How Cold Can We Go without Winterizing?

[MrLynn]

Our E21C has foam insulation underneath, and heated tanks. We live in Massachusetts, and I'm assuming that by mid-November I will have to winterize the trailer, which sits under a canopy outdoors unheated.

But we'd like to take it to Virginia, for Thanksgiving, and maybe later to Florida. What ambient daytime and nighttime temperatures would enable us to fill the lines with water and use the facilities?

I guess we could use motels and rest stops while heading south, though one reason we got a travel trailer was carry our own bathroom. Would we have to get well past Virginia before de-winterizing?

Could we keep the furnace on overnight and use the Escape as normal? Would that protect the plumbing?

Too many questions, too few answers. . .

[Donna D.]

Winterize and then carry jug water to flush, etc. You could even use RV anti-freeze if you wish. I get it for 99 cents a gallon, so it's cheap enough!

[Perry Butler]

We're good to about 15F at night using our grey water tank as long as the daytime temps get near or above freezing. If we know the daytime highs are going to be <25F, or the nightime <15F we drain the grey tank and use water from jugs to flush.

When we drain the grey/black tanks we throw in a gallon of antifreeze in the black tank immediately after draining. We've camped down to 5F without problems.

Enjoy,

Perry

[MrLynn]

Do the tank heaters take a lot of juice? Need to be on shore power to use them without running down the batteries (we have two standard 6-volt batteries)?

[Vermilye]

If you have tank heaters, unless you have lots of battery, you should probably skip using them unless hooked up.

I travel to the southwest very slowly starting in late October, and along the way hit many overnights in the 20's, but have not had problems with the furnace set at 58°F and daytime temperatures hitting over 50°F. No tank heaters & I use both. I don't hook up the fresh water hose at campgrounds if I suspect it will freeze overnight.

[Perry Butler]

Originally Posted by MrLynn

Do the tank heaters take a lot of juice? Need to be on shore power to use them without running down the batteries (we have two standard 6-volt batteries)?

We purchased our 5.0 with the tank heaters and have never used them.

You need to find out the amps used per hour to estimate how long the batteries will last. We figure that if we ever use the heaters we’ll just have them on for 2 hours to conserve energy. However, now we have 260 useable ah’s, and a Victron BMV 712 to monitor ah usage, so at some time I’ll turn the heaters on to sense ah’s needed.

OTOH, antifreeze is your friend. If you’re worried, pour a gallon in both the black and gray if you’re going to use those tanks in extended cold weather.

We do drain the fresh for those times though and many times blow the lines free with our portable Black and Decker 12v air compressor. I’m more worried about fresh water freezing and breaking fittings.

Enjoy,

Perry