Powering her down... for a while

Silverado333

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 21, 2020
Messages
249
Location
Central Florida
We have been living on our GD Imagine 2670MK since July. We traveled from Seattle area to Central Florida, taking 2-1/2 months for the trip itself and we've been in a RV park since October, while our sticks and bricks is being remodeled.

We are nearing the remodel completion and we expect to be storing the RV for a few months, with the exception of MAYBE a weekend trip or two, close to home. We may also take the RV to a nearby GD dealer to have some warranty work done and if possible get an AC added to bedroom and a couple Fantastic Fans, as well.

Now for my questions:

What do I do to prep her for storage? Due to deed restrictions in our neighborhood, we will have to have her stored locally at an RV Storage yard.

Battery - we just have one battery, standard issue. I purchased a solar panel kit, mainly for keeping a charge on the battery while in storage. Never done it before, so will have to figure out how to set it up. Plus, not sure how secure the storage lot is, other than reviews seem to appear to be good.

As an option, do I need to keep the battery with the trailer or, can I bring it home to keep a trickle purge on it? The battery & TT were bought new in Grants Pass, OR. last July.

I know to drain all water tanks. What about heater?? Water Heater?? Not really knowledgeable on the systems, so.....
I don't plan to cover the RV with a fabric cover. Ive heard pluses and minuses. I do intend to get tire covers.

She will also get a thorough cleaning, inside and out.

Again, we are in Florida and its April, so she will likely be in storage for a few months (thru the summer). So what about humidity issues?

Lower all the blinds or leave open??

Am I missing anything?

Thanks!
Steve
 
Water heater has a drain plug, empty it out and if it's a Suburban water heater, it will have an anode rode in the other side of the plug, good time to inspect it.

Cant help with the solar charger, but it will be best if you remove one of the battery terminals to completely disconnect it from all the loads, the disconnect switch leaves some parasitic loads.

Make sure to get ALL food out if leaving unattended for a few months and do a good cleaning of bathroom and food area and the fridge.

Make sure to leave the fridge door and freezer door cracked open and put something to make sure the door cant shut or you will be greeted with a moldy fridge when you open it back up.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
 
x2 above...

I would leave some water in gray & black tanks to help avoid drying out the drain valve seals and insure black tank doesn't have any residual contents that "harden."

Also, leave some water in the toilet to keep the ball seal from drying out. Maybe even cover toilet with cellophane to keep the water from evaporating.
 
x2 above...

I would leave some water in gray & black tanks to help avoid drying out the drain valve seals and insure black tank doesn't have any residual contents that "harden."

Also, leave some water in the toilet to keep the ball seal from drying out. Maybe even cover toilet with cellophane to keep the water from evaporating.

Very good ideas JCR,, thanks!!
 
We have been living on our GD Imagine 2670MK since July. We traveled from Seattle area to Central Florida, taking 2-1/2 months for the trip itself and we've been in a RV park since October, while our sticks and bricks is being remodeled.

We are nearing the remodel completion and we expect to be storing the RV for a few months, with the exception of MAYBE a weekend trip or two, close to home. We may also take the RV to a nearby GD dealer to have some warranty work done and if possible get an AC added to bedroom and a couple Fantastic Fans, as well.

Now for my questions:

What do I do to prep her for storage? Due to deed restrictions in our neighborhood, we will have to have her stored locally at an RV Storage yard.

Battery - we just have one battery, standard issue. I purchased a solar panel kit, mainly for keeping a charge on the battery while in storage. Never done it before, so will have to figure out how to set it up. Plus, not sure how secure the storage lot is, other than reviews seem to appear to be good.

As an option, do I need to keep the battery with the trailer or, can I bring it home to keep a trickle purge on it? The battery & TT were bought new in Grants Pass, OR. last July.

I know to drain all water tanks. What about heater?? Water Heater?? Not really knowledgeable on the systems, so.....
I don't plan to cover the RV with a fabric cover. Ive heard pluses and minuses. I do intend to get tire covers.

She will also get a thorough cleaning, inside and out.

Again, we are in Florida and its April, so she will likely be in storage for a few months (thru the summer). So what about humidity issues?

Lower all the blinds or leave open??

Am I missing anything?

Thanks!
Steve

I always remove the battery and keep it in my garage hooked up to a trickle charger, otherwise you will be greeted with a discharged battery.
(been there)

I also lower the blinds to keep the sun from fading interior fabrics etc.
Re humidity, I hookup a dehumidifier a couple of days before we head out for our next trip. They work great.

We also live in florida and have same situation with HOA.
 
While stored for long periods(which is not often) we leave the nose either slightly down or up for water run off. Blinds down , damp rid only if you can change it out b4 it gets full. I also leave all the cabinets cracked for air flow. Charcoal in a bowl in fridge helps with moisture control

As mentioned remove all food items, even pastas. Seal any opening you can find including the spare tire if it's a drop down and don't forget where propane lines come in. This will help prevent mice or palmetto bug (glorified name for cockroach ) invasion.

