Home RV pad with hookups considerations?

[featherbedder]

Living in rural area with acreage don't worry about dumping as used to be horse pasture w/houses dist. away, 20 amp out side outlets enough power to use ac but seldom use. Nice extra frig space but frig. quit elect. last summer, still nice to have next house for uses. If to wet in pasture have under ground piping to yard [4 acres grass] away from house then flush with lots of water, water well some dist. away so no ground water pollution also well is very deep . Also have several hose bibs around out side of house. Living rural no sewer or water. No covenants to worry about or home owners board or tree huggers and being zoned agriculture is nice.

[jhenry]

I have my 325 in my yard next to house on a pad its great! my hide out! I had to move fence back 4ft due to bylaw that the unit could not be past front of front entrance door, my house has a recessed front door! I have water hook up 10 ft away electrical 110 is 20 ft away.My electrical panel is only 6ft away have the materials but waiting til summer and my nephew, no sewer, my system is on wrong side of house! Picture tomorrow covered in 2ft snow! Can't wait till spring!!

[spatters]

Hi Folks,

Replying to this thread as it seems the most current of the home RV pad discussions. Thank you for your patience with my questions.

My wife and I had a total loss of our home in the Northern California wildfires in 2017. We've been given an "emergency temporary dwelling" permit by the county and we have ordered a 30' International 2018 RB twin (that we're hoping to convert to a king) that should be delivered in February (fingers crossed). We'll be living in the airstream for 2 or 3 years while we rebuild.

We've got an emergency power pole with a 50AMP RV connection installed and some other 110 plugs for various things for Shore Power. The installation was done by an electrician and signed-off by the county.

We'll be doing the sewer run and the water run ourselves over the next few weeks. Still figuring out the IT and AV stuff. One of our neighbors also had a huge tank of propane installed next to his trailer (not an airstream). I figure that might also be an option depending on propane usage.

So HERE's the questions (finally).....

If we leave the property for 3 or 4 days do we need to unhook and winterize the airstream? Do you just leave your airstream connected and "turned-on" the entire time? Our thought was that if we needed to leave for a couple of days (wife and I both travel some for business), we'd just set the thermostat on 50 degrees and leave things be. It can get below freezing on our property but it's a California freeze where it dips below 32 for a few hours then recovers.

Thank you for any suggestions.

Spatters

[gail]

Sorry to hear about your loss.
I would leave heat on 55 when you leave.
In cold weather it is easy to winterize, but you would have to do
it before the cold. I think if it is only 32 for a few hours nothing will happen.
Someone has a post about their airstream and skiing.
I believe they left the heat on. IF you think you will use too much propane
we also use a small heater.
gail

[Gamehawkers]

I am sorry for your loss. I put a carport cover over a concrete slab to keep my 30' Classic protected. I brought in water and power under ground. I wired in both a 50 amp and a 30 amp RV outlets as well as 15 amp outlets. I paid someone to install the metal roof and septic tank. I made sure the cover was snow rated for the occasional snow fall.
I will attach a photograph.
I poured the slab 16' by 36' so I had extra room to back the trailer in and out without risking damage.

[Gamehawkers]

Finished with the trailer in place.

[Gamehawkers]

I leave the heat set at 65 degrees.
That way nothing inside freezes. Propane is cheaper than plumbing.
I buy a tank of propane every 7 days when it is below freezing here at night.
I bought a electrically heated water hose at camping world to keep it from freezing along with a water filter.
A surge protector is a valuable insurance policy. Keeps your trailer's electrical components safe from power spikes.
The roof and sides keep the sun and hail from damaging the trailer.

[Gamehawkers]

Originally Posted by Gamehawkers

I leave the heat set at 65 degrees.
That way nothing inside freezes. Propane is cheaper than plumbing.
I also have a small ceramic heater to supplement the propane heat.
I buy a tank of propane every 7 days when it is below freezing here at night.
I bought a electrically heated water hose at camping world to keep it from freezing along with a water filter.
A surge protector is a valuable insurance policy. Keeps your trailer's electrical components safe from power spikes.
The roof and sides keep the sun and hail from damaging the trailer.

I leave a dehumidifier plugged in to remove excess moisture from the trailer.

