De-Winterize?

goducks10 wrote:
If you have a newer TT then you have Pex water lines. Those lines won't bust when frozen....

True as far as it goes, but the fittings and valves sure will freeze and split.

Here in Alabama I believe most of the cold weather is over.
We aren't having enough cold to freezing temps to freeze lines now.

I'll fill the Fresh Water Tank, and drain it. Clean out 'Pink Stuff'.
Reverse the bypass.
Save the rest for a campground.

If I'm wrong,It will be record breaking... Upper 70s today...
I can always blow out the lines again. It's not a big deal.

If you have a newer TT then you have Pex water lines. Those lines won't bust when frozen. They have a high expansion rate. 50deg during the day and 30deg at night won't hurt anything. You could always just leave an elec heater in the TT for those nights that are iffy. We have similar weather here in the NW. Cold at night, warm during the day most of the winter.
It's the constant below freezing that is the problem.

This was my first winter with a travel trailer, but I wanted to get the family out in it often through the winter so I learned to dewinterize and winterize relatively quickly.

My winterizing takes about 15-20 minutes is primarily

• Draining the lines/tanks: I try to empty grey and black before I head home from a trip so I just need to drain the fresh water tank and water heater--which I allow to drain directly onto the ground below the trailer
  
• Draining and blowing the water out of the lines: open the low point drains and faucets until the water stops flowing; when the fresh water tank is done draining, turn on the pump for a few seconds to get the last of it out.
  
• Pour RV antifreeze into the P-traps and a little into the toilet to keep the seal moist
  

I was fearful of winterizing when I first did it, but I winterized and dewinterized about 6 times this past winter and now it's not so bad.

Temps here in the Pacific NW are now getting warmer. I couldn't get consistent weather forecasts from the different weathermen so went to the best forecasting tool I have: if the cat dish outside freezes, better wait. I'm happy to say that it hasn't for a week, so yesterday the trailer was dewinterized along with everything else that is needed to have a safe and fun year.

My criteria is to just wait till I get to the first camp ground. Then hook up to water and flush a bit before taking a shower or washing dishes.
We drink bottled spring water, so I don't worry about that

jack L.

Make sure winter is over. We had 4-5 inches of heavy wet snow Sunday into Monday, along with sleet and rain.

Monday afternoon it was sunny and in the 50's. Most of the snow melted.

I'm going to wait a few more weeks to make sure the 'Polar Vortex' is not going to visit us until next winter.

We are in NE Ohio. I will be dewinterizing and sanitizing this weekend. Our first trip is the following weekend. If we are in danger of a freeze I will just drain the lines. The risk of a hard freeze after this week is very minimal.

Everybody I know is jumping up and down ready for spring, and threatening to take out a contract on Old Man Winter. (It is worth noting that ONLY in northeast North America has this winter been colder than normal, everyplace else in the Northern Hemisphere, this winter has been particularly mild.)

The reason you winterize, of course, is to prevent damage from freezing temperatures. This only happens if the temperature drops below freezing for enough hours that the pipes freeze. Frost overnight doesn't usually cause a problem, but like Reader1 said, if you dewinterize during the iffy season, you have to be vigilant and ready to re-winterize or do the furnace bit.

We're just ahead of you on the warming trend here in Virginia, and I've been threatening the DW with a weekend camping trip for a couple weeks. I've returned the water heater bypass to normal, but have not put any water in the TT. But this weekend looks to me like a prime opportunity. I'm READY to go CAMPING!!!

I am probably going to put my battery in,plug the camper in and put the slides out, I won't put any water in it until I need to, usually before our first camping trip.

That way we can sit in it and think about camping finally again.