Last fall, I winterized my TT by pouring in vodka, letting that run through fixtures... then blew the lines out with an air compressor. Any water at low points would have some ethyl alcohol in it, lowering the freeze point and turning it into a slush first.Well, after one of the worst Texas winters since 1997, I dumped the bleach mixture in, filled the FW tank up, hit the switch on the water pump, and it started going, then stopped. After waiting a bit to hear for prolonged "burrup" noises, it appears that the plumbing is intact. After finishing up the sanitizing cycle (including bleach water in both tanks and rinsing everything out), looks like I got off lucky.Morale of the story. My method of winterizing seems to have worked, assuming I don't have any hairline cracks in plumbing buried deep somewhere that are leaking slowly.

How much Vodka did you use? Wouldn't RV Antifreeze be cheaper?I know it doesn't taste as good.......

Was the vodka cheaper than the antifreeze? Or were you trying to stop drinking?

Strangely enough, I got the vodka at a discount, so it was cheaper than RV antifreeze.I have a few marine friends who did this, and was also curious how this would hold up in a RV scenario.

If you can buy vodka cheaper than RV antifreeze I sure wouldn't want to drink it :).

We got off lucky too. We did nothing but drain the tanks and the water heater. After all, how much winter does central Texas normally get? NOT MUCH! Anyway, this winter was surprising and we had many nights in the teens with some days not getting out of the 20's. Heck we even had our sprinkler system at the house bust this year and that has never happened. Drove up in the driveway to a lake which I could have sold tickets for ice skating the next day. Uncommon for sure. Glad we didn't have any leaks in the FW. None that were evident on our last camping trip anyway. No doubt we were lucky and we will definitely not risk it next year. Hopefully before winter, our new shop/FW garage will be built and it will be kept completely out of the elements and above freezing temps.

Dewinterizing results... | Good Sam Community

mlts22
Explorer
Apr 06, 2014
I'm still blown away at how cold this past winter was. The winter before this last one, we had light freezes in the 30s/upper 20s at the worst... and that was just for a night, where it warmed back up. This last one, there were period of days where it was well below freezing, which is very surprising.

It could be worse... a friend of mine had his water heater completely split open and disgorge all six gallons inside his rig. I don't know how much that will take to fix, but I'm sure the water damage is pretty pricy, and decent WHs are not cheap either, especially with installation costs.
ddschuman
Explorer
Apr 06, 2014
We got off lucky too. We did nothing but drain the tanks and the water heater. After all, how much winter does central Texas normally get? NOT MUCH! Anyway, this winter was surprising and we had many nights in the teens with some days not getting out of the 20's. Heck we even had our sprinkler system at the house bust this year and that has never happened. Drove up in the driveway to a lake which I could have sold tickets for ice skating the next day. Uncommon for sure. Glad we didn't have any leaks in the FW. None that were evident on our last camping trip anyway. No doubt we were lucky and we will definitely not risk it next year. Hopefully before winter, our new shop/FW garage will be built and it will be kept completely out of the elements and above freezing temps.
Wiscampsin
Explorer
Apr 06, 2014
If you can buy vodka cheaper than RV antifreeze I sure wouldn't want to drink it :).
mlts22
Explorer
Apr 06, 2014
Strangely enough, I got the vodka at a discount, so it was cheaper than RV antifreeze.

I have a few marine friends who did this, and was also curious how this would hold up in a RV scenario.
opnspaces
Navigator II
Apr 06, 2014
Was the vodka cheaper than the antifreeze? Or were you trying to stop drinking?
gbopp
Explorer
Apr 06, 2014
How much Vodka did you use? Wouldn't RV Antifreeze be cheaper?
I know it doesn't taste as good.......

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