draining water tank in winter?

[Doff]

Hi all

This will be our first winter with our new FWC. When we picked it up at FWC they explained to us how to drain the water and then flush out the lines with an air hose.

We plan to use our camper throughout the winter as a home base for us and our new baby at the local ski resort on ski days and to hopefully get in a few winter camping trips. We live in the Sierra Nevada foothills and at our elevation we get a little snow throughout the winter, but not much. Temps will drop below freezing throughout the winter at night, but almost always warms up during the day. But, a quick drive and we are up the higher elevations with more snow and colder temps.

Do we need to drain and flush out the water every time we are not using it? What about when we are using it and temps are going to get below freezing? Are we risking damaging the water system? What do other people do? Curious to hear what other people do?

 

[Stan@FourWheel]

 

[dennis 221]

thanks

 

[Doff]

Thanks for the video on winterizing. That was also explained to me when we picked up our camper. My question is what should we do when using the camper in freezing temperatures? Should we not have water in the camper if temps will be below freezing? Also if we get occasional freezing temps where we store it does it needed too be drained. Seems like a tedious process to do every time we use the camper in the winter. We probably plan to use the camper every 2-3 weeks in the winter. Should we drain and flush it every time? Or should we just not have water in it all winter?

 

[wicked1]

A lot of us camp all winter. And everyone has a different level of risk they are willing to take. Some leave the system dry and use bottles and buckets during the winter.
Lots of us, though, just use the water system. If it's well below freezing, leave the cabinet doors open so the furnace heats inside the cabinets where the plumbing is located. If it's even colder and you're worried, fire up the hot water heater. Once it's hot, drain it back down to your main water tank. Then I guess fill it and heat it again, because you definitely don't want the hot water tank to freeze.
I have also insulated inside my cabinets, and made insulation covers for all the windows. It helps.

Before I leave camp when heading home, I drain the system. Open all the valves, and drive home w/ everything open. That seems to shake out all the water, and so far, no problems.