Storing our coach in florida

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Alpena Jeff

Alpena Jeff

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Up North - Michigan
We will be dropping our coach off at a storage facility today. It is covered but not climate controlled. We have electric available and plan on plugging in. Duration of storage is less than 30 days.
Do I leave a couple windows cracked?
I assume I leave house and chassis batteries connected?
Will humidity cause any issues?
Anything I need to prep for that you can offer?
Thanks again, Jeff
 
I wouldn't leave any windows cracked, but maybe a vent  cracked open, assuming it has a cover. With it plugged in, I would leave the batteries connected. If not plugging in, turn the battery disconnects off. It won't be any more humid inside sitting there then it would be if you were just parking it in your yard. Shouldn't hurt anything. Just remove food that mice/bugs can get into, along with any valuables such as jewelery etc. This is all just my opinion, others will give their opinions I'm sure.
 
kdbgoat said:
I wouldn't leave any windows cracked, but maybe a vent  cracked open, assuming it has a cover. With it plugged in, I would leave the batteries connected. If not plugging in, turn the battery disconnects off. It won't be any more humid inside sitting there then it would be if you were just parking it in your yard. Shouldn't hurt anything. Just remove food that mice/bugs can get into, along with any valuables such as jewelery etc. This is all just my opinion, others will give their opinions I'm sure.
Click to expand...
Are you talking the fantastic fan covers? Can I manually crack the cover?
Normally I hit the power button and up they go and fan starts.
 
I store mine outside not plugged in, north Florida
Typically leave windows and vents closed, often longer than 30 days.
The only thing I do is make sure to remove all food (except canned goods...)
leave the fridge propped open
disconnect the batteries, I have switches on the posts.
& I have shades for all the windows and roof vents made out of refectix...although that's not necessary for a 1 time thing, especially this time of year...
 
I was referring to one of these:

http://www.fantasticvent.com/fan-tastic-vent-s-retail-vent-covers.html

 
If you have power, why not leave the AC set at 80 or 85 degrees. That will take care of humidity I believe.
 
I think Rene has the proper approach (at least that's what I'd do) -- keep it closed but with the A/C on (85? sounds like a good setting, too). I'd only leave one of them on, though, unless you have a 50 amp plug in available.
 
You can leave the Fantastic Fan open without the fan running. Once the cover is open, simply turn the power switch to the center off position.

If it's on a thermostat, you could leave it on to open and close automatically. Since it's covered storage, you don't have to worry about rain.
 
I had to dogbone down so it's only 15-20 amp I'm guessing. Also, just found they have power on a timer. Only get 2 hours a day. They never told me that when I booked it!
Insert bad word here!
 
Two hours a day? Ugh. Guess you'd better use it for charging. Since you're indoors, you can manually open a vent for (or all of them) without running the fan -- and you don't have to open them all the way, either, perhaps just an inch or two.
 
Larry, I've got those frameless windows that crank open from the bottom. Since I'm covered can't I just crack one on each side? In looking around I didn't see any others with windows cracked. Maybe a reason for that?
What can happen bad in 25 days or so if I keep it sealed up. All shades are down.
Thanks.
 
It would and likely did sit uncovered in the sun in a dealers lot for longer than 30 days. Charging for 2 hours a day might be ideal, and 2 hours of AC would keep humidity down. Sounds to me like a better deal than my rigs have had with no problems over the years. No worries!
 
15 amp isn't enough to run one air unit is it? Is 20 amp?
I need to run back to the storage unit Sunday because I forgot something. I can check the power supply when there.
I think the air units are Penguins but not sure.
 
We are. We have a house rented for the month in Cape Coral. This is a family thing. This was booked long before we bought the coach.
We took a week to drive the coach down, will fulfill our commitment then take a week driving back.
It's been great so far. I did not like putting it in storage yesterday but it is what it is!
 
15 amps will run one air conditioner, assuming it really is 15 amps and you don't have anything else running.  My concern is they have the whole place on one timer (or manual breaker switch) so that everyone's air conditioner comes on at once causing a facility wide voltage sag.

A typical RV air conditioner draws around 12 amps.

What I would do depends on the part of Florida, north Florida this time of year, I would not worry much, south Florida, may be different.
 
I would not leave any roof openings open unless yours is equipped with vent covers. As for windows, South Florida's (Naples area) weather forecast is for quite a few days of rain in the next two weeks, a good thing since very little has fallen since January.  Just food for thought!!
 
Chances are that 15A or 20A outlet is shared with multiple other users. It would be unusual to run a dedicated circuit to each outlet in a big facility. What that means is that the breaker for the circuit might well trip when your a/c starts up, depending on what others have plugged to that circuit.

Neither humidity nor temperature should get too bad in Florida until mid April, so I wouldn't worry overmuch if storing short term.

Leaving a window cracked is a toss-up question during that time period.  It tends to be an attention getter to thieves and vandals, so my preference would be for a roof vent (out of sight).  We always kept windows and/or vents partially open when we kept our RVs in the yard at our Florida home and used the vent fans when the weather turned humid and hot. By that I mean "Florida weather standards", e.g. above 50% humidity and 88 F.
 
I think the message the owner is sending with the 2-hour cycle is feel free to use your battery charger but don't run your AC.  They have the same issues in Colorado with folks trying to heat the coaches in the winter with the outlet provided.

15A would never support the AC through the shore line anyway - the inverter/charger would rob a good share of that, not to mention all of the other 110 appliances that come on with shore power like the microwave, fridge, etc.  You would have to go through the breaker panel and shut down everything but the AC, and then assume you are the only one using that circuit.

30 days, I wouldn't even plug in.

 
Where this will be a covered facility, I would crack open a few windows and open all the vents as long as you have vent covers. 
 
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