EMERGENCY WINTERIZING

 First - THIS IS NOT A SUBSTITUTE FOR WINTER-LONG  WINTERIZING. Emergency winterizing is when you find out the weather is going to change dramatically and get cold to the point of freezing that night or the next day and you do not have time to completely winterize before the temperatures drop! If you have time to winterize properly then follow the directions in our article: "Winterizing: The Definitive Step by Step Guide."  

Something that is important to understand is the weather has changed considerably in the past five or more years. Areas that never got cold or saw snow  or ice or had severe storms that bring tornadoes to areas that never had any of this in the past - has been experiencing it all in recent years - and especially in this past year. Thinking that you have never had to winterize before so why start now - well there is good reason to start now.  And those who think - it can't happen to me or here -  you are betting on the cost of repairs of your Roadtrek if you take a chance.

Winterizing is necessary when the temperatures will go to 28 degrees or colder for two nights in a row with the days NOT going up to at least 40 degrees or higher.  This came to us from a Roadtrek trained RV service technician. It is a good guideline to remember and be prepared to deal with - especially when you find this out when there is little time to winterize fully. IF THE TEMPERATURES DO THIS FOR MORE THAN TWO DAYS IN A ROW OR THE TEMPERATURES DROP EVEN LOWER - AND YOU KNOW IT IS COMING - WINTERIZE FULLY!

 1) WATER PUMP OFF - Inside open the sink - hot and cold and let it drain out. Open the shower hot and cold side and with the shower nozzle in the sink, let the shower hose drain out into the sink.  Flush the toilet.  Go outside and open the hot and cold side of the outside shower - let that pour to the ground.

2) Empty your exterior fresh tank. (It is a good idea to also empty your interior fresh tank, if you have a two fresh tank system (190, 210). The reason for this is you do not want any water inside as you will not be able to use the water anyway as it must NOT go down any drain including the toilet. You could leave the interior tank full if you want.) If you leave water in the interior fresh tank (two fresh tank system) PUT THE SUMMER MODE/WINTER MODE VALVES IN WINTER MODE! OTHER WISE KEEP THEM IN SUMMER MODE or the inside tank will not drain!!!

3) Dump your black tank and your grey tank.  When done, lift the macerator hose - or the gravity dump hose up off the ground and let any water remaining in the hose to drain out.

3) Remove the anode rod from your hot water heater tank and empty the water out of the hot water heater tank. (Inside the tank is insulated in foam, but outside behind the hot water tank vent the tank is exposed to the cold so it is best to dump this tank to prevent it from freezing.) 

4) Go inside the Roadtrek. Open EVERY inside cabinet door where there is anything related to water inside - pipes, toilet, hot water tank, water pump, under the sink, and especially the interior water tank IF you have one. 

5) Turn on the propane for your Roadtrek. If it was not on before follow this article if you do not know how.

6) Turn on the furnace. This is how to turn on the furnace if you do not know how. Put the furnace on HI and AUTO on the thermostat - turn the heat up to a little more than you would find comfortable. If you are not going to be inside the Roadtrek then put the thermostat up to 85. This is going to be the source of heat from keeping the inside of your Roadtrek's pipes from freezing. 

 7) Do not open any windows or and only open the van doors briefly if you must.  The heat MUST stay inside. 

DONE!

BE AWARE that this will marginally protect the water pipes and the macerator outside under the van.  Emptying the tanks will allow enough room inside the tanks that any little amount of water that remains in the tanks will have room to expand if that water freezes.  What is in the pipes  should have flowed out in the process - but there are no guarantees and Meryl and Me cannot be responsible for any damage that occurs. 

NOW WHAT? We are in our Roadtrek with no water or toilet - what are we supposed to do? This involves some prior preparation with a few things that you will need to have with you.

