Tips for Short Term Winter Storage & Use

[.fisher]

Looking to pick the brains of the collective here, after more Googling than I care to admit.

I have a 1999 Bigfoot 2500 that I'm prepping for the upcoming ski season. Since some of us don't have a heated garage that'll fit one of these rigs what are some tips for SHORT TERM storage during below freezing temps?

After a week of skiing or winter camping I'll inevitably have to head back to the real world and park the rig in my driveway. Once there, I'm mainly uncertain how to best keep pipes from freezing etc. What can I do to avoid going through the winterization process each time? I may want to get on the road and chase a storm at any time and am trying to figure out the best way to keep the rig prepped to be mobilized.

My plan thus far is to wrap the freshwater pipes with heating cables and insulation, and add a couple heating pads to the fresh / holding tanks. These devices looks to be fairly low draw and have thermostats built in. When I get home I can plug into shore power to keep temps maintained and can unplug and go. Antifreeze in the holding tanks via any drains will of course be needed, too.

I'm sure there's some other ideas out there better than mine. Anything I've missed?


Truck camper pic to entice ya'll




Cheers
Andy

 

[Lance990]

Some people just drain their fresh water tanks and simply blow the lines out with compressed air. Be careful with the pressure because you might create some leaks if you go too high. Personally, I have tank heaters F/G/B and that has worked so far. Each one draws about 5A (15A total) so you need to be plugged in or have a massive solar/battery bank for the tank heaters to work. Mine come on at 45F and go off at 65F. We camped in the UP of MIchigan at Tahquamenon Falls in the winter a few years ago to go snowmobiling so we had 30A 120V supplied to the camper. The biggest problem I had (and the reason for the tank heaters) was lines freezing and blade valves freezing WHILE DRIVING. The fresh water tank was fine but the outlet (on the bottom) kept freezing right there between the tank and the pump. I tried running the furnace while driving but the flame would go out and the furnace would go into lockout. We saw temps down to -13F during that expedition.

If I had it to do all over again, I would winterize the camper and leave it winterized. I would use a Luggable Loo in the bathroom and showers would have to wait. I would not keep any water in the fresh tank and just use 7-gallon Reliance jugs for water that I can keep warm enough not to freeze. Just be aware that RV anti-freeze does not mean it won't crystallize before the rated temperature. It just means that it won't freeze solid (this is true mainly in holding tanks). This caused me lots of problems trying to empty tanks where I added a ton of RV anti-freeze to the tanks to keep them in liquid form. It will crystallize and clog the valves and you STILL won't be able to empty your tanks. I had to wait until spring to empty my black tank of poopsicles. I don't recommend it.

I am content knowing that I cannot have all the conveniences in sub-zero temperatures. I make it easy on myself and don't bother trying.

 

[.fisher]

Appreciate the additional ideas! I'm an Idaho transplant from Ohio, who misses spending time in Michigan My folks have a place on the LP that you can see the bridge from. Always loved crossing and exploring the UP on two wheels or 4.

Glad you mentioned blowing out the lines. That's a solid option I hadn't fully considered. I wonder if there's a way to keep water in the fresh tank (with heater pads) and blow out the lines? I'll have to do some poking around.

And, great point on the tank heaters taking a beating while driving. Things get even colder when at speed. Are they still on the batteries at that point? If they're not, I wonder if standard the 7-pin connector from the truck provides enough power for them?

While in-use and running the heater, the Bigfoot has a "heated basement" which should include the freshwater tank. But, I've heard the insulation down there is fairly suspect so who knows how it is, in practice. There was a great thread a few years back that has been really helpful for some other cold weather mods, but mostly for when in-use. I'll be tearing into the basement area this weekend to see what I can do to supplement / improve for both short term storage and while in-use. That'll definitely include at least one of those 5A tank heaters ya mentioned. May also stick one on both the G and B tanks, for good measure. I'll take your word and try my best to avoid the lovely RV antifreeze sludge and poopsicles lol. Yuck!

 

[Mundo4x4Casa]

This is the eternal woe. If you have a heated and insulated basement, the following may not help but will give you a picture of the process of winterizing and using the camper in the winter, and the dewinterizing process. I wrote this for our N* user group on facebook. I'm not sure if you have a black tank or a cassette toilet. It makes a difference in prep.
There are varying degrees of winterizing depending on a lot of situations like temperate; how much insulation you have; and where; if you plan on having water in the tank and/or water in the hot water tank, again depending on how deep and long you will be in cold weather.
In both of my campers, both without a heated nor insulated basement, the die was cast to only have bottled drinking water in the camper and only -50f (aka: pink) antifreeze in the toilet flush tank of our cassette toilet when the temp outside drops below 12 degrees F.

 

[Lance990]

Are they still on the batteries at that point? If they're not, I wonder if standard the 7-pin connector from the truck provides enough power for them?

It doesn't. I have an 8 gauge wire run from my alternator/battery to the camper to power the fridge which uses 18A on 12VDC. I have another separate circuit of 4 gauge wire that is used to charge the battery so I will use that circuit to power the tank heaters.

Most 7-way plugs are only 12 gauge wire which isn't enough to handle the 15A tank heaters (especially over that long of a wire run) along with charging the camper battery. The 7-way is really, at best, a battery "maintainer".