Summer Storage

[Tic Wilson]

We are going to put our coach in covered storage in Arizona from May thru Sept.  What/how should I prepare?  Disconnect chassis and house batteries?  Drain fresh water?  Should I leave a window or vent cracked for airflow?  We plan on filling the commode and all sinks with water to provide evaporative moisture.  Also I plan to add fuel additive to a full tank of diesel.  We are putting Fresh Cab in every bay.  Appreciate any thoughts or suggestions.  Thanks!

[David T. Richelderfer]

During our first Winter of ownership of our Marquis we stored it at our local fairgrounds enclosed in the auction building which had a thick bed of wood shavings.  We saw somewhere that dryer sheets, like Bounce Dryer Sheets, placed in the cupboards, drawers and bay compartments would keep out the mice.  It seemed to have worked because we found no sign and I would have thought the fairgrounds would have had an abundant supply of mice and rats.

[Edward Buker]

Tic,

I would disconnect the battery + feed from both banks, with them fully charged. Usually a good idea to tie wrap them or tape them so they cannot find their way back to the posts.

This is just a drain trap item, when we leave the house here in the south, for the summer with home air conditioning enabled, the locals had some tricks to stop drain trap evaporation. They add just a bit of mineral oil in each drain which forms a thin oil layer over the top of the water in the trap, preventing evaporation and then also close the drain.

They also advised putting plastic wrap over the toilet to seal that some from evaporation loss. A reputable long standing RV dealer in your area may have some ventilation insight, not sure of the pros and cons of that one.

Later Ed