Newbie winterizing questions!

[sappito]

Hey guys, first poster here thanking you all for your knowledge in advance!! I have questions about winterizing. I am in NC, where it may get cold at night, but stays plenty warm during the day (above freezing) most of the time during winter. Am I okay to keep our trailer normal (without winterizing the lines) if I leave the heat on turned low, around 55? My dealer said this would be more than sufficient to keep the lines open with no problems, even if it drops below freezing. We want to keep it ready to camp at any time. For example, we have about four inches of snow on the ground right now (abnormal here, to be sure), but it is supposed to be 65 this weekend!! Thanks Mother Nature!

It is on power all the time when at home, which leads to my second question. Should my heat work with power alone, or only with LP on? I'm sorry if that is a stupid questions, I just don't know.

We have a 2009 Shamrock 21SS, by the way. I know that question was coming. Thanks!!

[bikendan]

welcome to FRF! can't help you with winterizing, since i live in California.
just know that winterizing is needed if you have extended days of freezing, without any times above freezing.

but, be sure to visit the Expandable section here, including one for Shamrock owners.
lots of help and info on owning a hybrid trailer.

[grhodes50]

Originally Posted by sappito

Hey guys, first poster here thanking you all for your knowledge in advance!! I have questions about winterizing. I am in NC, where it may get cold at night, but stays plenty warm during the day (above freezing) most of the time during winter. Am I okay to keep our trailer normal (without winterizing the lines) if I leave the heat on turned low, around 55? My dealer said this would be more than sufficient to keep the lines open with no problems, even if it drops below freezing. We want to keep it ready to camp at any time. For example, we have about four inches of snow on the ground right now (abnormal here, to be sure), but it is supposed to be 65 this weekend!! Thanks Mother Nature!

It is on power all the time when at home, which leads to my second question. Should my heat work with power alone, or only with LP on? I'm sorry if that is a stupid questions, I just don't know.

We have a 2009 Shamrock 21SS, by the way. I know that question was coming. Thanks!!

First of all to the forum!

Your furnace will work without being hooked up to shore power, but will drain your battery very quickly. Probably overnight depending on how much it runs of course.
Keeping the tt hooked up to shore power will not hurt anything except keep an eye on the battery and make sure you don't boil it dry.
The furnace does supply some heat to the underbelly which should easily keep your tanks and lines from freezing in the temps you described. You will be using a lot of propane though.

I am green with envy that yopu don't have to winterize and can camp year round! So enjoy that tt for the both of us!

[sappito]

Originally Posted by grhodes50

First of all to the forum!

Your furnace will work without being hooked up to shore power, but will drain your battery very quickly. Probably overnight depending on how much it runs of course.
Keeping the tt hooked up to shore power will not hurt anything except keep an eye on the battery and make sure you don't boil it dry.
The furnace does supply some heat to the underbelly which should easily keep your tanks and lines from freezing in the temps you described. You will be using a lot of propane though.

I am green with envy that yopu don't have to winterize and can camp year round! So enjoy that tt for the both of us!

But the LP needs to be on, in any case, right? I cannot heat the TT with power alone, or am I doing something wrong? Thanks!!

[MtnGuy]

You are correct, you need your LP on.....the furnace runs on LP gas and uses 12 volts for the fan, plus 12 volts for the ignition.

If you have an enclosed underbelly and floor ducts for the furnace, then that should help to keep the lines there from freezing. The only problem there is the pipes sticking out of the underbelly. The hot and cold water drains, fresh water tank drain, and waste tank drains. I use rope lights in these areas when I have not winterized to keep those pipes from freezing and bursting.

[LadyWindrider]

The LP must be on for the furnace to operate. The furnace burns the LP to get heat, and uses a 12 volt fan for the blower. That means you need LP, (and lots of it) and a 12 volt battery for the furnace to work. You could use a tank of LP or more per week, and your battery needs to stay charged daily. The battery will stay charged by leaving the trailer plugged in. The LP tanks will you have to check often.

Now with that said, and not sure where you are in N.C., you might could put a small electric heater in the camper and have sufficient heat.

[grhodes50]

Originally Posted by windrider

Now with that said, and not sure where you are in N.C., you might could put a small electric heater in the camper and have sufficient heat.

I thought about the electric heater myself, but am I right in thinking he probably needs to run the furnace to keep the underbelly heated?

[bikendan]

i think an electric ceramic heater will keep the lines inside warm enough.
the tanks below have room for expansion unless they are close to full.
i think the '09 21SS has its FW tank inside. i have an '07 23SS and my FW tank is inside.
only the gray and black tanks are exposed underneath.
so if the FW tank is inside, keeping the ceramic heater going inside should keep everything warm enough.

again, this opinion is from the many posts i've read, not from real-life experience.

and yes, the furnace requires propane to heat the trailer and will run the battery down fast if not hooked up to shore power.

