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. 

The Power of Freezing Water

When I went to dewinterize this year I discovered something unexpected. Fortunately, this was not a permanent part of my Roadtrek.  Some of our readers may have seen this article from way back in May 2015.  When we had trouble filling our rear interior fresh water tank we made a fill tube that was able to get to the bottom of the tank and fill the tank from the bottom up - necessary when an air or gas bubble in the tank prevents the water from backing up the door fill hole in the rear of the van. When we were dewinterizing this year we had the same problem. We keep this little self-made gadget in the back of the van under the bed in one of our storage baskets right behind the cargo doors. It had been very cold this winter - the Roadtrek was winterized with RV anti-freeze, but apparently when I put this water fill gadget away the last time it was used some water was still inside the nozzle. When I pulled this out this year to use it, I noticed a small puddle of water inside the ziplock plastic bag I keep it in. When I took out out of the bag and connected it to the fresh hose and turned on the hose water sprayed everywhere. My first thought was the connections had loosen. I tightened those and turned on the water and got sprayed again. 

I looked closely and this is what I found:

1. Connection from  to the tube fitting - supposedly brass

Note the crack where between the sections.

2. Valve connection to turn the water on and off at the tube - metal - supposedly brass

Note the hole in the middle burst out and split in three places.

Water inside these pieces froze during the winter and burst through the metal. These were inexpensive to replace. Imagine the same thing happening if you are not winterized and there is a freeze that reaches the piped and valves inside your Roadtrek. As it is there are drafts inside the van. It did not get below 7 degrees F this winter here on any one night.  Some places can get a lot colder.

I am sharing this to show the importance of winterizing your Roadtrek or any RV if you live where it can go below 28 degrees at night over two days without the days going up into the low 40s.  Water when it freezes expands and it becomes very powerful - even a small amount of water will do damage.

All this did was set us back a day to get our tank sanitizing completed and flush out the bleach/water mix out of the fresh tanks. We made a trip to both Lowes and Home Depot that late afternoon and had trouble finding the parts we needed to put it back the way it was. We did wind up changing the design and now the fill the tank from the bottom gizmo looks like this:

The hose valve has now been replaced with a faucet hose bibb - from Lowes - MC76QT #867974 -- 3/4" FIP threaded inlet. This eliminated what is shown in photo #1 and also in photo #2.  The part that turns a male screw connection to a female to connect the end of a fresh water hose on the other end  is the piece we first bought at this time for the "new" gizmo and that came from the plumbing section in Lowes. When this was connected with the water running the water leaked from the swivel connection. This part was returned to the store and a trip to Home Depot's garden department led us to another of these - much better made. The name and   part number of that is "Metal Fittings Metal Double Female Adapter 1001565704" It is from Melnor and the SKU# is 42206 14351.  This does not leak at all!  The rest is left from the original.

Camco Power Grip Electrical Protectant and Lube

For a long time I have been looking for some type of lubricant that will make the 30 amp power plugs and sockets come apart easier in the winter. The problem comes more from the plug and socket on the 30 amp RV extension cord than the Roadtrek plug on its power cord, but that has been a problem too.

When I hook up at my home in the winter to charge the batteries, I plug a 30 amp female to 15 amp male adapter into the socket of a 30 amp RV extension cord. The extension cord socket is plugged into the plug of my Surge Guard power protection unit and than then the Roadtrek power cord plug is plugged into the socket on the Surge Guard unit. Between the plugs and sockets I put Plug Dogs. (See my Plug Dog article.) This is done twice a month to keep my batteries charged.

In the summer months when it is time to put all of this away, the plugs and sockets pull apart with only a small amount of resistance. In the cold, it can be a real struggle to pull apart. The plugs stick in the sockets. Even with the Plug Dogs it can take a real heavy yank to get them apart - and there have been some days that some just do not come apart at all. So far, that has not been the power cord of the Roadtrek - and I can get that free with some effort and put the rest in the house and let them warm up enough to come apart. The socket on the 30/15 adapter can be very hard to come apart and I have had to pry that apart even after it has warmed. My concern all along has been if the Roadtrek power plug will not come out of the socket. I have thought that there must be something to use to prevent this.

I have asked on various forums and RV groups. I have been told dielectric grease will work for this by some, while others have said don't use dielectric grease. I have contacted two companies that make dielectric grease and have told that their product is not for this purpose. Yet, some have said it works with no problem. Some said just petroleum jelly. Others said WD-40. Others said never use anything petroleum based on electrical connections. I was about to either give up or take a chance when I found a product made by a well known RV supplies company that is made exactly for this purpose.

It is called Camco Power Grip Electrical Protectant and Lube - the lube part is what I want. Camco makes the RV 30 amp extension cord that I use. It has a big plug and socket each with a solid pull handle on them - "Power Grip" handles  - and this is "Power Grip" lube. The package and product description says that this is to lube the plug to come easily out of the socket (when you want it to). Other benefits are to protect from oxidation and to improve conductivity. It is for use with "all electrical adapters". It is made of a silicone grease mixture. No petroleum.  This may very well be dielectric grease - but it is not labeled as that.

I took a cotton swab and squeezed a small lump of grease unto the tip. A toothpick or a popsicle stick would work just as well. The label cautions about getting this on your skin, so while my inclination would have been to just put a dab on my finger and apply it, I was not going to ignore the warning. I took the swab and lightly coated the blades of the plugs including the ground post with the grease - each just before inserting it into the socket. I inserted the Plug Dogs where there were no plug/socket pull handles as I usually do. The plugs slipped easily into the sockets. When it is cold these take some effort to push them together - it was in the 20's degrees F while I tried the Lube. All lubed and connected. The 15 amp plug was plugged into the outdoor 20 amp socket on the house and power flowed. (The 15 amp plug was not coated - it never has been a problem pulling it out of the house outlet socket.)

I let the batteries charge for 24 hours. The next day was colder and snow was expected later in the afternoon. Without the lube I would have been very concerned about getting this all apart in this cold. I pulled the 15 amp plug out of the house outlet and proceeded to pull the plugs from the sockets. The one that has always been the hardest is the adapter socket from the extension cord plug and it came right apart. Great! Each plug pulled easily from the sockets. This stuff WORKS!

When the plug with the lube on the blades goes into the socket it is putting lube on the socket as well. I plan to put it on the next time I plug in as well. We will see how often it needs to be repeated. There are two more winter months to deal with and I don't want to find out the hard way that it needs to go on every time.

This product is NOT CHEAP. A ONE ounce tube cost me just under ten dollars on Amazon from a third party vendor. There were several vendors - some charging shipping and some not. I chose one that was about thirty cents higher in price than the lowest priced vendor offering free shipping because this vendor had a much quicker estimated delivery date than the lowest priced vendor. It was shipped the next morning and arrived three days later. Since this was coming halfway across the country that was pretty good!

If you have any problem with getting power plugs out of sockets, this works. It is Camco Electrical Protectant and Lube and its product number from Camco is #55013.

+++++

We have no connection with the Camco company or Amazon. We have not been asked to review this product. We paid in full for the product from an Amazon vendor - and we have no connection with that vendor in any way as well.  

