De-winterizng an RV

[campingshadow]

Just got a used RV. It has been in storage for sometime and all water was blown out and then everything shut down for the winter. There is some red stuff in the toilet. That is what I know. Can someone point me to a good video or explanation of how to get the water back on?

I saw something on a website before about sanitizing the tanks. But right now the RV is in the side yard and I do not want to flood it with water. Best option would be to do all this in an RV park where everything goes down the drain…..but temporarily the RV cannot be moved, so side yard it is. Any help will be much appreciated.

[rk911]

The 'red stuff' is likely RV plant-based anti-freeze (AF), although RV AF it is usually a pink color. If it is truly red color I'd be worried that it's something other than RV AF. The purpose of putting AF it in the toilet bowl is to keep the seal lubricated throughout the winter.

An important step in winterizing the RV is by-passing the water heater. This reduces the amount of AF needed to winterize the water system. The by-pass is only needed if AF will be pumped through the lines. If the lines were blown out with compressed air then the by-pass is not needed.

IF compressed air was used to blow out the lines then all you need to do is connect a fresh water source to the CITY water connection in the wet bay. Starting at a faucet the farthest away from the city water connection open the cold faucet until water runs smoothly. Repeat this at all of the other water faucets. If you have no fresh water source then add somewhere between 5-15 gallons of fresh water to the fresh holding tank through the gravity fill. Turn on the water pump and repeat the steps above.

IF RV AF was used then follow the above opening each faucet one-by-one until clear water replaces the pink AF. Keep the water heater bypass on bypass until all of the cold water faucets run clear. Then turn the bypass valve to NORMAL or OFF and run water from the hot faucets one-by-one until clear water flows normally. Alternatively you can empty the hot water tank by CAREFULLY removing the plug, letting the tank completely drain and then backflushing the tank. Replace the plug and follow the above steps.

NOTE: IF the AF in the lines is NOT PINK my concern would be the previous owner used automotive AF and if that's the case then your water lines are contaminated. I've been RVing since 1986 and have never seen RV AF any color but pink. I hope others will chime in.

Good luck and safe travels.