[grhodes50]

Originally Posted by bikendan

i think an electric ceramic heater will keep the lines inside warm enough.
the tanks below have room for expansion unless they are close to full.
i think the '09 21SS has its FW tank inside. i have an '07 23SS and my FW tank is inside.
only the gray and black tanks are exposed underneath.
so if the FW tank is inside, keeping the ceramic heater going inside should keep everything warm enough.

again, this opinion is from the many posts i've read, not from real-life experience.

and yes, the furnace requires propane to heat the trailer and will run the battery down fast if not hooked up to shore power.

Sounds good to me.

Just thought about the water lines going into and out of his water heater, depending on it's location of course. One tt I had the water tannk was not accessible from inside the tt. Might use mtnguy's suggestion of rope lights for those if need be.

[LadyWindrider]

If it is parked at home with empty tanks, no need to heat them. He is a new poster, just hope he understands to dump the tanks when leaving the campground, or somewhere on the way home.

I am in Winston-Salem, NC, and we have have had as many 4 days in a row where the high didn't get to the freezing mark. For my 2 cents, antifreeze is cheaper than plumbing repairs. Also , a lot of the campgrounds in the are turn off the water in the winter. For us, we'll stay home by the fire, with the camper winterized.

[Willis]

This sounds like the perfect occasion for draining the tanks and water heater, and then just blowing out the lines. That should take only 10-15 mins. It still might not hurt to leave a small electric heater going if hooked up to shore power anyway, but not sure what impact that might have on the power bill. For the eastern part of NC that would probably be sufficient.

But location makes a big difference even in NC...my rig is parked right now in a part of NC where there is 6-8 inches of snow on the ground and it often gets below 0F. I can't de-winterize until May 1st.

[Dakota EV]

I live just south of Monroe, NC and this is my first winter with my 2011 V-Lite. I did not want to take any chances so I winterized my trailer. I drained all of the tanks on my last camping trip. Then I purchased a small kit from the dealer for winterizing your trailer. I then used my air compressor to blow out the water lines after opening up all of the faucets in the trailer. I remove the drain plug from the water heater and let all of the water drain from it. I then poured antifreeze down each of the sinks and the commode to make sure that there was antifreeze in each of the holding tanks. My trailers under belly is also enclosed and there is a heater installed by the factory. I keep it on during the real cold nights. I also keep the electric fireplace on low heat during cold spells. I have removed the lcd tv's just to be sure that nothing happens to them. I am not suggesting that everyone has to do this but I don't want any surprises when I decide to start camping again next year. I believe that it is better to be safe that sorry.

[kbrown1075]

I have a med size room ceramic electric heater placed in the mid part of the TT. The water heater, filter, bypass, etc... is in the very forward storage compartment (under part of the bed). I leave the bed lifted so the heat gets against the thin wall separating the compartment from the living spaces. I placed a RF outdoor thermometer on on top of the water heater to monitor the temp from in the house. The ceramic heater is set at 60* and I have the furnace set to 55* (to back up the electric if needed). Over the past month we have had several below freezing nights for up to 8 hours at a time. The lowest the temp ever got on top of the water heater was 42* (outside temp was between 24 and 26 for about 6 hours). I do not winterize as we use it year round. BTW, the ceramic heater was about $42. I have used one 20 lb propane cylinder over 5 months, camping every other weekend.

[campnqueen]

Greetings and Welcome!
This forum is a wonderful place to seek info!

Hhhhmmmm? What if the electricity goes off for some length of time and its cold? I personally would just go ahead and winterize your rig...drain the tanks and water lines... put some antifreeze in the lines. Better safe than sorry... Antifreeze is a lot cheaper than replacing lines or water heater! Just make sure you by pass the water heater...if you have a new unit it mostly likely has a bypass valve for the water heater.

We live in North Georgia... we just had 9 inches of snow over Christmas... so glad we winterized early!

[kbrown1075]

Originally Posted by campnqueen

Hhhhmmmm? What if the electricity goes off for some length of time and its cold? I personally would just go ahead and winterize your rig...drain the tanks and water lines... put some antifreeze in the lines. Better safe than sorry... Antifreeze is a lot cheaper than replacing lines or water heater! Just make sure you by pass the water heater...if you have a new unit it mostly likely has a bypass valve for the water heater.

We live in North Georgia... we just had 9 inches of snow over Christmas... so glad we winterized early!

Where I am in South Louisiana, it is not common to have temps that cold. I would have a lot more troubles than the TT if it were to get that cold. My house sits 18 inches above the ground. The plumbing is exposed, so the house pipes would probably freeze first. Insulation under the house is not recommended due to the humidity and the moisture of the ground. It will cause rot. Just my 2 cents.