Winterizing Process
I just watched a video demonstrating two methods of winterizing your travel trailer. One involved using primarily an air compressor and a dash of RV antifreeze and the other 6 gal of RV antifreeze. I ...
Forum Discussion
Cecilt wrote:
Do you need to bypass the hot water heater if you use the compressed air method or just leave the plug in and have at it. Also, when do you run the water pump to make sure you get water out of those lines. tks
Cecilt,
Good questions:
With regards to the hot water heater, since the hot water outlet is on top of the tank, initially one would get some water out but shortly all that would come out would be "bubbles" with considerable water still in the tank. So I drain my tank via the drain/anode plug and then blow air though it to clear out the valves.
With regards to the water pump. All I can speak to is my rig. Yours might be different due to different plumbing runs. In my rig, after I drain the tank and open the low point drains, then I turn on the water pump for about a minute. Next I blow air though all the lines multiple times (turning valves on and off) and turn on the water pump once or twice more (for short durations) while doing so. Because I know this is a skeptical group, I just went out and did just this as a test. Then I pulled the water pump and took it apart to see how much water was in it. I found about a teaspoon of water total between the inlet and outlet sides of the pump. In my pump, this amount of water is not enough to do any damage as there is way too much volume for this small amount of water to expand into.
This method works for me. However, it may not work for everyone so I suggest you do the same test to verify before you tuck your baby in for the winter.
Steve
