing it and having it laminated so when the sticker fades or falls off I have the directions right there where they are needed.

Also I had previously installed a 50 amp dedicated circuit for the coach so I can run off house power when we are at home which now is awesome because I can run little heaters in the coach instead of using the H/P and propane heaters when it gets cold.

Once drained, I closed the slides (we leave them open allot since we use the coach at home allot-quite space, office, alone time etc...) and put a small oscillating ceramic space heater in the coach to help keep it warm and I was ready for Jack Frost. I keep the heat pump set on 45 to keep it above freezing inside the coach but the small ceramic heater does an amazing job (much better than the heat pump) and it has a temp stat and fan speed setting so I can set it on low heat and low fan speed. It really kept the coach very warm while it was just above freezing. I was pleasantly surprised when I went out to check it. It was very pleasant inside, not even slightly chilly, very nice and toasty.

Then, a few days later, I had to move the coach in my driveway to get a skid-steer into the back yard to make my driveway longer so I can park the coach in my back yard (story for another post.)

I had/have the drain valve open on my fresh water tank from draining. When I raised the jacks, filled the air bags and moved the coach, moved it back, lowered and re-leveled it, I was surprised to see how much water was still in the tanks that sloshed out.

I am confident that it is 100% empty now but I believe it was 5+/- gallons still in the tank.

A few trips ago we left water in the tank and it started to taste "off" so I wanted to fully drain and sanitize it anyway. Now I can do that before I refill for the trip next week.

I guess the statement of the story is even though you think you drained everything before winter, opening the valves may not be enough, going for a quick spin to slosh everything around and out is a good idea. Secondly a 40$ ceramic safety space heater is cheap to own and cheap to run. I am now considering putting a very small oil safety space heater in my basement area to help ensure I do not have a freeze issue when it gets really cold.

Have a Merry Christmas and Awesome safe New Year. Travel safe........