Question for "Blow Out the Water Line" gurus

dougrainer wrote:
Been blowing out lines for 36 years. Thousands of RV's motorhomes and Towables. We Warranty our work. NEVER had a customer come back with freeze damage. IF DONE CORRECTLY, Blowing out is the best way to go. That said, MOST Rv'ers will have NO clue how to do it correctly and MOST will not have a large capacity Air tank to keep up the required volume of air to do the job correctly. There are multiple items that MOST forget
1. Toilet valve
2. Black Flush Valve
3. Dishwasher valves and pump if equipped
4. Clothes washer solenoids AND drain pump if equipped
5. Icemaker and water thru the door if equipped
6. Following the Correct procedure for a Hydronic heating system, which cannot just be blown out. It must have antifreeze run thru it once blown out.
7 ALL P traps, even the one behind the Clothes washer if Antifreeze not pumped into and out of the washer.
8. The fresh water pump in line filter and running antifreeze thru it(water pump)1 cup is all it takes. Doug

What pressure do you use?

I have been blowing out our lines for 15 years with no freeze damage. Only use the pink stuff for the traps.

Dick

The pressure you use to blow out the lines really does not matter. When you have all the appropriate orifices: faucets, toilet valve, low point drains, etc., open the pressure build up in the system is negligible. You have to have a very large restriction (small orifice) to create enough pressure in your lines to create an issue with the crimps and/or glue joints.
Randy

korbe wrote:
When I open my low point drains and also when I open the drain on the water heater, The down stream side of the pump drains. My tricky part is clearing the line from the pump to the fresh water tank. I will drain the tank, then run the pump until it's just spitting air.

+1

I've done this for 15 years and never a problem.

Wayne

dclark1946 wrote:

dougrainer wrote:
Been blowing out lines for 36 years. Thousands of RV's motorhomes and Towables. We Warranty our work. NEVER had a customer come back with freeze damage. IF DONE CORRECTLY, Blowing out is the best way to go. That said, MOST Rv'ers will have NO clue how to do it correctly and MOST will not have a large capacity Air tank to keep up the required volume of air to do the job correctly. There are multiple items that MOST forget
1. Toilet valve
2. Black Flush Valve
3. Dishwasher valves and pump if equipped
4. Clothes washer solenoids AND drain pump if equipped
5. Icemaker and water thru the door if equipped
6. Following the Correct procedure for a Hydronic heating system, which cannot just be blown out. It must have antifreeze run thru it once blown out.
7 ALL P traps, even the one behind the Clothes washer if Antifreeze not pumped into and out of the washer.
8. The fresh water pump in line filter and running antifreeze thru it(water pump)1 cup is all it takes. Doug

What pressure do you use?

I have been blowing out our lines for 15 years with no freeze damage. Only use the pink stuff for the traps.

Dick

I have a special Air Hose pigtail with an adjustable regulator connected to a modified blow out plug. I set the air at 90 to 110. REMEMBER, as another posted, I ALWAYS have a faucet OPEN so the full pressure never is in the system. MOST RV Water systems will withstand up to 125 psi. I also have modified 120 volt pigtails to open various solenoids that require 120 to open(like icemaker water solenoids). I also forgot to mention----WATER FILTERS must be removed. Doug

Welcome to the dark side! I winterize with compressed air only except for pink stuff in the traps, and I wouldn't do it any other way. Living in NC, we can camp just about any time of year, so it's really nice to be able to winterize quickly and then, if it warms up a couple of weeks later, it takes no time at all to "return to service."

For someone who winterizes once in the fall, then returns to service in the spring, the pink is just fine. I may winterize 2-4 times in any given winter. Can't imagine going thru that with the pink stuff.

As far as the pump, I agree with removing the inlet line at the strainer and then let the pump run dry for a minute. I've had no issues doing this.

i used to have problems with the water pump freezing up, so i started using a flat candle warmer under it. it doesn't use much current and stays nice and warm

I love to know how people can equate a lawn sprinkler system with a water supply system. A sprinkler system has black pipe and sprinkler heads, that's pretty much it. Doesn't have toilets, shut off valves, hot water heater, faucets, shower heads, pumps, strainers, ice makers, dish washers, black tank sprayers, outside showers, etc...

