Cold weather - I know this horse has be beaten

[CreekLife]

2020 Jayco GrewHawk Prestige 29MVP

- Leaving end of Feb. from central PA and stopping in Richmond VA for 1 night at a full hookup site, and then to Charleston SC for a week.

- Assuming the temps are between 18-25 degrees at night. and 28-40 during the day (average's).

- I can leave it fully winterized until 2 days prior to departure. Then I can leave it parked next to a 20amp outlet as to run a Dyson Space heater inside of it with all the cabinets open. I can also keep it plugged in as to run the tank warmers.

My question is do you think I will be fine with 3/4 of a tank of water? Should I leave the hot water off and the line bypassed?

I work the Saturday that I am leaving and would like to hop in and go at 4pm. I do not really want to mess around with de-winterizing it when I get to my destination.
I can also potentially plug the MH in and run the furnace as well.

Tips or suggestions?

[curver900]

if it were me I would blow all the lines out with air bring water bottles and use pit stops on the way at gas stations... That is too cold to fill up with water the pipes will most likely freeze... if it gets down to 18 you have about 18 hours before you will get to go find leaks when it thaws out...

I would leave it winterized until you reach a destination where the weather is more cooperative...

get a 1500W electric heater for when you stop in VA... it will keep your propane costs in check...


heck by the end of Feb it might not be that cold...

[Jagiven]

If it was me. I would dewinterize at the CG. I would bring a case of water for the 1st day or two. At your full hookup site, if it will be above 20 at night and ideally above 40 during the day, I would dewinterize and sanitizing the lines. Your hooked up and can run as much water as you please and not make a mess in the driveway. While the faucets and drains are open you can site back and relax, eat dinner, watch a movie, take a nap, etc.

[GHen]

I have a portable compressor, 5 gallon tank. I just blow the lines out and drain the hot water tank and just fill it all up again with the tank when I get to a destination and get the heat running.
15 min to drain it and another 15 minutes to fill it all back up. If it’s really cold I put some antifreeze in the drains also.
Don’t fill the fresh water tank more than about 3/4 in case it starts to freeze. It needs room to expand.

[CAG]

Pretty much what everyone else said with this thought. Consider the total hours that the temps will be above freezing in a 24 hour period. If it is above 32 F for only a few hours a day your fresh water tank will eventually freeze solid. You would be ok for a day or two but the freeze cycle will eventually catch up with you.

The lines will freeze much faster.

[Kim Gass]

Dewinterize at your CG in VA. We have been running from Maine to Florida for three years and dewinterize in VA. Once we ran to PA and thought about dewinterizing but that was a little early ( Jonestown KOA)

[CreekLife]

Its settled! I didnt want to spend the time because we will be arriving late however its foolish to not spend the 20 mins it takes to do it vs frozen pipes. This is a new MH and I have not de-winterized it yet so i wanted the dealer to show me but I am sure its just like my melbourne was. If I see the temps are going to be high that week I will not worry about it! Thank you all. This group has been fantastic so far!

[Nature Ist]

Your only alternative to waiting to dewinterize would be to watch the weather forecasts carefully just before you leave. If the weather is expected to be unusually warm you could take the chance.
I agree with the idea of waiting until you get to VA to dewinterize. You could drain as much antifreeze as is feasible beforehand to avoid making a mess at the campsite, just don't use water to flush the lines!

[CAG]

Your only alternative to waiting to dewinterize would be to watch the weather forecasts carefully just before you leave. If the weather is expected to be unusually warm you could take the chance.

You're more trusting the me. I never trust what the weather people say, especially when it comes to damaging temps. There have been a number of times where they forecast temps above freezing only to have the actual temps be 10-15 degrees below what they said. If the forecast is anywhere near freezing I plan for it to be much colder. You save broken water lines that way.

[pconroy]

Originally Posted by CreekLife

This is a new MH and I have not de-winterized it yet so i wanted the dealer to show me but I am sure its just like my melbourne was.

I might be missing something but I've not done any special to "de-winterize". I just hook up the hose to city water, and flush everything until I see pink-free water flowing.

[CreekLife]

Originally Posted by pconroy

I might be missing something but I've not done any special to "de-winterize". I just hook up the hose to city water, and flush everything until I see pink-free water flowing.

You are not missing anything, what I am referring to is where the hot water heater bypass is? Does it just have 1 shutoff leading into the tank or 3 shutoffs? 2 low point drains or 3? All stuff I can figure out for sure, just didnt want to screw with it at a camp site. Its not a big deal, I am good friends with the dealer so just going to have him walk me through it quick. And because I am not the one who winterized it, I am not sure what they did.

[michael.g]

Originally Posted by CreekLife

You are not missing anything, what I am referring to is where the hot water heater bypass is? Does it just have 1 shutoff leading into the tank or 3 shutoffs? 2 low point drains or 3? All stuff I can figure out for sure, just didnt want to screw with it at a camp site. Its not a big deal, I am good friends with the dealer so just going to have him walk me through it quick. And because I am not the one who winterized it, I am not sure what they did.

If you have an air compressor, get a blow out plug and blow the anti-freeze out. Lots of folks blow out the anti-freeze right after they put it in. The object is to remove the water. By putting the anti-freeze in, it pushes out any remaining water. You don't have to leave the anti-freeze in all winter long.

Then you can find out where the hot water bypass is and whether it is 1 or 3 valves as well as where the low point drains are (there should be a sticker on the outside indicating where they are).

When you get to a warmer climate, you can then put water into the RV.

-Michael

[CreekLife]

Originally Posted by michael.g

If you have an air compressor, get a blow out plug and blow the anti-freeze out. Lots of folks blow out the anti-freeze right after they put it in. The object is to remove the water. By putting the anti-freeze in, it pushes out any remaining water. You don't have to leave the anti-freeze in all winter long.

Then you can find out where the hot water bypass is and whether it is 1 or 3 valves as well as where the low point drains are (there should be a sticker on the outside indicating where they are).

When you get to a warmer climate, you can then put water into the RV.

-Michael

Great idea. thank you

[pconroy]

Originally Posted by CreekLife

You are not missing anything, what I am referring to is where the hot water heater bypass is? Does it just have 1 shutoff leading into the tank or 3 shutoffs? 2 low point drains or 3? All stuff I can figure out for sure, just didnt want to screw with it at a camp site. Its not a big deal, I am good friends with the dealer so just going to have him walk me through it quick. And because I am not the one who winterized it, I am not sure what they did.

Oh ok!


Our tankless water heater doesn't have a bypass. I've forgotten about that stuff. In the old RV, I left the drain plug out of the tank. That way I knew whether the bypass was on or off.


As for low-points, ours are all marked. One on the outside, two in a bay. I close mine again before I winterize, so I don't worry about them in the Spring.


Good luck!

[JohnWedell]

If you dewinterize it are you going to re-winterize it before you head back home. Something to think about

[Johnynorthland]

Drain everything and blow out the lines. Carry water until you can fill up. It’s easy once you do it. Unless you can stay plugged in and keep tank heaters on, then I might consider draining all the lines, blow them out but keep water in the tank only. But don’t know how well those tank heaters work.

Good luck.

[Skip76]

X2 what Jagiven said. What we did and it worked fine.