Cutting out the WH

Please help! Am heading northwest in Sept. and would like to isolate and drain the water heater but still be able to have cold water available. I figure I can easily drain the cold water when a cold night is imminent, but do not want to have to fool with the WH also. Have searched tons of posts and am still not sure which valves to turn which way. Since lifting the mattress and accessing the WH is a major task, I would like to do it just once, so have not experimented. Can anyone help me? How can I take the water heater out of the loop entirely is the basic question.

Originally posted by Sistahs Please help! Am heading northwest in Sept. and would like to isolate and drain the water heater but still be able to have cold water available. I figure I can easily drain the cold water when a cold night is imminent, but do not want to have to fool with the WH also. Have searched tons of posts and am still not sure which valves to turn which way. Since lifting the mattress and accessing the WH is a major task, I would like to do it just once, so have not experimented. Can anyone help me? How can I take the water heater out of the loop entirely is the basic question.

WE have done more winter camping then summer camping (for all kinds of reasons and my wife hates cold weather) and what we do is winterize the camper once we know  we are going to get freezing.  then we carry water with us in 5 gallon jugs.  for the bathroom we will put antifreeze in the tank and dump water into the toilet as needed.  if we are going to be gone for a while we will also dump antifreeze in the toilet with the water so that does not freeze.  for cooking or hand washing we use a basin and normally have a place close by to dump it but if needed we will use the sink  and then dump antifreeze down after it.  Yes we go through alot of it.

Sistahs, I think you will be fine.  The water heater and most of the pipes are within the 'pod where you'll be keeping everything warm.  During late Sept to early Oct its unlikely you'll encounter a hard freeze.  It would need to be below freezing for more than a few hours before you even had to start to worry, even just a few degrees isn't a big deal with the warmth radiating outward from the interior of the 'pod.  You would need to be in temps well below freezing for more than half a day.