Down Time

The Roadtrek is sitting on the driveway since we winterized in mid-November. There has been no real opportunity to go anywhere with it. We have emptied the cabinets of anything that will be a problem if it freezes. And last week Meryl moved some of the things that were in the house stored for the Roadtrek - mostly for winter/cold weather travel into the Roadtrek - not to be used but just to get them out of the house.

In the Northeast there is too much uncertainty with the weather and the extent that the weather can turn at this time of the year - at least for us - to travel other than for a day and back the same day, and the car gets far better gas mileage than the Roadtrek to do that. So the Roadtrek is in down time. I would say that the Roadtrek is in "Winter Mode" but with a 190, Winter Mode means something totally different. (It is when the interior water tank is kept in use and the exterior water tank is taken off line.)

Because the batteries are showing their age we charge the batteries twice a month and run the generator a few days after one of those charges for its monthly two hour exercise. The van gas tank is close to full and has two cans of Seafoam gasoline stabilizer/ethanol treatment in it just for the purpose of running that into the generator when it is exercised. An electric household space heater is inside the Roadtrek to put a half load on the generator when it is exercised.

So there is nothing really new or exciting to write about. There will be articles through the winter into the Spring - but they may not come even every two weeks. I know that there are a few things I have been thinking of writing about - perhaps taking out some of the how tos that wind up in the middle of other articles and putting those each into their own article. We shall see. There is also something that I have been looking to purchase for the Roadtrek that I am having a hard time finding - and when I do I will write about that as well.

But just so no one thinks the site has gone dormant - it is only hibernating for the winter with an occasional awakening and a new article.

AN UPDATE TO OUR STEP BY STEP WINTERIZING DIRECTIONS

I really did not want to winterize the Roadtrek this year until the very last minute. I don't know - maybe the chance of a late Fall trip, though we just got back from an early November trip a few weeks ago. Both of us felt this way, but we knew that we could not take a chance that the upper 30's nights might suddenly change for the worse, and we could always head out without water for a trip as we have done in the past. So we winterized.

There recently was a comment/question asked on one of our posts if winterizing is necessary if there is no water in the water system. When we ended the last trip I dumped the fresh tank and opened all of the faucets and flushed the toilet. One would think that there should be no water in the system with that, but coming to winterize just a couple of weeks later, turning on the faucet - no water pump on - water came out. Turning on the faucet with the water pump ON - a lot of water came out. And following that more water came out when the antifreeze went in pushing the rest of the water out. So yes, you still have to winterize even if you think that there is no water in the system - because there is. The antifreeze pushes remaining water out and replaces it in the pipes and valves. 

In case you think that I have all the steps right there in my head, before I do anything like winterizing on the Roadtrek that I have written about, I print out the entire article - with photos and use that to follow every step. I know that if I didn't I would miss something. While we did the winterizing this year, as every year, those instructions were with us and we read and did each one by one.

We had drained the tanks at the end of our last trip and dumped the black and grey tanks, then put some RV antifreeze down into the black tank so that it would not dry out until we did winterized. Draining the tanks can take the most time when winterizing. We had drained the hot water tank also. What we had to do when winterizing was get the antifreeze into the plumbing and the tanks. The job took about an hour. If we had to wait to drain the tanks or deal with the hot water tank, it would have taken longer. I bought four gallons of RV Antifreeze. I used two. I will keep the rest for next year.

While winterizing I realized a few things that while are not generally talked about in the winterizing process are a good thing to do and I have NOW added those to our step by step winterizing article. Here is what I have added.

When we first learned how to winterize at a paid private winterizing lesson given to the two of us by the Roadtrek dealer/service where we bought the Roadtrek, after he put the antifreeze into the pipes, he turned the hot water heater bypass valves quickly out of bypass and back again. He said that he does this and was not sure if anyone else did. My concern about following this in the past was that it would put some antifreeze into the hot water tank which I have been reluctant to do. Since over the years we have had a two hot water heater bypass valves freeze (or at least go bad) over the winter, I decided that perhaps this small step would be a good addition to the process. That step has now been added to our winterizing guide.

The other thing that I have changed and updated is the place in the process that winterizing the macerator pump comes at. Here is what happened. We followed the original steps in their order and when we went through the process of putting RV antifreeze into the macerator pump, a lot of water came out of the black tank into our "dump bucket" (also called the "doody bucket" 😉 ) before the pink antifreeze that we had put in the tank came out. I realized that we really should put some more antifreeze into the black tank. I thought - no problem - when we are done with the macerator we will just open the toilet flap and pour more antifreeze down the toilet into the black tank. Well, when I stepped on the toilet peddle the antifreeze that was in the toilet pipe and the toilet valve came out into the toilet. The water pump was off, but it still came out. What I figure is that this was in under pressure and flowed out when the valve was activated. So much for the idea of putting more antifreeze down into the black tank because I did not want to let all of the a/f in the toilet valve and pipe out - so my foot came quickly off the pedal and that was that. To replace the a/f I would have to reconnect the winterizing valve hose - which was off, cap tightened back on, etc. or get out the winterizing antifreeze hand pump again, connect it to the city water connection outside and pump a/f into the lines to the toilet. We both decided that what was in the lines now and the black tank was good enough - and stopped. BUT from now on and in our winterizing guide the winterizing valve and a/f hose will not be taken out until the macerator is done and all will be in place to put antifreeze back into the black tank and keep it in the toilet lines.

So our Roadtrek is winterized. More trips are not out of the question if we travel in no water conditions which is OK but not great. But now I look forward to the Spring. But there will still be articles until then, so come around every two weeks and we will keep you informed and entertained.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

How to Use the Furnace

There are a lot of things that those who have had an RV for awhile just do automatically, but for a first time RV owner there are many things that a good step by step understanding of will help a great deal. I have had several readers email and ask about some of these things and I will try to do some more articles on some of the basics. Since we are now in November and there may still be some who are not ready to set their RV aside for the winter quite yet, I will start with the FURNACE. (If you have a new Roadtrek and don't have a furnace for heat, this does not apply to you.)

The furnace in the Roadtrek and most RVs runs on both PROPANE AND BATTERY. The propane is the fuel used to make the heat. The battery is needed to:

-  Ignite the propane
and
- Run the fan to move the heat out of the furnace and into the RV

I have an article already about propane and you can go there to learn from this two part article about how to turn on your propane and also what to do when you first turn it on to make sure there is propane gas in all of the gas pipes.

So to use your furnace -

TURN YOUR PROPANE ON - Get it into all pipes (see article link above).

TURN YOUR BATTERY SWITCH ON.

The furnace switch is on a control panel. Mine is located at the rear of the cabin on the passenger side on the wall above the bed. I have a mechanical switch with slide switches. The newer Roadtreks have a digital switch with a digital thermostat display. Both do the same functions.

This is what mine looks like. If you have an older Roadtrek yours should look similar.

