Introduction, New RV Pickup & Bringing it home.

Friends,

This Forum has been a great resource for information, clarifications and plenty of helpful tips.  Yes I've been trolling but now I need a little help, or maybe just some assurance to calm some fears.

My wife & I have been researching RVs for several years now,  looking to re-start our lives with new adventure.  We're both retired in our mid+ 60s, love to travel but haven't been able to do much, still anchored with family support, but we've been preparing for when we can actually get away.

Well... after renting an RV for a test run last fall (great trip), attending a bunch of RV shows, comparing hundreds of layouts and just researching the heck out of things  ( 8) trolling this great forum), we settled on a 2018 Coachmen Leprechaun 319MB (Class C), found the one we wanted in February and next week we go pick it up.  The rig is currently in North West PA and we're in Maryland about 350+ miles distant.

This forum has been an absolutely great resource and rather than trolling... I need a bit of advice or perhaps just some reassurance for our trip back.  After the checkout inspection and spending the first night at the dealer for a live in check out, we plan to take two days to bring it home.  Now the problem.  Part of the reason for us not scheduling pick up until April is weather.  The weather has been pretty good but currently it is predicted to be in the mid-high 30's daytime and going down to about 27 at night.    My concern is potential freezing of water lines.  I can disconnect the city water during the night but the rig will have water in it (can't really checkout systems in a winterized RV).  I'm bringing a small electric heater to potentially put under the RV and an incandescent work light to perhaps hang someplace where the water lines might be (Don't really know the water line arrangement yet).

Anything else I could do, should we winterize before we leave the Dealer or is one 27 degree night not of great concern?

Thanks for all of the great advice I've gotten from this site and look forward to reading more of your discussions.

.\Mark

If the MB is set up underneath the same as my DS, the black and gray tanks are exposed, but have heat pads. The drain pipe is exposed, and does not have any heat tape or heat pads on it. The freshwater tank is under the bed, so it should be fine. I wouldn't worry too much about the freshwater, but would have concerns about the waste tank drain. Check out the ultraheat website, and see their solutions to the drain piping. There's still time for the dealer to install whatever is needed before you pick it up.

Hi, can't help with your problem, but welcome to the forum.  Glad you decided to join in.  Good luck with your new rig, I am sure you will get something sorted to ease your concerns.

A quick note on terminology, Mark: Many on the web take the word troll as in the troll under the bridge, not a favorable term, rather than as in trolling for fish as you were using it. Many of us call that "lurking" (as in 'hiding in the bushes'), primarily so as not to be thought a "troll."

One thing you can do to protect the dump valves for the gray and black tanks is to put a bit (half a gallon, maybe) of the pink RV antifreeze into the tanks before using them, thus offering protection against the valve freezing. If your tanks have heaters you can turn them on (hopefully you're plugged in when stopped), and most of the water lines should be in the heated area of the coach, so as long as you have heat on they should mostly be OK.

Best of luck.

Water in a Pex line can freeze and it will not hurt the pex at 27 degrees.  It's only 27 for a short time if that is the low temperature of the day.

My fifth wheel is at the dealer in KS, and not winterized as I dropped it off on my way home from FL.  I had them drain the hot water heater and the low point on the drains.

Valves could crack I suppose, but it takes a longer time, or a lot of wind, to get hard frozen in just a few hours.

It's only 27 for a short time if that is the low temperature of the day.

Click to expand...

While that's often true, it's not always true. For example, here in the Denver area we'll often have a 20? to 40? swing during the day, but the temp here right now (0700) is 25?, and has varied only between 25? and 23? since 1930 last night -- it's been very cloudy (like a blanket) -- and not above 35? even yesterday morning. So there are always exceptions that can cause problems.

I wouldn't winterize for 1 night around 27 degrees, but that's just me.

