Must I winterize when using heater

[tomdavisDOTcom]

Heading up to PA for 10 days.... taking the cats... we are staying in the motorhome which will be plugged in to run the fan for the heat. If I'm using the heat the whole time, is winterization necessary or will enough heat be radiated around to keep water in pipes from freezing? Please help!

[Ford Idaho]

No, internal heat will NOT keep things outside warm, not even lukewarm.

[RamblerGuy]

Originally Posted by tomdavisDOTcom

Heading up to PA for 10 days.... taking the cats... we are staying in the motorhome which will be plugged in to run the fan for the heat. If I'm using the heat the whole time, is winterization necessary or will enough heat be radiated around to keep water in pipes from freezing? Please help!

You posted in the Sunseeker forum, so I assume you have a Sunseeker. If so, the propane furnace supplies some heat to the water filter/pump compartment and to the gray/black tank drain compartment. This also heats the fresh water tank, and the gray and black tanks. On the other hand, if you are talking about using a portable electric space heater, the answer is as stated above - no. The heat does not get into cabinets or into the compartments, so you risk having the water filter/pump, sewer drains, or tanks freeze.

We were in our Sunseeker 3100 once, in middle Georgia, fully exposed to a 15 mph wind all night, with temperatures in the teens. We kept the coach about 70 degrees with the gas furnace. We only had a 15 amp shore power, so we didn't run a electric space heater to help. I checked the compartments in the morning and both were in the 50's. Some of our furnace ducts go through the kitchen cabinet, bathroom cabinet and under the shower, so the pipes there were nice and warm.

Be sure you can refill with propane. You'll empty your coach tank in less than 10 days if it's cold. I have an Extend-a-Stay device that allows me to use a 20 pound grill gas tank (when we are parked, of course). It's sometimes easier to refill or swap it than to drive the Sunseeker to a fill station.

Don't forget your water heater. The propane gas flue is perfect for conducting heat from the water to the outdoors, so if you don't bypass and drain it, you'll need to keep it hot any time the outside temperature goes below freezing. Although the water heater is probably in a cabinet that may be heated, the water heater has thick insulation to keep the water hot, but that prevents coach heat from getting to it and the flue easily conducts the heat away. Be sure to turn the electric element off before you drain it. I forgot once and the heating element burned out within seconds of it getting dry.

[jrwalkerpa1]

Keep in mind that in PA we are expecting the coldest weather so far this fall toward the end of this week. I'm not sure where you are bound for but the south central areas of the state are looking at nighttime lows in the low to mid teens and north and west may be near zero. Days will better of course.

Up until recently, our weather has been such that you could (with some planning) get away without winterizing but I'd be real careful now. It is possible with enough propane ( the 9.8 gallons on the sunseeker wont go far with constant furnace use) and the ability to plug in but you'll need to be very careful and take precautions.

[tomdavisDOTcom]

i have a 2300f and are going to northeast PA from the 15th to 25th ... thanks for the replies !

[rvrobocop]

RamblerGuy covered the bases well. I camp all winter in the Mid-Atlantic without winterizing. However, I take extensive steps to maintain heat throughout the MH. It's a learning process and has not failed me yet.

[Mark1]

Last year we drove our Sunseeker from Ny to Nevada.,Left Jan 5th.used a lot of propane,needed to fill it every 2-3 days.Wife remembers scraping frost off the inside of the windows of the Sunseekers slide out bedroom windows the night we were in Flagstaff Az.Never had any problem with water lines or tanks. But of course last winter was very mild.

[RitaB]

I am in NEPA, Wilkes Barre area and we have been having below freezing temps all night and for the next week or two don't expect it to get much above freezing during the days. You will be taking a chance if you don't winterize your lines and waterheater. Carry water for cooking and drinking in your RV where it will not freeze. Also so water for bathing and toilet, make sure you have some antifreeze in the black tank. It's a lot more expensive to fix busted lines than to buy water to carry in the RV.

[Flybob]

The problem is it only takes one thing to freeze and crack to make the water system useless until fixed. If you have an outside kitchen, shower etc you will not be able to heat it. Also the liquids in your black and grey systems ( next to the dump valve) could freeze. I would not chance it. PA will be cooold this wknd.

[Mark1]

Yep.I wasn't so worried about most of the water system as I have the furnace running and a extended stay Lp tank. But the ice maker valve and washer valves are against the outside walls. so I did the winterize thing