Why Didn't I Think of This Before?

Matt_Colie wrote:
I have never seen a RV that did not have a gravity/atmospheric potable fill capability. I personally believe that omitting that was an amazing stroke of stupid. How do you winterize it (among other things).

I have such an RV, and it never really seemed to me a grave drawback. Normal filling is via the city water connection (with a pressurized hose), by opening a fill valve. I've yet to encounter a dump station that did not have an associated potable water fill hose/spigot, though doubtless a few do exist somewhere, so I've always just used the pressure fill.

Winterization is performed by a typical winterization suction inlet, sticking a hose into the bottle of antifreeze and pumping it about the pipes. (Actually, I use compressed air to winterize, but that's neither here nor there.) I don't see why one would use a gravity fill to winterize if there were any other options: why put a good bit of antifreeze in the fresh water tank, and then have to take extra steps to rinse it out in the springtime? I'd think it far better in any case to just pump it through the piping and leave the tank empty.

A system with a pressure fill valve and a winterization inlet can (nearly always) be set up to pump water from an external container into the tank by using both at the same time. It's not as quick as a gravity fill, but involves less lifting and pouring.