Winterization

[jjson775]

I "winterized" our Pleasure Way Pursuit yesterday. I drained the water tank down to about 8 gal. and poured 3 gal. of RV anti freeze into the tank. Then I ran all the sink faucets both hot and cold, and the shower, also running both hot and cold water until a steady stream of pink water showed. I flushed the toilet a number of times to put the dilute solution into the black water tank. I did not drain the hot water heater but since I ran the hot water faucets, there is at least some anti freeze in it. I figure I ran about 8 gal. of the diluted anti freeze thru the outlets.

Of course this would not work in Calgary or Minneapolis but we live near Houston, TX and 25º F would be a hard freeze for us. Did I do any good or did I waste my time and money? I would especially like to hear opinions from other RV owners that live on the Gulf coast where the climate is similar to ours. What to you do? I will appreciate any feedback.

[CloudDriver]

According to this Material Safety Data Sheet, RV antifreeze consists of 30% propylene glycol and 70% water. This antifreeze works by causing the water to freeze out of the solution as small crystals of "slush", rather than the hard solid freeze that occurs in plain water.

By diluting your 3 gallons of antifreeze with 8 gallons of water, you reduced the propylene glycol concentration from 30% to about 8%. Will that mixture freeze solid during a prolonged cold period of 25 degrees? Maybe, maybe not.

However, you compounded the initial dilution by not draining the water heater. The additional water in the heater further diluted the propylene glycol, perhaps to only a few %. Your highest risk of freeze damage will therefore be in the hot water piping.

It takes a number of hours to freeze water at 25 degrees, so you may get away with this experiment if you get a short period of freezing with above freezing temperatures during the day.

Please let us know how it works out.

[2oldman]

I don't think you've been reading many posts about winterizing on here.

[Dick_B]

If you search this Forum for `winterizing' or some such you will find almost no one recommends putting pink stuff into the Fresh Water Tank for the reasons stated in the posts. Sorry about that, Chief!

[johnwalkerpa1]

jjson775 wrote:
I "winterized" our Pleasure Way Pursuit yesterday. I drained the water tank down to about 8 gal. and poured 3 gal. of RV anti freeze into the tank. Then I ran all the sink faucets both hot and cold, and the shower, also running both hot and cold water until a steady stream of pink water showed. I flushed the toilet a number of times to put the dilute solution into the black water tank. I did not drain the hot water heater but since I ran the hot water faucets, there is at least some anti freeze in it. I figure I ran about 8 gal. of the diluted anti freeze thru the outlets.

Of course this would not work in Calgary or Minneapolis but we live near Houston, TX and 25º F would be a hard freeze for us. Did I do any good or did I waste my time and money? I would especially like to hear opinions from other RV owners that live on the Gulf coast where the climate is similar to ours. What to you do? I will appreciate any feedback.

My only concern would be if the antifreeze was too diluted to be effective. I've seen some brands of the "pink stuff" that will still get slushy but not expand (much). With too much water in the mix, will it get solid? I don't know.

Of course, as you say, the area you are in plays a large role. Around here it can get below 0, 25 just means we switch from short to long sleeves 🙂