do I need to winterize my new Winnebago Minnie TT?

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barb mills

Member
Joined
Apr 16, 2013
Posts
12
Location
Hoquiam, WA
My husband says if we have it plugged in and the heat on we do not need to winterize. I am not so sure about that. Don't want any burst water lines or problems with the water heater. We live in Coastal Washington where it is pretty temperate most times but the temperature can get down to freezing at times. Sometimes it will even get lower than freezing for a short while. We do get times during the winter when we will want to use it, either for guests or to go camping as we can have those stray balmy days where it will be in the 60's and nice. So my questions to all the experts out there is do we need to winterize and if so what do we need to do? We own a 2014 Winndebago Minnie TT 2101 DS with fully enclosed underbelly with ducted heat in the underbelly. Thanks in advance for any insights or help.
 
It should be safe if you don't run out of propane. It would be safest to blow out the lines and drain the water heater. No need for anti freeze in your climate.
 
Agree with John.  My Horizon is good to the occasional dip in the 20s with nothing special done and with the propane furnace set to about 55*.  When it's going to be colder or stay below freezing for a day or three, I also run a small ceramic heater in the plumbing bay.

If you have an absorbed gas fridge (Norcold/Dometic) and it has an icemaker, the water solenoid at the rear of the fridge is susceptible to freezing - I had one freeze and crack in 15 degree temps.
 
Having the heat on inside does nothing to protect the several exposed water lines and tanks, e.g. your fresh water inlet, fresh & waste tanks, low point drains, ice maker line, etc. And if the water heater is off, the heater tank is at risk too. The heated underbelly may handle some of that stuff, but I'll bet you have plumbing that sticks out well beyond that.

But in coastal Washington, the risk is probably negligible. It takes several hours below freezing to cause a hard freeze in a water line.
 
i use a 60w light bulb in a trouble light for heat in my aft water service bay when it is forecast to go below 32 degrees and i am not running the propane furnace.  when running the furnace, no supplementary heat is necessary. furnace return air keeps this area warm.
i installed 4 wired indoor-outdoor temperature gauges in my basement compartments so no guessing is required.
if i had it to do again, i would use wireless gauges.:)
 
Gary RV Roamer said:
Having the heat on inside does nothing to protect the several exposed water lines and tanks, e.g. your fresh water inlet, fresh & waste tanks, low point drains, ice maker line, etc...
Depends on the unit.  None of my plumbing is exposed when the coach is in the travel-ready mode. (Except the ice maker solenoid that was behind the lower fridge vent.)
 
It depends on the coach design, of course, but often the waste tank valves and water inlet are vulnerable to outside temps, even when inside a compartment. The water/utility bay is seldom insulated enough or even closed tightly enough to stay above freezing for several hours without some heat applied. Perhaps yours has an adequate heat supply, though. Mine is ok down to around 30, but when it gets to 20 the temperature around the valves and waste drains drops below freezing without some external heat source. My other bays stay warm, but the water compartment has too many openings and too little no insulation at the bottom.
 
Gary RV Roamer said:
.. Mine is ok down to around 30,..
Same with my Horizon.  When we're in the really cold weather, I place insulation in the plumbing bay with a small ceramic heater.  When we're really cold (well below freezing for a couple of days), I found a 100 watt drop light isn't enough heat.
 

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