Here is what the digital switch looks like -

MAKE SURE THE SWITCHES ARE SET AS FOLLOWS:

FAN SET TO AUTO

FAN SPEED SET TO LO OR HIGH

THERMOSTAT SET TO TEMPERATURE WARMER THAN INSIDE YOUR COACH

THEN 

SLIDE THE SWITCH (or push buttons on the digital version) TO FURNACE

What should happen now is you will hear the blower fan inside the furnace turn on. It will be blowing cold air - that is what it is supposed to do right now. After a short time you will hear a CLICK. That CLICK is the battery run ignition lighting the propane.

IF THE FURNACE KEEPS CLICKING it means that the propane did not light. IT WILL ATTEMPT TO LIGHT SEVERAL MORE TIMES. If it does not light turn off the Furnace switch on the wall and check that all setting are as described above, that there is PROPANE in the tank, and it has been run through all the lines as that link above tells you how to do. Once checked, turn on the Furnace switch again.

HOW DO I KNOW IF IT HAS LIT?

There will be no more clicks and in a few minutes when you put your hand in front of the furnace vent inside there will be heat coming out and not cold air.

Your furnace is now in operation!

Set your thermostat lower if it gets too warm or higher if it is not warm enough. What will happen is with the settings on AUTO the furnace will turn off when it reaches the temperature set and turn back on when the temperature gets colder again. This cycling on and off is NORMAL.

OH MY! OH NO! THE SMOKE ALARM IS GOING OFF!!!

DON'T PANIC!

OPEN A WINDOW OR OPEN YOUR CEILING FAN VENT AND TURN ON THE FAN TO EXHAUST.

The first time that a new furnace is turned on, the furnace flame will burn off any packing oil that the furnace parts were coated with. This will result in a lot of smoke and a sharp burning smell. This IS NORMAL!  Once the smoke that this results in clears and is out the window or the fan, you can push the button to stop the smoke detector and it will not go off again. If it does, there is still more to burn off and exhaust out.

THIS MAY HAPPEN THE FIRST SEVERAL TIMES YOU LIGHT THE FURNACE - OR NOT.

THIS WILL OFTEN ALSO HAPPEN THE FIRST TIME THE FURNACE IS TURNED ON FOR A NEW SEASON. Dust, etc. collects inside the furnace and this too burns off when the furnace is ignited and will set off the smoke detector. IF it does, just do the same as above to stop it.

TURNING OFF THE FURNACE -

You would think that this is just as simple as moving the switch to OFF - and it IS, BUT...

When you turn the furnace off the flame will go out BUT the furnace fan will run for several minutes to cool off the inside of the furnace. THIS IS NORMAL! But it is very disconcerting. It troubles me when I first use the furnace after awhile and I never have gotten used to this. You hear it keep running. It will stop. Even though, if you are like me, you don't think it will stop - it will stop.

The furnace is VENTED outside. Here is a photo of the vent usually located on a Roadtrek just past the driver's door on the side of the van:

Always keep this vent CLEAR! If you are in the RV in the winter and it has snowed. Clear this off of snow if you are going to put on the furnace. If there has been an ice storm, clear all of the openings of this vent of ice. If you do not DO NOT TURN ON THE FURNACE. There are also special screens made and sold just for this vent to keep bugs out. Bugs can build nests or webs and cause all types of problems for the furnace.

That is it! You now are an expert in using your RV furnace!


 

Is WInterizing Necessary?

This may seem like a strange topic for an article after I have posted various articles over time about winterizing and how to do it, but recently I have been reading a number of posts from RVers (not necessarily Roadtrek RVers) on various groups who are asking "Do I need to winterize?" or "I didn't winterize and suddenly there was a sudden freeze last night and no water is running? What do I do?" My first thought when I read these is why didn't you think about this in the Fall or, at least, before you heard the temperature was going to drop? I try to be polite and understanding as the therapist side of me comes out and try to give advice on what to do now that it is too late.

I understand that some areas of the country that never got really cold in the past have been getting cold - but with last year's winter when there were ice storms in the South and sudden deep freezes where there had not been for many years before, wouldn't one take precautions this year. It seems not. I also understand that some live in their RVs full time and while many head to where it will stay warm during the winter, some have job commitments in one place and can't just pick up and go to Florida. Florida, by the way is one of the hardest places to get a vacant campsite during the winter - or so I am told - and if one is thinking of heading to the warm Florida sun from December to February or March, make a reservation well in advance.

Some RVs have heated water tanks and are able to stay out in the freezing temperatures without having to be concerned, but I recently read a cry of help from someone who "went away for the weekend" (obviously, not with their RV that has tank and plumbing heaters when plugged in 24/7, but evidently they forgot to leave them running) and when they returned found the entire water system had frozen. And what could they do? Not much but try to thaw it out, if the outside temperature was not going to cooperate. And this, thankfully, so far, has been a mild winter - at least in some parts of the Country that are usually colder.Tank and plumbing heated RVs need an ongoing power source to keep those running and without failure. 

My Roadtrek does not have any tank or plumbing heaters. It does have an interior water tank that holds less than half the water capacity of the exterior water tank it also has. There is a way to isolate that tank from the outside tank and only have water running from the interior tank. (Summer Mode/Winter Mode) This is supposed to be a way to travel in freezing weather with water. The problem is that this only works if the interior of the coach is heated 24/7 which means plugged in, run on the generator, or be able to recharge the coach batteries which will eventually run down that are needed to ignite the propane furnace and run the furnace fan that will move the hot air around inside the Roadtrek. And even this is only good to a certain exterior outside temperature. Then there are the outside waste tanks. If you run water from this interior fresh water tank, where does that water go when it runs through the sink or toilet. It goes right down the drains into the grey tank or the black tank that are both outside hanging under the van close to the ground where it stays the coldest. Will these freeze? Oh yeah! Will the pipes coming and going from these freeze with water in them. Yup, that too. There are new Roadtreks that have a different type of hot water heating system that is supposed to dump its contents outside automatically if the temperature gets toward freezing. That is good for the hot tank, but what about the waste tanks and the fresh tanks? I have not heard anything about what happens to those.

So Roadtrek or not, what do you do? (And this is all my own opinion - but formed after hearing about all of not what may happen but what does happen.) Well, the obvious is winterize and travel or stay in your RV without water through the months that will potentially freeze. What else could be done? If one's RV is not winterized and you do not have heating systems to keep all of the water system from freezing, it is extremely important to pay attention to the future weather forecasts. Yes, the weatherman is often not right. I know one nationally popular weather forecasting network that likes to make disasters out of everything and will emphasize the negative and rarely reports any weather in a positive way. I am sure that one beautiful sunny normal day they are going to report that dangerous sun rays will bring imminent disaster to anyone who goes outside. But there are several weather services including the National Weather Service that when the reports of each are taken together and compared, the chances of a more accurate forecast are greatly increased. If with this approach there is agreements that the temperatures in the coming week are going to go below freezing and there will be no daytime warm up well into the 40s, it is essential to winterize or move quick to where it will be much warmer. Winterizing is not hard - if you read my step by step guide to winterizing and you install a winterizing valve on your water pump - or get one of the hand RV antifreeze pumps that I also talk about in my step by step guide to winterizing - you can winterize in less than a half hour. It is not hard to do and the longest time required is waiting for tanks to drain on their own. RV antifreeze at Walmart is less than $3 a gallon and with a Roadtrek all you need is two and a half gallons. With another RV with more plumbing you may need more - but not much more. What do you do for water - you can do what we have done when winter traveling while winterized  and some modify this by still flushing the toilet with RV antifreeze instead of water - either pouring it in from the bottle or filling the fresh water tank with RV antifreeze to do this. Is this all inconvenient if you live full time in your RV? Of course, it is, but paying to fix burst water pipes or broken valves due to having frozen is a lot more inconvenient. Think it all through. Be prepared. Know what is ahead at all times. And keep a few gallons of RV antifreeze on hand, if you don't winterize, because once the winter starts, like winter clothes that are gone from the shelves when the coldest weather is about to hit, the RV antifreeze sells out in November and they just don't restock it.

