[Richard]

Let me add to the excellent commentary by Forest. I'll try to come at it from the angle of helping a new owner to evaluate the situation.

As you already know, the critical item is keeping the slide seals inflated. In my experience, the air seal system is NOT airtight enough to shut off the seal and expect it to stay inflated for extended periods. I cannot quantify that, because I suspect each and every coach may have a different leak rate on the seals. "I was told that as long as I don't store it with slides open and run everything once a month the air seals won't air out and bring in moisture". That statement may or may not be true depending on the individual coach.

Most coaches will supply the slide seals from the 12v auxillary pump. The pump will also supply the potties, and the interior air doors, and possibly the Bode door. How long one could run off the house batteries to just leave the 12V pump as the air source is dependent on the state of the house batteries and the leak rate of all the things supplied by the 12V pump. Again, I cannot quantify that.

However, in evaluating coaches, if you must store dry, confirm that ALL the slide seals are supplied by the 12V pump. I know of one coach where that is not the case.

The reason we are focusing on the 12v pump is Newell designed and built the coach so that the super critical air systems could be supplied by the most energy efficient air compressor. Running the 120VAC compressor through an inverter is not nearly as energy efficient as the straight 12V pump

An inelegant solution is to tape the slide openings. You won't be able to access the area under the slide toppers if the coach has them, but it will keep rain and critters out. The downside is it would be a pain, adhesive residue to clean, and obviously has to be redone with each slide deployment.