The discussions at the RV Living RoundTable this year at the conference was varied and informative.
The round table discussions were attended by gypsies who have never lived in an RV, dreamers planning for their first assignment, gypsies who live in their RV’s now who just want more information, and gypsies who have a lot of experience with RV living and were willing to share it. The Round Table was formatted as a question answer and discussion format so anyone with a question could get help.
As winter is approaching, the main questions were related to living in an RV during the cold weather season.
My first experience with winter weather happened about a week after moving into the 5th wheel. We had bought a four season RV and thought that as long as we had the heaters on and the underbelly was heated we were fine. Then we woke up and the water line (from the faucet to the RV) was frozen, the sewer line (from the RV to the sewer) was frozen and our fresh water tank was empty. We learned several lessons from this experience.
- You must have a heated water hose going into the RV. You can make your own using heat tape but we chose to buy a heated water hose. We bought the Pirit brand.
- Keep the grey and black water sewer lines closed during freezing weather. Remember when you empty, empty the black water first, then the grey water to flush the line.
Another question was how to most economically heat the RV in the winter time?
At most parks, electric is included, but most RVs heat with propane. The answer that most of us came up with was to heat with electric space heaters unless the temperature is below freezing. You must use the propane to heat when the temperature drops close to freezing so that your underbelly will be heated and your waterlines will not freeze. Some RV’s have heat pumps that work on electric and a furnace that works on propane.
Where to park your RV on assignment was also addressed.
The most important thing I can say to this is to stay where you feel safe. For some people this would be a traditional RV park. Others, like me, are comfortable staying at alternate places such as a mobile home park that accepts RV’s or a place on private property that has RV spaces. The more open you are the more diverse the rates will be.
I have a blog that tells of some of my experiences with RV living and the road to that first assignment. You can find it at http://rnrvfulltime.blogspot.com I would love to answer any other questions that you have. There are several RV forums on the internet that will also help answer your questions.
