Which do u prefer?

[prolandsurveyor]

Which method do you use when winterizing your camper....do u antifreeze or do you blow ur lines out with air and put antifreeze in the traps?

[downtheroad]

K Charles wrote:
Bypass the heater and drain, blow out the lines, open the low point drains, remove the filter and dump antifreeze in the traps.

Me 2.
...and I don't have to deal with flushing, flushing, flushing anti-freeze in the spring.

...and never had any freeze damage of any kind. (have seen temps in the teens).

[CincyGus]

DOuble Post

[JEBar]

bypass/drain the water heater, drain/remove water filter, drain gray/fresh water tanks, blow the lines out (open all faucets, outdoor shower, step on toilet valve), spin water pump,open low point drains, cheap antifreeze in sink/shower traps .... having a washer, ice maker, and/or RO water filtration system complicates the process

Jim

[CincyGus]

Sorry, Double Post

[CincyGus]

I've always pumped the pink stuff in the past but this past winter, I just drained the hot water heater, through the bypass, drained the hot and cold low point drains and fresh water drain and recapped them. Hooked the compressor up and pumped air until every faucet had been opened and purged and then put a cup or two in all the traps.

Took my daughter and myself about 30 minutes and will be the way I go from now on.

[brirene]

Drain water through low point drains and sink drains, drain water heater and bypass, pump in pink stuff, pour last year's pink stuff into drains, go get a beer.

[mlts22]

I live in Central Texas, so freezes usually are weather getting below 32 overnight. Knowing this, I blow the lines out, then pump in some cheap vodka, then blow the lines out again. The drains/traps get RV antifreeze, and I call the job done. The benefit of this over the pink stuff in supply lines is that after a de-winterizing, there are no lingering tastes/odors. I also bypass/drain the water heater, since that is a good time to replace the anode rod anyway, although here in central Texas, the rod stays almost intact, except that lime builds up on it, and if not scraped off, may render the rod too large to be removed from the water heater.

However, if I lived in a cooler climate, I wouldn't take chances. I would dump the tanks, dump/bypass the water heater, blow the lines out, add pink stuff until it came out every faucet, blow the lines out again, and call it done. Just blowing out the water has a good chance of leaving stuff in low places (especially valves and elbows) which will crack over the winter.

[Eycom]

Sorry... it's been so long, I've forgotten.

[davelinde]

I always blew the lines empty, then filled with antifreeze too.
I now use my preferred method... I moved south and don't worry about it any more.

[K_Charles]

Bypass the heater and drain, blow out the lines, open the low point drains, remove the filter and dump antifreeze in the traps.

[Popsie]

First, I drain the fresh water system via the low point drain, then I blow out the lines using both the hose inlet and the pump inlet, and them put the pink anti-freeze in the traps and in the black and gray tanks. If I expect hard freezes I also siphon all the water out of the bottom of the water heater.

Note that we winter in Arizona or California, so we winterize to prevent freezing in the spring and fall depending on where we are (we store our RV for several months a year in Colorado where hard freezes occasionally occur from time to time except in July through August.