Community Forums

seeg · 11-21-2015, 05:17 PM

Much to my neighbors chagrin I've decided to leave the MH parked next to the house this winter. It's connected to 50 amp power. Recent temps have been as low as mid teens. I've set zones 1 and 3 at 52 degrees(gas) and zone 4 ( the basement) at about 45. I measured all 3 zones with an infrared temp gun. The interior temps are several degrees lower than what is programed on the thermostat. The basement is staying slightly higher than 45 degrees. Should I run a supplemental electric heater or the fire place? Winter storage is almost $300/ month and I can't imagine using anywhere near that much diesel fuel. Plus, I'd like to do some winter camping. We invariably get a couple of mild weeks in Jan and Feb and I don't particularly want to play around w/ winterizing and de -winterizing. Is my plan a feasible one. As an aside we had the aqua hot serviced last week so it should remain trouble free.

hawgguy · 11-21-2015, 05:25 PM

I have done what you propose before and think your plan is feasible. I don't thini you will need the fireplace unless you have a run of outlandishly low temps. I might add some antifreeze to the holding tanks and open the low point drains.. I used to bow out the water lines with air as well. It was nice to be able to grab the coach for use at the spur of the moment during the winter and have it ready.

smlranger · 11-21-2015, 05:49 PM

Your AH will handle it. I did the same thing for the past two winters with my coach. Left the T stats on 48 and, just to make me feel better, put two 75 watt trouble lights in the wet bay connected to one of those milk house electrical outlets. We had single digits some nights and never had any problem. My very rough guestimations on diesel usage was 20- 25 gallons for the winter.

gjw · 11-21-2015, 06:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by seeg

Much to my neighbors chagrin I've decided to leave the MH parked next to the house this winter. It's connected to 50 amp power. Recent temps have been as low as mid teens. I've set zones 1 and 3 at 52 degrees(gas) and zone 4 ( the basement) at about 45. I measured all 3 zones with an infrared temp gun. The interior temps are several degrees lower than what is programed on the thermostat. The basement is ...

All,
I find this an interesting post - especially since I just winterized my Anthem today... They are calling for temps of 22 or above for the next 3 days here in Maryland. So I bit the bullet...

What I don't fully understand is why I can't winterize the entire coach, and then shut OFF certain parts of the water flow. Why can't I DECIDE if I WANT water to go to the frig or not, why CAN't I decide if I WANT water to go to the rear bath sink or not???

I understand there is a considerable amount of plumbing involved with building a MH, but why don't I have more control over what's HOT, and what's COLD???

I think this is an issue that ENTEGRA should look into - if not a ret-trofit, then something for future builds - I'm hoping (praying) for the ret-trofit...

Cruzer · 11-21-2015, 08:38 PM

What you are referring to is a manifold water distribution system. both hot and cold water feeds a manifold in the basement, which has individual shutoff valves and lines to each fixture. You can easily shut off individual lines plus you get even and consistent flow to every fixture. I like that system (it used to be on the Cornerstone in the earlier years) and would gladly choose it if optional. A retrofit would be a real can of worms though. The way the existing lex lines run through the coach would not work without an re-engineered design.

Gary.Jones · 11-22-2015, 10:30 AM

My older Dynasty had a full manifold water system on it. I think it was a great thing, but I found that I really never used it except to turn off or isolate a particular part of the water system. I just heated the whole coach to a minimal level using mostly small 900 watt electric heaters (bought for very little from WalMart) (plus basement heat) and the electric element of the AquaHot. I opened all the cabinets in kitchen and bathrooms, and the refrigerator and that worked great for us even in a few days of sub 20 degree temperatures (I know, this is Northern Louisiana and much different from Wisconsin or North Dakota where I would adopt a much more conservative approach). But for episodic bouts (nights) of very cold temps, it worked for me on the Dynasty and now for the Anthem.

Gary

MRUSA14 · 11-22-2015, 10:51 AM

I had the manifold water system in my Beaver and only used it once in ten years, when a refrigerator water line sprang a leak. But I live in Florida so don't have freezing temps to deal with.

I think your plan to heat the coach and have it ready to go all winter makes a lot of sense. The only thing that concerns me is an AquatHot failure which could possibly cause a catastrophe. I would like to see you have a temperature alarm that would alert you if temps go below a set point. I can't imagine you could not find this type of thing online. I would look for one that would send a message to my cellphone.

brobox · 11-22-2015, 11:42 AM

I agree with Marc. I have rarely used my AH and it has failed to produce heat twice. I am waiting for a decision as to why it has failed again. There is a problem with the older motors. You might want to remove the AH cover and see if you have the old style square motors or the new style round motors. If they are the old style motors, I personally don't have much faith in them.

jestal · 11-22-2015, 06:34 PM

The AH and heating system are certainly up to the task but I would personally never risk relying on it for the entire winter as the only protection against freezing one of the systems. I trust it so little I put a 100 watt light bulb in the wet bay even for an overnight in the driveway if low temps are possible and it is not winterized. The cost and damage potential for any freezing are just way too much to risk it for me. But I do tend to be very pessimistic.

MRUSA14 · 11-22-2015, 06:53 PM

Actually I am not knocking the AH system. In 13 years of using it I, have only had one time that it did not do its job. But one failure could be a huge issue if your coach freezes up because of it, so I strongy reccomend it be monitored.

Chuck, sorry your experience with AH has been so disappointing. I hope you get it straightened out soon because it really is a great system.

seeg · 11-22-2015, 06:56 PM

Thanks everyone. I've got several space heaters we used on our boat that remained in the water year around. I think I'll program their thermostats to around 40 degrees as a failsafe. I'll check out the Aqua hot pumps first chance I get.

brobox · 11-22-2015, 07:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MRUSA14

Chuck, sorry your experience with AH has been so disappointing. I hope you get it straightened out soon because it really is a great system.

I totally agree they are a great system, they are so simple it's hard to believe one could have a problem This one just happen to get installed in my MH. The biggest unanswered question is how did the fluid ever get contaminated?