De-winterizng an RV

Look on the internet for your year make and model RV the search for instruction manuals!

If it is truly red in color, it's probably holding tank valve lubricant. It's very red. Good for your seals.
JK
https://www.campingworld.com/thetford-drain-valve-lubricant---24-oz.-4179.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=ppc&utm_campaign=%7bCampaign%7d&gclid=CjwKCAjwscGjBhAXEiwAswQqNL_-OUrZdPWuYCFw5Rlmbz_0oglExIA1Qz7LvfBM13m88iKgy2qoTxoCEhwQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

rk911 gave you some great advice. Let me add and maybe go a different route.

I am thinking of sanitizing the water lines. Look at the water pump, hopefully you will see a extra hose coming from a valve that may have a cap on the end. This hose and valve is used for two things one to winterize by sucking the RV Pink stuff out of the gal. jug into the lines. The second is sanitizing the lines after you flush them out with fresh water. Take a gal. jug fill with fresh water and bleach (i forget the amount of bleach to water) turn on pump one faucet at a time until you smell the bleach. Leave the bleach water in the lines for a short time. Then flush with fresh water again.

I would take this time to clean out the water heater. There is a plastic wand made for that. I think walmart even carries it. The wand will go in the water heater and hopefully clean out any particles that should not be there.

Good Luck

There is a big bottle of pink RV antifreeze liquid that came with the RV. I will check again and see if that is what came with the RV. Previous owner had used the RV for years so I suspect all should be good. Thanks for the detailed instructions. I will follow them tomorrow. And let ya know how I make out.

The 'red stuff' is likely RV plant-based anti-freeze (AF), although RV AF it is usually a pink color. If it is truly red color I'd be worried that it's something other than RV AF. The purpose of putting AF it in the toilet bowl is to keep the seal lubricated throughout the winter.

An important step in winterizing the RV is by-passing the water heater. This reduces the amount of AF needed to winterize the water system. The by-pass is only needed if AF will be pumped through the lines. If the lines were blown out with compressed air then the by-pass is not needed.

IF compressed air was used to blow out the lines then all you need to do is connect a fresh water source to the CITY water connection in the wet bay. Starting at a faucet the farthest away from the city water connection open the cold faucet until water runs smoothly. Repeat this at all of the other water faucets. If you have no fresh water source then add somewhere between 5-15 gallons of fresh water to the fresh holding tank through the gravity fill. Turn on the water pump and repeat the steps above.

IF RV AF was used then follow the above opening each faucet one-by-one until clear water replaces the pink AF. Keep the water heater bypass on bypass until all of the cold water faucets run clear. Then turn the bypass valve to NORMAL or OFF and run water from the hot faucets one-by-one until clear water flows normally. Alternatively you can empty the hot water tank by CAREFULLY removing the plug, letting the tank completely drain and then backflushing the tank. Replace the plug and follow the above steps.

NOTE: IF the AF in the lines is NOT PINK my concern would be the previous owner used automotive AF and if that's the case then your water lines are contaminated. I've been RVing since 1986 and have never seen RV AF any color but pink. I hope others will chime in.

Good luck and safe travels.