Question on winterization

[00 DEAD ON]

Question??? I live in Va. I am leaving to go south in the beginning of Jan 14. My question is since I have winterized my motor home, can I? if the air temp the day before I leave isn’t too cold (at or above 32*) fill my water holding tank ¾ full, then blow the line to the holding tank out with compressed air. Will I be safe to travel south the next day without worrying about the fresh water tank freezing??? When I get in warmer weather I can use the water pump on the coach to flush the antifreeze out of the lines until it runs clean. What are your thoughts?????

[palehorse89]

Hi Brian, when you run your furnace does the water area get heat also? Not knowing what kind of RV you have as you did not state what you own it is harder to tell you what to do. If you can post just what you have ,folk's can advise you better.

[pcurt23]

You should be all the way to moderate temperatures by night, so no worries. As long as you are using heat in the coach you can safety go into the high 20's with no issues. Of course any outside hoses would freeze but inside should be ok, has been for us.

[00 DEAD ON]

1999 Mountain Aire 40' Diesel pusher. I figured with 60 gal of water in the fresh holding tank, and the line to fill it blown out it would be really hard to freeze that water in the fresh water tank over night??? All the water lines in the coach will still be winterzied.

[Cousin Ed]

You could turn on your heat a couple of days before and have everything up and running. A 15amp connection to your house would work fine as long as you didn't use anything like electic hot water or space heaters.

[Ray,IN]

You said "when I get in warmer weather". This eliminates a necessity of putting water in the tank until you get to warmer weather and the CG where you overnight. That's our plan. We will carry 6G fresh water in gallon jugs for hand washing and toilet flushing, stored in the shower floor; and bottles of drinking water, also stored in the shower.

["007"]

You need your furnace on and you will have no problem using the water system or water pump.
Your tank areas are heated by furnace and the coach may have a winter package which had a 12v fan in foil tube from furnace to increase the heat in that area. Fan switch is on water bay panel.

We have camped and traveled in 1* temps in our Newmar.

In my signature below are three links that will relate to your Newmar.
Here is a Brochure and Owners Guide for coach.

It would help if you put you coach information in your signature or your profile accessed top left CP input.

[00 DEAD ON]

Thanks for the information. I guess my problem is we are going to DRY camp in SC over night (at a Walmart). The night temps here are in VA are 20* but above freezing during the day (35*-45*). I really dont like the idea of bottled water to wash or use in the bathroom just for one night. ( I like my shower before I go to bed) I just figured 60 gals in a 100 gal tank would NOT freeze over night. Even if I blew the fill line out with compressed air so no air was left in the fill line. IDK lol

[00 DEAD ON]

Does the furnace use much propane in the course of a 24 hr period?? Say temps outside are 20’s and coach is set to 68*??
Thanks

[mel s]

Originally Posted by Ray,IN

You said "when I get in warmer weather". This eliminates a necessity of putting water in the tank until you get to warmer weather and the CG where you overnight. That's our plan. We will carry 6G fresh water in gallon jugs for hand washing and toilet flushing, stored in the shower floor; and bottles of drinking water, also stored in the shower.

Ray
That's how we do it!
Until we reach consistent outside temps of 15-20 degrees.

Great minds think alike.

Mel '96 Safari

[palehorse89]

Originally Posted by Brian M

Thanks for the information. I guess my problem is we are going to DRY camp in SC over night (at a Walmart). The night temps here are in VA are 20* but above freezing during the day (35*-45*). I really dont like the idea of bottled water to wash or use in the bathroom just for one night. ( I like my shower before I go to bed) I just figured 60 gals in a 100 gal tank would NOT freeze over night. Even if I blew the fill line out with compressed air so no air was left in the fill line. IDK lol

Brian fill your h2o tank up to the top, turn your furnace on and keep it warm just like your house and go on your trip, no need to worry overnighting at Walmart, just keep your furnace set and have fun.
As posted there is no reason why you can not fill your tank and use your shower and all the water you want while traveling. If you are warm so is the area where you tanks are. Have fun!

[mel s]

Originally Posted by palehorse89

keep your furnace set and have fun.
If you are warm so is the area where you tanks are.

palehorse89
I agree that that is the case in many/most coaches, (but only if the propane furnace is used).

Electric space heaters often only heat the living area.
In sustained/continuous 15-20 degree weather the water system is at risk if/when the furnace is not used.

However, if the daytime outside temperatures are above freezing, and it drops below freezing at night, there is little danger of water system freeze up.

Mel
'96 Safari

[palehorse89]

Originally Posted by mel stuplich

palehorse89
I agree that that is the case in many/most coaches, (but only if the propane furnace is used).

Electric space heaters often only heat the living area.
In sustained/continuous 15-20 degree weather the water system is at risk if/when the furnace is not used.

However, if the daytime outside temperatures are above freezing, and it drops below freezing at night, there is little danger of water system freeze up.

Mel
'96 Safari

Thank you for posting Mel, there has been a couple of freeze up's on here lately with the wide spread cold wave, folks not wanting to pay for propane and diesel fuel to heat their Coach like designed and using electric heater(to save money when at electric hookups) to heat the inside but with no heat or very little going to the basement, then..........

[Lincolnboy2]

Originally Posted by Brian M

Does the furnace use much propane in the course of a 24 hr period?? Say temps outside are 20’s and coach is set to 68*??
Thanks

Brian, I just had a recent experience in this area. Overnight lows were in the 20's, daytime highs were not above freezing for about 3 days. My coach is 32' with 2 slides and they were IN during this time I'm getting telling you about, so you can adjust from those sizes for your coach....

I kept the furnace (LP) on minimum setting at 50 degrees the entire three day period, only to keep the tanks from freezing, since I didn't want to winterize it if I had to move out there in case of a power outage on the sticks and bricks. I did however, drain my hot water heater tank. I did not run any electrical heat upstairs, just the furnace at 50.

I had a full tank to start, but in 3 continuous days of this cold weather I used between 1/3 and 3/8 of a 25 gallon tank of LP. Again, this was very cold (lows in the lower 20's, highs only around freezing) for 3 full days.

As other's state, make sure to run the furnace to keep your tanks from freezing when the temps drop into the 20's. I have temp transmitters in the utility bay, fresh water tank, and the water pump area. The utility bay I did have to put a trouble light in (75 watt bulb) in to keep it above freezing as well.

I did notice on another trip out last year that my furnace temp probe is on the wall in the galley area, so when I closed off the bedroom, I got cold since the galley/front area was heated by the little ceramic electric heater, and no heat was getting back to the bedroom area. So I had to raise the thermostat on the furnace to about 70 to get the bedroom warmed up to around 67 (from about 60) which is a comfy temp for me and the pups at night.....