And if you have an RV with heated plumbing and tanks, and you decide to go away for a winter weekend without the RV - leave all those heaters plugged in and running... (I have to smile every time I think of that one...)

Extreme Winter and Charging the Roadtrek Batteries

This winter has been extreme all over the country. In the west there are droughts, in the mid-west, central and eastern states there is extreme cold and deep snow. This has is the worst winter that Meryl and I have experienced with the Roadtrek. Since we got her it has been cold and it has snowed but there has been nothing like this. As a result the temperatures are taking their toll on our Roadtrek's batteries.

I wrote in a recent article, "After Winterizing", I spoke about our schedule to keep the batteries charged. I have a schedule to plug the Roadtrek into shore power at our house on the 28th of every month (28th chosen because of February) and I exercise the generator for two hours on the 15th of every month. This schedule has been fine until now. With single digit and below zero temperatures day after day, and wind chills that bring those down even lower, I have been going out at least once a week to check to see that the battery level is still on the green LED on the monitor panel inside the Roadtrek. Suddenly with these temperatures combined with what seem like regular snow storms, a once a week check is not seeming to be enough.

I looked at the battery monitor panel a week ago before a snow storm and everything looked fine. The 28th came on the day of another snow storm and when I was able to get into the Roadtrek to check the batteries the level had dropped to the red LED second from the bottom. This one is labeled "F" for Fair which is an indication to me that the batteries are getting too low and need to be charged as soon as possible. You really never want that monitor to read at the bottom red LED - "L" for Low.

Had this been an ordinary, no snow, normal winter temperature day - normal being upper 20's into the mid-30's or higher - I would have pulled out the RV extension cord, plugged that into my Surge Guard Power Protector, and connected that to the Roadtrek's cord - which needs to be pulled about four feet out for the two electric cords to reach the outside outlet in the rear of my house. This would have been plugged into that outlet and the Roadtrek would have charged for 12 hours. That is our usual routine.  But the snow was coming down and would not stop until the next morning. The night temperatures were going into single digits. And the forecasts for the coming days were as uncertain as they always are. All of this and the Roadtrek's batteries needed to be charged.

Let me stray a moment to talk about Roadtrek 190 Populars from 2011 on and why I have to rely upon the Roadtrek's battery monitor LED panel which I know some of you will say is highly inaccurate and does not provide a much needed digital reading of the battery voltage. In 2010, the Roadtrek 190 came with two coach battery compartments. All were outside - one was located behind the rear passenger wheel on the side of the van and one was located on the same side in front of the rear wheel. The one in front of the wheel contained a tray on which the battery slid out. The one behind the wheel opened with clear and easy access to the battery that was there. In 2011 for some reason, Roadtrek changed this design. For one thing, they changed from using wet cell batteries to AGM batteries for 12 volt coach power. The new design put both batteries into one battery compartment located where the former compartment was in front of the rear wheel. From the outside you see the same compartment door as before, but once you look inside the compartment, there now sit two batteries on a fixed platform that no longer slides out for access to the batteries. Without getting deep into this compartment there is no access to the battery terminals and therefore no convenient way to touch the test leads on an electric voltage meter to the terminals and read what the actual voltage is. There are also no 12 volt outlets inside the Roadtrek (not since several model years earlier) to be able to use that to connect a voltage meter to - another way that many with such outlets read the actual voltage of the coach battery(ies). So what I am stuck with are the LEDs on the battery monitor panel. There are estimates of the battery level and the LEDs - this is from the Notes for the Roadtrek Electric Simulator - "The “C” light will be on if the voltage is above about 12.7 volts, the “G” light comes on at about 12 volts, the “F” light comes on at about 11.3 volts. The “L” light will come on with less than 5 volts." Notice that the "L" is less than five volts. This why you never want the battery to fall that low - it will potentially damage the battery and charging the battery(ies) back will take much longer.  I know that one Roadtrek owner with a much older model was able to wire a small digital voltage meter into the back of the monitor panel and have the reading show on this meter affixed to the wall adjacent when pressing the test switch. This is not something that I am confident in doing myself. It has been suggested to tap into an empty fuse spot in the fuse box, but when I looked there are no accessible empty fuses spots and certainly no ground wire that is accessible - and I am not about to remove the fuse panel to look for what may be available inside. So, again, I rely on the LEDs which under ordinary circumstances - in that normal winter world that may or may not exist any more - the future will tell.

So - here I am, in the snow and I am not sure how close to that second LED going out and the bottom LED remaining the Roadtrek actually is. I had to charge as soon as possible.

The next day when the storm was over, the temperatures were not much better and they would remain that way for at least two days with maybe or maybe not a rise after that. First I had to shovel the path out of the house, the driveway, the sidewalk, and attempt to shovel a path to the rear of the house that had not really been shoveled since the last storm a week before. I got enough cleared in the back of the house to get to the outlet, but all the while I was realizing that I would have to deal with the other problem of charging the Roadtrek in the cold - the lack of flexibility of the Roadtrek's power cord and the RV extension cord. The RV extension cord was secondary. I could just drag that into the house after use and warm it up to put the long, wild snake of a cord into a store-able condition. The Roadtrek's power cord is located in the lower outside storage compartment and comes out through what has been called a "mouse hole". The mouse hole is located on the rear side of the compartment and comes out into the next covered section where the city water connection is. The "mouse hole" is made up of a flex opening - a round of plastic that is cut like a pizza in the middle. The Roadtrek plug is pushed through this plastic with the flex fingers holding it on place and not permitting any little critters to crawl in around it into the storage compartment. On the outside of the "mouse hole" is a flip cap with space inside the "mouse hole" outer cup for the plug to sit in. We learned the hard way that getting the plug through those so-called flex fingers and into that cup section looks a lot easier than it actually is - and this is in the heat of summer - and you never want that plug to pull back into the storage compartment. In the winter there is no flex. And in just regular winter cold, the cord is difficult to pull out and even more difficult to push back in. Now with this so-called Arctic Vortex this cord if it came out too far from the opening was going to be a problem getting back in - and with this weather, I was not going to let this plug just hang out after the charging was finished. There was no way that I was going to pull it out enough to meet up with the RV extension cord to reach the backyard outlet.

