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Old 10-02-2024, 01:30 PM   #1
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Medium Term Storage

As you may have seen we are in the early stages of buying our first motor home so have a million questions so please bear with us.

We will not be full time so we’re thinking about a 40’ Ventana or Dutch Star. My storage area will be covered with concrete base although not fully enclosed sadly. We do have 30 amp service though.

My question is, when parking the unit for several weeks at a time is it best to shut it down completely or plug it in an keep batteries topped off, systems working at idle even a single a/c running at say 80* to fight heat and humidity here in Florida. Slides in or out. What are your recommendations?

Thank you
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Old 10-02-2024, 01:36 PM   #2
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Originally Posted by 737Captain View Post
As you may have seen we are in the early stages of buying our first motor home so have a million questions so please bear with us.

We will not be full time so we’re thinking about a 40’ Ventana or Dutch Star. My storage area will be covered with concrete base although not fully enclosed sadly. We do have 30 amp service though.

My question is, when parking the unit for several weeks at a time is it best to shut it down completely or plug it in an keep batteries topped off, systems working at idle even a single a/c running at say 80* to fight heat and humidity here in Florida. Slides in or out. What are your recommendations?

Thank you
There’s no one right or wrong answer. That said…..

If your batteries are in perfect operating condition, they do not need to be getting charged all the time. You didn’t mention what types of batteries you have…..lead acid, AGM, lithium….they're all different.
Running the A/C is nice, as long as the power doesn’t fail, there’s a power surge, or the A/C unit shuts down for whatever reason. Then your rig would become a pressure cooker all sealed up. Slides in…what’s the purpose being deployed if you’re not there? Personally, I’d disconnect, leave some roof vents open, and check in every few weeks like you said.
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Old 10-02-2024, 02:09 PM   #3
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I Florida you need to do something to combat the humidity otherwise you will likely end up with a good crop of mold and mildew. I am assuming the storage is someplace where you can check on it regularly. So here is what I would do. Leave it pugged in with a something like a Hughes Power Watch Dog surge protector. Get a dehumidifier and leave it running dumping into a sink or the shower and run one ac unit set at about 85 degrees. The check on the unit at least once a week.
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Old 10-03-2024, 04:38 AM   #4
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I Florida you need to do something to combat the humidity otherwise you will likely end up with a good crop of mold and mildew. I am assuming the storage is someplace where you can check on it regularly. So here is what I would do. Leave it pugged in with a something like a Hughes Power Watch Dog surge protector. Get a dehumidifier and leave it running dumping into a sink or the shower and run one ac unit set at about 85 degrees. The check on the unit at least once a week.
The storage would be at the house so regular check ups wouldn’t be a problem. I never thought of a dehumidifier, actually a portable a/c might be a thought too.
Very many thanks for your perspective.
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Old 10-03-2024, 04:40 AM   #5
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There’s no one right or wrong answer. That said…..

If your batteries are in perfect operating condition, they do not need to be getting charged all the time. You didn’t mention what types of batteries you have…..lead acid, AGM, lithium….they're all different.
Running the A/C is nice, as long as the power doesn’t fail, there’s a power surge, or the A/C unit shuts down for whatever reason. Then your rig would become a pressure cooker all sealed up. Slides in…what’s the purpose being deployed if you’re not there? Personally, I’d disconnect, leave some roof vents open, and check in every few weeks like you said.
Thank you, I haven’t bought a coach yet, still a couple of months away.
Thanks for your insight.
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Old 10-03-2024, 05:51 AM   #6
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As these are a long skinny tube the roof AC with vents front to rear would be better at keeping the air circulated than a portable AC

A good inverter charger will trickle charge your batteries to offset the parasitic draws of sensors and modern electronics. I leave my absorption refrigerator on. The downside is it has to be defrosted but I figure that makes me keep it cleaner than if it was shut off most of the time.

Harbor Freight sells cloth screening with their tarps. Could you cover the sides with that? The Florida sun is hard on paint and tires, at least cover them.
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Old 10-03-2024, 07:29 AM   #7
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As these are a long skinny tube the roof AC with vents front to rear would be better at keeping the air circulated than a portable AC

A good inverter charger will trickle charge your batteries to offset the parasitic draws of sensors and modern electronics. I leave my absorption refrigerator on. The downside is it has to be defrosted but I figure that makes me keep it cleaner than if it was shut off most of the time.

Harbor Freight sells cloth screening with their tarps. Could you cover the sides with that? The Florida sun is hard on paint and tires, at least cover them.
Thank you.
I’m planning on building a lean to structure at the side of my airplane hangar that would give cover for both sides and the roof so just the ends would be exposed to the elements, closing in the end and putting a door may be an option then of course I could add climate control.
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Old 10-03-2024, 08:29 AM   #8
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I say plug the coach in. My DS sits in storage way more than it's used & it's been plugged in for the last 10 years. If you buy a DS or a Vantana it has a very capable/intelligent charging system & will be float charging. I also keep middle AC on about 78 in the dead of summer to take care of the humidity. Depending on how often you use/don't use the coach you may also want to leave the residential fridge semi stocked and running. We just returned to home after a couple weeks & I emptied fridge/freezer & turned it off. I won't use the coach again until March. Next spring I'll turn it on & leave it stocked until this time next year.
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Old 10-04-2024, 07:22 AM   #9
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I say plug the coach in. My DS sits in storage way more than it's used & it's been plugged in for the last 10 years. If you buy a DS or a Vantana it has a very capable/intelligent charging system & will be float charging. I also keep middle AC on about 78 in the dead of summer to take care of the humidity. Depending on how often you use/don't use the coach you may also want to leave the residential fridge semi stocked and running. We just returned to home after a couple weeks & I emptied fridge/freezer & turned it off. I won't use the coach again until March. Next spring I'll turn it on & leave it stocked until this time next year.
Thanks for taking the time to comment/educate me.
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Old 10-04-2024, 08:05 AM   #10
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A dehumidifier will lower the relative humidity more efficiently and cost effectively than A/C, with the downside of more heat inside the RV.
A roof top unit is easy, and will use the most electricity. All the roof units I've seen are simple single speed low efficiency, maybe that has changed?
There are very cheap and very efficient two stage window units that would work better than a rooftop. And of course there are mini splits that are similarly more efficient.

Then there's the strategy, a dehumidifier pulls water out and releases the heat of the "steam" back inside the RV, lowering the relative humidity two ways. An A/C removes the water vapor and it's latent heat, along with additional heat, making the moisture try to move from exterior to interior, which happens to be the way RV's are built, with the best vapor barrier on the outside, which works terrible for drying out a wet car/RV interior in the winter, but is actually best for drying with A/C. So if anybody has a flooded car out there, rinse the mud out, vacuum the water, then run the A/C until dry. Probably leave the windows open and a house fan going to dry the surface easily before the A/C step would save some gas and speed up the step, but the deep down wet carpet backing needs vapor pressure to drive it toward the colder surface. For keeping an RV dry, the vapor pressure is probably not nearly as important as the relative humidity from a dehumidifier, but it's one thing we can say to justify using the A/C in humid climates!
The other strategy would be a control to run the A/C either a set time, an hour from 2-3AM for instance, or run it to cool off 5-15 degrees below ambient, or combine both to turn on at 2AM and run once until 10-20 degrees below ambient. This is for humidity control obviously, not for comfort.
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