Winterization

Don't forget the drain the water out of the hand held shower hose! I had never thought of that until last winter when the hose connector to the tub faucet froze and cracked. Luckily, the faucet was not damaged!

I live in COOOOLD MN and we use the Moho all winter long. I blow our lines out every fall (just did this about 2 weeks ago) and pour the pink down each drain. This has worked for me for many years. I used to run the pink through the lines, but I do not have a water heater bypass, so I could never get it into the hot water lines anyway.

If I had a hot water bypass (old water heater that the kits do not work on) I would blow and run the pink... I could do this in about 20 minutes total, so once you get used to doing both, you'll be good to go.

I leave my pump on when I first start to blow the lines. This removes the water from the from the pump, as far as I can tell.

I would never leave water in the lines in the cold. As the very least blow them out with 50 psi and blow until you see no water coming out. I do pause the air and then repeat and the first few times after I pause, I get a big flow of water, so pausing and repeating is important.

Good luck!!!

DanandDeb777 wrote:

I plan to do the blow out with antifreeze in drains this coming Tuesday before the temps drop. And I'll hook up an adapter of some sort to allow me to do it over and over with a small compressor.

DON'T!!!!!

A small compressor is a recipe for disaster. You need to have a compressor big enough to maintain a minimum of 40 psi continuously with a tap open, I.E. an open air line.

Too small a supply of air will not blow the small droplets of water out of the lines, these could collect at a low point and freeze.

If you have to use a small compressor, get as large a reserve tank as you can and rig it up in line so as to have as much air at full pressure as possible.

ice2fire wrote:

One winter we turned off the water supply and drained our house lines of water. When we got back in April, two sink units had to be replaced as the inaccessible rubber washers inside the taps had dried out completely. Now we turn the mains water off, but leave the water in the lines. No problems. We leave the house at 15 deg centigrade (53 F).

I've never seen a tap where the rubber washers were not replaceable.

I wonder how they keep the taps full of water between the time they're made and when they're installed and put into service?

If using the open faucet/drain lines/antifreeze in trap method of winterizing. What do you do about pump?

Great tips! Thanks.
So, if I keep it inside and plug it in, in an unheated space for short periods I should be ok?

I plan to do the blow out with antifreeze in drains this coming Tuesday before the temps drop. And I'll hook up an adapter of some sort to allow me to do it over and over with a small compressor.

I especially appreciate knowing I should do it before I get into freezing temps. I assumed that I could plug it in and turn on the propane heat and be fine. But, not so?

Different coaches, different methods. My 93 Pace Arrow Diesel pusher just took opening the drain valves as well as ALL the faucets & such. I do pour the pink stuff down the traps, that's it.
This season & drained the system then pulled the Hot Rod out of the Hot Water Heater & it was dry! I think the water in the tank get's siphoned out thru a tube inside the H.W.H.
In 10 years of winter here in NH. NEVER had a freeze issue.

My 07 Discovery is a different story. Will be my 1st year winterizing it.

For all you diesel owners heading from the South up to COLD North should carry some anti-gelling diesel additive. Had a friend tat topped off down south, (summer Blend). During the trip north he got into some rather cold temps & the diesel started jelling! He dumped in two bottles of the anti-jelling & was able to make it w/o loosing his engine.

RM

Plan on re-winterizing every time you come back to Indiana from now through the first of March. Last year we went to Florida over Christmas week. I left the camper winterized until we hit Alabama. We took 3 days to drive down and 2 to drive back to Indiana. The first night down we stayed in a motel near the Kentucky-Tennessee border. The second night we stayed at a KOA in Alabama where I de-winterized. We planned this so we'd have full hook-ups and were out of the snow belt. When we got to the State Park in Florida on the 3rd day, we were all set.

Returning home, we completely re-winterized in Florida and about half way. We were back in the snow belt again. We got another motel, and finished the trip home the second day.

I use a combination of "pink" and "blow". My current camper has the black tank built in sprayer. I blow that. So yes, I took my air compressor with us. But the rest of the lines, I do pink RV antifreeze.

We're going to Florida again this year over Christmas and am repeating the same same process.

FYI, a friend of ours has a CLASS-C coach. He travels the various race car circuits. He travels out of Indiana all winter long, and he winterizes every time before returning home.

Remember... you want to re-winterize when your still in the warm climate, not after you've returned to the cold climate.

And, (personally) I prefer to use the pink antifreeze instead of blow only. I want to make sure ALL the water in the lines is 100% removed. Blowing still leaves droplets, and you still need to make absolutely sure your water pump is purged out (no water in it) if you blow only. Just a thought there to consider.

Living in Ottawa, Ontario makes me very much aware of freezing temperatures.

For the winter storage of our sailing boat, I always run plumbing anti-freeze through the pumps and lines.

When we bring the trailer back to Ontario in April, I do the same before we use it mid November for the trip to Arizona. We do't use anything but the toilet and bottles of water (filled at home) until we get to about Nashville.

I'm not sure about blowing air through a system. Will it clear out the liquid in pumps ?

One winter we turned off the water supply and drained our house lines of water. When we got back in April, two sink units had to be replaced as the inaccessible rubber washers inside the taps had dried out completely. Now we turn the mains water off, but leave the water in the lines. No problems. We leave the house at 15 deg centigrade (53 F).

Once you get used to it the winterizing process really doesn't take a lot of time. I hook up my air compressor to the shore water inlet and let all the lines blow out while I'm doing other stuff. Splash a little of the pink stuff down each drain and I'm done.

I leave mine plugged in with a space heater to keep the inside temperature at 40 degrees or so. Also keeps the batteries topped off that way.