Cold weather in Texas this week

[Morich]

What year and model do you have? We can look at drawings of the plumbing to spot any valves that need to be changed.
But I would expect there to be a valve where the suction tube meets the "normal" water line and that often has a handle which indicates which way the water will flow. Hope that makes sense on the handle?

Make sure to close any drains you have opened as that will let air in and not allow the pump to build suction!

click this snip for better view!

This is one year of the Travato as example:

[Winterbagoal]

Originally Posted by Trav59k

Thanks to everyone for the great advice. I decided to go full winterization. Today I completed the blowout method as per the Travato manual. This afternoon after blowing, draining the lines and fresh water tank I tried to add the “pink stuff.” Unfortunately after completing the above I could not get my water pump to shyphon the antifreeze.
So still working on this issue.

If the lines and tanks are essentially empty, the "pink stuff" part can probably be skipped. Just leave all the valves and faucets open to allow any remaining water in them to expand along/inside the lines, if it freezes. Again, check/drain the water filter, if there is one.
You should be fine.

[dkoldman]

Originally Posted by Trav59k

Thanks to everyone for the great advice. I decided to go full winterization. Today I completed the blowout method as per the Travato manual. This afternoon after blowing, draining the lines and fresh water tank I tried to add the “pink stuff.” Unfortunately after completing the above I could not get my water pump to shyphon the antifreeze.
So still working on this issue.

Did you change the winterize valve?

I don't siphon the pink stuff, and don't think you need in SE Texas, but I did siphon some fresh water from a jug when my RV was new just to see it work.

If you think about it, if the pump will pump fresh water into your supply lines it will do the same from a jug but you have to change the diverter so it draws from container NOT the fresh water tank.

With the freeze coming tomorrow, may be too late to play with though, leave well enough along and play with it when you have more time to perfect. Just remember that once you get the pink stuff in the lines, you have to sanitize to get it out, and you still may taste it for awhile. Some say they don't drink the water in RV, but I don't want it when showering, or brushing teeth either.

[Marine359]

Blowing lines thoroughly with tank style compressor, empty tanks, run pump dry, open low points, empty and bypass WH, add 3 cups pink to each trap is all you need for your winterization. Been doing it for years. Our cold spells eclipse your short spells for several months.

[dkoldman]

Originally Posted by Marine359

Blowing lines thoroughly with tank style compressor, empty tanks, run pump dry, open low points, empty and bypass WH, add 3 cups pink to each trap is all you need for your winterization. Been doing it for years. Our cold spells eclipse your short spells for several months.

Good advice, you just taught me a step that I had been missing

I have not previously run the Freshwater pump dry after finishing. I do take the filter bowl out and dump the water. But today even though I know it is empty from blow out, I will turn the pump on for 30 secs or so.

Ironically, I do kind of do this for my other pump that is in the Outdoor kitchen. It pumps water from outdoor sink to the black tank. When I finish the Blow Method and add a cup or so of pink stuff to outdoor sink, I turn the pump on so it pumps it to or toward the black tank, I never worry at that pointy because worse case I have pink stuff in that pump and the filter bowl.

I would never want pink stuff in my fresh water line though.

[creativepart]

As the forecast gets worse here in South Texas I may actually do a little more "winterizing" than I planned today.

It's 55 here right now and the afternoon temperatures look like a roller coaster at Ohio's Cedar Point Amusement Park. Most troublesome is the extended freezing temps for 30+ hours now being detailed.

[dkoldman]

Originally Posted by creativepart

As the forecast gets worse here in South Texas I may actually do a little more "winterizing" than I planned today.

It's 55 here right now and the afternoon temperatures look like a roller coaster at Ohio's Cedar Point Amusement Park. Most troublesome is the extended freezing temps for 30+ hours now being detailed.

It is 23 in Dallas (Carrollton) now, it was 48 when I got up. It is dropping fast !!!

Really glad I did the full thing as I don't think it goes above freezing until Saturday.

