winter

If you are not going to use the van during the winter, and your area is very cold during the winter, then you will need to winterize the plumbing system in your van for winter storage. If it can freeze a bottled water in your car, then the weather is cold enough for winterization. Make sure to winterize sooner before the water system freezes in the van.

Winterization Steps:

1. You need to have a utility pump and 5 gallons of RV antifreeze. You can find a utility pump on Amazon by searching “110v utility pump”.
2. Open the white cap on the fresh water tank, use the utility pump to drain the fresh water tank. Leave as little water as possible in the tank.
3. Connect the utility pump to the van’s water filling inlet, then pump 5 gallons RV antifreeze into fresh water tank
4. Turn on the van’s pump
5. Open the kitchen faucet on COLD side first, let it run until antifreeze comes out (the color changes to the same pink as the antifreeze), then turn faucet to HOT side let it run until antifreeze comes out.
6. Repeat Step 5 for shower faucet. (if your van has optional outdoor shower, then do the same thing)
7. Open both kitchen faucet and shower faucet on HOT side, let them run until there is no more antifreeze. Leave all faucets open!!!
8. Dump the gray water tank

Now the water lines and water heater are filled with RV antifreeze. They will be safe to store outside during cold weather.

First charge the battery to full, then shut down the electric system for winter storage. Make sure you disconnect all breakers/switches:

1. Lithium battery breaker (with yellow button)
2. Solar breaker (with red button)
3. Charging switch at neutral
4. Alternator charger breaker (for early models only)

If you plan to use the van in very cold weather, please follow these guidelines:

1. Leave the gray water tank manual dump valve open. You don’t need to run the gray tank heater while the manual dump valve is open. If you have to close the manual dump valve, you need to dump the gray water and reopen the manual valve as soon as possible before the gray water freezes.
2. The gray water tank has a 70W heat pad. This will prevent the gray water from freezing during mild winter (above 25F). 
3. Turn off the pump and leave all faucets open when you are not using them and it is cold inside the van.
4. Keep the van’s interior temperature above freezing point. You can either run the van’s heater, or an external electric heater.
5. Put insulation cover on windows and roof vents. 
6. The Lithium batteries cannot be charged when the battery temperature is below freezing point. You can check the battery temperature from the inverter compartment, at the top left corner. The red digits show the battery temperature in Celsius degree. To disable battery charging, just disconnect the solar breaker, and set the charging switch at neutral.
7. Keep an eye on the battery level, not to let it drop to below 30%.

If you want to use the van in very cold weather while it is already winterized, make sure to do the following:

1. Put a portable electric heater in the garage (DO NOT use the power outlet in the van), open the inverter compartment panel, run the portable heater for a day to warm up the battery.
2. After the battery is warmed up, connect all breakers (Lithium battery breaker, solar panel breaker, alternator breaker for early models)
3. Charge the battery to at least above 50%
4. Fill the fresh water tank, then open the kitchen faucet to empty the fresh water tank (faucet on COLD side for half a minute then leave at HOT side). This will flush the antifreeze from the water lines and water heater. 
5. While doing step 4, watch the gray water tank level. Dump the gray water tank whenever it is full.
6. You will also need to follow the guidelines in the previous section (Using the van in cold winter)

You will need to restore the van from winter storage in the spring:

1. Connect all breakers (Lithium battery breaker, solar breaker, alternator breaker for early models)
2. Charge the battery to at least above 50%
3. Fill the fresh water tank, then open the kitchen faucet to empty the fresh water tank (faucet on COLD side for half a minute then leave on HOT side). This will flush the antifreeze from the water lines and water heater. 
4. While doing step 3, watch the gray water tank level. Dump the gray water tank whenever it is full.