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bedpan's avatar
bedpan
Explorer
Feb 29, 2016

Winterizing. Just looking for some clarifications...

Hey Folks,

Just looking for some clarification on winterizing my Starcraft 18BH. The dealer offered free storage and winterizing this past fall so I took them up on the offer. We are taking the trailer out of storage for our Canadian March Break and driving to Alabama. Coming back depending on weather we may have to re-winterize on the drive back. If not we will likely have to do it once home as I am sure March will offer some freezing temps.

I have a 35 permanent park model trailer as well that I have winterized many times. The 18BH changes things a bit though as the park model has no water storage. So here is where I am not sure the best way to go about it.

The pump in the 18BH has a seperate hose for anti-freeze ingestion. What about the fresh water tank and the line from the tank to the pump? My gut feeling is to drain the entire system as best I can, then dump antifeeze into the fresh water system. Fill all the lines then dump the remaining. That said it seems odd with that extra line on the pump.

Feed back and suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Mike
  • DutchmenSport's avatar
    DutchmenSport
    Explorer
    Feb 29, 2016
    You do not want to put any antifreeze in the fresh water tank. You will never get it completely out. Use the hose on the pump and pump the "pink" from there. The hose going the fresh tank to the pump will drain itself ok (gravity). Or when you flip the valve to pump the pink from the bottle, it will let air in and drain back down when switching it over.

    Pump the pink from the gallon bottle extra hose on the pump. NOT from the fresh tank.
  • jfkmk's avatar
    jfkmk
    Explorer
    Feb 29, 2016
    You should have low point drain valves to drain the line from the tank to the pump. I'd use the pump to drain the tank as much as possible then open the low point drains and dump the holding tanks. Use the hot water bypass valves to make sure the antifreeze doesn't go in the hot water heater. Use the identified AF suction hose to suck AF in and run through each faucet hot and cold and the toilet. Pour a little extra down the sink drains.
  • SoundGuy's avatar
    SoundGuy
    Explorer
    Feb 29, 2016
    bedpan wrote:
    We are taking the trailer out of storage for our Canadian March Break and driving to Alabama. Coming back depending on weather we may have to re-winterize on the drive back. If not we will likely have to do it once home as I am sure March will offer some freezing temps.

    Feed back and suggestions are greatly appreciated!


    Canada is a big country so it would help to know where in Canada you are ... but since you're heading to Alabama my guess is S Ontario. If so I personally wouldn't bother rewinterizing ... assuming you'd be returning here the third weekend of March that's the same weekend I usually pull my own trailer out of storage each year and begin to prep it for the season. Long range forecast for this part of the world that week is typically a few degrees Celcius above freezing during the day and few degrees below overnight ... JMO, but I wouldn't bother.
  • old_guy's avatar
    old_guy
    Explorer
    Mar 01, 2016
    I use the extra hose to put rv anti freeze into my system and drain the fresh water tank and I have yet to have a busted line or tank crack
  • bedpan's avatar
    bedpan
    Explorer
    Mar 01, 2016
    Hey folks..

    Thanks for the quick answers.. As SoundGuy speculates I am from Southern Ontario. My plan is to skip winterizing if at all possible. If I don't see an deep freezes I may just leave it. At the sametime I want to be prepared for Winterizing while driving north if the weather takes a turn. I would like to say learning will help me for the fall but we will be selling this trailer in August after another trip to the East Coast.

    If I do winterize, I can drain from the low point on the Freshwater tank. Drain the Hotwater tank and bypass. Pull antifreeze from the on-demand pump and fill all the lines.

    Really my only concern was that line from the Fresh water tank to the pump. I was concerned that water can be trapped in it and freeze. Sounds like this should be a none issue.

    Thanks for the direction..

    Mike
  • Dirtpig's avatar
    Dirtpig
    Explorer
    Mar 01, 2016
    Check out this video I did on winterizing my truck camper, which is pretty much the same as any trailer. Just also make sure you do your bathtub if u have one. I show how you use the "winterizing kit" equipped in many rv's which is the little hose by the water pump you talk about. Just also make sure you do your bathtub if u have one. Might get some pointers, i also show how to dewinterize and sanitize your water tank & lines in this video but you can omit that part if you don't want to do that.
  • Community Alumni's avatar
    Community Alumni
    Mar 01, 2016
    Run the pump to get the majority of the water out and it shouldn't be a problem. On a recent trip to Canada, we drained the hot and fresh tank, opened the low points, ran the pump, and put antifreeze in the rest of the lines. That's how it sat unused in 12F for 3 weeks. I'm sure there was some water still trapped in the tank and in the line to the pump.

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