Getting Ready for Winter

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Just remember to only put some peanut butter in the center of the roller that way they have to climb out on the roller
and may fall into the bucket before getting to any bait.  ;D
 
No takers after the 1st night in the RV!  We will see what a few more days brings as it gets colder.
 

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Still no takers thus far & we have had some cold weather.  I will keep an eye on things as the winter progresses!
 

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have you seen any signs of mice being in the RV?
How much fluid do you have in the bucket?  Looking at the picture, it's hard to see but it looks like only an inch or so. You would need to have about 4 "
 
No sign of mice in there at all yet.  Perhaps when it gets really cold out they will try harder to get in.

I think about 3" in the bottom.
 
If you do blow out the lines, make sure you blow out the hot water tank as well. If that freezes when full, kiss It goodbye.

I blew out the lines on our first trailer, but have used the pink polypropylene glycol RV antifreeze ever since. Both our last two units had a pickup hose on the pump with a switchover valve. They also had a bypass valve for the hot water tank, which I drained of all water manually by removing the bottom drain plug, and then holding the upper pressure relief valve open to let air in the top of the tank.  Using the bypass valve means that you don't have to fill the hot water tank with five or six gallons of antifreeze.


All I had to do then was flip the valve to enable the pickup tube, put the pickup tube in a gallon of RV antifreeze, turn on the pump, and then run each tap (hot and cold) until it runs pink. Do the same with the toilet. This automatically puts antifreeze in all the P traps and the body of the pump as well.  One gallon of antifreeze does our whole trailer, and I don't have to crawl in to disconnect any water lines. :)


Frank.
 
I did my own prep this year without anyone with experience to look over my shoulder, so will find out in the spring if I missed anything!  I can see where using pink RV fluid may simplify things.

We are having a little break from the cold just now in the North, so yesterday I went down to the RV & went inside to investigate.  Did not find any roof leaks nor mice in my mouse bucket trap!
 
Well, we are what maybe two thirds through our Canadian winter up here now & I checked on the RV parked out in the back 40 & so far the mouse bucket remains untouched with the peanut butter still on the roller & no evidence of leaks or any other trouble when I peeked inside late this afternoon................
 
Well, the calendar says spring, but up here in the North the mercury does not reflect that, as of yet. Made a few trips out to inspect the RV over the winter, the most recent being about a week ago & everything looks ok from the novices perspesctive.  No mice in the mouse bucket trap either & from a walk around inspection inside no evidence that they have been present anywhere. No evidence of any leaking anywhere as well, but wtih the slideouts in it is hard to navigate everywhere to do a proper inspection.

What is the concensus about bringing things back to life in an RV this far north (southern Ont) when one is safe from freeze damage?  I am thinking late May would perhaps put us in the safe zone?
 
Camping season in New England begins in April. We never had an issue with de-winterizing then. If there is an occasional dip below freezing, it doesn't last long enough to cause any problems.
 
Just wondered about how far North you are in the NE to compare to our climate? We are just across from Buffalo NY in Ont.

We can get some pretty cold weather here on and off through the whole month of April. 

Perhaps one cold night is not enough to freeze things tight?

 
We're in northwest Connecticut, which has similar temperatures to the Buffalo area. Fortunately, we're just far enough east to avoid lake-effect snow.

We'll see overnight temperatures into the 20s during the month of April. Since it warms back up during the day, freezing has never been an issue. Water lines won't freeze the instant it drops below 0 degrees Celsius. We had the fresh water hose laying on the ground freeze once, but we don't generally venture out if it's going to be that cold.

We've been to Maine in early May several times without issues. If you're really concerned, pay attention to any place that water lines might be exposed to outside temperatures. Maybe open the low point drains, and leave them open so if any water does freeze it has room to expand.
 
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