Winter storage in western new york

[Pleasureway ny]

Hello everyone,
Trying to decide the best storage option for the upcoming season . I have two options ,the first one being covered in the driveway ,winterized with the house batteries off . This option provides a cold snowy and windy scenario which could mean snow under the coach and ultimately leaving the generator sitting in snow . The coach has never been stored outside in the winter from previous owners. I will be traveling for about a month in March .
My second option is a climate controlled (50 degrees ) warehouse with other cars ,boats and rvs.I might not have to worry so much about the winterizing and would be ready in March . Obviously there is a cost for this option . I bring this up
early as my inside deadline is approaching to reserve .
Any ideas would be helpful as I can’t decide .
Thanks
Tim

2016 Winnebago Travato 59k
13000 miles

[avanti]

It is a simple cost-convenience tradeoff. If you store indoors, you don't have to worry about winterizing. Only you can decide whether this convenience is worth the money to you. Outdoors storage will not harm your vehicle in any significant way, as long as you somehow block sunlight from entering your vehicle and damaging your interior.
Do NOT use a cover. It will just grind dirt into your paint.

[mkguitar]

all of the above.


whats the cost to store?


Mike

[Pleasureway ny]

It will cost about $140 a month, and only plan for nov- mar. Thanks for the ideas so far .
Tim

[Davydd]

You get a lot of snow in western NY? Rhetorical question. Snow can be damaging and is a general nuisance depending on how you clear snow on your property. That's a good storage price. I would opt for storing it inside. You should still winterize emptying your tanks and disconnecting your battery. You would not have to blow your water lines out or put in anti-freeze in your fresh water tank.

I thought my van was happy. It is happier now indoors.

[booster]

I have lived in Minnesota all my life, and also been around lots of classic, muscle, street rod cars for much of that time. While most of the cars are stored inside over the winter, often with heat and ventilation, some do get stored outside for a least a while due to circumstances.



What I have seen is that the cars that came from inside storage with pristine undercarriages and frames, and especially the poorly painted axle housings and suspension parts, do rust much more quickly outside over a winter.


In the freeze/thaw seasons we see quite a lot of, often with under freezing temperature but high and warm sun. When this happens, the relative humidity and dewpoint of the air close to the ground goes up a ways. That higher dewpoint air drafts under the vehicle and the moisture in the air gets condensed out on the high thermal mass metal parts that are still very cold from overnight temps and no sun on them. It is actually quite common to be able to see frost on a differential housing under those conditions.


Repeated exposure to the moisture causes the corrosion.


It is certainly not as bad of corrosion as you see from salted roads or living by the ocean, but it can build up over time. Newer vehicles that still have all the factory coatings on them do better for a while, but as the coatings wear off, it happens to them also. Usually shows up on the front suspension parts and calipers first.



Cost is always an issue, but personally if it is possible to store inside, and I intend to keep the vehicle a long time, I would put it inside if I had the chance. My 1970 Dodge Challenger (now gone) spent a couple of years in a rental (in/out) storage unit after we moved to our current house while I got the new garage/shop built and finished.


When we were looking for a B, we saw a lot of local vans and the difference between a 10 year old unit that was stored outside and one that spent it's life inside was extremely noticeable, both in undercarriage rusting and in weather and sun wear and tear on the rest of the van.



Other areas of the country are probably a bit different so it may not be as bad there.

[avanti]

Originally Posted by booster

I have lived in Minnesota all my life, and also been around lots of classic, muscle, street rod cars for much of that time. While most of the cars are stored inside over the winter, often with heat and ventilation, some do get stored outside for a least a while due to circumstances.

What I have seen is that the cars that came from inside storage with pristine undercarriages and frames, and especially the poorly painted axle housings and suspension parts, do rust much more quickly outside over a winter.

My above advice only applies to vehicles engineered and manufactured within the last 15 years or so. There have been HUGE advances in metallurgy and coatings technologies since the days of rusted underbodies and body "cancer". I would never recommend that an older vehicle that you care about be stored outdoors, but I stand by my claim that a modern vehicle will not be harmed by outdoor storage, with the noted exception of interior sun damage. Neither moisture nor snow will have any meaningful negative effects within the typical lifetime of a van.

Of course, this assumes that the van was processed by a competent upfitter who properly treated all non-factory penetrations, etc. In 15 years of outdoor storage of two different B-vans, the ONLY corrosion issues I ever had were where Airstream hacked crude penetrations into our T1N's body. I do not believe that indoor storage would have prevented this.

[jrobe]

I found a storage unit for my Wisconsin van with a private 10 ft door (with about 2” of clearance). The key though is that it has an electric outlet so I can keep a trickle charger / battery maintainer on both the couch and vehicle batteries. My batteries have held up extremely well despite the cold weather with my high quality battery maintainers. It would be a hassle to have to remove the batteries every winter to store inside. I don’t have lithium batteries though which would require me to keep them warmer.

[avanti]

Originally Posted by jrobe

I found a storage unit for my Wisconsin van with a private 10 ft door (with about 2” of clearance). The key though is that it has an electric outlet so I can keep a trickle charger / battery maintainer on both the couch and vehicle batteries. My batteries have held up extremely well despite the cold weather with my high quality battery maintainers. It would be a hassle to have to remove the batteries every winter to store inside. I don’t have lithium batteries though which would require me to keep them warmer.

If you have lead acid batteries, winter storage is really not an issue. If you park them fully-charged and disconnect the ground wire, they will not be harmed at any reasonable temperature and will maintain their change for many, many months.

[Pleasureway ny]

Ok everyone great arguments from all ! So if I was storing indoors , would having the house battery disconnect switch on and the chassis battery disconnected once parked ,that would be satisfactory ? They would of course be fully charged and I wouldn’t be able to charge by plugging in or generator while it was in the building

Tim

[avanti]

Originally Posted by Pleasureway ny

Ok everyone great arguments from all ! So if I was storing indoors , would having the house battery disconnect switch on and the chassis battery disconnected once parked ,that would be satisfactory ? They would of course be fully charged and I wouldn’t be able to charge by plugging in or generator while it was in the building

Tim

If I had access to power, I MIGHT decide to use a float charger rather than disconnecting the battery. It would be a close call, though.
The house battery disconnect should be fine if it is wired properly.

[jrobe]

Originally Posted by avanti

If I had access to power, I MIGHT decide to use a float charger rather than disconnecting the battery. It would be a close call, though.
The house battery disconnect should be fine if it is wired properly.

There is zero chance I would leave my expensive RV batteries not connected to the battery maintainer on my inverter throughout the cold winter months (below zero here) if I had access to electricity. In fact, right this minute I have my RV house batteries, my Sprinter battery, my two boat batteries, my ATV battery and my lawnmower battery connected to good battery maintainers. I got sick of replacing expensive batteries prematurely because I didn't take care of them. Just today, I stuck my battery tester on my two expensive 7 year old boat batteries that i rarely use and they both tested almost 100% after being on battery maintainers for the full 7 years.

[avanti]

Why do you believe that a maintainer is better for the battery than disconnecting it? A good AGM battery will self-discharge at a rate of not much more than 1%/month -- maybe 15% per year.

[getzold]

I would be happy to store it for you - 3 months at various campgrounds in Florida. No worries about freezing.