Too cold to de-winterize and camp?

[Jayro88]

So I just brought home my first new to me trailer. I am wanting to take my sons out camping at the State Park over spring break at the end of this month. Since it is an older trailer (1994) and new to me I want to test all the systems prior to the trip.

My issue is that it is warming up into the 50's during the day, but at night it is still dropping into the high 20's at night. Should I hold off on flushing the anti-freeze out of the lines and testing the systems? The State Park we are going to doesn't have full hookups. Just electric at the camp sites with a fill and dump station at the entrance.

Would opening the cabinets to any wet areas and running a space heater at night be enough? What about running the furnace at night with the thermostat set to the 45-50* range?

This is my first trailer and I don't want to let my excitement cause me to jack it up....

Thanks

[Jayro88]

Originally Posted by Jayro88

So I just brought home my first new to me trailer. I am wanting to take my sons out camping at the State Park over spring break at the end of this month. Since it is an older trailer (1994) and new to me I want to test all the systems prior to the trip.



My issue is that it is warming up into the 50's during the day, but at night it is still dropping into the high 20's at night. Should I hold off on flushing the anti-freeze out of the lines and testing the systems? The State Park we are going to doesn't have full hookups. Just electric at the camp sites with a fill and dump station at the entrance.



Would opening the cabinets to any wet areas and running a space heater at night be enough? What about running the furnace at night with the thermostat set to the 45-50* range?



This is my first trailer and I don't want to let my excitement cause me to jack it up....



Thanks

Thoughts or opinions? Anyone with experience on this?

Thanks


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[franktafl]

Originally Posted by Jayro88

Thoughts or opinions? Anyone with experience on this?

Thanks


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It's marginal. Would I camp in that weather, you bet! Would I need to take extra precautions, you bet! I've gotten set up for ultra cold weather (below zero) and it worked pretty well but I have a newer RV, more insulated than yours and I have invested MUCHO $$$ in cold weather things... You will most likely encounter some issues with freezing. you neglected to say what type of camper you have, travel trailer or fifth wheel. 1994 means that the underbelly is not insulated or heated which means that you will need to get some heat lamps or something to keep the cold out of the bottom and the pipes and things. It's a little tricky with an rv that is 25 years old since PEX pipes were not invented then and what you probably have is either copper or PVC which will crack when it freezes rather than stretch a bit like PEX.

[wildwest450]

I wouldn't sweat the upper 20's too much. If it hits 50 during the day it's only going to be below freezing for a few hours a night. It takes more than that to hard freeze plumbing. I camp a lot when it's that temp and just use a space heater to heat with, and disconnect the city water at night. You could always let a faucet slow drip at night, but you will fill up your gray water tank fairly quickly. If you have one of those portable sewer totes, that may not be a bad option.

If you flood your camper, don't blame me.

[Jayro88]

Thanks for the feedback guys. I will probably wait to flush the antifreeze out of it. With the heat on etc it would probably be okay for the weekend, but sitting after that could be bad,

The trailer is a 1994 Dutchman Classic 300.



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