I may turn on portable heater and place incandescent bulb in wet bay tonight anyway.

Update: You can add snow to the mix as it just started.

[Scotty B]

God bless you all and stay safe!

[Trav59k]

Originally Posted by Winterbagoal

If the lines and tanks are essentially empty, the "pink stuff" part can probably be skipped. Just leave all the valves and faucets open to allow any remaining water in them to expand along/inside the lines, if it freezes. Again, check/drain the water filter, if there is one.
You should be fine.

All the lines are empty and fresh water tank drained. All the faucets and the drain valves are open. I have a light bulb in the pump areA as well as the wet bay. Filter housing drained as well. I plan on running my furnace and a small space heater.
Thanks for all your recommendations.
Mike

[Morich]

And since it never pays to get tooo serious, a friend back North just sent this along!

[Eagle5]

That is perfect!

[creativepart]

It was 14 here this am and the high today is only 30. Luckily, the wind is subsiding and should effectively drop away by evening. That means a cold clear windless night will see temps in the teens again. But tomorrow should be in the 40s. YEA!

I'm plugged in and running my propane heat at 55 degrees so, the water pipes are not an issue. I did drain all of my fresh tank and ran out any water in the pump etc. I did not add anti-freeze because of this. But I did buy some to have on hand just in case it was needed.

My biggest issue has been keeping my Lithium batteries warm. I have put a small ceramic heater in that compartment, but I have been negligent in sealing that area. See, because the coach came with AGM batteries they built the battery bay with open sides and partially open on the back. So, even with the heater this big wind gets in there and stops the compartment from really staying warm.

Last night, I could see that the battery nearest the heater was doing fine but the rear battery was getting down to 33 degrees. My batteries have Bluetooth and they report their internal BMS temp. They also have low temp cutoff to prevent charging in freezing temps. This cutoff is set for 37 degrees.

As a precaution I turned off charging at my inverter charger before bed last night. That means the batteries were supplying the 12v furnace fan soley on battery power. But with 400-amp hours I wasn't too worried.

Then this morning it occurred to me that if I could temporarily seal up the battery compartment it would hold the heat from the small heater and keep the batteries out of charging danger. So, armed with reflectix and bungee cords I sealed up the battery compartment to let the heater do it's thing. Once both batteries are over 40 degrees I can turn the inverter/charger back on to get ready for tonight's low temps.

Moral of this story is... don't put off important jobs. I knew I needed to seal the battery compartment but for a number of logistical reasons I found it difficult to "engineer" the best way to do this in my mind and so I never did it.

Once we get back to 60's next week, I will permanently correct this issue once and for all and take steps to automate battery heating.

[TravatoJohn]

I have a Travato Model K. In Colorado we just had -15 and today it was -9 but suns out. I had previously winterized with Antifreeze but went one step further the last two days. Plugged in my unit and put a space heater on low all day and night. Drew about 7 amps total. Important thing is to isolate cab area with blanket or canvas hanging from top shelf. Close your AC vents and you will be fine. Open the bottom access to plumbing also. Open faucet and you should be fine. Good luck, Travato John.

[Morich]

Yes, it is a bit cold here in the energy rich state of Texas. And this year they have assured us the lights won't go out.
But just so folks traveling through are not caught unaware?

The news is reporting that we should not take showers or bath for several days as there is a shortage of natural gas and it uses a lot of gas to heat water!
Just hold your nose if going through the Austin / Round Rock areas?
Did I mention the furnace may not work either?

Some of the news is just about hard to believe----but this is not a joke!
It does seem to be a problem to find what is going on though. Seems the Atmos Energy offince is closed for the holiday!

[creativepart]

Out here in the Hill Country it's all-electric OR your own Propane tank. Our propane is buried... but only heats the pool not the house. The heat pump has been kicking butt nonstop for the past 24 hours. So as long as our rural power coop stays up we're fine.

[dkoldman]

Originally Posted by Morich

Yes, it is a bit cold here in the energy rich state of Texas. And this year they have assured us the lights won't go out.
But just so folks traveling through are not caught unaware?

