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Jeep trekker · 11-12-2012, 02:01 PM

I recently traded from a 2000 Dutch Star to a 2007 Camelot 42 PDQ. Living here in the desert southwest I rarely winterized my MH because we often use it in the winter months even though we have freezing temps at night. In the Dutch Star I just ran the heater with the basement heat on and had no problems. I am not so sure I can get away with that in the Camelot. Even though I am running the interior heat (set at 45 degrees) There are several things I am uncomfortable with:

1). The water line for the ice maker is in a raceway under the slide exposed to the elements. I have already closed the valve, disconnected and drained it. (Why did they design it this way?)

2). The Hydra Hot is in a front bay with the fresh water tank. According to the manual, the Hydra-hot is supposed to have a blower/heat exchanger for the water tank. I cannot find anything like this in the bay. For now I put a trouble light in the bay with a 100 watt bulb. Any insight here?

3). The wet bay has the electric heater but I understand from reading here that they can be problemmatic. I can't get to it to test it without taking the front panel off. For now I turned it on and also put a portable electric heater in the bay. I did that by going through the access opening from the cargo bay next to the wet bay. That cargo bay also has two water filters in it so I left the access panel off leaving an opening between the two bays.

4). It has a washer/dryer in the very back of the MH. Are the water lines to it in the insulated portion of the RV or exposed to the elements in the engine compartment?

Your thoughts and any other things I should worry about?

Thanks

38 Special · 11-12-2012, 03:45 PM

I do not winterize mine as I use it all winter. When the temps get to a freezing pipe level (about 20-24), I turn on the ceramic heater in the wet bay. I turn on the HydroHot on 50 and open the cabinet doors that have plumbing inside (sinks, washer). I have never had a problem. The heat pumos will not work at that low a temperature, so the Hydro Hot is necessary to heat it. A few times, when it gets super cold (For Alabama), I also run two electric space heaters, one in the very front of the coach and one in the rear bath (plugged into washer plug). But, do not have them close as to negatively effect the AquaHot thermostat.