FIRST - TOILET -  Putting RV antifreeze to flush the toilet is not a solution as some believe. We did some experimental research to see what happens when water (even urine) and RV antifreeze mix. The result is frozen solid RV antifreeze that expands just like water.  So what to do. This is something that is  great thing to keep in every Roadtrek, especially those that have a macerator. They are called by RVer's "wag bags". They are available to buy under various brand names on line or at stores that sell camping supplies -  Rei, Cabella's, Bass Pro Shops, Camping World, Dick's Sporting Goods, (at one time Walmart but I have not seen them there in several years) - and Amazon.   Get these before you need them because when you need them, without one of these stores nearby, you will not find them.  This is the one we have bought and there are always two boxes in our Roadtrek - Reliance Double Doodie Toilet Waste Bags. These are made for camping toilets that basically are just a bucket with a seat. They fit perfectly into the open toilet bowl in a Roadtrek Open the bag, put it in the empty toilet bowl, put the excess on top over the edge of the bowl and close the seat down on top. The bag stays in place. Do whatever you have to do into the bag. The bag is two layers of Mylar each with a zip closure. Inside the bag there is a chemical that turns liquid into gel and a deodorizer.  When done close the toilet lid - for liquids there is no odor and one bag can be used several times -  it will get you through the night. . For the other you may want to put in a new bag. All you do it take the open end of the bag - close the inner bag and then close the outer bag sealing it tight with the zip lock closures. These bags are legal to dispose of in any garbage container. Throw away the old bag and put a new bag into the toilet. With those with macerators - if your macerator breaks - this is going to make your life easier in your Roadtrek until you can get it fixed. On the last day of a trip on your way home and you dumped your tanks before you started home -  these come in really handy when you need to go and don't want to have to dump your tank again when you get home!

That takes care of the toilet. Now you need water.  A gallon of bottle water in Walmart store is one dollar US. Buy a few bottles before you leave on a trip when it can possibly get cold - and if you don't there is a Walmart a few miles from just about anywhere.  BUT the water cannot go down ANY DRAIN! So what you also want to get is a small sink basin - a few dollars also in Walmart.  PUT THE BASIN IN THE SINK!  There are usually two size basins - get the smaller one.    We found a Sterilite box with a handled lid that fit perfectly in the sink -  move the faucet out of the way and it goes right in. This makes it even easier to empty as I cut a hole at one corner of the lid, take it out with the handle and the latches closing the lid on the box and carry it out of the Roadtrek and where you have to take it to empty it - a restroom sink  or on the ground outside. All water is poured over the basin or the box and never into the sink to the drain. Wash in the basin or over the box.  For thousands of years before inside running water, this was what people did! 😉

 

That is it! Not a big deal if you are prepared! WHEN YOU GET HOME OR AS SOON AS YOU CAN WINTERIZE FULLY.

If you have a question - email with the link in the right column. 

RV Emergency Plan

I have been following several RV groups and forums and the subject of having a plan in the event of an emergency - in particular a weather emergency - has been discussed. It had never occurred to me that having an actual plan was something that was necessary, but it does make sense. Living in the Northeast, the most hazardous weather conditions are generally hurricanes and blizzards. While there are occasional reports of tornadoes in this area in recent years, when growing up a tornado was something that occurred far away from here. When traveling in an RV, however, it is important to be aware of any type of weather condition that may occur in areas that may be unlike those you are used to experiencing at home.

There has been only one occurrence for us of an actual weather emergency while on a trip in the Roadtrek, and this occurred this past October. We were in Pennsylvania and the radio weather reports were for rain - which is not generally of concern. Just as an aside - weather reports on the radio in some areas can be hard to come by. Generally, FM stations which are the most common to pick up on a vehicle radio don't bother with weather reports or even the news. AM stations in some areas are few and far between so the usual source of weather radio reports is just not reliable. We were out in the Roadtrek heading home from a dinner at a restaurant at night and we had an FM station on and we heard for the first time ever the Emergency Broadcast Signal that was not followed by the usual, "This is a test". No, this was the real thing. A sudden severe storm was heading for the county that we were in and the towns listed included the town that the campground that we were staying at is in. The time frame for the coming storm would allow us to get to the campground that was near by with plenty of time - and we continued back to the campground and our site. As we were driving the report repeated several times, each time including more localities that would be affected. There would be heavy downpours and sixty mile per hour damaging winds. We got back to the campground with enough time to get ourselves hooked up and able to get inside the Roadtrek - and while we did that we looked around us to see where we could go if we needed solid shelter. The brick building housing the restrooms and the laundry was less than 200 feet from our site in a direct path and we knew that we could get in there quickly if we needed to. That was our plan and the night and the storm played out. Without going into further detail - as I did write about this experience in an article some time after that trip - let's talk about making a plan if you learn of a pending emergency coming your way.

In areas that frequently are hit by such severe weather of all types, the campground may have its own Emergency Plan for those staying there and it is always a good idea to ask at the office when you check into the campground if there is one. If so, have them explain it to you and show you on the campground map (there always seems to be a campground map that you are given at every campground) where you are to go in the event of a severe storm, tornado, flood warning, etc. If they don't have a campground plan then you have to come up with your own.

