Trailer Storage?

Hey guys, I am looking into building a trailer set up. Currently I am using cargo vans, however, would like to have the mobility of being able to drop off my trailer and using my new truck as a personal vehicle as well. I live in a condo, so storing the trailer would have to occur at a rental unit. Would you suggest parking it outside, or get an indoor spot? We have 3-4 months of freezing temperatures and snow as well, for that portion of the year would you recommenced flushing everything and keeping the trailer stored inside up on jacks so the wheels don’t take a bruising?

When I was in Edmonton we found it was cheaper to rent a heated storage Bay at one of the self storage places. Like you, had to put away equipment for the winter season, this way there was some heat for the equipment, security, and could still access it when needed to.
I think it was like $150 a month for a 10x20’ Bay. One of the places around you might even have some specialty ones and now’s a good time to secure it. Was worth the money.

Yeah I was thinking of getting something like that as well. Might be useful to keep it year round to be honest, at 5$ a day its really not that much if you break it down that way. Did you have 24 hour access?

Yeah, key code access to disarm/alarm the unit. I kept it year round for storage, it makes sense if you don’t have anything available at home.

I did some research last winter on this. In my garage (attached to house), inside the garage would be 18 degrees warmer than outside temp. I would park my trailer in their and never worry about it as we do get cold just not 14 degrees cold. Maybe we get a light freeze of 28 -32 degrees but again inside the garage it would be 46 degrees plus. I then moved into a storage unit and we had a couple of more freezes. My unit is not climate controlled (outside access) but the building did have inside units that were climate controlled. I found that inside my storage unit it would be 12 degrees warmer than outside temperatures.

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We have quite a bit of snow as well here which would be a huge no no. I think I may have to look to getting a climate controlled one

Winterize the whole system with antifreeze …it also is a rust inhibitor @Bear

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I oftentimes forget that most people don’t have to worry about extreme temperature ranges. Where I live we experience from +30 to -30 celsius (+92 to -22 F) over the course of the year. It’s hard on equipment, but that’s also why we can get away with charging more for our services compared to say Florida; much shorter time periods to get things done.

That’s a good idea. Could you give me your technique?

Mix 2 gallon straight 100% antifreeze with two gallon water in a 5 gallon bucket 50/50 mix. I use green,because I can see it better. Put your supply line in the bucket. Turn machine on @ idle with no tip on wand. Draw antifreeze till you see it come out high pressure hose. Turn off machine. Done… To reuse antifreeze, just put high pressure hose in empty bucket, hook supply line up to fresh water and turn on machine at idle, then take hose outta bucket when you see fresh water. Done. I run 150 ft of high pressure hose,so ya’ll might need a lil more antifreeze @Bear …also check your antifreeze levels after several uses with a antifreeze bulb checker thingee at any auto parts store,it gets weaker over time by reuse. Just add a lil more antifreeze if it’s to weak…I also have hot washers with 150 foot of coil,so if you have a cold machine like most,you won’t go through near as much antifreeze

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Why not just use RV antifreeze? Cheap and no mixing or checking strength required. It’s only like $2 something a gallon here. Plus, it’s non toxic so safer to drain on the ground…I mean dispose of.

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Maybe @CaCO3Girl could chime in on this…
I’d like to know how accurate is myself. I’ve heard from an engineer from the AF and read on an engineering forum that propylene glycol, rv antifreeze will cause head failure in massive pumps, whereas ethylene glycol , pump armor, straight will not.
Graco rep didn’t know. I used to use rv antifreeze and mineral spirits religiously with my paint sprayers.

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Interesting…I’ve never heard that but I’ve never looked into it. Maybe the regular antifreeze has rust inhibitors or something that helps?

I’ve always heard they were pretty similar. Like one molecule off or something. What do I know though. Luckily we have our resident chemist who you were able to call.

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@mgcmike it’s funny how much of my, what I thought was useless, knowledge is helpful on this forum. Okay, you have three choices in antifreeze. Propylene Glycol, Ethylene Glycol, and Glycerine.

Ethylene glycol is poisonous, also on the prop-65 list, and all around hard to dispose of. However, it is the best at being an antifreeze.

Propylene Glycol is not poisonous, and second best at being an antifreeze.

Glycerine, is not as good as the other two, but comes with the added bonus of being made totally from vegetables…sounds weird I know, but it’s true.

You can google and find multiple charts comparing the levels of freeze protection on the internet, so I won’t go into that. What I will go into is something called an inhibitor. These are usually either sodium nitrate or di-potassium phosphate based. THESE are what keep all of the above from rusting and damaging internal parts.

The true problems occur when people just dump straight up glycol into their systems without inhibitors, any of the above mentioned antifreezes will have issues without an inhibitor. BUT, people think they are smarter than the average bear and why buy a 70% glycol solution when I can just buy 100% and add water…and thus the problems happen! See the companies of the world that make these glycol solutions include the inhibitor when you buy the 70%, 50%, 30%, 20% solution. The straight up 100% solutions don’t have it.

So, the glycol you choose is personal preference. If you go into anyplace like a Johnstone Supply, or a United (formerly CC Dickson) they can hook you up with an inhibited Glycol and have charts to show you that a ___% ethylene glycol is good for freeze protection down to ___degrees. Then you can customize what level of freeze protection you need. I’m in Georgia, a 20% would work fine for me. For those in Alaska, not so much!

Hope that helps!

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Thank you! This is super helpful. Between this and an indoor spot, I think all of my equipment should be covered.