If it were my trailer in a storage lot I would remove both the battery and propane tanks. Place plastic bags over the open lp connections and seal with a rubberband.

This also is agood time to put seal conditioner in all the holding tanks
 
What do I do to prep her for storage?

You've got most of the bases covered with advice above. I'll just put in another vote for taking the battery home and add one more pretty important detail.

A large handful of people we know who leave their trailers in Florida in the summer months use two or more open pails of desiccant inside the trailer to combat Florida's intense humidity. I've never done it so don't know which products to recommend, but some have said that it's really critical to use this stuff and to change it out every 4-6 weeks else destructive moisture and mold will take over your trailer.

Good luck.
 
Up here in Minnesota it's probably not as humid as Florida most of the time, but we do some stretches when it gets pretty thick. Our 2970 RL is more like a cabin to us as we keep it on our land up north during the summer. We're typically in the camper about every other weekend. We use about 4 containers of Damp Rid that we put out when we leave. It's surprising how much moisture those things suck up. But, they do have to be emptied and the "stuff" that sucks up the moisture needs to be replenished, , depending on what kind of Damp Rid container you get. Some them you just discard the whole container and open up another one.

We also always put the blinds down. For extended storage, you might think about something to block the light coming in the door window as well.
 
Question on prepping both grey and black tanks during storage, and hot water tank
We are in a similar situation but not in Florida. We will be storing the RV in an indoor boat and rv storage facility. We've been living in it and traveling for four months, and will be storing it for a few weeks to a few months (still figuring out our summer travel plans, if we can make them or not). I read to empty the fresh water tank and dump the grey and black tanks. I'd like to get input regarding if all of the tanks should be empty and/or should we prep the black and/or grey tanks.

Is this the right approach?
1) Prep the black tank with a couple gallons of water and a treatment (happy camper, pure blue, etc), and leave it that way during storage. (Leave some water in the toilet so the ring doesn't dry out).

2) Prep BOTH of the grey tanks the same way - with a couple gallons of water and treatment? Just water? Nothing?

3) Hot water tank - should it be drained? I'll drain the fresh tank, but must should we drain the hot water tank for summer storage.

I'm very curious on thoughts of prepping the galley grey tank with treatment because we use the kitchen a lot and have had to treat the grey tank for smells. I finally got a better sink drain strainer so less particles should be getting into the tank going forward.

We will be prepping the RV in the driveway then driving it 15 minutes over to the storage facility.

Thanks for the help!
2021 Reflection 260RD
 
Hello to all and thanks to those of you have provided valuable insight. I just wanted to provide an update as we are very close to putting our rig in storage.

Next Tuesday (June 2nd) We will move our rig from what has been our home away from home for 9 months, an RV Park near our sticks and bricks home. On 6/2/2021 we will move our TT to a Grand Design Center for who knows how long. We want them to add an AC from the bedroom (BTW - we have a Imagine 2670MK), two new fans - one remote for bathroom, as DW cant reach the vent, and one for. the kitchen, none remote. We also have some warranty work to be done before our one year expires, and finally a few things that just need to be fixed. Assuming that the request4ed parts can be installed (meaning they are available), it could be a short stay.

In any case, this weekend we are emptying the rig. Clothing, all food products, emptying the fridge and freezer, including the outside fridge. I have a RV wash scheduled for tomorrow (Saturday), I plan to do some minor maintenance prior to the move as well - Draining fresh water tank, gray tanks and black tank, with several flushes before final disconnect.

We've never done this before, I'm referring prep for storing. So not entirely sure about things like the water heater. Based on some of your comments, I need to drain it - but not sure how?

What do I do to it and how do I do it? In thinking about this, I was wondering when we're wanting ot take her out again, how do I bring her back to life? Does the water heater to be be reignited, or is it all automatic?

I've heard different things about the water tanks - Fresh, grays and black. I've seen where some say to drain completely, others say to leave "some" water in each of the tanks to keep the seals wet and pliable. This seems to make more sense to me, but.... again, we're kind of new to this part so I ask.

I plan to take the battery out and will keep it in garage on a trickle charge. I will remove both propane tanks and store in garage. I will cover the tires with covers. The trailer will be kept at a RV Storage facility near our home. Just an FYI.

We will do a thorough cleaning of all drawers, cabinets, floors, etc. I have planned to use 2 or 3 Damp Rid cans to place throughout the trailer for humidity control, and will replace as needed.

We will locate 3 fresh cab botanical rodent repellant packs to aid in rodent infestation - I have a few friends and family that swear by these. In addition, as best we can will try to insert steel wool to any holes found.

Are we missing anything?

I know I've asked a lot of questions, so if you can help with any or all..... Please feel free to share, as we are getting close to our temporary closeout.

Thanks!
Steve
 

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