[JIM]

As an alternative you could flush the system with RV plumbing anti-freeze. Then you don’t have to worry about it and maybe even shut off all power to the coach.

[AL]

Thanks Jon,

I have used RV antifreeze before (and I know the filters must come out then) but we are slowly packing the coach for the 4 month trip. We pulled everything out of the last coach so we are sorting thru what we really need to keep in the coach and it is nice to be able to go in and have the heat on. I do have a pump that will put in the antifreeze but the wife swears that the water is “different” the entire first week we use it after putting in anti-freeze so I’m just trying to by-pass that process since we only have 4 weeks to departure. Normally we are well on the road before freezing temps hit but this year with the passing of my father and trying to get my mom used to being alone in a smaller apartment we have opted to stay thru the holidays.

On the 22nd, 23rd and 24th we will be plugged into 50 amp at one of my rental properties close to Detroit while we visit family. I may just be paranoid but I was worried if power went out and the generator didn’t kick on for some reason I could have big problems just before we leave on the trip. Blowing out the lines just seemed to give me more comfort before we head out next week. Living in a very rural area, there is really no one I could ask to check on the coach. It literally took me 10 minutes to blow out my last coaches but I’m just wondering if I really need to remove the filters. I know it is not a big deal but working outside in sub zero weather when we leave to put them back in is really a pain and for some reason there are 3 seperate filters on my coach along with a water softner which I’ve never had in a coach.

[Archived]

If your plumbing freezes you will wish you had done the right thing, for a long time!

Sounds like you, meaning “yourself” does not want the job of working with the water in the cold.

I suggest, find some competant person and pay them to perform the winterizing.

You will be dollars ahead and have peace of mind.

JIM

[glen]

Well, just for peace of mind I went out and took out the filters, blew out the lines and added some anti freeze to all the tanks and traps. Oh darn, just remembered I have to go do the washing machine and ice maker…….I know how to do the washing machine but do I just turn the ice machine on and let it blow out too? Never had an ice maker (that worked) in my previous coaches.

[Archived]

on our Royale the blow out will not empty the fresh water tank or will it remove the water out of the headhunter pump or the 12 volt back up pump if you have one. We can’t leave for warmer temps until Dec 8 this year. We have the aqua hot on with the thermostats set at 45. In the past this has worked for us to -10.

[Jim]

That’s the beauty of Aqua-Hot, you can run it on electric and I used to do the same thing when really cold while in the barn.

[Corey]

Uh Tom, If I have electric I also do not need my Webasto.

[Chas]

All good…aqua hot on, lines blown out, anti-freeze in the traps and toilet and marking the calendar down till the 22nd of December….next year my winterization process will be very simple….head south the first time it hits 40 degrees!!

[Dean]

When we lived in western NY every winter had sub zero temps, sometimes for as long as a week. We can remember periods when it didn’t get above zero (F) for a week and the low temps were as low as minus 22F.

Our bus was stored in a barn that only kept snow off the roof of the bus. I could see daylight through the openings in the siding.

Despite the cold temps I used a 500 watt cube heater in the water bay aimed at the full fresh water holding tank. That tank would get up to 55 degrees or so, and on bitter cold spells it acted like a large heat sink to maintain the bay temperature.

Upstairs in the house I had an oscillating heater with three settings, 500, 1000, and 1500 watts. During average days which were 20 for a low and 32 for a high I used the 500 watt setting. If it was going into single digits I used the 1000 watt setting, and if it was going sub zero I used the 1500 watt setting. I kept all cabinets open so the pipes were as warm as the coach interior. The oscilating fan kept the coach somewhat uniformly warm with it sitting on the kitchen countertop.

Nothing ever froze and the coach was always ready to go. An hour or so before I planned to start the engine I turned on the block heater.

With only modest amounts of heat and some wind protection our coaches can tolerate a lot of cold before freezing. On the coldest mornings the water bay never got below 50 degrees because the 1000 pounds of water was a very effective way to retain heat.

[Archived]

I just purchased an outdoor thermometer from the hardware and put the recieving unit on my nightstand and the sending unit out in the coach in the bath area. Now it is very easy to see what the temp is on the inside of the coach. I’ve set the thermostats at 50 degrees and have a pelonis ceramic cube heater on the kitchen counter. Aqua Hot is on and the temp says 56 degrees in the coach. The bays are staying right at about 74 degrees so all is well. These coaches are amazing. My last 6 coaches NEVER held temp like this so the insulation must be wonderful.

As far as I can tell, the aqua hot kicks on about every 2-3 hours and runs for about 10-15 minutes so fuel consumption should be at a minimum. On my coach, the diesel MUST be on for the heat registers to work. I have a single electric element that works fine when plugged into 50 amp to keep the water hot but it will not heat the coach. I do wish the coach had the aqua hot with the high and low electric settings so the diesel wouldn’t be needed till it got very close to zero and even at that my old coach never got “freezing” inside.

[Archived]

Ah Jon, sure you can run your kick heaters or heat pumps, but with Aqua-Hot, you get that home type register heat using the furnace via electric. It’s not the same big boy.

[Archived]

Jim,

That must be something new with your vintage, I’ve never had an Aqua-Hot that couldn’t run on electric. When on electric (water heater) you can’t run the furnace heat exchangers?

[Archived]

You are gonna have to ‘splain it better Tom boy.

Like anything else on our coach it is a numbers thing. I understand I cannot use my Webasto in-house heat exchangers as a heat source unless I am buying diesel fuel. So as an alternate toe space electric heaters are used.

For this discussion let’s presume a heater has a 1000 watt element so with one in the bath and one in the kitchen there would be 2000 watts worth of heat. How big is the Aquahot heating element? If it is the same you are getting no more heat out of it than is provided by toe space heaters, and if you want to fine tune the discussion we can consider the loss of efficiency due to cooling as the Aquahot coolant works its way to the heat exchanger.

What am I missing? We have to be accurate here.

[Peter]

My Aqua Hot is a 2004 unit. I was told by Aqua Hot that the AHE-100-03S has one electric mode (element), not a high and a low setting like my 2007 unit on my last coach. The electric element will keep the water warm enough for a shower and supply hot water to the coach BUT he said it will not run the heat registers in “cold” temps. The electric switch under the sink has an on and off only. When I first got the coach and picked it up in Nashville I thought there was something wrong with the aqua hot because we where not getting much heat at all out of the registers at night.

We called a certified tech (Mr. RV) great guys by the way and they called aqua hot direct who explained this to me. The unit only has 600 hours on it and is in great shape and works perfect with the diesel burner on it.

[Archived]

That is correct Jim, when it gets real cold, it needs the diesel. To take the chill off or keep the bus at a low temp setting while on electric only, you can’t beat it.