Winterizing - Extreme cold winters

I personally used the belt and suspenders approach in my previous 5th wheel. Blow out the lines and then pump in the antifreeze. These RV's are a major investment and $5 or $6 dollars for antifreeze plus the little extra time to blow out the lines is pretty cheap insurance against a possible major expense.

I was always concerned that any remaining water in the lines would dilute the antifreeze making it less effective. I have no proof of this but it just makes sense to me.

With our new 5th wheel I blew out the lines and drained everything and have already stored it underground in a limestone mine. My storage fee while in the mine is actually less than the lot I use during the summer. It never goes below 54 degrees so no possibility of any freezing plus 5 months of no sun wear or getting wet and freezing etc.

Dave

I hear you, and that's why I'm not sure if what I did worked. It had enough pressure to get out a big slug of water, and it kept blowing...but it still would gurgle from time to time.

Just so you know what blower I'm talking about...this is a professional grade blower used to blow out pool lines and install liners. But it is just that..a blower, not a compressor.

https://www.amazon.com/Cyclone-Vacuum-Blower-3-HP/dp/B004BNR5DC

lordnorth wrote:


I might have to give the compressor a try. Everyone talks about pressure, bot not necessarily volume. How much volume do I need to push through to make it work...?

I have a little 12 volt tire inflator that goes to 120psi... but I'm sure doesn't have the volume to make a difference.

-Chris

You need BOTH pressure and volume of air. One without the other is useless.

The pressure is what does the work of moving the water, the volume is what keeps it moving.

Every time I see some one talking about blowing out lines with some little bargain store compressor with a tiny tank I think ‘man they are going to be lucky if they don’t have a major issue after that!’.

Thanks for the replies to my questions... except that maybe you guys missed the part where I specifically said that I DIDN'T want to use anti-freeze because I want to use it on weekends and don't want to add and remove anti-freeze from the system 8 times in two months.

I know anti-freeze works. I have used it for the past three years. I'm looking for an alternative.

I might have to give the compressor a try. Everyone talks about pressure, bot not necessarily volume. How much volume do I need to push through to make it work...?

I have a little 12 volt tire inflator that goes to 120psi... but I'm sure doesn't have the volume to make a difference.

-Chris

The pink antifreeze works well in northern Alberta (same latitude as Atawapiskat on James Bay in Ontario). We've had a week of -20 C in October but it's been around -11 this past week.

I think the idea of blowing the water out is to evaporate the water in low spots so high volume and virtually zero pressure with the taps wide open. High pressure (taps closed) would accomplish nothing.

I used to live in an area where temps got down to -20 and this long before I had ever heard of blowing out the lines. I just drained everything as much as I could and then used antifreeze as directions specified and the only problem I ever had was when I forgot to flush the toilet and the toilet valve froze and broke. My error. So blow the lines out or not. As long as use antifreeze you will be fine.

I use a $100 ten gallon tank compressor from Tractor Supply, though virtually identical models are available from everywhere. I set the regulator to around 40 psi. When a tap is open, it almost certainly isn't maintaining the 40 psi because it runs more or less continually.

Did you try going around to all the taps etc. (including toilet, low point drains, etc.) in succession a couple times? Maybe the water you hear gurgling will be expelled from some other place. Hearing it gurgle does suggest that there's sufficient water in a low spot to block the line fully, which is more than I'd care to have freeze there.

It can take a little while to get every last minute droplet out of the showerheads on my motorhome.

I'm trying to be able to clear my lines easily and repeatedly.

I want to use the RV to go skiing on weekends, but I don't want to have to use all of the Anti-Freeze each time, and then run all of the AF out of the system before it is usable.

Everyone keeps talking about pressure, but no one seems talk about volume. I have a pool air line blower that has great volume... but next to no pressure. And I have a portable air compressor for the car that can eventually put 100lbs of pressure in the tires... but it might take half an hour to do it.

I need a combination of Pressure AND Volume, don't I?

What kind of compressors do you guys use? Do you use a regulator (built in/add on)? Do you just let it run with the faucet open, or do you close it... build up some pressure... then POP it open to blow any water out?

I used my pool blower and got good solid streams of water out... but now there is air coming out of the faucet, but it is still sort of gurgling down inside.

Help/thoughts are greatly appreciated!!!

Thanks!
-Chris

time2roll wrote:
And why leave the antifreeze in? Pump it through and blow it out.
Belt and suspenders for the 'deep freeze' ;)

(with a grain of salt from warm year 'round so cal)

This is what I do. Be aware that if you have a washer dryer and/or a residential fridge with an ice maker, air alone will not work.

swimmer_spe wrote:

FLY 4 FUN wrote:
I dont understand why you would want to blow out the lines with air then pull antifreeze into the system? When you correctly pump antifreeze into the rig and open one tap at a time until pink comes out you have ensured water is GONE from the lines! Finish up by ensuring city water valve is depressed once pump is off and your good to go. Seems like an extra step vs just using antifreeze.

That's what they said. They don't blow the lines. They just drain the lines through the low spot drains. They then pump the pink antifreeze via the pump.

Read the post directly above Fly 4 Fun’s post, specifically # 3.