Regarding Winterizing ...

[JosieNurse]

This is our first time owning an RV. (2017 AS interstate ext) and I’m not sure exactly WHEN to winterize.
WE live in East Tennessee have had almost balmy weather this fall. Now, we suppose to have a couple of 28-33 days and then back up to the mid 50-60s. We still hope to make a couple more short weekend trips.

Do we need to winterize if the temp only drops for day or 2 but warms up during the day and the next weeks?.
Thanks

[majorairhead]

Do you have a garage? Is it heated? Can you put heat in there overnight when temps dip to the high 20's? Can you run the onboard heat to keep things from freezing?

I guarantee I wouldn't park that unit outside when temps go down to 28 overnight. I'd winterize it for sure.

For me personally, I REALLY don't want to have to deal with busted pipes in spring time.

[JosieNurse]

Now I’m scared.
Technically .. we have a large 2 car garage, but the RV is way to tall.

This may be a stupid question, but if it is winterized, could we still drive the RV for a short trip - without using any water, showers, toilets, sink? Haven’t shown it to my kids yet.

[BrentB]

Originally Posted by JosieNurse

Now I’m scared.
Technically .. we have a large 2 car garage, but the RV is way to tall.

This may be a stupid question, but if it is winterized, could we still drive the RV for a short trip - without using any water, showers, toilets, sink? Haven’t shown it to my kids yet.

Yes.

[majorairhead]

I park our airstream in a 24x36 foot unheated garage. I've already winterized.

In the past, I've actually put a glass of water in the garage, just to see if it was frozen over the next morning. I've also put thermometers on the concrete, inside the trailer, on the wall, you know, because I wanted to be aware of just how cold things got in there. I was trying to get an idea of just when I have to winterize.

My post wasn't meant to scare anyone. However, water begins the freezing process at 32 degrees. How long it takes to freeze, or do damage to any number of components in an RV is dependent on numerous things, like, how cold will it be, how cold for how long, volume of water, temperature of water starting off, etc.

I'm not takin' chances

https://rvblogger.com/blog/how-cold-...-tanks-freeze/

[majorairhead]

[QUOTE=JosieNurse;2437228 could we still drive the RV for a short trip - without using any water, showers, toilets, sink? Haven’t shown it to my kids yet.[/QUOTE]

As stated above, yes indeed!

You could winterize it, and if you needed to use the bathroom, you could flush with a gallon jug of water if above freezing, or flush with RV antifreeze if below freezing. Just make sure you dump the black tank and have water out of the toilet bowl prior to the next freeze.

[SWH]

I wouldn’t be terribly concerned about a dip to 28-32 overnight... that’s very unlikely to do any damage if it warms back up to above freezing in the morning. The only thing I’d be worried about is it getting colder than the forecast. If it’s in a place you can safely do it you could leave the furnace on overnight at a very low set point just in case.