Winterizing water system?

You can do it either way, did the water tank route for a couple of years and it works but the bypass is better.

As for flammable and deadly not any truth to that as long as it is RV antifreeze.

rr2254545 wrote:

Not really the pink stuff is both flammable and not to be ingested - so you have a major problem getting it all out of the tank

While chugging down a glass full of it likely isn't going to make you feel very good, propylene glycol is what keeps ice cream from being a solid block of ice, it keeps it soft enough to scoop even at temps well below the freezing point.

Just disconnect the pickup line from your tank and put it in the bottle of antifreeze. Depending on where your tank pickup is, you could possibly need 5 or 6 gallons in the tank just to start pumping.

downtheroad wrote:
I wouldn't put anti-freeze in the fresh water tank.
Why not add a winterizing kit that lets you pump straight from the jug. Inexpensive, easy and permanent.

Winterizing Kit....here.

One of best things we put on our toyhauler. Makes winterizing a breeze and so much faster.

Also one of these to drain the hot water tank without a wrench.

Hot water drain valve

Jerseydevil wrote:
Anyone put RV antifreeze into fresh water tank to pump and circulate into lines. Do not have bypass hose from pump to connect to antifreeze bottle.

You really do not want to do this.
No physical or biological problems with doing it, but it will take many, many gallons of RV antifreeze into the FW tank to be able to suck up a gallon or so into your lines.

Then come the spring, it will take many flushes of the FW tank in order to get that antifreeze and its associated taste out of your FW tank.

Just buy an RV winterizing kit and save yourself lots of money on antifreeze and lost of time on flushing the system repeatedly.

Yes, I did that with my Born Free. No problems whatsoever. It flushed out easily. I filter my drinking water, anyway.

Since I take my Tiger south for the winter, no need to winterize. This is the best solution. :)

This is what I used before I had an RV with the "suck it up" kit installed: Winterize thru fresh water port

On our previous 5er, it didn't have the "kit" either. I would disconnect the line between the pump and the tank and stick it in the pink jug and turn on the pump.

The fresh water tank in our Class C doesn't drain completely, leaving 1-2 gallons in the tank. This water would dilute the antifreeze poured into the tank, reducing it's freeze protection ability. As already mentioned, it would be a pain to get all remaining antifreeze out of the water tank in the Spring.

Also, I only use the Propylene Glycol type antifreeze in the MSDS posted above. I don't use the cheaper RV antifreeze that is a mix of alcohol and Propylene Glycol, as there is a possibility of the alcohol damaging seals. IMO it's worth a couple of extra $ to avoid a repair cost later.

It takes about 1-3/4 gallons of RV antifreeze to winterize our RV.

Many Rvers remove water from their plumbing lines using air - lots of posts on that subject.