Should I winterize today? Advice please

Ok , thanks for the explanation

riven1950 wrote:

Dutchmen Sport wrote:
But I did have to flush out the outside kitchen, and then I had to crawl under the camper to open the low point drains. My drive way is asphalt... 200 feet long, slightly sloped down hill. Do you know where all that water runs? Yep! Right under the camper. So I went swimming that day in ice water, crawling on my back to get those drains open. I accomplished the mission, dumped the pink from the low point drains, completely flushed, ready for real winter weather now

Now you got me wondering if I did something wrong. Do you open you low point drains after you put in the pink stuff or are you talking about a separate drain for the kitchen?

On mine I drained the HWH then opened the low point drains, drained the water, and then closed them. Then I put in the pink stuff. Did I miss something or just overthinking it?

Thanks

No, you did not miss anything. You did it completely right. I just like to open my low point drains after doing the pink to empty them. It's not necessary, I just prefer doing it that way.

I use to crawl under there when I still had pressure in the lines from pumping the pink with the water pump on. This was always my last step. This way, the pink stuff would push it's way on out the low point drains. I use to crack them open JUST enough to let the pink run to ensure all the water was out and replaced with pink. BUT! I got a bath doing this too.

So the last couple years, I go ahead and do the low point drains last. But after I've shut the pump off. Although, with no pressure in the lines, I have to remove the caps completely now and let it drain. And .... yup... I still get a bath!

It doesn't matter if you open the low point drains and drain the water first, or open the low point drains after you've done the pink. Either way, the water is removed.

I do know, after this experience, I've decided I'm getting some tubing and going to make a couple L connections and run the line to the side of the camper, so next year, I can simply reach under the edge of the camper and turn a valve and not have to crawl under. So this is now on my radar for a modification this summer (when it's HOT and the asphalt is nice and cool from being shaded by the camper!

In short, you did fine. You did not miss anything.

Dutchmen Sport wrote:
But I did have to flush out the outside kitchen, and then I had to crawl under the camper to open the low point drains. My drive way is asphalt... 200 feet long, slightly sloped down hill. Do you know where all that water runs? Yep! Right under the camper. So I went swimming that day in ice water, crawling on my back to get those drains open. I accomplished the mission, dumped the pink from the low point drains, completely flushed, ready for real winter weather now

Now you got me wondering if I did something wrong. Do you open you low point drains after you put in the pink stuff or are you talking about a separate drain for the kitchen?

On mine I drained the HWH then opened the low point drains, drained the water, and then closed them. Then I put in the pink stuff. Did I miss something or just overthinking it?

Thanks

Glad the OP winterized.

I'll never forget a story from a friend- heading out in March (in an area where it doesn't USUALLY freeze)- he DE-Winterized and the night before he left, it got cold and busted all sorts of lines.

Indeed running the heat MAY have been an option, but to go un-protected for a good hard cold snap seems pretty dangerous.

EV2 wrote:

rhagfo wrote:

EV2 wrote:
I would winterized at 25 as that is a hard freeze if more than an hour or two.

Well put out a set of Ice Cube trays at that temp and you will still have water after two hours!
That and the water lines in a trailer are somewhat protected and will not cool to the outside temp as fast.

Did you miss the part where I said MORE THAN AN HOUR OR TWO?

I suppose you could set an alarm clock and check it at 4 to 6 hours???
I simply stated what I would do. No one is under any obligation to follow suit.

Get back to all of us when someday your less than half inch in diameter 'plastic' tubing water lines exposed on all surfaces freezes and blows out the cheap plex fittings.....not even close to comparable to a tray of ice cubes and what the resulting damage would be. :R

riven1950 wrote:
Thanks again for the input. I just finished winterizing. 40 degrees and 20mph north wind, so not fun, but nothing as bad as what many are dealing with. Just hard to get into it after leaving 80 degrees a couple of days ago :)

As advised, I will run a water hose to the TT to flush the black tank so I will not disturb the antifreeze.

Glad to hear you got it done and didn't play with Murphey's law any longer. I'm assuming you did not have any problems running the "pink", meaning .... you had no leaks are anything. So you did just fine! Glad there were no problems.

We were in Florida over Christmas week. I winterized at the end of October knowing we were going to Florida in December. In Georgia I unwinterized at a KOA and had a great weak in Florida. Lots of rain, but nice and warm.

We followed the weather on our phone app for one of the local Indianapolis television stations, and the temperatures stayed in the 60's all that week. I did not winterize on the return trip, decided to wait.

Heading home, we had nothing but rain, driving in rain, and once home had rain, rain, rain. I wanted to re-winterize once home, temps still pretty warm, and then they started predicting it getting below freezing.

I had no choice now (right before New Years) to winterize. Running the pink was no problem. That's done inside the camper anyway. But I did have to flush out the outside kitchen, and then I had to crawl under the camper to open the low point drains. My drive way is asphalt... 200 feet long, slightly sloped down hill. Do you know where all that water runs? Yep! Right under the camper. So I went swimming that day in ice water, crawling on my back to get those drains open. I accomplished the mission, dumped the pink from the low point drains, completely flushed, ready for real winter weather now. Felt good now. BUT ... frozen to the bone and sopping wet from head to foot. It was STILL raining, but now raining ice!

I made a made dash for the house when completely done, stripped down to my birth day suit and jumped in the hot tub! AHHHH..... so nice!

Life IS Good!

rhagfo wrote:

EV2 wrote:
I would winterized at 25 as that is a hard freeze if more than an hour or two.

Well put out a set of Ice Cube trays at that temp and you will still have water after two hours!
That and the water lines in a trailer are somewhat protected and will not cool to the outside temp as fast.

Did you miss the part where I said MORE THAN AN HOUR OR TWO?

I suppose you could set an alarm clock and check it at 4 to 6 hours???
I simply stated what I would do. No one is under any obligation to follow suit.

Thanks again for the input. I just finished winterizing. 40 degrees and 20mph north wind, so not fun, but nothing as bad as what many are dealing with. Just hard to get into it after leaving 80 degrees a couple of days ago :)

As advised, I will run a water hose to the TT to flush the black tank so I will not disturb the antifreeze.

EV2 wrote:
I would winterized at 25 as that is a hard freeze if more than an hour or two.

Well put out a set of Ice Cube trays at that temp and you will still have water after two hours!
That and the water lines in a trailer are somewhat protected and will not cool to the outside temp as fast.

ReadyToGo wrote:
First of all, where is the trailer?
You have dumped what you can. Maybe just blowing air though the lines is all you need to do. Not knowing where you are at confuses any advice.

X2, I have a Valair EB, and therefore an on board compressor, if need be I can blow the lines in about 20 minutes. Something to think about.
We don't us antifreeze except in the traps.

Go ahead and winterize now.

FYI, it got down to 17 degrees in central Indiana last night. I left 2 cases of Coca Cola on the front porch. (forgot to bring them on in the house after going to the store). This morning I remembered. Yes, they had a bit of ice inside, but not enough to break the cans open. Granted, the sugar and salt may create a lower freeze point, but considering they were exposed with no protection, I would think your camper is fine for one night, even at 23 degrees.