[cwf]

tough loss... but, this is your 'silver lining'...

I use my own creation heated supply hose (electrical) and insulation of hose. With it connected to our AS (1999 34' inlet is near bottom of trailer and inside a door. So I connected as normal, packed the space with insulation then shut the door.. plugged in the hose to the AC...

The furnace (not the roof mount heat pump) set at 60... I don't open the cabinet doors, I want to contain the heat in the wall.

Water is not left run. I fill the drains with antifreeze. Put Reflectix on all windows... and overhead skylights... also add the reflectix or similar to any 'exterior storage door'

I prefer propane... but if available, run the electric for the WH. run an electric forced air floor heater... place in safe place where nothing will get messed up. We have a vertical heater which has 1x2 Heat panels, placed in parallel, so you get great inflow and exhaust... then when the furnace turns on, it can draw in the warm air.

If you use propane heater, you will have other issues...such as condensation to address.

Let us know what you decide.. or if need deeper data.

[ttbikes]

Originally Posted by moosetags

First off, welcome to the Forums; we're glad to have you with us.

We have done home hook-ups for Lucy (our 25FB) twice now. Once at our house in Santa Rosa Beach, and again at SuEllyn's Dad's house in Jacksonville. In both instances, we had a professional electrician add an RV 30 amp dedicated circuit in the garage reachable from Lucy's parking space. The cable TV connection was easily accomplished with 100' of coax to the outside cable television box. Water from a nearby hose bibb was also easy.

The sewer drop connection was a little more challenging. At first we used the standard slinky connection in Jacksonville to the sewer clean-out behind the house. The run from Lucy to the clean-out is about 50 feet and slightly upgrade. This worked OK, but the final clearing of the slinky provided the much needed exercise of having to lift the slinky all the way down the line many times.

Then we found the Sewer Solution, and tried it after it was recommended by one of the guys at Camping World. He told us that this system can easily handle a reasonable upgrade draining situation. It was a little pricey, but not too bad (about $100 for the basic unit and $20 for 10' hose sections) especially considering that most slinkies have a relatively short life expectancy. We first tried the Sewer Solution in Jacksonville using 4 hose sections supplemented with a 10' section of 1' pvc. Boy, did this work great, even with the 2 foot upgrade to the sewer clean-out.

This draining system worked so well that we now use it exclusively everywhere we go. We also have a Sewer Solution set up at our house in Santa Rosa Beach. This is a 70' run to the clean-out. We use 40' of Sewer Solution flex hose coupled with a 30' run of pvc. We always used to arrive home with empty grey and black tanks. Now it doesn't matter.

We have used this system for almost 2 years now, and it has worked flawlessly for hundreds of tank drains.

Brian

Hi Mousetags. Can you tell me a little more about using your sewer clean out? I have one but I have never even given it a thought other than it being there with a cap on it.

[moosetags]

Remove the cap on the clean out. Connect your RV sewer hose to it and you have a dump, just like at the campground.

Brian

[ttbikes]

Originally Posted by moosetags

Remove the cap on the clean out. Connect your RV sewer hose to it and you have a dump, just like at the campground.

Brian

I had never even looked down it. For a "handy guy around the house", I feel pretty dumb. I have often thought that it would be nice if I could dump at the house when I had time to really clean the tank. And now using the trailer as a guest house is also on the list. Thanks!

[cwf]

remember.. don't leave the BLACK tank open all the time... gotta keep things as fluid as possible in there...

[Gamehawkers]

Excellent point on the black tank. Some people leave the gray tank open in cold weather ice can build up in the hose and the fun really begins

[spatters]

Thank you folks for the additional suggestions.

I appreciate you helping out a newbie to both the boards and Airstreaming. The photo's really help. I think we'll have to go without the shed in the short term as we've got to leave room for the construction folks. But it sounds very doable AND we've got the added benefit that when we build the house back, we can incorporate the Airstream as a bunk house. Heated hose for the drinking water makes tons of sense. We're planning on getting filtration for water and electrical surge protection. There's a big trailer and RV show in Pleasanton in January so we thought we'd wander around there in abject confusion and look for ideas as well.

Thanks again from the unexpected Airstreamers!

spatters