RVing our way to Disney in Feb. Advice?

[mom2meiko]

We are super excited to have our first RV and have booked a trip to FW in Feb. We are slightly concerned about how best to prepare the RV for winter travel though and would love any tips you may have! We'll be traveling down the east coast from MA. Thanks!!!

 

[team bradfield]

Is it a class A or C or do you have a trailer?

We have fifth wheel travel trailer, we keep RV anti freeze in the holding tanks (for the valves) while traveling and blow the lines out if its going to be below freezing. we use rest areas for breaks. Once we set up, then we keep the furnace running and tank heaters on. I tote along an extra Propane tank.

I don't have any experience in A or C's. I would imagine they would stay warming traveling with the furnace/heater from the vehicle running.

 

[IngmarP]

Coming from MA, I assume you will be spending one or two nights on the road. You should plan on staying at a real RV park instead of a Walmart so you have electricity for heat. Most RVs carry small amounts of propane, so try to identify someplace, such as Camping World, that you will be passing in case you run low. Be aware that it can be cold enough in Orlando at night in February that your heat pump will not work and you need to use the gas furnace. Since this RV is new to you, be sure you understand the winterizing procedure. You may have to do it more than once during this trip. Be very aware of weather predictions. South of Virginia the state highway departments typically do not plow or treat the roads for snow or ice, they just wait for it to melt.

 

[PaHunter]

Consider where you are staying, many parks in PA are seasonal and would be closed that time of year. In Florida campgrounds are very busy with Snowbirds. We have made the trip the last two Feb leaving from NEPA, two years ago it was -23. We leave the trailer winterized until the first stop which was in SC, for us a 13 hour drive. For staying on the way down and up i would recommend a heated water supply hose.

 

[Teamubr]

Lots of good advice so far.

If you aren't sure, check out how to de-winterize and re-winterize before you go. You will likely be winterizing this fall unless you have a dealer do it. It's not hard. Biggest thing is draining the water heater and finding the water heater bypass so you don't fill it with antifreeze. And then reversing the whole process so you have hot water when you get where you're going.

I've camped and traveled a lot in the cold months. Boon docked at races when it snowed. On the road, there isn't much different. I limit the amount of canned or bottled things that can freeze, but otherwise traveling is about the same. If you decide to overnight before you get to a state above freezing, I'd recommend a campground with hookups unless you are just going to sleep for a few hours and hit the road. Propane bottles will run the furnace several days in 30 degrees. Without electric hooks ups though, the furnace blower can drain a battery in 24 hours. If you get far enough south that it will just get below freezing for part of the night, the furnace will keep things warm enough to not worry.

The trips to the Fort I've done in February, I stay overnight south of Atlanta (from St Louis). I de-winterize when we overnight, even if it is going to get below freezing. The furnace keeps things from freezing at night and the absorbed heat will keep things from freezing once you hit the road and get to warmer weather.

j

 

[CDNCruiser]

We've made the trip from Canada to Fort Wilderness many times in the winter. We leave our Class A winterized until we hit the Carolinas, then we flush and fill once the danger of "hard" frost is behind us! Open campgrounds are the real challenge; as people have already said, you want to be able to plug in even if you don't need sewer and water.

Some folks from Massachusetts take I-84 or I-78 to I-81 to avoid the Philly/Baltimore/DC congestion. That's our route too, we catch I-81 right at the Canadian border and stick with it until we turn onto I-77 in southern Virginia, then I-26 to I-95

In February we've stayed at Harrisburg East Campground in Harrisburg PA, Western Village in Carlisle PA and Wytheville KOA in Wytheville VA. All are open year around and are good for an overnight stay.

 

[PaHunter]

Promised Land State Park in PA is open year round, it is exit 26 off of Interstate 84. During the winter there is only electric to hook up to, but they have a heated bath facility available.

 

[peg110]

I prefer to "Winterize" by "Blowing out" the lines (with air). The drains can use some anti-freeze. You can fill your water tank before you leave depending on your your rig is set up. It will take more than a day for the tank to freeze over and the motion of the water moving around will help prevent freezing. That way there is no "Flushing" of the lines required to expel the antifreeze from the water lines (I hate the way it makes the water taste/smell anyway), just fill the lines when the danger of them freezing is over.

