Community Forums

dogbreath650 · 09-05-2020, 04:28 PM

Crazy weather here in Colorado. Near 90 today and tomorrow. Dropping into the 20s for about 6 hours Monday night. In the high 30s Tue and droppin into the mid teens Tue nigbt then starting to warm back up on Wed. As I'll be using the camper in a couple weeks I'd rather not winterize but afraid I might have to given the mid reen tIemps predicted for Tuesday night.

With the good insulation in the ORV do you all think I need to winterize for this short dip in the temps?

BPTS · 09-05-2020, 07:04 PM

I’m here on the front range of CO so I will be dealing with the same. I doubt it’s not gonna get cold enough for long enough but I will likely put an electric oil heater in the main area on low and just open the cabinets under both sinks.
Cheap insurance.

Part-time · 09-05-2020, 07:25 PM

Turn the furnace on and set the thermostat to 55 degrees. Everything will be fine. We've camped in the low twenties and no problems with the furnace running.

2cyber71 · 09-05-2020, 07:30 PM

I camp late into the season here in Pennsylvania.
I winterized as late as the end of November.
When it’s predicted to get below 30 for more than 5 hours I turn my heat on and set it to 50f. Never froze doing that. (20 yrs) In the morning if the temperature is predicted to get above 40F I turn it off when I get up, even if it’s below 32f in the AM.
( I had my MH next to the house with the heat on when it was 10f, many times. Always set at 50f)

My new MH Has a separate thermostat for my wet bay, that’s nice and I can adjust the temperature in the bay, but I still have to heat the whole MH anyway.
I just have to make sure I have a full tank of diesel for the aqua hot.

You need a good 6-8 hours of a hard freeze below 20F to really do damage.
But when it happens, it really bad. I’ve seen it on other people’s trailers and MHs

If you are worried, drain your low point drains for hot and cold.
Keep the heat on at 50-55f. If you don’t have heat in your wet bay put a little ceramic one in there on an extension cord overnight.

One last option is to just blow out your lines, it’s pretty easy to do. Takes 10 minutesI would still leave the heat on.

dogbreath650 · 09-06-2020, 08:44 AM

Forgot to mention that the camper is parked in a storage lot which limits my options. I don't have A/C available an not sure I want (or are permitted to) run the furnace without being inside to monitor.

This is my first winter season with the ORV and my first attempt at winterization. With my previous truck camper I used to just blow down the lines every year which worked fine. With the ORV I decided to use the pink stuff it seems more foolproof than blowing down as you can visually see that all the lines are protected.

I guess with the forecast being what it is I'll just go ahead an winterize with the pink stuff and use it as an opportunity to learn how to do it with my new camper. If I had AC available I'd probably just put a heater in like BPTS but unfortunately its not an option for me.

bneukam · 09-06-2020, 10:59 AM

Winterize, or run your furnace is your two options.
Only the furnace provides heat in the underbelly of your trailer. There is water lines down there that you don’t want to take the chance of freezing.

altaclipper · 09-06-2020, 05:18 PM

Naw, take it easy and save the work. Just dump the HW tank and open the low point drains. All piping and pump are inside the ORV so they will be just fine. If you really want to get carried away, just put a little air compressor on the city water inlet and push a bit more water to the curb.
Don't get carried away at this time of year.....unless you're looking for a 'Covid stay at home job'.

Cheers
Glen

camper8251 · 09-07-2020, 08:39 AM

The camper is a 4 season camper... For a few days you will be fine.........

BPTS · 09-07-2020, 01:03 PM

I thought about just tossing the oil heater in but then decided I didn’t want to chance it.
I hooked up the air and blew mine out and then sucked about 1/2 gallon of antifreeze into the pump.
Poured the rest in the drains.
Should be good to go, going camping in two weeks so didn’t see need for a full blown winterize.

Kmlac · 09-08-2020, 07:11 AM

I filled the FW tank, opened the low popint drains, emptied the water heater and poured some rv antifreeze into the traps, drains and tanks.

dogbreath650 · 09-08-2020, 10:17 AM

After mulling it over for awhile I decided to err on the safe side and do the full winterization with the anti-freeze and I'm kinda glad I did.

With my previous camper I just used air to blow out the system and while it worked, I never felt 100% confident that I was getting everything because after letting the system set for a few minutes and the putting the air back to it I always seemed to get a bit of water blowing out. As a result I kept doing this over and over and it took me longer than I wanted to get to the point where no more water came out.

This time I decided to try the pink stuff and was pleasantly surprised at how quick and easy it was. it took me about 30 min from arriving at the camper in the storage lot and locking it back up when finished. The Walmart propylene glycol RV antifreeze cost me less that $6 for 2 gal.

Having done both now I can say that they both work. For me the pink stuff was quicker and left me with more peace of mind. Since we don't use the FW tank for drinking water there isn't an issue of residual taste after filling and flushing. I'm glad I decided to go this way as now I realize how easy and quick it is.