Winterizing

Jim: For the past 10 years of winterizing my NL 10-2 RR in Montana, here's what I do - (I DO NOT PUT PINK ANTIFREEZE IN THE POTABLE WATER LINES):
1) dump grey and black water tank, close dump valves
2) drain the water heater, leave anode out, put a plug of paper in the hole to keep bugs out
3) open drain line valves in pump room chamber and drain all water from the camper lines, leave them open. Then use an air compressor (about 40psi or so) and blow air in each faucet discharge nozzle, cycling hot and cold handles
4) Pour pink antifreeze in each sink trap and the shower floor drain trap, say a cup, or so in each trap - make sure there is enough going down to get into the grey tank. If in doubt, add more
5) Pour a quart of antifreeze down the toilet into the black tank
6) I have a pressurizing capacity tank installed in my potable water lines and I have a drain valve installed at the tank fitting that I also open and drain
7) I also have begun taking off the water pump inlet screen and draining that cup. Some time ago I moved my water pump up near my pump room door for easy access to the inlet and outlet of the pump.
That's it. It takes me about 30-40 minutes start to finish. The water lines are all made of PEX pipe and won't crack if frozen. The only hazzard is if water is left in a hard plastic joint (sink trap) or any other hard joint.
Each year I wonder if there's residual water in the lines. But, I've never had a problem with our Montana winters reaching -20-30 below zero.
The advantage of this method is that you don't have to flush the pink nasty tasting gunk out of the lines in the spring.

Jim - I would take the time to follow/eyeball all your piping and draw a simple one line diagram showing the tanks, piping, pump and valves as they are in relation to each other in the system. Once you have this drawn it should be pretty easy to figure out what the valve positions need to be to accomplish what you want to do. It also helps you get familiar with where all the piping runs through your camper.

That said, I do similar to what MTBob does for winterizing, only I use winter windshield washer fluid for the drain traps and waste tanks. I also just hook up the air to the city water connection to blow down all the piping(there are several "how to" posts describing this in more detail on here if you search).

Good luck...

I sent the OP a private message letting him know that I worked up a winterizing document complete with photos of the valve positions and a step by step guide to winterizing the NL camper. I would be happy to share it with anyone who wants it if they will send me a PM with their email address.
Scott

Thanks for all the helpful advice. I was able to trace the lines and figure it out.

Good idea on blowing out the lines, that's how my father in law did his old motorhome but I thought he was being cheep. Makes sense and I'll try next time.

Going to try winter camping soon, towing a trailer with 2 snomachines.

Thanks again.

@WyoBull - PM sent.

I also have a 2008 N.L. 8-11 we purchased recently.

Thanks!

I also winterizing our 2005 bigfoot.
Now the water that comes out of the faucets have a terrible taste.
Is there a way to get tried of that?

JCinAK wrote:
I was able to trace the lines and figure it out.

Wow, you are a better plumber than I am. For years I've tried to trace my plumbing lines in our NL 10-2000 RR and I am still baffled. The lines that are under the sink and stove are fairly easy to understand, but the ones that route inside the shell wall near the pump room are still a mystery.
Bob

GULFMAN wrote:
I also winterizing our 2005 bigfoot.
Now the water that comes out of the faucets have a terrible taste.
Is there a way to get tried of that?

There is a way ... either don't use the pink antifreeze OR don't use the camper's water tank for drinking. We carry a case or two of bottled water for drinking / cooking and use the camper's water tank only for washing (non drinking use). I've tried using a chlorine dose in the water tank and it takes a long time for that smell to dissipate and it may or may not work to kill bugs. We just prefer bottled water, though the camper tank may be just fine.
The DW likes bottled water... therefore I like bottled water...!
Bob

GULFMAN wrote:
I also winterizing our 2005 bigfoot.
Now the water that comes out of the faucets have a terrible taste.
Is there a way to get tried of that?

Gulfman, not sure if you turned on the bypass valve to the hot water tank but you definitely don't want to pump that full of pink antifreeze. If you bypass the hot water tank after draining it, the only antifreeze you will have is in the lines. Until you flush out the lines real well, you will definitely taste a little bit of the antifreeze. My experience last year was that the taste went away pretty quickly.

I've winterized a number of RV's over the years and at one time I blew out the waterlines as well. I found that "over time" on my Komfort 5th Wheel, I would see what looked like mold in some of the clear water lines like the one for the toilet. I tried to clean it out by flushing the lines with water treatment solution ( can't think if the name) but they wouldn't come clean no matter how many times I tried cleaning them.
So when we got rid of that 5th Wheel and bought our Open Range 5th Wheel I went back to the pink RV a tie freeze that I had used on our first 5th Wheel before the Komfort.
Every spring I would check the clear section of waters lines and I didn't find ant mould looking material on the inside of those clear lines.
This will be the first winter with the 2018 NL 8-11 so the other day I got the owners manual and went inside pulled the cover off the area where the valves are and it dint take long to figure out how to winterize this rig.
We are in Nevada right now and will be heading north back to BC in a week or so and it is snowing where we live, so I will most likely be doing the winterizing of the water system on the side of the Hwy someplace where it is still warm.....
It's not hard to use the Pink Solution Antifreeze and it will only take minutes to donafter you figure it out.
Soup