Quote:
Originally Posted by ajjohnsons
My wife and I recently bought some land in Vermont, and I would like to leave our Airstream there for occasional visits this winter.
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I think the problem is going to be the severity of the cold. Last winter, we had a spell of several
weeks where the high temps never broke zero and the lows were routinely in the -20s. In such temps, you'll never keep the Airstream warm enough for comfortable habitation -- much less toilet flushing.
So if there's a nasty cold snap, you would probably just stay home. But then, if you've previously used the trailer with antifreeze, the problem could arise from having diluted antifreeze in the water lines or tanks. The Wal-Mart variety says it protects down to -50 but gets slushy well before that temperature. It also says "Do Not Dilute." This means you'd need to be sure all the antifreeze in the lines is 100% pure before you leave the trailer each time.
Plus, flushing the toilet with antifreeze is going to be expensive if you do it more than once or twice. Not to mention the likelihood of secondary problems, like frozen you-know-what in the black tank, or the dump cap freezing in place. And where can you dump the tanks during the frozen winter in Vermont? All the campgrounds will be closed.
There's a whole host of other problems, too. For example, in winter temps, condensation inside the trailer is going to be a BIG problem. Entire threads on the subject of winter camping can be found on these forums.
My feeling is, once in a while in a mild winter is OK, but central or northern VT are just too darn cold from late Dec through early March. Airstreams just aren't built for it. I'll be in Florida ... maybe we'll see you there?