Cool weather has finally arrived! As I look out the office window I see leaves in all colors, from golds and oranges to reds and finally brown. A nice breeze is shuffling the leaves across the ground on this sunny 66 degree day.
Cool weather brings with it a hint of cold weather to come and this means it is time to prepare your rig so that you can truly enjoy this marvelous season.
You will want to prepare your water lines to avoid freezing. We are far enough south that preparation is simple and inexpensive. RV supply stores have water lines with built in heat tape that can be easily connected and plugged into your electrical pedestal right at your rig. This will prevent your water from freezing up at night. But then, you still have your water source to take care of. We recommend that you simply invert a 5 gallon bucket over the spigot and handle to trap some of the heat coming off of the heat tape. This has worked quite well for our guests over the past several years. ( Further north, taking a step like that would be laughable. That is just how mild our winters are in the south.) We do have one guest that has set up residence for Oaklawn Park's upcoming thoroughbred racing season. He built a box of foam panels and duct tape and set it over his water source, and connected his heated water line to the source and rig. Nice and neat!
An alternative would be to simply fill your reservoir and disconnect the water line until you need to refill. Oddly enough, no one here ever does that.
You will also need to make sure your grey and black tanks are shut off to prevent your effluent from freezing up your sewer line. This will also prevent sludge from building up in your tank causing expensive and troublesome tank cleaning. This is because the solids will be flushed out when you drain the tank rather than sitting on the bottom becoming a hardened mass. Draining the grey water will then flush the solids out of the hose.
The tanks need to be protected from the weather by either warming pads (available at the rv supply store) or, if they are in the insulated basement, by placing a couple of 100 watt lamps in the basement to keep things warm.
Now that the water coming in and going out is taken care of make sure you check the seals around your slide-outs to insure that they are properly seated against the rig and not gaping anywhere. No need to suffer drafts!
All in all, prepping for cold weather is not that big a deal here in central Arkansas. A little forethought goes a long way.
Rick
Cool weather brings with it a hint of cold weather to come and this means it is time to prepare your rig so that you can truly enjoy this marvelous season.
You will want to prepare your water lines to avoid freezing. We are far enough south that preparation is simple and inexpensive. RV supply stores have water lines with built in heat tape that can be easily connected and plugged into your electrical pedestal right at your rig. This will prevent your water from freezing up at night. But then, you still have your water source to take care of. We recommend that you simply invert a 5 gallon bucket over the spigot and handle to trap some of the heat coming off of the heat tape. This has worked quite well for our guests over the past several years. ( Further north, taking a step like that would be laughable. That is just how mild our winters are in the south.) We do have one guest that has set up residence for Oaklawn Park's upcoming thoroughbred racing season. He built a box of foam panels and duct tape and set it over his water source, and connected his heated water line to the source and rig. Nice and neat!
An alternative would be to simply fill your reservoir and disconnect the water line until you need to refill. Oddly enough, no one here ever does that.
You will also need to make sure your grey and black tanks are shut off to prevent your effluent from freezing up your sewer line. This will also prevent sludge from building up in your tank causing expensive and troublesome tank cleaning. This is because the solids will be flushed out when you drain the tank rather than sitting on the bottom becoming a hardened mass. Draining the grey water will then flush the solids out of the hose.
The tanks need to be protected from the weather by either warming pads (available at the rv supply store) or, if they are in the insulated basement, by placing a couple of 100 watt lamps in the basement to keep things warm.
Now that the water coming in and going out is taken care of make sure you check the seals around your slide-outs to insure that they are properly seated against the rig and not gaping anywhere. No need to suffer drafts!
All in all, prepping for cold weather is not that big a deal here in central Arkansas. A little forethought goes a long way.
Rick
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