All RV's are different both from the standpoint of the manufacturer and what some prior owner did to them. Using pink stuff you're pretty much guaranteed not to have a problem.

Blowing out the lines you'll more then likely be just fine. If not, you'll know what to do the next year when you fix the busted part in the spring. Then next winter you can write on the forum how blowing out the lines down in Tennessee, won't work up in Manitoba and you need to do more.

dougrainer wrote:

dclark1946 wrote:

dougrainer wrote:
Been blowing out lines for 36 years. Thousands of RV's motorhomes and Towables. We Warranty our work. NEVER had a customer come back with freeze damage. IF DONE CORRECTLY, Blowing out is the best way to go. That said, MOST Rv'ers will have NO clue how to do it correctly and MOST will not have a large capacity Air tank to keep up the required volume of air to do the job correctly. There are multiple items that MOST forget
1. Toilet valve
2. Black Flush Valve
3. Dishwasher valves and pump if equipped
4. Clothes washer solenoids AND drain pump if equipped
5. Icemaker and water thru the door if equipped
6. Following the Correct procedure for a Hydronic heating system, which cannot just be blown out. It must have antifreeze run thru it once blown out.
7 ALL P traps, even the one behind the Clothes washer if Antifreeze not pumped into and out of the washer.
8. The fresh water pump in line filter and running antifreeze thru it(water pump)1 cup is all it takes. Doug

What pressure do you use?

I have been blowing out our lines for 15 years with no freeze damage. Only use the pink stuff for the traps.

Dick

I have a special Air Hose pigtail with an adjustable regulator connected to a modified blow out plug. I set the air at 90 to 110. REMEMBER, as another posted, I ALWAYS have a faucet OPEN so the full pressure never is in the system. MOST RV Water systems will withstand up to 125 psi. I also have modified 120 volt pigtails to open various solenoids that require 120 to open(like icemaker water solenoids). I also forgot to mention----WATER FILTERS must be removed. Doug

Just to add to Dougs excellent advice, the pressure of the air is only part of the equation, the VOLUME of air is even more important in ensuring the water is driven out by the air.

I've spoken with several folks who were absolutely dead-set against using air to winterize because of damage resulting from doing it themselves. In every case there was 2 common problems, 1) they were using a VERY small compressor, and, 2) they didn't leave the air running long enough through each tap.

A little 2 or 3 gallon compressor does NOT have enough compressing capacity nor enough reservoir capacity to clear lines safely. If that's the size compressor you have you need to T in a big (12+ gallon) second air reservoir.

A friend didn't believe me about this so I had him run his 'winterized' m/h over to my place, I hooked it up to my shop air supply and he was amazed at how much more water came out of his lines.

John&Joey wrote:
I love to know how people can equate a lawn sprinkler system with a water supply system. A sprinkler system has black pipe and sprinkler heads, that's pretty much it. Doesn't have toilets, shut off valves, hot water heater, faucets, shower heads, pumps, strainers, ice makers, dish washers, black tank sprayers, outside showers, etc...

All RV's are different both from the standpoint of the manufacturer and what some prior owner did to them. Using pink stuff you're pretty much guaranteed not to have a problem.

Blowing out the lines you'll more then likely be just fine. If not, you'll know what to do the next year when you fix the busted part in the spring.

Then next winter you can write on the forum how blowing out the lines down in Tennessee, won't work up in Manitoba and you need to do more.

X2

I think this is one factor that is often overlooked on forum advice on winterizing.

Location, Location, Location of where the RV is stored for the winter.
Where the guy that blows out the lines lives, versus where the OP asking the question lives.

Do they really get all the water out? or because of where they live... Did it ever get cold enough 'long' enough to freeze what was really left behind in the lines.

JaxDad wrote:
A little 2 or 3 gallon compressor does NOT have enough compressing capacity nor enough reservoir capacity to clear lines safely. If that's the size compressor you have you need to T in a big (12+ gallon) second air reservoir.

OP here. This, alone, is enough to convince me not to switch to blowing out the lines. A 6 gallon air compressor is all I have.

Thanks anyway.