Winterizing Question

Teebucket1313 wrote:
I took my MH to a dealer last year to be winterized, they don't use the RV anti freeze.....only air. The line going to the drinking faucet had to be replaced. I don't know...they said the line was old. It cost me about $100.00 for the repair. When I do it, I set the air compressor regulator at 40lbs....I have a adapter I purchased at CW and open the valves one at a time for about 5 mins. Once that's done I add RV anti freeze to the holding tank and have the pump push it thru the system. Then add AF to the traps and black and gray water holding tanks. I live in Wisconsin and never had a problem as long as I add AF to the system.

This makes me sad, it's means my season is almost over.
Happy camping, bye Dennis

if you are adding antifreeze to the fresh water tank and pumping it through the system, you are wasting a bunch of money. just buy a winterizing kit that goes just before the pump and don't have to partially fill up your water tank. 1 1/2 gal of antifreeze should do it.
and yep, either the line was old or more likely, they didn't do an adequate job of winterization on that separate line.
bumpy

I took my MH to a dealer last year to be winterized, they don't use the RV anti freeze.....only air. The line going to the drinking faucet had to be replaced. I don't know...they said the line was old. It cost me about $100.00 for the repair. When I do it, I set the air compressor regulator at 40lbs....I have a adapter I purchased at CW and open the valves one at a time for about 5 mins. Once that's done I add RV anti freeze to the holding tank and have the pump push it thru the system. Then add AF to the traps and black and gray water holding tanks. I live in Wisconsin and never had a problem as long as I add AF to the system.

This makes me sad, it's means my season is almost over.
Happy camping, bye Dennis

shortbus_driver wrote:
Everyone is saying if the ice caps and icebergs melt, there will be major flooding. I THINK, if / when they melt, the water levels will go down, because ice takes up more room than water.

Ice floats. 9/10 of an iceberg is above water, so when it thaws, water level will rise.

I think those who comments ted on brittleness of frozen plastic have something. Freezing a half full milk bottle doesn't usually cracking it, but why take a chance with trailer water lines.

EldIr wrote:

Bigrick wrote:
I'm not sure we heard from all the experts yet.

I would like to hear from the experts why when we left 2 gallons of water in a plastic 5 gallon bucket at our camp it froze and broke the bucket even tho it had plenty of room to expand upward. This wasn't a cheap dollar store pail, but a heavy plastic food-grade bucket.

Same when I tried to make a round block of ice by putting water in a coolwhip container in my freezer. Wasn't full and there was no lid on and it cracked the container.

I'm not sold on the "it has room to expand" theory based on personal experience.

I believe the water exposed to the air freezes first thus not allowing expansion of the rest as it freezes. Wouldn't the same thing happen in water lines?

I think you have to also consider the container, as the water is freezing, so is the container, so the flexibility of the container may be jeopardized and easier to crack. I Use highway stencils for painting that are 1/8" thick, very pliable in the warm months, but during cold, they are easy to break while cleaning if struck with a tools as done in the warmer months.

By far, I am no TT expert, just bought one and haven't picked it up yet. Just though I would throw out the thought.

Everyone is saying if the ice caps and icebergs melt, there will be major flooding. I THINK, if / when they melt, the water levels will go down, because ice takes up more room than water.

Bigrick wrote:
I've been blowing out my lines for years and adding RV anti-freeze to the drain traps. Never had a problem.

X2

EldIr wrote:

Bigrick wrote:
I'm not sure we heard from all the experts yet.

I would like to hear from the experts why when we left 2 gallons of water in a plastic 5 gallon bucket at our camp it froze and broke the bucket even tho it had plenty of room to expand upward. This wasn't a cheap dollar store pail, but a heavy plastic food-grade bucket.

Same when I tried to make a round block of ice by putting water in a coolwhip container in my freezer. Wasn't full and there was no lid on and it cracked the container.

I'm not sold on the "it has room to expand" theory based on personal experience.

I believe the water exposed to the air freezes first thus not allowing expansion of the rest as it freezes. Wouldn't the same thing happen in water lines?

I am, by no means, any form of an expert. However, ice forms on the outer surfaces of liquid before it freezes in the middle (the surface layer of water in a bucket always freezes before the water below). I would presume that in a bucket, the frozen top layer would tend to 'lock' the water into place, forcing the center to expand towards the sides of the bucket as it freezes.

If I need more "blue ice" to cool an ice chest, I freeze partially full 2 qt or so plastic bottles, V-8 bottles are great for this. I fill them about 3/4 full and have NEVER had one break. don't know if having the bottle sealed affects this as speculated however.
bumpy

^ That's what I have heard too, but it makes no sense. You would think that it would expand as it ices over, while it's in a semi-gelatinous state, but from it's actions, it seems that it freezes hard, then expands.

Bigrick wrote:
I'm not sure we heard from all the experts yet.

I would like to hear from the experts why when we left 2 gallons of water in a plastic 5 gallon bucket at our camp it froze and broke the bucket even tho it had plenty of room to expand upward. This wasn't a cheap dollar store pail, but a heavy plastic food-grade bucket.

Same when I tried to make a round block of ice by putting water in a coolwhip container in my freezer. Wasn't full and there was no lid on and it cracked the container.

I'm not sold on the "it has room to expand" theory based on personal experience.

I believe the water exposed to the air freezes first thus not allowing expansion of the rest as it freezes. Wouldn't the same thing happen in water lines?