Front grill open to snow

[Melissarv]

Hi guys

The dealer and Newmar told me it's normal for my coach to have piles of snow inside on the chassis batteries etc as it's open to the elements.
I live in Ontario Canada so we have two feet of snow right now....I just brought her home last week and I find it strange that piles of snow inside like that wouldn't rust or harm it:((
I will make arrangements next year for indoor storage but am planning on taking it in my first trip in a couple weeks once all warranty issues so far have been fixed that I've found.
Is there such thing as a cover for the grill? Is it indeed okay to have its exposed in these extreme conditions?

[twinboat]

If its not snow, it's rain. If your driving in the rain lots of water gets in there and in any vehicle on the road.

You can cover the grill while parked but not nessesary.

[NCC-1701A]

It is to be expected. Air has to flow through, and be pulled through the radiator. As Twinboat said, rain or snow is going to get into the engine and battery area.

You don't want to block that airflow.

[d23haynes57]

RVs are still being built with the batteries in front of the radiator? Maybe trying to improve the ride by placing more weight up front. Road salt and deicer will get into various places and can do some real damage over time. My 04 Tropi-Cal had the basement framing rot out and the wall framing was rusting from within. Had to retire it.

[wildtoad]

I was always curious why on my 2016 Newmar BayStar Sport the batteries, all of them, the leveling jack system, and many electrical connections were out front open to the elements. But after 8 years, other than a little bit of road dust everything looked good and never an issue.

[Dutch Star Don]

My Newmar Dutch Star has a semi open rear engine compart. It has a mesh screen that won't allow snow in, but it allows the sun to beat down on the engine components and plastic tanks in the engine bay. When stored at home, I place a large plastic panel inside the engine compartment.

I don't think it should be any surprise that you were going to get snow drifts, rain and wind debris, like dirt, inside that front grille. When stored, just add a plastic panel. They make cheap plastic sheets that look like cardboard. Cut one out to fit behind the grill.