 

[FtW Mike]

All the advice you've gotten from the above posters is spot on. WINTERIZE THE UNIT THIS FALL and then just a few days before de-winterize it. But I would forgo filling the fresh water tank until far enough south that I don't have to worry about it freezing. If the weather is going to be that be below freezing in the days before you leave and you don't have a block heater I would consider some small ceramic heaters on very low setting in the battery compartment to keep them from freezing as well

 

[peg110]

This thread brought up a question for me. That being "Can you leave the furnace run while driving?" As I researched it (google is your friend) I have found a LOT of posts saying that you can and that people do it frequently. Obviously some other factors are what type of vehicle. I have a travel trailer so my only intent to keep the furnace running while driving would be to keep the TT warm enough to prevent pipes from freezing. I have also read that many others in a Class A (B or C) might not be able to keep the rest of the inside warm enough with the "Dash" heater, so if anyone is riding in the back they might get colder. So their solution is either run the generator and use electric heaters or to run the furnace.

 

[PaHunter]

Two years ago when we went to leave it was during a cold snap, -23 had heaters on in the trailer until we left. Windchill on the unit froze all the canned stuff in our pantry cabinet which was located in the middle of our TT, it also froze the jugs of water I had planned on using to flush the toilet. The jugs froze in 2 hours on the road, the other stuff by 6 hours. Didn't really think of leaving the furnace on while traveling. This year we kept all freezable stuff in the truck with us until the first overnight stop in SC then loaded that in the trailer.

 

[Teamubr]

This thread brought up a question for me. That being "Can you leave the furnace run while driving?"

I've seen many of the same comments. My only experience was with my 2nd camper, a TT, 15 years ago. I tried running it on an 8 hour drive to a race. When we arrived, I realized the furnace had not been running. Trailer was cold. I turned it off and back on and it worked fine once we stopped. It was the race where it snowed that I mentioned above. The only thing I can figure was the furnace didn't like the movement on the highway and shut down or the flame kept blowing out and the thermocoupler shut it down. Thankfully, it was only in the high 20s most of the trip and nothing froze. I've never tried it again.

j

 

[peg110]

We travel in November (late) from NE PA to Disney. Last time we went during that time (2014) it was cold and actually a snow storm came in right behind us. I had "De-Winterized" the TT and kept the heater (well an "Electric" one) on inside prior to our departure to keep things warmed up before we left. Because our objective the first night of driving (We leave after work, so we only do about 6 or so hours of driving) is to get below DC, and the weather generally gets warmer the further south you go and it's not been an issue. We have not (to this point) kept the furnace on while traveling, but have not had to travel (or stay) in those extreme temps for that long.

That's not to say that I wouldn't run the furnace while driving though. I might do it on our next trip just to see how effective it may be.

 

[rajak73]

So there's a little bit of misinformation on this thread, wind chill does not effect water freezing. (Just looked it up because I thought I had read at one time that wind chill only effects humans and animals.) Now for the question, We have left from Nebraska twice in Feb and once in Dec, winterized the camper in the fall, day or two before leaving, unwinterized, turned the furnace on about 50, our camper is polar ready, has heat ducts that blow on fresh tank and holding tanks, camper dealer told me that it would take multiple days at 20 degrees to freeze water lines in camper with no heat. Put about 2/3 tank of fresh water in case where we stop it's going to be cold and fresh water hose would freeze. Only time we had anything freeze was 2013 and camped at Stanford, Florida, lol, temp was 32 when we went to bed and 32 when we got up, froze up in the brass elbow coming into the camper, unhooked, left in sun for 1 hour and was fine. The brass conducted the cold better. We don't leave anything that will freeze in our pantry because they are not heated. Like Teamubr, we camped one time on the way home in Missouri, they had just had a huge snow storm go through, (think 10"+) the campground pushed out the sites, pulled on the snow and camped for the night, nothing froze, didn't hook up to water of course, and couldn't find the sewer connection.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

slightly concerned about how best to prepare the RV for winter travel though and would love any tips you may have!

1) Turn on the heater.
2) When driving South, if you come to salt water, back up about three hours.

 

[peg110]

1) Turn on the heater.
2) When driving South, if you come to salt water, back up about three hours.

TRS is always on target with his advice.

 

[rajak73]

2) When driving South, if you come to salt water, back up about three hours

You mean we have to drive farther South? Maybe that's been the problem, we keep seeing the sign on the interstate on the North end that says, "Florida Left" so we keep turning around and going home.

 

[FtW Mike]

I turn left at that sign and keep ending up in the Atlantic after navigating some Georgia swamps

 

[rally]

We are coming from Canada in February.