The news is reporting that we should not take showers or bath for several days as there is a shortage of natural gas and it uses a lot of gas to heat water!
Just hold your nose if going through the Austin / Round Rock areas?
Did I mention the furnace may not work either?

Some of the news is just about hard to believe----but this is not a joke!
It does seem to be a problem to find what is going on though. Seems the Atmos Energy offince is closed for the holiday!

Attachment 184842

So far in Dallas, I have not heard anything with gas, we have Atmos too.

We have our fireplace going and it is gas along with our hot water heater. Of course our furnaces are on to and they both are gas. I didn't know of concern with gas. In 2021 without the gas we would have froze.

I have 23 degrees and now 2nd day of below freezing. But so far, I am glad that somebody fixed the power grid problem of 2021. The fact that it appears to be fixed now; kind of proves it was in shambles back then; and someone should have been liable for all that damage.

I got my RV generator on standby should we lose electricity though. It would be first time to connect RV to Home Transfer Switch when it was a true emergency and not a test or exercise.

[Trav59k]

Originally Posted by TravatoJohn

I have a Travato Model K. In Colorado we just had -15 and today it was -9 but suns out. I had previously winterized with Antifreeze but went one step further the last two days. Plugged in my unit and put a space heater on low all day and night. Drew about 7 amps total. Important thing is to isolate cab area with blanket or canvas hanging from top shelf. Close your AC vents and you will be fine. Open the bottom access to plumbing also. Open faucet and you should be fine. Good luck, Travato John.

We made it through supposedly the worst night without any issues. Ran a small space heater and the furnace. Furnace really did not contribute too much as the air it takes in to heat is too cold. Tonight probably just run the space heater which lie yours draws about 8amps.
Thanks, Mike

[Morich]

I did not see exactly which year you have but there may be a bit of info missing on how it "should" operate as RV furnace do it a bit different than home.
One basic idea is that the air used for the fire (combustion air) should never mix with the room air as that is a basic safety idea to keep co, co2 out of the living space.

So the home or RV does that, but the RV is different in that the fire is not lit until AFTER the air movement is confirmed. You may have read about a "sail switch" which senses this air movement before the gas valve will open?

The furnace is designed to have two blower wheels driven by one motor and that lets the combustion and room air stay seperated.


The Travato uses a bit new and different vent for the outside air which likely looks like one single air vent but is actually listed as exhaust and intake.


This duct shows up in yellow on the parts drawings for the 2015 that I used as example.
Interactive Parts drawings are here:
https://catalog3d.winnebagoind.com/menu/Parts.htm



So what you should have is the cold air going in the vent to the combustion chamber, and the exhaust gas going out the combined vent tubing. Blue in, red out?
Then the room air should go in the big vent inside to the furnace and after going around the heat exchanger, come out the various ducts inside but kept seperate from the outside air.

When you say the furnace air is not warm enough, there may be two things going on. One is confusion when expecting the first air coming out to be warm, as the RV doesn't light the fire until AFTER the air has started moving, Than might be that you are starting the furnace and checked the room air coming out too soon before the really cold metal parts have warmed enough to feel right??
Once the inside of the furnace and the air in the RV are warmed to normal temp, the RV furnace should work very much like a home funrace except you do tend to get a blast of colder air when they first start!

OR, a far worse idea is that one of the ducts is not connected well and the air is not flowing as it should.


I'm always glad to find I was confused on something! Then I don't have to find and fix something!

[creativepart]

It made it all the way to 60 degrees today... BUT it's forecasted to be below 30 again tonight. Just when you think the freeze is over you get another freeze.

But it's the last one for a while - going to be in the 70's for New Year's Weekend.

[dkoldman]

It is 50 right now in Dallas and forecast is 25 tomorrow morning, but after that; there is no more forecast showing anything below 37 degrees the rest of the winter.

I may refill my tanks with fresh water on Wednesday, and get back to my normal routine to just enjoy whenever I may need.