The first thing that you want to determine is where you will go if the conditions get so bad that staying in your RV will not be safe. You want to find the closest solid building - like the brick and cinder block restroom building that we decided upon. You need to plan in advance the path that you will take to go in - and what you will take with you. If you have children with you don't frighten them but explain to them that if - for whatever reason - there was some need to leave the RV because the weather gets bad - this is where we will go and how we will get there.

One thing that we find very valuable to have and bought after our first season in our Roadtrek is a NOAA Emergency Weather Radio. (That was the year that we went through a bad storm on the road, an earthquake, and a hurricane that was coming up the East Coast heading in our direction and in the direction of our home.) The radio that was recommended to us by other RVers is the Midland WR-120 Weather Alert Radio. This is not expensive - less than $30. It can be found in some Walmarts and can be ordered on the Walmart website with free shipping to any Walmart. Ours came with an AC power adapter, a 12 volt cord to plug into the dashboard, and 3 AA batteries. It runs on any of the three. It locks into the local NOAA emergency broadcast automatically and will give you any emergency reports and weather reports for that area. It has a digital display and can be set to act as an alarm from a silent radio to wake you up in the event of an emergency broadcast. The alarm is loud and will get you up and out of bed to react to the emergency coming. For the price this radio does a lot and it gets very positive ratings and reviews.  I know that some will say - "Oh I have an app that will do the same thing so I don't need a radio."  Well, we went through Hurricane Sandy at home and during that storm cell towers went out of service. It does not help to have an app with no data service to use it with. At the same time - radios worked. In fact, we had the Midland and that worked throughout the storm and for the week after when power lines were down and emergency crews worked 24 hours a day to restore communications and power. So as part of your emergency plan get yourself a radio - and make sure that you have spare batteries on hand.  When you make your emergency plan keeping this radio on before and during this storm is essential to the plan - and if you have to abandon your RV and head for solid shelter the radio and spare batteries are to go with you.

You also want to be sure to have at least one - if not more than one - good and bright flashlight with spare batteries. If power goes out you have the flashlights - even in a small RV like a Roadtrek a flashlight helps to get around in the dark. Should you need to leave the RV - take the flashlights and the batteries.

If you need any medications, make sure that your plan includes having those medications together for an easy grab and go if you have to leave the RV. You don't know how long you will be in the shelter building. And you don't know if your RV will be there when the storm is over. Sorry - but that is a potential reality with some storms.

Be prepared to have a lot of company in the building you are running to. You are not the only ones who decided that this is "the place" to go in case of an emergency. Get comfortable with the idea of being in a crowd in tight quarters. Stay away from windows - these restroom buildings rarely have windows - and stay away from doors. Don't expect to be comfortable inside. You are there to stay safe - not to have a good time.

Listen for any warning sirens or alarms - do not ignore them. We have been in all types of situations where an alarm is going off and people just ignore it. We have been in hotels when the fire alarm has gone off in the middle of the night - up on an upper floor - and people come out into the hall look around and go back into their rooms - while others are heading down the staircase to the street. We have been in stores and malls where the fire alarm is going off and people just ignore it. We were in a movie theater when the fire alarm went off and people just kept watching the movie - while some are wisely heading for the exits - and as we were just getting out we could hear theater employees yelling at those remaining in their seats to "get out, get out!".  Don't ignore alarms!

There are some RVs that are much lighter than others. The Roadtrek is four tons - which is a heavy van. There are Class As that are large and heavy. Then there are thin walled travel trailers, small and light Class Cs, etc. Don't decide in a high wind situation or a tornado that your RV will stand up to anything. There are some very frightening photographs of RV campgrounds after a tornado or severe storm has gone through. The afternoon of writing this article I saw photos of the aftermath of a sudden storm in Georgia in which there were large and small RVs crushed by trees and a travel trailer turned upside down. This was not a tornado.  The Roadtrek and larger, heavy RVs "should" stand up to 60 mile per hour winds but look around your RV when making your emergency plan for that campsite to see what trees might fall, what electrical lines could come down on your RV, etc. - and what could block your path to your shelter should you decide to wait too long to go.

These are just a few ideas about creating your own emergency plans for each campground that you are in. You can add to these anything that you need that will keep you and your family safe. If you are not at a campground and you are, for example staying overnight in a Walmart parking lot - go into the store. This is why it is just one reason why it is important if staying at a Walmart overnight in your RV that you stay in one that is open 24/7.  If you are out in the woods all alone in your RV - and there is no time time head for civilization, call 911or the local police department and alert them to your location and that you are out there. If they feel you need to move and that is still possible, do so. If not, then tell them that you want them to be aware that you are out there and at the moment there is no need to come to help. After the storm, call them back to let them know you are safe.