How do you winterize a mobile home if your leaving on a trip for a couple weeks?
Manufactured Homes December 23rd, 2009I’m leaving for a couple weeks to stay at my parents house and i need to know how to winterize the mobile home i’m staying in. The weather here is very cold and im scared the pipes might break. I have shut off all the water and unplugged all appliances except for the water heater and stove. Is there anything else i should do?
December 23rd, 2009 at 3:41 pm
The best thing you can do for peace-of-mind is to leave the heat on at about 50F or so – but that is sometimes tricky with mobile homes as there are often pipes on outside walls that can still freeze if the place is poorly insulated.
You will have to drain all the fresh-water systems including the hot-water tank, and back-fill with RV antifreeze. Pour that in your toilet and all your drains (don’t forget the washer drain if you have one). You do not have to fill the hot-water tank with RV antifreeze – just as much of the pipes as you can get to. There should be main drains for your fresh-water system somewhere – your manual will tell you where. And if you have hard-connected water-service, you will have to put heat-trace on the water service to prevent that from freezing.
When you get back, just flush out the antifreeze (it is sweet-tasting but non-toxic) and leave the heat-trace in place – that you can use over and over.
Good luck with it.
December 23rd, 2009 at 3:41 pm
Shouldn’t you just bring it with you.
December 23rd, 2009 at 3:41 pm
wrap the whole thing in horse blankets and duct tape..
December 23rd, 2009 at 3:41 pm
There is no need o do anything, other than leave the furnace on. I’d leave it at 60.
Ask either the park manager, or a friend, to check to see if the furnace is on. Leave them with the phone number where you are. No sense in worrying about something that probably will not happen.
The last, most important thing, is to check to see if your heat tapes are plugged in and working. If they aren’t, nothing you do will keep the pipes from freezing.