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Best way to winterizing my Oliver ii in North Texas


Imelda

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Hi all, I love this forum. I have find it very helpful. I live in North Texas and it does not get that cold here. Maybe a few nights in the low to mid 20 -32F. I am planning on travelling in early Feb so I am wondering about winterizing given that we do not have such cold winters here, I do not want to use RV antifreeze but I was wondering if I just ran a space heater in the Oliver on the few cold nights if that would prevent the pipes etc. freezing.  I do this with my Horse Trailer w living quarters. I had the Oliver in Utah recently when the temperature got down to 15F running the propane heater inside with no problems. Lots of other rv'ers had pipes freeze that night.  I have the standard DSII 6 gallon water 

Any advice would be very much appreciated. 

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Several have done just that - run a small electric heater. I  would also open up an air passage to the lower enclosed areas to allow the warmer air to circulate through. Might  add a little insulation to the outside of the exterior shower - between the hatch cover - just in case. 

RB

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Cindy,  Russell and  "Harley dog" . Home is our little farm near Winchester TN

2018 Oliver Legacy Elite II - 2018 GMC 2500 Duramax 

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Yes, what BoB said.  Plus, if it were going down into the teens, I'd seriously think about giving the exterior water inlets (fresh water tank, city water, black tank flush and even the winterization port) a couple of pumps of anti-freeze with a hand pump.  

Bill

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2023 Ford F150 Lariat 3.5EB FX4 Max Towing, Max Payload, 2016 Oliver Elite II - Hull #117 "Twist"

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We don’t get real cold here in south Texas either.  Tonight it will dip into the mid to high 20s.  This afternoon, I will go to my storage, turn on my little Vornado electric heater, turn on my hot water tank and then lift the mattress and open the basement access where the water pump is.  I will open and drain all the exterior water connections (just let whatever water is in there drain) then recap.  I’ve been doing this for 5 winters and have not had a problem.  Last year we did have 3 or 4 consecutive days of night temperatures in the 20s, no problems.

We’re heading to AZ in early January and it is nice not to have to de-winterize.  Mike

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Texas Hill Country | 2016 Elite II #135 | 2020 Ram 2500 6.7L

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We are also in North Texas and will be using our Elite II throughout the winter so would prefer not to winterize with antifreeze. With this being our first winter as RVers and temperatures this week having dropped below freezing, we made several trips to our storage facility to check the interior temperature and take steps we thought were appropriate...but didn't feel 100% confident in our plan! We ran the furnace a couple of nights with the thermostat set in the high 40s (we purchased a small electric heater but were concerned about running it unmanned.) We turned on and let all the residual water run out of the interior faucets and outside shower. We put fabric around the outside shower controls/nozzle. We drained the water heater (and learned after the fact we should have done that differently instead of with the pressure release valve.) For air circulation, we opened the interior door to the basement, the closet, bathroom and cabinet doors, and turned the curbside mattress on its side and propped open one of the hatch doors above the water heater. It looks like there are a couple of things we should probably do in the future (or do differently) but hearing from you all is reassuring! Thank you.

Joe and Mindy ▪️ 2019 Legacy Elite II ▪️ Hull 457

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If you have power at your storage area don’t worry about draining your hot water tank.  Just turn it on.  I’ve got a small Vornado electric heater that we run at our storage and while camping.   Set it on low and let it go.  We’ve done that for 3 or 4 days in a row.  Set on low it cycles on and off keeping the interior warm.

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Texas Hill Country | 2016 Elite II #135 | 2020 Ram 2500 6.7L

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