20 degree morning, checked on Ollie !

[mountainborn]

0430 hrs. Let Dillon the retired drug dog outside. The sharp crisp air supprised me even though the forcast was proving to be accurate. It didn't take Dillon long to get his business done and return to his place by the fire !

We have a remote thermometer we can check the temperature at the propane tank cover, where a sending unit is located, on our Ollie. It indicated 20 degrees !

0900 hrs. 21*, I venture outside to check on Ollie. The inside of Ollie is 39*, with only one element of an oil filled radiator looking type of heater sitting in the middle of the floor, turned on ( 700 watts, two elements would be 1400 watts of heat).

If it gets much colder, I will turn on that other heating element.

I guess that this artic front that is penetrating deep into the South has most on here checking up on their Ollie.

Last Winter we used our Ollie so much we didn't Winterize at all and just used the oil filled heater.

This year we have only drained the lines and tanks when we changed the sacrificial anode element in the hot water heater, and so far have only used one element in the oil filled heater.

Tell us, please how your Ollie's Winterizing is going for you and what your strategy is should it get much colder.

Hints and tips appreciated !

[SeaDawg]

Here in Florida, we don't have many sub-freezing days... However, camping in North Carolina mountains, we've had a number of nights under 32, and down in to the twenties and high teens, with freshwater and grey & black around half-full each. No issues, since we didn't have hookups, and didn't have to worry about draining a freshwater line. I, too, will be interested in hearing about just how cold you can camp in an Oliver without winterizing.

On nights where we expect sub-freezing weather, I leave the bathroom door cracked open a little (mostly for comfort on midnight trips to the potty), and we leave the furnace on the lowest setting at bedtime. Snuggled in the blanket,we're happy and warm, but then Paul is from Buffalo and I'm from Minnesota... so ....

I think if we were camping and knew we'd hit temps in the low teens or below, I'd probably open the bathroom door fully, and take a lid off one of the seats to make sure the heat from the furnace circulated to the holding tanks. Of course, if we had water hookups, I'd drain the hose and disconnect. What do you think?

 

Sherry

 

PS We put an extra pillow next to the "stripper pole" at night. It does get very cold when the temps go down...

[technomadia]

Our winterizing strategy is working out great so far.. "don't be where it gets that cold"

 

 

Actually, we are finding quite a bit of moisture underneath the cushion on the full bed (the head/stripper pole side). We're unsure if this is related to the leak we found in the vent fan (grrr) and it is somehow dripping down during rain storms (it's not let up raining long enough for us to test the theory), or if it's condensation collecting. Has anyone else who's been using their Oliver in cold/rainy weather found this to happen?

 

- Cherie

[dougi]

Cherrie, I don't think it would be condensation, since that surface is not exposed to ambient air. We certainly haven't had anything like that happen to us during a rainy day in our Oliver. I can't think of any reason that condensation would be limited to just the area under the street side of your cushions and not the rest of the area under the cushions. I think you probably have a leak of some kind.

 

I don't understand how this area could get wet without you noticing a leak somewhere. Water would have to run down the wall from somewhere above. I would think the vent fan is located too far forward to cause water to collect in that area of your trailer. The area around the air conditioner would be more suspect, it seems to me.

 

Good luck.

[technomadia]

I would think the vent fan is located too far forward to cause water to collect in that area of your trailer. The area around the air conditioner would be more suspect, it seems to me.

 

Well, keep in mind with the solar panels, the position of our fan/AC is different that units without the panels. Our vent fan is actually dripping right on the edge of the bed. But I can't figure out how it's getting underneath the cushion. Very confusing.

 

 

Will keep a closer eye on if the streetside window might have a small leak - but it's curious, the cushion isn't getting wet on the outside, just on the table side. Very odd.

 

We've been fighting various leaks since pick-up.. it's getting quite exhausting.

 

- Cherie

[dougi]

Cherrie, when I posted that comment I was thinking of our single bed layout, forgetting that you had the double bed layout.

 

If the vent fan is dripping on the forward edge of your bed area, the retaining lip on the bed could cause the water to run under your cushions. If the water is coming from the rear street side window it could run down the wall under the cushions on your bed. The water would almost have to be coming from one of these two sources. Small amounts of water running slowly down the interior street side wall under your window would be more difficult to notice than a drip from the ceiling.

 

Tape a thin rolled up cloth under the entire width of the rear street side window when it rains and see if it gets wet somewhere along it's length. If it does, you have found the source of your leak.

[herm]

I realize I'm a little late on this conversation (been on vacation the last couple weeks), and the artic front has long since passed for mountainborn (I hope). If you want to look up my instructions, they're in a topic by meanderthal titled "Winterizing Instructions Excellent, but". However, that might be overkill for you. Since you've already drained the lines and tanks, the logical next step would be to blow the remaining water out with compressed air or pump antifreeze through the lines, or if you super paranoid like myself, do both.

 

Otherwise, you can probably just keep doing what you're doing - monitor the temps and add more heat as necessary. With a large enough heater, even I probably wounldn't need to winterize, but it would cost a fortune!

 

Herm