STORING THE BUS FOR WINTER

[Stormcloud]

Hello, all:

Very shortly winter will be upon us (north of the 49th parallel, anyways) and I have a couple of questions about how to treat my 8V71NA in my '72 MC7 prior to freeze-up. I changed the oil in spring 2007 to straight 40w CF-2 rated, and have probably under 3500 miles on the oil. Is it acceptable practice to store it with this oil, then change it in spring? One of the local farm implement dealers is promoting an oil change this fall, then again in spring for diesel tractors,etc , even though the equipment may be unused.. he says to leave the 'contaminants' in the crankcase all winter causes problems.

Also, I will be removing all batteries, inverter, charger, backup camera, and anything else that may not tolerate the frigid temperatures too well.
I may plug in the engine coolant heater for the winter, with the heater controlled by ambient air temperature ie: anything colder than +10F and the heater would turn on.. (Our electricity here is relatively inexpensive... a BIG bonus when our home is all-electric so the operating cost of the heater is not that important.)

Does anyone else leave their coach engine 'plugged in' or is this overkill?

Thanks for your comments and suggestions...

Mark

[gumpy]

... he says to leave the 'contaminants' in the crankcase all winter causes problems.

Does he sell a lot of oil and service jobs this way?  This is crap. Take your business to someone else.

You only have 3500 miles on the oil. It's fine. Leave it alone. Change it next year after you get another 5000
miles on it or so. Possibly next fall.

Also, I will be removing all batteries, inverter, charger, backup camera, and anything else that may not tolerate the frigid temperatures too well.

Why wouldn't all these items tolerate the cold?  Especially if they are not being used?  The only one I'd be concerned about on this list is the batteries, and if they are fully charged and disconnected, they should be just fine. It would be fine to remove them and place them in the garage, but the rest of the stuff should be fine
where it's located.

I may plug in the engine coolant heater for the winter, with the heater controlled by ambient air temperature ie: anything colder than +10F and the heater would turn on.. (Our electricity here is relatively inexpensive... a BIG bonus when our home is all-electric so the operating cost of the heater is not that important.)

Now you're just contributing to Al Gore's Convenient Fiction. Put the proper mixture of antifreeze in the
engine and forget about it. If you decide to drive it during the winter, then use the heater for a few hours
before starting it.

Does anyone else leave their coach engine 'plugged in' or is this overkill?

See above

Thanks for your comments and suggestions...

Not trying to belittle you or anything, but I'm guessing this is a new experience for you, and the first winter
you've owned a bus?  That's ok. We all tend to treat our new family member like a new baby. But, in reality,
it's no different than your car or pickup. Put the right stuff in the engine, and you're good for the 4-5 months it will be cold.

craig - from near the 45th parallel, where temps get down to -40*F and my bus is happy as a penguin.

[NewbeeMC9]

My biggest problem is the cpvc plumbing and the plastic valve on the toilet. down here where nothing is paralell

[DrivingMissLazy]

I believe you left out the most important part and that is winterizing the plumbing system and don't forget the traps in the sink and shower.
Richard

[lostagain]

Here is what I do: winterize the plumbing, put a couple of those salt containers on the counters to catch moisture, leave the batteries in and plug in once a month or so to keep them charged. The bus is under a roof out of the elements. Dont worry about the oil, just change it when it is time.

[prevost82]

I agree with the others that have posted. I winterize the plumbing and plug it in to keep the batteries charged up ... we leave the fridge running (house fridge) all year, so we can leave on a moments notice. What you are doing is WAY over kill.
Ron

[Lee Bradley]

I don't understand the concept; winter is ski season, ice boating, maybe driving to a warmer place. 

[ceieio]

When it gets really cold I plug the block heater in... for my barn cats.  They hang out near the engine and keep the mice away.  After the last couple of winters doing this, they "like" the bus and hang out near it a lot, to keep dry, to stay shaded from the sun, to hide from coyotes, and to get warm.  When I first got the bus I had a mouse get in the bay, that doesn't happen anymore.  The first day of school this year the kids saw one of them jump from the barn to the roof of the bus to chase pigeons off of it!