I have two outlets outside and one outlet inside a small porch where our house's side door is. The second outside outlet is in the front of my house - close to the Roadtrek, but to get to it one must go into the front garden and the front garden is where two winter storms' snow was put when shoveled. This outlet was not an option. The outlet inside the porch would work - as long as it was not connected to any wiring for other electric service inside the house, and I had to check the circuit breakers to see if it was - it wasn't and surprisingly it was a 20 amp outlet. The only thing that shared that line was the porch light which does come on with an electric eye but that would not be a problem with 20 amp service.

I don't really know how much amperage the Roadtrek's charging system uses. Once the Roadtrek is plugged into shore power and nothing else is turned on inside the only thing that comes on other than the Tripp-Lite 750W Inverter/Converter/Charger is the microwave (at least the microwave display panel lights up). In my Roadtrek with the all electric refrigerator the fridge turns to 110 volt power automatically but the dial inside is turned to Off. I tried looking at the Tripp-Lite specs but did not see this listed.

When we were finished shoveling and after a short break in the house for feeling to return to our fingers, we went out to charge the Roadtrek. My first thought was to charge for a several hours into the early night and then charge again longer the next day with hopes that maybe it would be warmer. Our usual routine of charging twelve hours straight involves a trip outside at about 2 am to shut it all down and put everything away. With our late night schedule this is not a problem normally. Yes, we are late night people and 2 am is not an issue for us at all. But at 2 am there were temperatures in the low teens predicted and that would be a problem. After we got it all going we decided together that we would just leave it charging overnight until the next day and let it charge for 24 hours - no problem with AGM batteries and no problem with the Tripp-Lite that would allow the charging to continue without a problem is the Roadtrek was always plugged in.

We decided to forget for this time plugging in the Surge Guard. The power from our house should be fine without it. We worked the Roadtrek power cord less than a foot out of the "mouse hole" pushing out from the inside. The cord was very cold and very stiff.  The RV extension cord is kept on a reel inside the porch an while it was cold in there, the cord did roll off the reel to the floor of the porch - maintaining the coils which it does not do when it is warmer. We got out the Plug Dogs - the pull handles for RV plugs. These are one of the BEST things that we have bought for the Roadtrek. Over and over they prove their extreme value and benefit! We also got out the 30 amp female to 15/20 amp male adapter plug cord. I went inside the Roadtrek and turned on the battery switch - necessary before plugging into shore power. A Plug Dog went onto the plug of the extension cord and one went onto the female socket of the adapter. The adapter has a plastic pull on the socket but with this cold I was not going to trust that not to break if pulled on. Two more Plug Dogs were used between the Roadtrek plug and the RV extension cord socket. I am so glad that I ordered four Plug Dogs when I got them. The Roadtrek plug was hard to get into the extension cord socket and I was afraid to force it as I did not want them to be stuck together due to the extreme cold. I managed to get them together and the adapter plug was plugged into the wall outlet in the porch. The porch door when closed would have to sit on the cord and the door would sit out about an inch open as a result - letting a lot of cold into the porch. I went  into the Roadtrek to check that all was well and the batteries were charging (shown as C on the panel monitor when the test button is pushed). I pushed the test button and... Nothing. Oh boy! Now we had to troubleshoot.

We don't often use that porch outlet and perhaps it was not working. The light attached on the same line works fine. We found a lamp and plugged it into both sockets on the outlet and the lamp lit. The extension cord and the adapter were tight together. This put the problem either inside or outside of the Roadtrek. I first went to the Roadtrek plug which we had hanging in mid-air plugged into the extension cord. As soon as I touched them, they fell apart. There was the answer - simple but now, to get them together as they need to be I was going to have to push them together hard - which even in the summer means put them on the ground and using a foot to apply enough pressure for them to mate. This is only a problem with the heavy rubber socket on the extension cord. The Roadtrek plug plugs easily in and out of a campground 30 amp socket. OK. If I had to force them together I would have to hope that they would come apart - and hopefully, in this cold the Plug Dogs would work as well as always. I got the plug and socket mated, put it on the ground and gently with my foot pushed them firmly together. Meryl plugged the adapter into the house outlet and I went in again to check. Yes! The test switch showed Charge on the battery LEDs. I decided to unplug the microwave. While the lit display panel should not make a difference I decided that it was easy enough to just have the Tripp-Lite charger circuits running on the 110 volt electric circuit.

We left it to charge for 24 hours. Twice after plugging in I checked that all was well inside and it was still charging. I was. The next day was sunny and felt warmer though the thermometer was not showing any better than the day before. We went out about 2 pm to shut it down and put it all away. The Plug Dogs did their job well on the Roadtrek plug and extension cord socket that sat out all night and with a sharp yank the two separated. Thank goodness! The adapter and extension cord was not as easy and it took several yanks to get these apart even though they had been inside the porch all night. They did come apart and I thought how good it was that I did not rely on just one Plug Dog and the adapter's little plastic pull ring that is screwed like a hinge around the upper half of the socket. With a little effort I was able to get the RV extension cord back on the reel. The Roadtrek plug was pushed reluctantly (on the cord's part) back through the "mouse hole" and into the cap. Done.

Lessons learned. In extreme cold, checking the battery voltage level once every week may not be enough. I will be checking twice a week in temperatures like this. With this weather it may be a good idea to charge the batteries twice a month and will check the level just before exercising the generator and then plug in the next day if the battery is low. The generator does charge the batteries but not enough in the two hour run. With this weather consider moving to a warmer climate - but heck, it snowed and froze over in Virginia, Georgia, and parts of Florida this past week (the week I am writing this).

Asides - you can charge the Roadtrek coach batteries by driving. This is fine for some - maybe many - but we live on a four lane avenue that has steady traffic. It is difficult to pull out in good weather. I am not sure that the area of the cut into the street is even large enough for the Roadtrek to get in and out of - plus I would not want to drive it now on the roads here that are thick with salt - and where would I drive for two hours?

If the coach batteries are too low or dead, the generator will not start - even if you run the van engine as a boost. If you think of the Roadtrek as a shelter in the event of a power outage which can happen during these cold, snowing, and iced conditions, it is no good to you if the batteries have no charge.

When you charge the coach batteries you are also charging the van battery. This is important in the winter as well!

If you have a Roadtrek with the new solar panel option, the batteries will charge in the light of day from the solar panel and inverter charging circuits. This is one big benefit to the optional solar package. 

Well, I had intended this as a short article. It is longer than I anticipated but adding the whys and what happens to this small tale is perhaps more important to you all than the tale itself. Stay warm!

Traveling in the Winter in Your Roadtrek

While many who live where there are cold winters feel that the RV season ends with the Fall and traveling stops until the warm weather's return in the Spring. In the Roadtrek it is possible to travel in the winter when the temperatures are freezing outside. Of course, you have winterized and you do not want to put water into your pipes or tanks, but there are easy ways to deal with the lack of "on-board" water. And this not only works if you own a Roadtrek but works just as well if you own any other form of RV that does not have an on-board, winter, water system.

