How can I winterize without winterizing?

[Charles in SC]

Every year I go through this, winterize, then unwinterize it and redo it a couple of times during the winter to use the bus. Is there a better way? like maybe someone makes a thermostat I could hook to a little heater to come on when the temp drops below 35 or so.
BusNuts are great!

[maria-n-skip]

Charles a couple of ways come to mind.

  1. Add 25 gallons of everclear to the water tank. Just remember NOT to drink the water while driving 
  2. I have seen water bed heaters (or farrowing slate heaters) put under the water tank with therm control.
  3. For the pipes they make a single wire heat tape type to run on all the pipes.
  4. All I ever did for my class C was drain the pipes, tank and run the water pump dry then refill the morning
      I was leaving.

  2 and 3 use a lot of electricity.
   Just some thoughts

Skip

[Dallas]

Charles,

Blow all the lines out with air and pour a little of the pink stuff in the waste traps.

Make sure your tanks are empty.

You'll be OK

Dallas

[JohnEd]

The way you blow out you lines is with a little screw-in cap that fits the waterhose fitting for running off of the campsite water supply(city).  It has a fitting for the air noz.  I blew out each circuit and then let it blow on the entire system for awhile.  Put anything you like into the traps but put somthing in.  Glycol, pink stuff, doesn't matter so long as it doesn't freeze.  I left all my faucets "open" also but I don't know why.  Drain the fw tank of course.  Put antifreeze in your black if you can't dump it.  I never did run my pump and I can now see that that was asking for trouble...thanks Skip!

Thank you all,

John

[tekebird]

cheaper than pink stuff....20 degree windshield washer fluid.

[Don4107]

I vote for blowing it out too.  Use a regulator to keep the pressure under control.  I drain the hot water tank and fresh water tank then blow each circuit going through them all twice just to be sure.  Run the pump after the fist time through to clear it.  Antifreeze in the traps and you are good to go.  All you have to do is fill the fresh water tank and roll. 

Don 4107

[NewbeeMC9]

you can make a fitting with a male hose - NPT pipe threads and use a quick connect for your air hose.

or you can do like me and procrastinate in the warm time and then be too busy when a freeze sneaks in.  then look for leaks in the spring.     ive learned to put in more isolation valves.

[JohnEd]

Don,

Thanks, I can't believe I forgot the HW heater/tank.  WOW!  Gettin' old.

John

[TomC]

Move to where it doesn't freeze during winter.

[Nick Badame Refrig/ACC]

Hi Charles,

Or, build a bus barn....... a heated one!

Or, Leave your heat on along with your hot water heater..

Or, Do as Tom says..

Nick-

[Gary LaBombard]

Fill your fuel tanks completely full, single and or dual tanks.  Add a fuel stabilizer to the fuel sufficient to work with the amount of your fuel tank size.  This will be money in the bank, especially in the severe cold, (NORTH)!!  It will also minimize any condensation in your tanks, add the "Stabilizer" (STABIL) found at any of the mart stores or car parts stores before you fill your tanks to assure that the additive is mixed good in your fill up trip to the fuel station and back home.  Be sure to use the stabilizer intended for the type of fuel you burn in your rig (Diesel or Gas).   Winterizing your generator is necessary also, all radiator fluids, oils and if you have a separate fuel tank supplying your generator needs Stabil in it also.   Purchase and install new spark plugs, more money in the bank here too. 

Remove any food items from cabinets that could attract any critters or animals.  Remove cracker boxes, cereal and anything that can be chewed through for "Winter" food for these guys.  We get boxes with handles on them from our local grocer and put items intended for our S&S trips and place them in an area in our home so we can grab them in a moments notice and bring them back out to the RV and within 1 hour we can be ready to go.  Filling up our RV with this costly fuel now will take longer to do than pack I believe.  GRRRRRRRR!!

I am sure someone with a large house battery storage bank can recommend the procedure they use for keeping your batteries all fully charged after the fluid levels are all topped off.  Some may keep their rigs on full shore power at all times and then this is taken care of automatically with your inverter chargers.  But then again, not everyone has these automatic chargers that monitor on and off and keep proper levels.  This is something else that can be recommended by those more experienced than me on this subject.

Be sure your engine fluids of your rig are all full such as Radiator Coolant, windshield washer with antifreeze in it,  engine oil and power steering fluid and anything having to do with your complete drive train.

The Hot water tank is the hardest to be sure most if not all water is removed, I use my shop vacuum over the drain plug fitting mounted on the side of my hot water tank to put the nozzle of my vacuum over to suck out all the water possible from the tank. I open up the hot & cold water valves in the shower and all sinks just a smidget to allow a siphoning effect to get out most of the water possible in the hot water tank and all the water lines connected to the hot water tank.  I also put a big enough piece of 6 inch house insulation big enough to completely cover my 12v pump, I leave it there year round and this will also help protect your pump from freezing and cut down on noise when running.  This pump is normally used very little and the chance of overheating because of use as it does not run long enough normally to reach any temperatures worth worrying about.  

After checking your tire pressure on all tires I also put a piece of 1/2" plywood under all my tires including completely under the Dulles also to keep the separation of moisture from the concrete from the rubber tires.  The concrete always has moisture in it and over time rots your tires.   This has helped cut down on the weathering of my tires on my S&S, I also put a plastic tire cover over the tires, I bought the tire covers from Camping World which also assist in controlling weathering of expensive tires also caused from the sun's rays.

Put some Mice & Ant traps in your bus in corners you can find before you leave for a winter trip to remove so your family pets will not accidentally find them and eat them or the poison.  This is a must do before you use your rig.

Emptying your black & gray tanks is recommended.  If possible rinsing out the tanks is suggested when you dump them as good as you can.  Then add just a couple of gallons of water to each tank and perhaps 1/2 to 1 gallon of antifreeze to each tank through your sink and toilet drains.  This will automatically put in the antifreeze needed to protect your drains and tanks.   To be environmentally safe as you can, it is recommended to use the pink stuff for RV's but that is a decision you have to make for your self as to what winterizing solutions to use.

I completely drain my fresh water tank and plan to fill it only when I plan to leave for a trip and then only half full.  This is to control the extra weight of the water because of "Fuel Prices" now I try to minimize any unneeded weight.  Having a 1/2 tank will allow me to use our bathroom when on the road and the rest areas are few and far between when you need one.  Then when I reach our destination, I fill up with water if it is needed and there is no water hook ups but this is very irregular now days at most camp grounds.  But for the winter I do not worry about my tank freezing and splitting.  I never, ever, ever drink water from my fresh water tank.  I would never trust that there is not any bacteria inside of the tank at any time.  We use this water for showers and dish washing and flushing--Period!!  We do not use this water from our fresh water tanks for our pets also.  We always bring bottled water for drinking and cooking and our little family pets.

Well, the length of this thread is long as usual, but I hope it helps out with our winterizing.  Please post more examples of important things that have not been included in all these ideas of everyone posting to this thread.

Gary

 

[Dave Siegel]

Come to Florida for the winter. Our coldest days reach as low as 45 degrees here.   

Dave Siegel

[uncle ned]

charles

if you are in sc  why do you need to winterize.  i live in nc close to the mountains and all i do is hang a few light bulbs in the bays and inside. if it is getting down to the low teens i plug them up. other wise the bus is always ready to go south.

uncle ned
"huggy bear"

[Stan]

Some RV toilet flush valves have to be drained. Blowing air through them is not good enough.

[kd5kfl]

Get a charcoal canister filter for the city water side of the feed line. Make it the lowest point in the feed side. The plastic housing will shatter if it freezes, draining the cold water pipes. A freeze fuse.