Winterizing by keeping it warm...

[pete]

This is my first winter with my 2008 Roadtrek 190p. I have been keeping it along side of the house and plugged in for the refrigerator and batteries. I use it every weekend even just for day trips. I am considering keeping it heated over the winter so that I can use the water system either with a space heater or letting the furnace run. I will use RV antifreeze in the holding tanks and keep the external fresh water tank and water heater empty. I live in Pennsylvania and we do get some sub freezing weather here. Anyone experienced with this???
Thanks,
Pete

[markopolo]

I don't have any experience with that in my RT but you'll be operating in "winter mode" as per Roadtrek's instructions so it shouldn't be a problem.

I'd use a small lower wattage space heater and set the furnace at an even lower temp than the space heater so that it'll kick in if the power fails. Consider "flushing" the toilet using a RV antifreeze so you don't dilute the rv antifreeze in the black tank too much. I'd also add more rv antifreeze to the gray tank periodically so it doesn't get too diluted.

[paulm]

Originally Posted by markopolo

Consider "flushing" the toilet using a RV antifreeze so you don't dilute the rv antifreeze in the black tank too much. I'd also add more rv antifreeze to the gray tank periodically so it doesn't get too diluted.

Right on Marko. Your Grey and Black tanks have lots of room for ice expansion, but your plumbing to your dump valve doesn't. (don't know the properties of RV AntiFreeze, but unless it's heavier than water) So keep lots of Antifreeze in the tanks.

You can get heaters strapped to the bottom of the tanks, but the plumbing to the dump valve can still be an issue.

[renrut]

I left my RV plugged in for an extended period of time and the house battery fluid boiled down quuite a bit. If you decided to leave your RT plugged in, make sure you keep an eye on the house battery.

I ended up using an extention cord and ran it in through the power cable access panel. That way, I had the heater plugged in but the RV was not. When we went for winter trips, we kept a container of antifreeze in the RV. We put some in a squeeze bottle so if we had to use the toilet, we used the bottle to flush.

[pete]

Thank you all for the info. Sorry I did not get back sooner. I like the idea of flushing the toilet with the antifreeze and maybe I will do that and winterize the freshwater tanks properly. I have a small electric heater that I can set up inside as it seems that using the furnace full time is not the best??? I will still take it out on weekends even in the winter unless there is snow on the ground.
Pete