When we made our first winter trip, the first year that we had our Roadtrek, we looked at what we would need to be able to make a trip in December - after we had winterized. We came up with a few things that made this possible. The only real problem is the lack of water for drinking, cooking, washing and for flushing the toilet. Everything else that is in the Roadtrek will work just fine whether it is hot or cold outside. One advantage of a Class B camper van is that for many models - particularly the Roadtrek 190, you are inside the original body of the van and it is well insulated. Add heat to the inside and you have a very warm interior. The heat is already built in - your Roadtrek's furnace which will keep the inside warm down to very cold temperatures outside. So, if you solve the lack of water, there is little reason why you could not travel in the winter.

Now, let me detail talk for a moment, specifically about the Roadtrek 190 and its additional interior water tank designed to allow water to be used in cold weather. While this is true under certain conditions, it is not always practical in actual application. The tank is inside the van - located on the rear passenger side, inside the wall and below into the front cabinet. Roadtrek states that to use this tank, the interior must be kept warm at all times to prevent the inside temperature of the van to get to freezing. If you are going to be in the van 24 hours a day for the length of your trip, this is possible. You can run the furnace all of the time - whether you are inside or not - and keep the interior at a comfortable temperature and the water in the tank will not freeze. BUT, if you run that water down the drain and through the toilet into the waste tanks below the van on the outside, that water will freeze. Roadtrek's answer to this is to add antifreeze into those tanks. They do not specify if this should be RV antifreeze or vehicle antifreeze and as I understand it, vehicle antifreeze would damage the seals in the tanks. I will talk about RV antifreeze later in this article. So, while we are not in the van all of the time and I would not want my furnace running inside 24 hours a day we found an alternative.

First - drinking, cooking and washing water.

This was easily accomplished with a product from Brita - the Brita Water Dispenser.

We purchased this in Walmart and it cost about $50. There are other companies who make a similar dispenser. We choose this one only because it was there on the shelf in the store. It works well. Not only does it filter the water that you put in through the top that lifts off, but it also has a spigot just like the faucet on your sink. To fill this we take it to a restroom or utility sink at a campground and fill it up. It holds 18 cups of water and that actually lasts a good amount of time. In the absence of a sink to fill it with, a gallon of water from a Walmart store is $1. Certainly you could just pour water from a jug but with this you can create a sink with running water.

Now, this water has to go somewhere when you are washing or if you need to pour any water out for whatever reason, so now we needed a sink that would be easy to empty without the water going anywhere near or drains or tanks. This was accomplished with a storage box that fits into the Roadtrek sink, below the counter top, and with a lid and handle that will allow easy, no spill removal. Simple -

Here is the box that we found, open and in the sink. You can see that it fits the sink almost exactly. It completely covers the drain (which I would put a rubber disk over just in case). (In this photo the box is sitting over a paper towel placed there when we winterized and the pink spot is antifreeze that has dripped from the faucet since then.) The blue latches on each side close this box securely when you put on the lid.

The handle folds up and it is easy to lift this up out of the sink when full (I do it each morning before we leave for the day) and not spill any of the water inside. Notice in the front right corner that I have cut out a semi-circle in the corner of the flat of the lid. That makes a convenient pouring spot to pour the water out of the box. I take this to a campground restroom or utility sink and pour it out. (It would not be right to pour it outside on the ground.)

So here is the set up - winter sink with running water...

With this you  can get yourself a drink of filtered water, fill a pot to boil, wash your hands, or brush your teeth. No you can't take a shower, but you could take a sponge bath. What no hot water? Well, to the right in this photo is the stove and above is the microwave. Both will turn cold water into hot with not much effort at all.You certainly could wash dishes or pots if you needed to, but my suggestion is use paper plates, disposable plastic utensils, and paper cups on a winter trip.

OK - half of the water problem is solved. The more important half is now to come because sooner or later everyone has got to go!

I will first talk about our solution and we have been very satisfied with it. There are things that others do and I will talk about those later. There is something that I discovered in a camping store that goes by many names. One of the more curious names is a "wag bag". I do not believe that you will find any package labeled with that name but this is how these are often referred to on RV forums. This is a toilet waste bag. They are sold at camping stores and camping departments at a wide range in price and with different names and packaging. This is a double lined bag that contains a chemical powder and two closing seals for when the bag is to be disposed of. The chemical in the bag turns liquid into gel and also deodorizes whatever goes into the bag. To be direct - urine that goes into the bag becomes a semi-solid gel and feces that goes into the bag should not smell. The bag is sold to be inserted into several different types of stands - one a bucket with a toilet lid on top and another a frame with a seat that the bag attaches to. It just so happens, that the bag fits the Roadtrek (and likely any other RV toilet) exactly. You lift the lid and seat, put the bag down into the toilet and open it up so that it lines the bowl, lower the seat down and capture the part of the bag that will extend over the top of the bowl down under the seat and a little down the side of the top of the bowl. The bag will stay in place. How much you can use the bag depends upon what you do in the bag.

This is the bag that Walmart sells on their website. I purchase these bags at Walmart stores and they have different packaging - and a different name. These are distributed by Ozark Trails Camping Supplies which seems to be a Walmart distribution name. As I had said, the exact same bags will be found with other names and in different color boxes. They are packaged 6 bags to a box. The cost varies from $10 to $12 for a box.

We use these at night for when we go to bed and keep it set up all day in the event that an "emergency" stop is required. During the day we use public restrooms and back at the campground we use the campground restrooms. But in the middle of the night when nature calls you don't want to get dressed and hike out in the COLD to the restroom - the same thing in the morning when you get up. With just urine in the bag, we use one bag for one day/night. If feces goes into the bag, while they say no odors, I change the bag.

Now what do you do with the bag when it is time to dispose it. There are two seals on the bag and this is actually two bags - one inside the other. You zip-lock the inside bag and the pull the outer bag up and over the inner bag and seal that bag. Every company that makes these bags insists that it is legal to dispose of the bag into any sanitation receptacle (meaning garbage can). The bag gets heavy when full of gel, but lifting the seat and grabbing hold of the CLEAN sides of the bag it just lifts out. Seal the inside bag before lifting out, and then seal the outside bag. Carry it to the nearest outside trash can and throw it away. (I hate to think what will happen if any dumpster divers come across this - perhaps they will decide not to dumpster dive again.) As soon as I take one out, I put the next one in so that it is there if we need it - unless it is the last day of the trip and then we just deal with public restrooms until we get home.

Is this expensive? If you don't use this as a supplement to using public facilities and just use this, the answer is yes, depending on how many bags that you use each day. I have heard some say that they just take a heavy duty trash bag and put it in the toilet the same way, claiming it works just as well and is very inexpensive. Well, I have seen trash bags that leak and this is not a surprise that I want to have when I lift it out of the toilet and it leaks all over the inside of my Roadtrek. And the trash bag has no deodorizing unless you spraying deodorizing disinfectant into the bag with every use - and I don't think that you can just toss a regular trash bag with raw waste out into the garbage. But, if this is something that you want to do to same a few dollars, that is fine. The wag bags work well and I will continue to use them.

This resolves all water concerns about winter travel. I add one more thing to my winter "arsenal" and that is an electric space heater. I have found a nice one with a real thermostat that I also use when I "exercise" the Roadtrek's generator in the winter. It is made by Honeywell and I chose this one because of the thermostat.

