Winterizing question - sort of

[dznf0g]

Originally Posted by Bill M.

Airstream rule of thumb:

Propane is cheaper than plumbing!

Uh....true dat! And a lot less aggravating.

[Silver Goose]

One thing that is not warmed by the furnace is the plumbing to the outside faucet. On my 27FB, the shutoff valve is accessed though the panel in the closet floor. With that closed, you can open the outside faucet to let what little water is in there drain out. Unless you had several hours below 32, this generally isn't a problem but it is good to know this exists, particularly when winterizing the trailer.

[CanoeStream]

It would probably need to get 10 degrees below freezing before overnight cooling could become a threat. Establish your own relative risk when it is 30° or 25° without the furnace running -- put a thermometer on the floor in your Airstream -- check it first thing in the morning. Should be easy to get in there early enough with the @(*&)%($&*@# daylight savings time keeping it dark until 7:00AM. (I thinking of joining the 'OccupyGreenwich' demonstrations until they give us our nights back... Did I say that? Okay, won't go there.)

Originally Posted by Kosm1o

You need to run the furnace to keep water under the floor from freezing. Running an electric heater will keep the furnace from coming on.

Bingo! Furnace is your best choice. The overhead A/C won't get down to the floor & under the cabinets as well. Heat rises, etc. And does your A/C have a heat strip? Or does it have a heat pump? These are different. There would be some concern about a heat pump needing more than the 15 amps that a 3-pronged house outlet could provide. The potential downside is wear and tear on the compressor. A different discussion... But this would be relatively ineffective in any event and you aren't going to be using much propane. Or so what if you use a 30# tank anyway? ($22-24 around here)

Here's what I would do. Your pipes are secure if you run the furnace -- say on about a 50° setting. This won't use much fuel. The only winterizing necessary for the fresh, gray & black tanks is drain them -- they don't get the pink antifreeze treatment anyway. You're set. Enjoy your norteño winter!

[CanoeStream]

The outside shower was brought up. I don't have a cutoff like YankeeDoodle does. I'd probably just raise the hose & nozzle up high while a companion opened the low point drain. With the pump off, open the hot & cold knobs for the outside shower. Does it gurgle? That's a good thing. I'd think that means water is draining back into the other plumbing.

I would isolate (shut off valves to) the water heater so that it wouldn't drain when you open the low point drain. Have the dealer show you how to do that. Alternatively, just before you head south, run water through all your hot faucets until they stop spitting air -- that's when you know your HW heater is full. Only then is it safe to turn on that first evening out on the road.

[InsideOut]

Originally Posted by motozen

Howdy neighbor...where is Edgewater? Yep, next Tue/Wed looks to be our first good cold snap. Maybe it will warm up after that. We are heading southwest for the winter looking for twisty motorcycle roads and no wind. Once we are over Raton Pass it will be smooth sailing...just hoping to get over that before a storm blows in. Looks like the delay in delivery will push us into another week, so who knows what the weather will be like by then.

Edgewater is on the northwest side of Denver...by Sloan's Lake.

The good news is if your delivery is delayed a week - you won't have to worry about it as it won't have water in it. This storm is looking like a "good one"...first snow of the season. But, we were out riding our HD up in the Evergreen/Conifer foothills this past weekend and it was gorgeous! Hope you get your trailer soon...sounds like a fun road trip!

Shari