Newbie cold weather question

[Ejenkins]

I've only had my fifth wheel 9 months. I live in Louisiana where it rarely gets below 32. That being said, I have a camping trip planned this week in Louisiana. The temp. the first day will be low 40s with nighttime temps in low 20s. The second day the temp will be mid 40s with nightime temp in upper 20s.

Do I just need to unhook the external water hose at night or is there anything else I need to do?

Second, the dealer I bought this from said that people in Louisiana don't need to winterize their units if they don't camp in really cold weather. I keep my unit stored at home in a $30K garage I had built for the unit. We have gotten temps in the 20s 4-5 times this winter.

Even if the unit is enclosed in a garage (uninsulated) is there anything I need to do on the 20 degree nights?

Thanks for you help in advance.

[boylanag]

Yes, just unhook your external water hose and filter(s) and place them in your basement. We just did that when we traveled from Michigan to Florida and the nights got into the lower 20s. Not sure about your unheated garage but it seems that if it is in 20s outside it will be in 20s inside.

[pineranch]

If I had a $30K garage to store my unit in I would get down on my knees and thank the Good Lord daily just for that then do it again for all the other stuff I have.
Mike

[NCFischers]

Eddie,
I keep the Monty in my unheated barn and the temps have gone below freezing many times this winter. I drain the water heater, open the low point drains and blow out the lines with my compressor (set at 15 pounds) before I put it in the barn and haven't had any problems. One big factor is it's not out in the wind.

[thor]

open your taps and water heater drain and open the low points on the water lines then blow air in the fresh water hose entery.this will force the water out of all your lines .also make sure you flush the toilet to drain that line also.then put the pink anti freeze in the p traps of the sinks and shower.then put some toilet stuff in the toilet to sit on the toilet flap .this will keep any smell from coming from the black tank and keep the seal lubed.this is for storing your unit.if your traveling then just open the low points in your water line and open the taps .gravety will drain the lines.and drain your water tank.make sure your water heater is off or you will burn out your water heater.

[Rondo]

If you do as they have said about draining the lines,low point drains, blowing them out, and drain water heater while in storage you should be good. Jim's suggestion on the city water line and/or filters will keep you from freezing that up especially IF you run the furnace some during the night OR you can put a small heater in the basement to keep it warm down there so your pipes don't freeze over night.
We may be heading South and if we take the Monte, I won't de-winterize until I hit some warmer weather that I know I won't have any line freeze overnight!
Keep us informed on your trip and how things turnout!

[CamillaMichael]

You did not say if you will have full hookups while camping...if you do, and are camping, you will not want to winterize your fifth wheel. As others have said, if you have your heater running, your utilities inside should be fine. Regarding your exterior utilities, you can leave the hose connected if you have a heating wrap on the hose, or if you let the water trickle inside...some will probably disagree with this, but we have done this while camping for extended periods of time in temps below 32 degrees. Of course, you can also do as has been suggested: remove your outside hose and reconnect it when the temps rise...unless you are have fresh water onboard, this will make for less than ideal living conditions.

[mhs4771]

Okay, looks like you've got answers to the camping question, I'll add my $0.02 worth about storage in the garage. You don't say if it's stand-a-lone or attached. We have a garage attached to the house and although the garage is unheated things don't seem to freeze. We had -15 recently and nothing froze. Wish I had a storage for the Monty, have thought about a Pole Barn, but I think next year we'll find someplace warm to spent the winter.

[Ejenkins]

mhs4771

It is a stand alone. About 1.4 of the bottom is brick and the rest is siding. It has a concrete floor. Like I said, it has zero insulation. We call it "The Barn" because I live in a nice residential neighborhood and there is nothing like it in the neighborhood. Try to imagine a nice neighborhood with a detached garage, with a door tall enough for a 13' clearance and wide enough to accomodate a 35' fifth wheel with the slides open. I build my house and "The Barn" at the same time two years ago. When I first saw the frame for The Barn I also had a panic attack. It looked like it towered over the house......which, in a way it does.

We have decided to just cancel the camping trip. So, this week I will take the advice given and just go turn the heater on about 50 degrees when it gets down in the 20s. I also plan on getting a temp. reading in The Barn and compare that to the outside temperature. I suspect when it's 25 degrees outside, it will probably be 26 degrees in The Barn.

Thanks for all of your answers.

[sreigle]

When you're using the rig in freezing weather just make sure the furnace runs enough to pump some heat in the belly. For the temperatures you are speaking I'd set the furnace on 60 or even 58 and use electric heat, also. Just don't run the electric heat too high so the furnace will run a couple of times each hour or so and will run for a few minutes, maybe 3 or 4 minutes or so.

[Ejenkins]

I got the answer to how cold it gets in my garage compared to how cold it is outside. Again, the garage is uninsulated and is not attached to the house. I placed two thermometers in two different locations just so see if I was getting the same reading. I compared temps on two different days and there was zero wind blowing outside.

The result: the temp. inside the garage is about 8-10 degrees warmer than it is outside.

So, the only time I would need to be concerned about freezing water inside the RV garage is when the temp. dips below 25, which is farily rare around here.

[sreigle]

Also, keep in mind it has to be below freezing for several hours (3 or 4, anyhow) before anything is going to freeze up solid.