Winterizing on a Hill (or with RV parked on an incline)

The air method will not remove the water left in your drain traps under the sinks. Be sure to dump the pink RV antifreeze in to the drains as well as in a washer if you have one.

Good Morning and hello,im a new member and saw this post and wanted to add my experience i had yesterday winterizing my 2017 mirada,i was on and incline using 30psi to winterize, it did not empty fresh holding tank had to move it in the street on level grounds hope this helps, john

The pressurized air will blow the water straight up the vertical pipe runs, so parking on a hill won't effect that. I winterize with air every year.

As someone mentioned, it might mess up draining the waste/fresh water tanks though.

Or, where you're located, get a small personal heater (200-250W) and put it in the bay with the water pump and gate valves and plug it in at night for the next couple of days. That's what I'm gonna do...not quite ready to give up on the camping season yet! LOL I'm hoping for one more trip right after Thanksgiving. :)

~Rick

Pressurized air should remove the water in your lines even if your not completely level - might take a little more time. Your BW/GW/FW tanks aren't impacted by the blow out. Assuming you drained your tanks you can add some antifreeze to BW/GW - and probably leave your FW alone so long as you leave your drain valve open.

I don't think it would effect the end result at all.

Assuming you've already removed the drain plug from the water heater and drained it. Then left the plug out. And you've removed any water filters you have.

Try to park in a way that puts the drain tubes (lowest point in the water system) further downhill than any water might be. Then make or buy something that will give your air supply a way to tightly connect to the shower hose inside the house. That's the highest point in your system.

If you have a washer, those faucets are fairly high, so do those first. The washer hoses should have air blown into them with the washer on 'Fill'. Then switch it to 'Spin' to empty the pump.

Start blowing air and have someone walk around and open the faucets one by one. Starting at the faucet furthest and highest away. Slowly work down to the outside shower.

After all the faucets are open, keep blowing air, have the helper turn the various faucets off/on several times to 'jog' left over water.

Eventually you'll only get air out of the faucets. Or some sputtering.

Newer RVs have PEX plumbing that is 'resistant' to freezing. Having spent 3 winters in Fairbanks, Alaska, I can attest to that, and to the air method working fine. The tiny amount of water left over in your pipes shouldn't be a problem.

I've never done the air method on a very unlevel surface, but if I did, I'd drive the RV afterwards with the drains open, and try to park opposite of how it was parked before and then blow it out again.

Some might think it's just easier to go ahead and use the pink stuff on an unlevel surface.

I usually open low water drains and drive around a bit. Have astreet with calming humps. They help getthewater out. Not waste tanks obviouly. A couple of gallons in those is sufficient for me.

Only issue might be if you were also draining your black, grey, and fresh water tanks. Off level might mean you still have more to drain but it can't.

When you blow out the lines on a level RV, the air pushes the water uphill and out of the faucets.
Your water lines are not level. So no, the RV does not have to be level to winterize.
I use the blow out method to winterize.

If you are going to run the refrigerator while in storage, then it should be fairly level to avoid damage to the refrigerator.