Un winterzing...

Moved to Tech Issues forum from DIY.

JaxDad wrote:
It’s hit -40 a couple of nights down here too.

I’ve un-winterized and re-winterized my C class m/h 3 times so far this winter, within a week I’ll be un-winterizing my class A m/h for a few weeks also.

The above method sounds a lot more complicated and time consuming than my method.

I hook up the water line and open the taps, it just takes a few seconds to flush the all air I used to ‘winterize’ my unit out of the lines. No sterilization required, no bad taste or smell left afterwards.

I stopped using AF years ago. So much more hassle than just blowing lines out.
I will still sterilize though. I don't think using air has any impact on keeping the system clean.

FWIW, for anyone who used bleach to sterilize; after your done and you drain the tank, put a few ounces of hydrogen peroxide (perfectly safe) in the fresh water tank when refilling and then run it through the lines.
It will KILL any remaining bleach on contact and you won't have to keep flushing.

JaxDad wrote:
It’s hit -40 a couple of nights down here too.

I’ve un-winterized and re-winterized my C class m/h 3 times so far this winter, within a week I’ll be un-winterizing my class A m/h for a few weeks also.

The above method sounds a lot more complicated and time consuming than my method.

I hook up the water line and open the taps, it just takes a few seconds to flush the all air I used to ‘winterize’ my unit out of the lines. No sterilization required, no bad taste or smell left afterwards.

Hello from up the highway...

I have antifreeze, not air in my lines.

At our house, where the rig is parked, I just flush with water from the tap. After talking with one of the techs at the local water system, he said that with the amount of chlorine that is used to sanitize our water system, it was probably as good or better than adding beach and then having to flush that out of the system. So far, after 14 or so years, we have had no problems.

It’s hit -40 a couple of nights down here too.

I’ve un-winterized and re-winterized my C class m/h 3 times so far this winter, within a week I’ll be un-winterizing my class A m/h for a few weeks also.

The above method sounds a lot more complicated and time consuming than my method.

I hook up the water line and open the taps, it just takes a few seconds to flush the all air I used to ‘winterize’ my unit out of the lines. No sterilization required, no bad taste or smell left afterwards.

What stated above is just about it. Basically, leave the water heater in by-pass and run fresh water through your lines until all the RV antifreeze is flushed out. Simple done.

Sanitizing is still a hot topic on these forums. Some folks are adamant about doing it, some don't care. I'm in the "don't care" group. If you are flushing your water lines with city treated water, then your sanitizing everything automatically. If you are on a home well and its not treated water, you may want to go ahead and sanitize. Or go to a campground that has city treated water and flush the system there.

Although sanitizing your water system does no harm, it will require flushing even more fresh water to get the chlorine smell and taste out. It really is just a matter of how you feel about it. In 20 years of RV ownership, I've sanitized my water systems, (3 trailers and 1 pop-up) very few times. One was the day I brought it home from the dealer. Mostly, after that, never again. But if I lived in a different environment, or a different part of the country, or had the camper parked in a storage facility where I had no control what happens to it 24x7, I probably would sanitize more often, because who knows if someone could have dropped a dead mouse into the fresh water tank fill port or not? But since it's parked on my own property, in the country, with only 1 neighbor close by, the odds of something like that happening are very, very slim.

Your choice, nothing right or wrong with sanitizing. Just remember, the stronger the chlorine concentration, the shorter time it needs to sit in your system to kill anything growing. The weaker it is, the longer it needs to sit before flushing. The stronger it is, the more you have to flush to rinse it out. The weaker it is, you won't have to run as much water to flush it out, as it's already diluted pretty thing.

I personally don't like to drink bleach. That's why I don't do it my tanks at all, unless I know I'm having a problem.... which has been never.

I just hook up the city water, and let it run. IF you use your fresh tank(I don't). the flushing, and sanitizing is a good plan.

One little addition, leave the water heater in the bypass position until all the pink is flushed out.

Ken

hook up a white hose to the city water inlet and flush with lots of water, put a cup of clorox in the fresh water tank and turn on the pump and let the clorox sit for 12 hours and flush with fresh water again until you no longer smell the bleach, go camping