This model also rotates side to side or can be pointed in any one direction. It is plugs into a 110 v outlet and is not too much to use if running the generator. It cannot be run with the usual 750w Roadtrek inverter. It generates a lot of heat, will off and on to keep the room temperature to whatever you have this set on and is quite. Some find the furnace fan to be loud and if this is something that you would rather not hear, then this does the job to warm the van nicely. It shuts off if knocked over and gets cool to the touch rather quickly when shut off. If it gets really, really cold this could be used in addition to the furnace.

Before you leave on any winter trip, fill your propane tank. During the trip keep an eye on the propane level. You are probably not going to need to refill but you don't want to find out too late that you needed to.

There is another alternative to using the toilet that I should mention, but this is not something that I would do. It is up to you if you would like to do this. I will include with this my concerns. You could flush your toilet normally by just using RV antifreeze. All you would need to do is put a little in the bowl if you will be defecating or not if you are urinating, and then when done, pour a sufficient amount of RV antifreeze from the gallon bottle to flush it all down into the black tank - just like you would do if you had water in the system. The first flush will empty the toilet line of RV antifreeze but that is OK as there will be no water in the system. Some fill their fresh water tank with RV antifreeze, turn on the water pump and flush normally. This sounds like a simple and much easier solution than the wag bags. Here are my concerns. You are going to need a lot of RV antifreeze on hand to do this if you pour from the jug. No matter where you put the RV antifreeze it will cost you a minimum of $3 a gallon. The black tank holds 10 gallons and that means if you fill the black tank, it has cost you almost $30, less what your waste displaced for antifreeze. To me that is expensive and I would not know where to put all of those gallon bottles of RV antifreeze.

As to putting it into the fresh tank - many do this when winterizing. I have read a number of comments from long time RVers that they would not do this because the fresh water tank will hold the taste of the antifreeze for some time after de-winterizing. If you never drink the water from your fresh tank, and some don't for their own reasons (we do), then there is no issue with taste. I have read that to reduce the cost of the antifreeze it has been recommended to mix the RV antifreeze half with water. They claim that this is no problem. Here is my concern and I state this with no personal evidence but with statements made by RVers who have had personal evidence. They say that RV antifreeze is not like vehicle antifreeze in how it works. Vehicle antifreeze which is a deadly poison lowers the freezing point of water and also raises the boiling point of water which is why it is used in your car engine's radiator in both winter and summer. The claim is that RV antifreeze does not do this. Instead, it takes the place of water in your system - and it actually will freeze to a gel consistency. There is no damage to your RV plumbing because when the RV antifreeze freezes (at around 10 degrees F) it does not expand. It is the frozen water's expansion in the plumbing that causes damage. If the liquid in the plumbing does not expand, no damage is done. So, what does adding water to RV antifreeze do? To me, it introduces an expanding liquid to a liquid that does not expand. Any expansion - it seems to me - is a potential hazard. Fact? Fiction? As I have said many, many times on this site, I am not an engineer nor am I a chemist. I am just a regular guy who is learning as I go along and share that with you - and I try to learn from a number of sources about the same thing, if it is something that I can not learn from my own experience. The bottle of RV antifreeze says do not dilute. That is good enough for me. Maybe one day I will try putting some RV antifreeze into the fridge freezer at home and see what happens. For now, if I am error then my error is on the safe side of the question. The wag bags are good enough, easy to store, and cheaper than all of that RV antifreeze.

If you do use RV antifreeze to flush your toilet, be sure to dump your black tank, flush with some RV antifreeze, and the pour some clean RV antifreeze into the tank to protect it again.

I will add one more thing about winter travel, particularly related to a Roadtrek 190. Under the van you only have seven to nine inches of clearance. I will not drive in the Roadtrek in snow that can become deep. The last thing you want to do is drive through a foot of snow with seven inches of clearance. I am not sure I would like the handling of such a heavy van on snow and ice. That is just my opinion. Some Roadtreks have much more clearance and this may not be an issue. I don't want to be scraping anything under the van on hard snow or frozen snow.

You now have the "how to" on winter travel. The where to is up to you. Be aware that in parts of the country with cold winters, many campgrounds close between the middle or end of October and March or April 1st (most often April 1st). If you do find a campground that is open in the winter all you need at your site is electricity. In the winter, we ask for a site that has electric and cable and that is CLOSE to the restrooms. I will look on the campground maps that are usually on their websites and find sites near the restrooms and when I call for reservations - sometimes needed in the winter and sometimes not - as for one of those sites.  While the campground may be open, some campgrounds only open some of their sites - so a large campground may be operating with very few sites in the winter and they may be the only one in the area that is open. So to be sure you have electricity to plug into when you get where you are going in the winter - make a reservation.

So now you are all set to head out on a winter trip. Before you go, check out your RV thoroughly. Test your furnace. Check your battery levels. Batteries run down faster in the cold. You don't want to get stuck with any system not working when RVing in the winter!

After Winterizing

Once you have winterized your Roadtrek, then what? You can still travel in your Roadtrek with it winterized and we will have an article about that coming soon. For some, once they have winterized they are putting their Roadtrek "away" until the seasons pass and the warm weather comes again. But can you just winterize and walk away?

The answer is no. There are things that you need to do all winter regarding your Roadtrek. This article will detail winter maintenance.

Check your propane level when you have finally decided that it is time to give the Roadtrek a rest for the rest of the winter. A full propane tank is best during the cold weather. Take it to be filled if it is not full. 

If you have a built in generator, whether gas or propane, that generator needs to be exercised every month. While Roadtrek only recommends 45 minutes of generator "exercise", the company that manufacturers and warranties the generator, Onan Cummings, says that the generator needs to be exercised for two hours a month. The total time that the generator runs from the time it is installed is recorded on the dial that appears on the wall of the Roadtrek with the generator on and off switch. These hours and minutes are reported to Onan Cummings when warranty work is required. I have been told by our service center that if the time on the meter does not equal or exceed the minimum of hours that amount to two hours a month since installation, warranty payment may be refused. So there is more than one reason to exercise the generator properly. And the most important reason is not to make the company happy, but to keep the generator operating properly. Generators work better if they are run often and not allowed to sit without use. This is why "exercising" the generator is required.

During the winter I exercise the Roadtrek generator two hours a month. It is necessary to power at least half of the generator's load capacity when exercising the generator. During the warm months I use the A/C to put this load on the generator, but what should you use when it is cold? If you generator has a 2800 watt capacity, half of that is 1500 watts. Most electric heaters are 1500 watts. I bring a household ceramic electric heater into the Roadtrek during the winter when I am exercising the generator, start the generator, plug in the electric heater and turn it up the thermostat on the heater to high. If it seems that it will get too warm or hot inside the Roadtrek I open the ceiling vent to let some of the heat out as the heater runs. After two hours, all is turned off and the heater comes back into the house until the next month.

