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RobWNY's avatar
RobWNY
Explorer
Oct 18, 2014

Winterizing question with Antifreeze

I tried the idea of blowing out the lines with air and although it worked to get most of the water out, I could still hear some water gurgling in the lines when the air was being pushed through and thought that I would end up in trouble if there was enough left in any of the lines to accumulate in a low spot so I decided to do the antifreeze method. Everything went fine but when done I had very little antifreeze left and I felt that I didn't get enough in the traps so I bought another gallon. I added it to all of the traps (kitchen sink, bathroom sink, shower drain) and then added some to the toilet. I decided to add some to the black water tank just in case there was some water left in it so I flushed the toilet. There is no trap. Just a drop from the bowl into the black tank. When I flushed, the antifreeze that I pumped into that line came out into the toilet basin as if it was a normal flush, but I didn't have the pump on. Would this be just pressure that remained in the lines after pumping the pink stuff through the system? It stopped spitting out antifreeze within a couple of seconds but now I wonder if I need to pump more antifreeze through the system? Your thoughts and answers are appreciated.
  • gbopp, I probably would have just done the compressed air method but I had watched a video from a guy that lives near Buffalo, NY asking the question whether air was good enough for areas in the NorthEast. The guy said that he wouldn't recommend it because of the length of extreme cold we get up in this area. He said other areas of the Country where it's not below freezing for month's at a time would be fine to use compressed air. Then when I heard the gurgling I decided on the antifreeze.
  • brirene, yes I did run each faucet, outside shower and the toilet. Dick B, that's how much I used as well. Two gallons took care of all the lines and I needed the third gallon for the traps.
  • I typically use two gallons of antifreeze to winterize and pour the third one into the traps and black tank.
  • I started blowing out the lines and not adding antifreeze a couple years ago.
    There was probably a little water left in the lines.

    I do pour antifreeze in the kitchen, bath and shower traps.

    I've had no problems with any water line freezing and breaking.

    You will be fine.
  • My only question is did you run each water outlet, hot and cold, until antifreeze came out? That includes the toilet. Remember the outside shower.
  • Thanks naturist and popeyemth. I did drain the hot water tank and then bypassed it before pumping the antifreeze in. Not sure I drained it right though. The videos I watched showed opening the pressure valve and removing the plastic water plug to drain the tank. My camper has a hot and cold valve underneath as well as a low point drain. I had opened them prior to removing the hot water tank drain plug so when I did that, nothing more came out. I'm assuming those valves underneath the camper were for the hot water tank because they are directly beneath it and nothing else came out of the tank so I'm hoping I'm good with the winterization now. Gotta love us newbies! The things experienced campers do without thinking about them are the same things us newbies stress over.
  • You could run all the antifreeze out of the lines and what was left would not freeze, or at least not expand if it froze.
  • That was just residual pressure, no problem, perfectly normal. And no need to add more to the lines because of it.

    Also normal behavior when you blew them out with air to start with. There is no way you can get those lines completely dry, there will always be a little water left due to the fact that water wets the plumbing, and will eventually puddle up in the low spots. This is usually not a problem. If a few drops freeze somewhere, it is unlikely anything will be hurt. But now that you've filled the lines with antifreeze, you are doubly safe.

    Only part of the black tank at risk would be just behind the dump valve. It you drain it well, the few spoonfuls of water that will eventually settle there have lots of room to expand as they freeze, so again, no problem.

    As long as you emptied the water heater, no need for antifreeze there for the same reason: the small amount of water you can't get out has lots of room to expand as it freezes.