Pink stuff vs Air pressure - The Verdict

[rvit]

This may help some folks make up their mind. We purchased our first MH 1 year ago and have made just about all the mistakes a newbie can make. But one thing we got right was deciding to use air to winterize instead of the pink stuff.

Without any experience in these things and only following the advice of people on this forum we have successfully winterized our 2014 Pleasure Way twice this winter with air pressure.

The important one was the second one coming back from 2 weeks in Florida in Feb. In the fall, not knowing what I was doing, I took great care and blew out each line several times. But coming home, on the side of the road in less than ideal conditions, I did not do as good a job.

Just put water in it and checked everything. Good to go!

The lines were still spraying wet air when I decided it was good enough. It is clear you do not have to get every drop. And you don't have to have a professional compressor either. The inflator in the trunk of your car IS NOT good enough but a $100 home unit from Sears is.

It was easy and I strongly recommend this to anyone who wants their coffee to taste right in the morning.

[hawkeye-08]

My Dad commented yesterday when discussing this topic that it is important to use city water hookup to properly flush the pink stuff, get it all out of the lines, then flush the pump last using closest faucet. I tend to agree, it takes awhile to get all the pink out using the pump. I was not able to use city water connection earlier this year and it took much more time to flush the system.. I wonder if some of the folks complaining about taste are not using city water connection...

I like the different viewpoints (not so much the dickering) expressed. It gives me options that I may not have thought of.

[jbrad13]

What does your owner's manual suggest? My manual gives detailed step by step instructions for both types of winterizing but recommends blowing out the lines as the preferred method. According to my manual pumping pink stuff through the lines is the method for winterizing only if you do not have access to compressed air. I blow out my lines and add pink stuff to the traps and tanks just like the manual says.

[minn_camping_fa]

gbopp wrote:
I started using air for the lines and antifreeze for the traps a few years ago.
Our Pennsylvania winters have not caused any problems.
It works for me!

Same for us only our Minnesota winters put it to even more of a test. I like this method so much better than drawing the pink stuff thru all the lines. It seemed to take forever to get that pink stuff smell out of the lines every spring. Now there's no smell and no worries 🙂

[Dr_Holiday]

For $350 i can store my 5er under ground in an old mine from Sept - May.

I blow out the lines just so they dont get musty. Solves all sorts of problems. No mice to worry about, doesn't freeze, and no UV damage from the sun.

The only down side is its about 60-70% humidity so i use those gel driers to keep it from getting funky in the camper.

[colliehauler]

mlts22 wrote:
I do a third option: Cheap vodka. The ethanol will lower the freezing point of the water enough so that a 20 degree day in Texas won't result in cracked pipes. Plus, I don't have to worry about bad taste in the lines when I dewinterize and sanitize in the spring.

And your lines are sanitized as well!

We all know that whatever way we winterize is the best or we would not do it that way and everyone else is wrong.

[martipr]

Deleted by poster

[wbwood]

LarryJM wrote:
Only using air can be a hit or miss proposition and can depend a lot on how an RV is plumbed. Also you have to use it in your traps anyway. Air doesn't winterize the FW pump and just running it dry may or may not work depending again on it's specific location and how the lines are plumbed into it. I also think you will find the only universally accepted and recommended method of winterizing is to use the pink stuff and not just rely on using air so I disagree with you belief that using it is somehow more prevelant here on RV.NET than other sources of information. I would bet if you take your RV into almost any RV dealer and ask to have it winterized they will include using the pink stuff and will not just rely on blowing out the lines with air.

Larry

Just as I mentioned what CW does here in NC, or at least at our location. They will not do it without pumping the pink stuff in the lines. Their words are that they can not and will not guarantee it from issues.

[willald]

Ahhh, yes, the old air vs pink stuff debate. 🙂

Seen this discussion many times, have used both methods. For me, what pretty much ended the debate, was a few years ago when a friend of mine called a very well known, respected RV manufacturer (Tiffin) and asked them what they recommend, what they use to winterize the units they ship north. Guess what?! Even the RV manufacturer THEMSELVES use the compressor blow-out method, highly recommended such, and have never, ever had a problem.

Then, to eliminate the doubt even MORE, shortly after that, when we were camping in the mountains and had to have a CO detector issue fixed, we had a mobile RV guy come out to look at our RV. Asked him same question. He told me that he is contracted to winterize numerous units up in the mountains every year, where they see very low temperatures in the winter. Guess what method he has always used, and has never had a problem in years and years of winterizing units in the mountains? Yep, compressor blow out.

..If its good enough for the ones that design and build RVs, AND its good enough for a service professional that is contracted to winterize RVs up in the mountains....It should CERTAINLY be good enough for the rest of us! I have always used the compressor blow-out method, for as long as I can remember. Never, ever had a problem. Ever.

I think part of the key is that this method must be done the right way. If you do not, there is the risk that water may pool somewhere and cause problems. The folks that have problems, IMO are probably not doing at least one part correctly.

