Winterizing ?

You don't want to put RV antifreeze (pink stuff) in your camper water heater. It's too time consuming and takes too much water to flush it out when you get ready to use it. If the tank is empty now, and you are not going to use it till weather gets warmer, leave it empty. Put the anode rod, or the plug back in. Hook it up and forget it.

DutchmenSport wrote:
You don't want to put RV antifreeze (pink stuff) in your camper water heater. It's too time consuming and takes too much water to flush it out when you get ready to use it. If the tank is empty now, and you are not going to use it till weather gets warmer, leave it empty. Put the anode rod, or the plug back in. Hook it up and forget it.

Do I need to run the pink stuff thru my water lines? Or can I just empty them all as well and leave it all alone until spring?

Thanks for your response.

If you don't get below freezing for extended periods you'll probably be fine just draining the lines. I would blow them out with a compressor too for extra protection. You can get a fitting for that purpose at Walmart. Pour a cup or two of pink stuff in each drain to protect the traps.

If it gets below freezing, you'll want to winterize. Either run the pink stuff through the lines or blow them out with air. Don't forget to open the low point drains. There should be a water heater bypass valve so you don't get the pink stuff in the water heater. I have an Atwood water heater, and they recommend leaving the drain plug out of the water heater during the winter.

I drain my water Heater and turn the plug in a couple threads. It lets water drain out but, keeps critters from getting in,

Are there bugs and small creepy creatures in Florida? :)

gbopp wrote:
I drain my water Heater and turn the plug in a couple threads. It lets water drain out but, keeps critters from getting in,

Are there bugs and small creepy creatures in Florida? :)

Yeah there's bugs and small creepy creatures. Especially in my yard. All sorts of frogs, lizards, and snakes.

Thanks all for the info.

I think that question about bugs/creatures in FL was a joke ...

Florida has big creepy crawlers.

MandKJohns wrote:

DutchmenSport wrote:
You don't want to put RV antifreeze (pink stuff) in your camper water heater. It's too time consuming and takes too much water to flush it out when you get ready to use it. If the tank is empty now, and you are not going to use it till weather gets warmer, leave it empty. Put the anode rod, or the plug back in. Hook it up and forget it.

Do I need to run the pink stuff thru my water lines? Or can I just empty them all as well and leave it all alone until spring?

Thanks for your response.

I suppose that depends upon how cold it gets where you are at. We were at Falling Waters State Park over Christmas 3 years ago, and the temps were in the 40 and low 50's. Next year we were at Panama City over Christmas (Florida Caverns and St. Andrews another year) and Port St Joe one year over Christmas week too. Temps never got below the middle 40's. We were unwinterized and water in the camper. Now if you're expecting near 32 degree temps over night but warm up in the day time, blowing your lines should be fine. No need to "pink up".

One thing you can do is open all your faucets. This way, any water (moisture) in the faucets has plenty of room to expand, won't hurt anything, no chance of cracking.

If your temps get below 32 for a prolonged period of time, you may want to "pink up". But really, I don't think that's necessary considering where you are located.

How cold does it have to get before I have to winterize? Predicted temps for the next week or so are upper 40's low 50's day time and 27/28 night time. Im trying to avoid doing it as we are leaving in 3 weeks to a warmer area. I leave an electric heater on at night and it stays in the mid to upper 50's inside the camper