In addition to all the things that others have written, I also stick a dehumidifier in the bus on the wet months.  It keeps the inside from getting stale smelling and actually brings the temp up a little bit in the closed up bus.

Craig - MC7 Oregon

[bobofthenorth]

I agree with most of the advice you have received.

First though, the absolute best way to winterize is to point the nose of that bus somewhere close to south and keep driving until all threat of frost is gone.  If that's not an option then here's some tips:

First off - take the time to install some winterizing valve(s) so that putting the pink stuff in the lines isn't an ordeal.  What you need is a three way ball valve ahead of your pump(s) so that you can suck pink stuff out of the gallon jugs and push it into the lines.  That's the most important step - do it right the first time and each successive winter will be that much less of an ordeal.

I have a main house disconnect and a coach disconnect which I throw to leave the batteries completely cut off from the system while the bus is in storage.  I wouldn't leave the bus sit for an extended period with the batteries connected, there's too much chance of random loads on the batteries which could leave you with drained and frozen batteries. 

I go at least 20,000 km on an oil change with oil samples every 10,000 km.  Without the sampling I'd probably be changing at around 10 or 12,000 km.  Any advice to do so more often is silly.

I don't leave the bus plugged in when in storage.  You absolutely aren't going to get any colder than what we see here unless you are north of 53 degrees of latitude.  When we leave in the winter I plug the gennie in and get it running.  Then I plug the coach block heaters into the gennie and fire up the Aqua Hot.  I have battery blankets permanently in place on the coach batteries - I plug them into the gennie too.  If its really cold - like worse than -30, I have a couple of magnetic oil pan heaters that get stuck to the oil pan.  When I touch the key the 8-92 can't tell that it isn't the 4th of July - it lights up like a dry match.

[HB of CJ]

Wow everyone, I am soosss lucky living where I live in SW OR because it rarely gets below 15F and that is 15 above!  All I do is leave the battery charger on the low setting, (less than 1 amp) check the battery water every sooss often and look for small animals that tend to move in like pack rats, mice, sometimes snakes, skunks and critters like that. 

[Don4107]

I gave up using RV antifreeze years ago.  I blow out the bus and the boat with air.  No need to bypass hot water.  Seemed that when using RV antifreeze that odor from the water heater was a problem no matter how careful I was about flushing antifreeze before filling water heater.  Now I just drain water tanks, both fresh and hot water, then blow out everything.  Set the pressure at no more than 50PSI.  Hook up to your fresh water input.  Turn on every valve one at a time including toilet.

Any part that will not be blown like maybe the fresh water pump and filters, depending on how you are plumbed, needs to be cycled to pump out water or a drain added. 

Save that RV antifreeze to pour down the drains to freeze proof the p-traps.  No fuss, no muss and nothing to do in spring but fill tanks and go.

[prevost82]

I do the same as Don ... I blow out all the lines with air, hot and cold ... and only use RV antifreeze in my drain traps.
Ron

[belfert]

I tried blowing out the lines on my travel trailer once.  Without the water heater bypassed, water kept coming out in a fine mist basically forever.  After running the air through for 30 to 40 minutes I gave up and used antifreeze.

I never drink from my water tanks so the taste doesn't bother me.

[Stan]

I agree. Check the antifreeze and remove the battery cables. You need a bypass system on the water heater to save on the amount of RV antifreeze used. I had trouble with blowing out water lines with a few drops of water draining into some low spot and doing damage. Flushing the lines with RV antifreeze automatically fills the drain line traps. Use some kind of varmint/vermin control in the house part, the bays and the engine compartment (bar bait, ant traps, fly control).

[white-eagle]

i think the best advice i got for storing the bus was from Jack Conrad.  when i asked what to do with our bus when it got cold in winter, he siad to check the compass and point it South.  Stop when i get to Arcadia, FL.  Do that by Christmas and get a lot more advice for free at the Arcadia Rally.

I like Jack's advice.