You must put at least 45-50 psi of air pressure through the lines (35 will not do). And, you must blow out each and every line until ALL the water spray is gone, and nothing but air is coming out. And, you have to address the pump and line from FW tank to the pump, somehow. Blowing air through the water pump is not advisable, so I have the water pump suck in just a little bit of pink stuff ('bout a quart or less), enough to make sure the pump and its input lines have pink stuff in them. And, of course, all drain traps must have the pink stuff in them.

One big misconception about this method: It is not done to save $$ on pink stuff, as the savings there is very little. Main reason for doing it, is to avoid having to clean that pink stuff out of your water lines in the Spring or whenever you want to camp again. I love the fact that come Spring, I can just hit the road, hook up water and start using the camper immediately. No need to clean out the water lines.

[JaxDad]

LarryJM wrote:

JaxDad wrote:
The irrigation industry has been doing it for nearly a century now, you don't see them digging up golf courses and other expanses of fine turf looking for burst lines because it doesn't happen.

ROTFLMAO, you're not seriously trying to say the plumbing design (i.e line sizes, low point drain points that never move or change orientation) is equilivant to our 1/2" uniformed sized FW system designed and thrown together by the lowest bidder.

GIVE ME A BREAK:R Just this non germane attempt at making an apple inot an orange shows me a very HUGE DISCONNECT in understanding the issues here, but I think the more astute readers have gotten the point and will realize the serious potential limitations in using the air only method so I'M DONE:W

Larry

Irrigation sprinklers are installed by the lowest bidder, usually using blade type vibratory plows set to bury the lines 4" - 6" below grade. If grade goes up & down, so does the hundreds if not thousands of feet of lines.

Most, if not all, RV's are designed and built in house by their own staff.

If anything it's the irrigation system that is the most shoddily built.

If you want to have an intelligent I'm happy to discuss the matter, if you want to resort to ad hominem attacks and insults, sorry, that's not my game.

[rhagfo]

JohnG4706 wrote:

mowermech wrote:
"...they just have their friendly contractor come in, connect his air compressor to the sprinkler lines, and BLOW THEM DRY!
But then, I guess plastic sprinkler lines are nothing like an RV water system.

The big difference is that a contractor's compressor, used for jack hammers, etc., are high volume and low pressure. The compressors used for nail guns are generally high pressure and low volume. Some only have 1.5 gal, pancake type, capacity to maybe 20 gal size.

Yes, you can regulate the pressure in the high pressure low volume compressors to 50 psi but understand you have low volume to blow out your lines and will have to repeat the blowing out several times for best results. I did this on my inground PVC sprinkler system in northern Illinois. PVC isn't as forgiving as polypipe.

#1. Blow lines ONLY!! DW has very sensitive taste and could taste pink stun even after a good flush.

#2 typically winterize three or four times a winter. This year twice at most, it has been warm. Just don't like running that much pink stuff.

#3 Many of the SP we go to don't have full hookups. So not having to flush the pink stuff, saves space in the tanks!!


To under ground sprinklers, most have a drain valve at the low point of the system. When I installed ours this is what I used. You dig a pit at the low end and fill with drain field rock, then the system self drains.

[JohnG4706]

mowermech wrote:
"...they just have their friendly contractor come in, connect his air compressor to the sprinkler lines, and BLOW THEM DRY!
But then, I guess plastic sprinkler lines are nothing like an RV water system.

The big difference is that a contractor's compressor, used for jack hammers, etc., are high volume and low pressure. The compressors used for nail guns are generally high pressure and low volume. Some only have 1.5 gal, pancake type, capacity to maybe 20 gal size.

Yes, you can regulate the pressure in the high pressure low volume compressors to 50 psi but understand you have low volume to blow out your lines and will have to repeat the blowing out several times for best results. I did this on my inground PVC sprinkler system in northern Illinois. PVC isn't as forgiving as polypipe.

[ata3001]

Both, librally!

[LarryJM]

JaxDad wrote:
The irrigation industry has been doing it for nearly a century now, you don't see them digging up golf courses and other expanses of fine turf looking for burst lines because it doesn't happen.

ROTFLMAO, you're not seriously trying to say the plumbing design (i.e line sizes, low point drain points that never move or change orientation) is equilivant to our 1/2" uniformed sized FW system designed and thrown together by the lowest bidder.

GIVE ME A BREAK:R Just this non germane attempt at making an apple inot an orange shows me a very HUGE DISCONNECT in understanding the issues here, but I think the more astute readers have gotten the point and will realize the serious potential limitations in using the air only method so I'M DONE:W

Larry

[MitchF150]

13 winters in the NW and I've only drained the lines and blew compressed air through the system and no leaks.. I've never even put bleach through my lines in the last 13 years...

That's just what has worked for me and I'm good with it.. 🙂

I put pink stuff in the traps and the toilet bowl for winter storage.

Again, 13 years of doing this and all is well.

Why is this even a debate? Do whatever works for you in the climate you live in and/or the way your plumbing is setup and as long as you don't have freeze caused leaks in the spring time, you are doing what you need to do..:)

Mitch