Winterizing our truck camper takes high priority this week. We’re headed back towards Colorado from the DEEP South. Then we make our way through Kansas as we venture back into much colder temperatures. Dang it, we liked the warmth while it lasted! Time to get our Arctic Fox 990 ready for the arctic blast, which is blowing in. The weatherman is calling for feet (not inches) of snow. And enough cold air to freeze boiling water. Yikes.
We’re slowly coming to the realization that owning a truck camper is very similar to owning a house. There are maintenance issues to attend to on a regular basis. We’re making improvements here and there, dealing with plugged toilets, and so forth. Pretty much like our house, only condensed!
One of the reasons we purchased a hard sided truck camper, versus a soft sided truck camper, was due to the hard sided camper’s four weather season capability. Rain, sleet, driving snow…Wait, wrong commercial. The ability to use our truck camper in all kinds of weather played a big part in our Arctic Fox selection. Their RVs get fantastic ratings for winter use and that really appeals to us.
See our truck camper selection process here.
Cupcake prefers to winter in Texas. So do we. The photo above is taken at Llama Land, only one of the most cool places we’ve stayed. We’ll work on a post to add in here about our stay there. Cupcake, the two of us, one awesome cat and about twenty llamas. What’s not to love? We had a really great time there and can’t wait to share it with you.
But for now…winter is coming…
Join us this week as we’re winterizing our truck camper for the incoming arctic chill in Colorado Springs. The weather forecast is calling for zero degrees Fahrenheit, plus the wind chill that could take us down to 20 below. That’s dang cold! It’s our first time winterizing Cupcake, let alone winterizing anything. So come learn with us. We’ll figure this thing out together.
“So if you have any questions…please don’t ask us!”
Is this some kind of non-toxic antifreeze? I’d assume so, given that even when you reflush the systems for warmer-weather usage that there may be some left in the system? Maybe it is cherry-flavored.
Obviously you can’t get to all of it but would there be any point in insulating the PEX you can reach? Maybe a low-voltage immersion heater in the water tank nearest the pump? Or insulating the pump? Or using some heat-tape on it, attached to a thermocoupled switch?
Yes, I believe the anti-freeze is non-toxic. I sure hope so! I think by the very definition, RV anti-freeze is non-toxic since it’s used on “indoor” RV plumbing. RV antifreeze is for the innards of a RV, versus a car/truck anti-freeze which is aimed towards an engine. Now that I think about it though, we’ve both developed severe neck twitches…
I would absolutely consider insulating the PEX that we can reach if we’re ever in cold weather like this again. I saw pictures from other 990 owners who have ice INSIDE their camper. I would also lean towards insulating the pump itself before I start attaching anything that draws power. As you’ll see in our next VLOG (shameless plug), bad things happen with little/no sunlight for the solar panels and -26F temps.