Cold weather causes batteries to discharge more quickly. It is important to regularly check the charge level of your coach battery(ies). If the level on the batteries on the wall LED meter shows less than G, it is necessary to charge the batteries. You can do this one of two ways. Drive the Roadtrek for two hours at highway speeds OR plug the Roadtrek into "shore power" at your house for 12 hours. Both will charge both your coach and vehicle batteries. Do not leave your Battery Switch ON when you are not using your Roadtrek. This will drain the batteries in the best weather quickly.

I plug the Roadtrek into shore power for a period of 12 hours on schedule once each month throughout the year. In the winter I check weekly to make sure the batteries have not drained between scheduled charges. 

Some will leave the Roadtrek plugged in to shore power throughout the winter and this is possible as long as you have a Roadtrek with a "smart" charger component (for newer Roadtreks this is part of the 3-way inverter unit). The "smart" charger will charge the batteries until full and then drop back to a "float" charge which will monitor the battery levels and charge when the level drops. AGM maintenance free batteries used by Roadtrek since 2011 are safely charged this way, but wet cell batteries should be checked regularly if left plugged in this way to be sure that the fluid level is not evaporated or boiled away. While Roadtrek states that the engine battery - which is not an AGM battery - will charge without problem this way, if that battery has fluid levels that can be checked they should also be checked regularly. It is better safe by taking a few moments to check the fluid levels, than to be sorry later. (If you have AGM batteries DO NOT open them to check fluid levels.)

As with any motor vehicle it is best not to let it sit for long periods of time without starting the engine. Go out every one or two weeks and start the engine. If you can, take it for a drive.

If you drive the Roadtrek in the winter on roads that have been salted for ice and/or snow, the road salt will do damage to the underside of the van. If you can rinse off the under-chassis with fresh water using a hose. Sometimes, the weather just won't allow this. In that case, as soon as the weather starts to get warm enough to do this, do it. I have seen one Class B owner who places a lawn sprinkler that moves the water back and forth under the van to wash off the salt. After doing one area, he moves the sprinkler back to do the rest.

This is a good time to get to any of the little repairs or modifications that you have been thinking about inside the Roadtrek. You are not going anywhere, it is sitting out there, and you can spend some time inside and get an "RV" fix while you do those things you have been putting off inside the Roadtrek (as long as they are not water related).

How do you remember to do all of this? I do it on a schedule and that schedule is set into my computer's calendar software with reminder alarms. I have an "appointment" with my Roadtrek on the 15th of every month to charge the generator. I have an "appointment" with my Roadtrek on the 28th of every month to plug into shore power. Why the 28th? Not all months have 31 days and February only has 28 unless it is leap year. So, the 28th works for all months. On those days when I turn on the computer, an alarm goes off from the calendar that tells me its Roadtrek Day. With computer calendars easy to sync with smartphones, the reminder comes up on my phone on those days as well.

With all of this your Roadtrek will be ready for you to get going without difficulties in the Spring!

A Long, Hard, Non-RVing Season...

When you own a Roadtrek or any RV you start thinking in terms of the "RVing Season" and the "Non-RVing Season". That is the time of year that you are able to get in and go in your RV and the time of year that you are not traveling because of the weather - freezing temperatures, snow, and more snow. There are some that don't even think about this - they follow the good weather and RV full time, heading to where it is warm and if that changes, move on to where it is warmer. Some of us can't do that - yet.

This year - Fall 2012 into the winter of 2013 - has been a particularly long non-RVing season for the two of us. Trips planned in October and December were cancelled. There was "historic" weather to contend with and then illness. For many years we have traveled for each of our birthdays. Meryl's birthday trip was to be at the end of October. We were set to go to Pennsylvania. The day we were set to leave it was raining - well, more than just raining. Hurricane Sandy hit us hard. Luckily we had no real loss due to the storm. No trip though and even thinking about leaving once the storm passed, we did not want to leave the house without electricity and routes away from here involved areas that were hit hard and some of which were still under water. We were not aware of it at that point but that was the start of our non-rving season.

At that point, I started looking forward to our next trip - a winter trip down to Colonial Williamsburg for Grand Illumination, as we had taken the year before. We would be leaving at the end of November for almost a week. Reservations had been made way back for the trip and it would highlight the holiday season for us. We had winterized the Roadtrek in mid-November and we would travel without water as we had the year before in December. We were all prepared and a few days before we started getting the Roadtrek ready for the trip and packing in things we would take with us. The day before we got all of the clothes that we would need on the trip out of the closet and filled the shelves and cabinets in the Roadtrek - the temperatures in this part of Virginia at this time of the year can vary from freezing to over 70 and we were preparing for both in what we were bringing with us. The night before we leaving my throat started to feel scratchy and I started coughing - for no real reason. The next morning I woke up in anticipation of getting on the road and I felt terrible. The thermometer went into my mouth (one that we had not packed into the Roadtrek) and read 100 degrees F. I was sick. At this point I did not know that these were the symptoms of this year's variety of Flu. We postponed the trip for a day - maybe tomorrow I would feel better and have a normal temperature. I didn't and the trip ended before the Roadtrek left the driveway. This actually lasted for all of December and into January and along the way developed into Bronchitis. Nothing serious but a great deal of disappointment - because the weather got colder and the days were either raining or snowing - along with a very significant snow fall that we had not seen in a couple of years.

We were spoiled by 2011 into 2012 - that winter was warmer than normal and the weather was fairly good. Here, in 2013, we were with week after week of negative forecasts. I know it was worse in other parts of the country - snow where it has not snowed in years and years. We tried planning a few overnight trips - all cancelled because of the weather. Even impromptu overnights were not possible as the weather would be good one day and bad weather was coming the next day. And it seemed - still seems - like the Spring will never come. The groundhog came out and said Spring was soon to arrive - the groundhog lies.

I am writing this about two weeks before you are reading it and outside it is snowing - lightly - with higher predictions of accumulations than likely will happen (I hope) but still once again, it is snowing. Like many of you, I am tired of it. I have been reading on the Roadtrek Facebook page about others in Florida and other places that are warm enjoying their Roadtreks. I am envious. When I heard the prediction of this current storm, I said to Meryl, "Let's just get into the Roadtrek and head south - where it is warm and there will be no snow." She smiled and told me to have a good time. I was only half joking about the idea - the feelings were serious, but I know that we just can't do that for various reasons. I have not heard the words "NorEaster" spoken on local TV news and weather reports as often as I have these past six months. We can count our blessings that we did not lose our house as some did. We are now healthy, etc., etc. And maybe one needs to own an RV or trailer and be caught in this "lifestyle" to appreciate these feelings.

Of course, during times like these you try to use the good days to do the things that you need to do - or want to do - inside the Roadtrek. Actually, any excuse is good to get into the Roadtrek. So  you go out and exercise the generator or charge the battery or find things to go out and take photos of to write articles for sites like this. It is also a time for projects but lately even that has been hindered by the weather outside. There have been a few things that I wanted to set up to demonstrate and document for you here, but there has yet been a day that it has been nice enough to even do that. But still, any excuse to get out to the Roadtrek is good.

It has been a long, hard, non-RVing season. I hope that is will soon end and we can hit the road again. I have some plans for late April - no reservations yet - maybe so that I don't jinx it - but the reservations have to be made soon. Maybe soon we can all be singing, "Here Comes the Sun".