All,

I'm responding a bit late here but thanks to all for your input.  I didn't think temps of 27 for a night would really hurt anything but I did disconnect the fresh water hose at night thinking that was the most vulnerable.  I think I just needed your reassurance that it'd be ok.  Interesting... the 4 days we were away, it snowed some every day.

The trip back home was a good one.  1st night we stayed at the dealer and checked all the systems out.  Found a few things but nothing major other than I have a 15amp breaker that will trip after a bit when the water heater is turned to electric or the elec fireplace is on (not at the same time).  Gotta figure our what's going on there.  Then spent two nights in a campground in Woodland PA and just relaxed and played with our new toy.

Couple of days after our return home, the grandkids came over for a birthday party and the three spent the entire time in the RV claiming it as their own.  When the 7 year old was asked what RV stood for she said... rolling vacation.  That'd be our intention!

Happy to her you found your "ideal" rig. You'll enjoy it. That being said, I'd like to switch gears for a comment. If you have a 15 amp breaker that is tripping after the water heater or the fireplace is turned on, you have a problem that should have been addressed while at the dealer. That is not normal and could be an indication of a larger problem. I would have it  looked at as soon as possible, for safety's sake.

We have also just brought home a new Leprechaun 319MB on April 6th. When we went to pick it up, the dealer told us that during the PDI they found a relay that was not functioning properly. This relay is the load share relay (rated at 20 amps) between the fireplace and electric element in the hot water heater. To make a long story short, this RV has a relay that "shares" the feed between the fireplace heating element and the electric hot water heater element. It is designed (as explained by the service dept manager) to run the fireplace preferentially and cut off the hot water element if both are trying to operate simultaneously. On our unit, the fireplace OR the water heater would work, but the relay would not cut power to the HWH if both were switched on at the same time, thereby tripping the 15a breaker. The "new replacement" relay started chattering as soon as power was connected to the rig and would not run either appliance (so much for factory testing and quality control). We are waiting for yet another relay replacement (which may or may not work....). Sounds like they got a bad batch of relays floating around. Who knows how many other units have the same or similar issues.

Not a particularly good design, IMO. However, we expected to have some quality issues with a unit at this level, and otherwise we are happy with it (so far). Hopefully this issue will get elevated and a resolution will be forthcoming.

Hi Chris & Randy,

Thanks for letting me know about the relay.  I'll mention that to the dealer.  We bought the rig on April 9th in Erie PA so I need to work out some arrangement with them as to where I can have warranty work done or perhaps plan a trip that passes us through Erie (6 hours away), we're in Maryland.

On ours, if the Hot Water heater is on, the Fireplace will not turn on at all until you turn off the Water Heater.  There's a sticker on the Fire Place (attached) that tells you you can't have them on at the same time. Haven't tried to turn on the water heater when the FP was running so not certain what it will do.  RV is setting in our driveway so I can only connect to a 120ac (20 amp I guess) line from the house.

I'd be interested in how your issue gets resolved so if you could post that I'd appreciate it.

Ordered Tow bar, baseplate and gear to attach a toad.  Hopefully that will be in next week.  Once that's installed & done, then we can hit the road.  Oh...  I gotta figure out what new valve stems to get for the Duals.  I assume yours is the same, the inner tires are really tough to get to both to check pressure & fill.

.\Mark

Interesting; our fireplace does not have that warning sticker. We'll let you know how our situation works out.
Ours came with the valve stem extensions on the rear wheels...

Can I suggest that you consider adding an aftermarket TPMS to your wheels. They will require that you have metal valve stems. There are some very good systems out there, we use one by EEZ RV.  I would also recommend that even if you don't add a system, at least use metal valve systems and extensions. I'm not a fan of the extensions that are flexible, as over the years, at the shop I work at, I've seen a number of them causing problems with leaking. But, that's my opinion. Take a look at ShinyRv.com. They have a good selection of metal extensions and other items, including the rubber grommets that are inserted in the holes in the outer dually to support the valve stem from the inner wheel.  Other vendors also offer the metal stems.