Heat on vs winterizing

Lots of people blow out their pipes through the city water fill port, so I bought an adapter and did mine at 40 psi. It did blow out the water but it also blew out the check valve.

Now, I open the water faucets, remove the hot water plug, open the fresh tank valve and open the low point drains.

The next day I set the water heater bypass valves. Close the low point drains and pump antifreeze through the water pump inlet. I bought the tubing and pump connections in the farm store's sprayer section.

It takes two gallons of antifreeze and an extra gallon for the P traps. I flush each faucet separately. The entire process takes 20 minute, not counting the overnight drain.

1/2 a gallon in the black and grey to protect the blade valves and a cup in the drains. DO NOT fill the W/H with it, it will take forever to get it all out, just bypass it.

afidel wrote:
I use 60 PSI, the pipes and fittings are rated to 120 PSI with incompressible water, 60 PSI air isn't going to come close to harming them. We use air because everyone in the family was grossed out by the taste of the anti-freeze and it took like 120 gallons of water through the city water plus 40 gallons in the holding tank including baking soda through both to actually remove the taste. For me it's not the $4 for a gallon of antifreeze that's a problem, it's the family not wanting to take the RV out because they hate the taste of the water while we're on our first couple camping trips.

Don't put antifreeze in the FW tank, just drain it. The small amount of water that remains in the tank will have plenty of room for expansion , and will not be a problem. Use the water pump to suck antifreeze from the jug to fill the lines. Then in the spring, fill your FW tank and flush the system with clean water. You should have no off tastes at all using this method.

You don't need any antifreeze in the fresh tank. Drain it good and what ever very small amount is left wont hurt anything. I usually open the drain and let it drain, and then tow it to the storage facility to get those last drops out. Then close the drain. My wife had a dog grooming business and a couple of times I forgot to drain the tank and it froze solid. Didn't hurt it. I'm not recommending that you leave water in it but, residual water freezing in the tank won't hurt it. In the grooming van I could only drain it down to about an inch and that inch froze hard as a rock many times and never threatened to hurt anything. Nevertheless, antifreeze in the fresh tank does more harm than good in my opinion. Really, if you feel you need to use it the places that tend to break from freezing is the faucets. My brother has to replace his sink faucet every year because he won't winterize. He turns on a small space heater in his camper on really cold nights but, that doesn't save the faucet. If there were no water in there, like blowing it out with air, it wouldn't break.

NCMODELA wrote:
Ok so 3 gallons of antifreeze in the fresh tank and then use water pump to push through system and blow out black flush with air. Will 3 gallons of antifreeze be enough for the fresh tank to pick up?

No plumb a T valve in before the water pump.

If you fill the tank, it will likely take more than 3 gallons before the tank outlet is covered and the pump can suck it up. Then when you de-winterize, you need to dilute the tank over several fills to get it all out.

I use 60 PSI, the pipes and fittings are rated to 120 PSI with incompressible water, 60 PSI air isn't going to come close to harming them. We use air because everyone in the family was grossed out by the taste of the anti-freeze and it took like 120 gallons of water through the city water plus 40 gallons in the holding tank including baking soda through both to actually remove the taste. For me it's not the $4 for a gallon of antifreeze that's a problem, it's the family not wanting to take the RV out because they hate the taste of the water while we're on our first couple camping trips.

I have been blowing air through the lines for years and never had a problem with freezing temps. I use about 20PSI and go through opening and closing faucets and the toilet. I then pour a little antifreeze in the traps and pull the plug on the water heater till it stops draining. I have never since 1987 put antifreeze in the lines. I let air blow for ten minutes or so. There's no reason not to do this. It only takes a few minutes and works. I made my adapter from the end of an old garden hose, a hose clamp and the female connector for the air hose. I use to drag hose out from my garage but now I just use a cheap Harbor Freight 100PSI pancake compressor and blow out the lines before I leave the campground. I got the compressor cheap with a coupon and leave in in the RV all the time.

NCMODELA wrote:
Ok so 3 gallons of antifreeze in the fresh tank and then use water pump to push through system and blow out black flush with air. Will 3 gallons of antifreeze be enough for the fresh tank to pick up?

I would not do that! You will be tasting antifreeze for a long time. You can set your compressor to 40 or 50psi and blow out the lines easily.
Barney

Ok so 3 gallons of antifreeze in the fresh tank and then use water pump to push through system and blow out black flush with air. Will 3 gallons of antifreeze be enough for the fresh tank to pick up?

After our last planned trip before winter, I just go ahead and winterize the camper. I use antifreeze pulled through the pump and blow out the black tank flush with air. Takes about a half hour.
We take our own drinking water separately so don’t care about antifreeze in the lines. Never has seemed to take long to clear the lines, anyway.
If we decide to go somewhere, we just go. Then just rewinterize when we get back. I’ve winterized a few times before we left the warmer campground if it was too cold at home.
It definitely shouldn’t keep you from enjoying your camper when you can.