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Newbies Afraid of Freezing Lines


Rebecca K

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Hello, new friends!

We are extremely excited to join the world of Toyota RV owners after purchasing a sharp-looking 1990 (Micro?) Warrior in southern Cali. She's an eBay purchase, so please cross your fingers for us as we fly out to pick her up early next month. Everything seemed very solid based on videos, conversations, Carfax, receipts, etc., as the previous owner had dumped a lot of money into her and then had a sudden change of life plans. He just drove her from VA to CA a few months ago.

I have spent (too much) time reading through the forums here, and thank many of you for your previous posts, as the shared experience has already been helpful. We will now: be sure to take her right to an RV mechanic to have her looked over before the cross-country haul (if anyone has a recommendation for a good one between San Diego and LA, I'm all ears!); I have good roadside assistance recommendations; dumping how-tos; and so much more. Any general "first timer" advice is more than welcome though!

We will be hugging the southern border as we drive home to NY, aiming to stay in above-freezing temps for our own happiness' sake (winter vacation is better when you're escaping the winter), but while I am an outdoors-woman and thus no stranger to the cold and not worried about keeping myself warm in 25-35 degree temperatures, as the owner of an 1850 Victorian home which had an unfortunate attic draft + exposed copper pipe situation one winter, I do not want to go down that road again with my new Toy.

You all have given great insulation advice, which we will take. I've read about a dozen conversations that touch upon the matter, but they didn't quite hit home for me, so I'm hoping to reach out for more specifics:

- Can we have the whole rig's plumbing running as normal in below-freezing temps, as long as we heat it properly? Or are there pipes close to the exterior that will freeze, regardless, and need to be drained and not used?

- If the answer to the above is "Yes, proceed as normal if you are heating!" as I hope and suspect, I wonder, if we are driving with temperatures in the 30's (figure a lower wind chill), should the heat (furnace or, I'm guessing because the battery is being charged, a portable heater) in the cabin be on during the drive to protect the pipes?

- Do I still dump a bit of antifreeze down the poop-chute and sink after emptying black and grey, for good measure?

 

My husband keeps mentioning heating tape for the pipes, but it seems inappropriate and I'd really like to avoid all of that complication, though I'd rather do this correctly than to be fixing broken pipes and the consequences of leaks in the springtime.

It is our plan to hang in warm-ish climates until we hit the east coast, and then have her professionally winterized (we'll learn how to do it ourselves next autumn, I'm not feeling like taking a chance and sweating it all winter) in north Florida/southern Georgia before driving her briskly back north to hang tight as we wrap up our matters at home for the rest of the winter.

Thank you in advance for any and all thoughts on this matter and any others! We're planning on hitting Southern California on the 5th, getting sorted, and then heading along the southern border, so if you see us, come grab a drink and tell us what we don't know. :)

All the best,

Rebecca

little warrior.jpg

Edited by Rebecca K
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Experience from the winter school of hard knocks.....WINTERIZE and don't use it on the road. Have the PO show you how and do it before you leave.

If that seems a bit much then scroll up to the forum appliance section and look for the post about "air purged water lines". With a $5 blow out plug adapter you can do a quick purge and just pour some antifreeze in the sink traps. 

Drink bottled water, mix RV antifreeze and water 25/75 (75 is water) and flush the toilet with that.

While you SHOULD be safe from freezing on the southern route, they did just have a monster storm go through.  So this is more of penny wise,,pound foolish type advice

While most of the lines are inside and with open cabinet doors the heater will keep things from freezing, all it takes is a heater failure and you in a warm hotel room for the night to cause problems. The gray and black tanks are exposed to outside temps and nothing is more fun than trying to dump a frozen poop tank. If the tank was full when it froze then you stuck using gas stations until things warm up. So the gray tank gets some antifreeze too so that the valve is protected.

Have fun with your new toy. Remember the only dumb question is the one you didn't ask.

 

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Thanks, WME and Derek!

I'm definitely a "better safe than sorry" kind of gal, so we'll surely heed your advice. I will get one of the blow-out tools regardless, and we can see how adventurous we are feeling. It would be nice to be able to cook while we make our way back across (and do dishes and whatnot- disposables are a pet peeve, though I acknowledge their convenience). This could be creatively achieved with water jugs though, as long as I can use the grey and black tanks with some anti-freeze in them.

Re: the tires- they look like they have some good tread and life in them (not cracking) from photos, but we'll be sure to be sure. The previous owner really did a lot to her. Heading to Cali, he put a very powerful AC unit in. Not so helpful with this NY issue though. ;)

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