Purchasing New TM

All sounds great. What about water in the lines when you camp in cold weather? Where in DC did you camp? I'm in Baltimore.

Carol

Thanks. So there's no need to use RV anti-freeze at any time as long as you're not filling the water holding tank and running water thru the lines? The dealer is saying there's no need to winterize at all.(?)
Carol

I would prefer to be on the safe side -- we do winterize. It did not take too much time to disconnect the battery, and a few other things (which hubby did and would have to describe) and throw pink stuff down the proper drains, etc. Queeniereads aka Judi

[Bill]

Just to clarify about winterizing. For long-term winter storage:

1. As Judi said, disconnecting the battery is necessary unless you keep a good 3- or 4-stage charger on it.

2. Open all four drain valves under the road side of the trailer, and leave them open. Turn on the hot and cold faucets in the kitchen sink, to aid in draining.

3. Unscrew the outdoor shower head from the end of the hose. Don't lose the little washer! Shake the water out of it, and set it aside for the winter. Pull the hose out and drop it on the ground to drain. Open the hot and cold valves for the shower. You can push the hose back into the opening.

4. Put the inside shower head on the floor of the tub, and allow it to drain.

5. Pink stuff in the drains is not necessary, but as Judi says, it can't hurt. If you don't use pink stuff, the water in the traps will freeze - but won't hurt anything.

That's about it! The tough parts of winterizing are not needed! I bet your Scamp friends have to install a water heater bypass kit, drain the water heater, pump antifreeze through the lines, etc, etc, etc. The TM designers have made all this unnecessary! Thanks, TM!

Bill

Thanks for the information. I'll pass it onto my brother. He understands these things and can teach me after he does it the first time. I'm hoping to store my TM in the garage. It still gets cold in there but may cut down on some icing. I'll take the battery out and store in the basement. Thanks for all your help. I'm excited. Can't wait to take it out. I still need to know what TM owners do when camping in really cold weather. What do you do about water (or do you now use the water lines)?

Carol

[Bill]

Carol -

No need to remove the battery - they are heavy! And batteries actually store better when the temperature is cold. Just make sure it is fully charged, and then either pull the battery fuse (located right at the battery in a holder in the positive cable) or disconnect one of the cables from the battery.

As for using the camper's water system in cold weather, I think Texas_Camper answered the question pretty well in post #16 in this thread. I have camped out at zero using his approach, and it worked well. Is there another question beyond what he answered?

Bill

[Speckul8r]

Carol, We camped in the Prince Wiliam Travel Trailer Village in Dumfries, VA. You can see my comments on the place in the "Campground" section if interested. Used the water tank and water from home. No outside connections.

I can't imagine not doing the little bit of winterizing to the TM in MD. Get's fair cold there.

Page 19, #6, of my TM manual says "Disconnect both lines to the water pump." Any comments on that?? This is a 2006 model. I had done all the draining and even put the pink stuff in the drains b4 going on this last jaunt. I noticed while filling the TM at home that the pump started rather slow and took a few seconds to come up to speed while charging the hot water tank.

Originally Posted by Speckul8r

Took the TM to DC the weekend of Thanksgiving so we could take the grandkids to the Smithsonian.

I've been wanting to try some cold weather camping but wasn't expecting it to be quite this cold. We took our TM to the mountains of Huntingdon County (PA) that same weekend. Loaded up the dogs and the granddaughter, packed our warm clothes and down comforter and off we went. We had some snow on Wednesday night and Thursday. Our nighttime temps were slightly colder than what the weatherman said they were to be, 15 and 10 degrees, and we ran out of gas the 2nd night (at 5am) Thank goodness for the down comforter and small heater we carry along. The water line to the trailer was frozen solid and hubby had to go outside at 5am and drain the water heater but we survived the trip and all is well. Our TM is now sitting in the driveway, cleaned and winterized and bundled up for the long winter.

Happy Holidays!

Thanks very much. No further questions at this time. I'm eagerly looking forward to picking up my new TM tomorrow. Have a nice weekend and Merry Christmas.

Carol

[Bill]

Wendy -

I'm not sure if there was a reason to drain the water heater. If you had hookups, of course, it would have stayed warm from the electric heating element inside it. If you didn't have hookups, the water heater is indoors (under the sink) and so it won't get any colder than the inside of the TM gets. Even then, it is very well insulated, and will hold its heat for a long time. Eventually, of course, it must be drained before you put the TM up for the winter. But draining at 5AM? Brrr!

Bill