Winterize City Water Line?

Acdii wrote:
Well this is one I hadn't considered, but now that I think about it, Between where you connect the hose, and the check valve, how do you get antifreeze in there, or blow out the water that is sure to be there?

Would it be better to get an air line adapter, plug it in there, and blow the system out from there?

It is simple. You disconnect the inlet to the water pump.
Take a look at the size of the tube you disconnected and go to Lowes and pick up a piece of clear plastic tubing the same size. Get about two feet of it.
Connect one end to the inlet of the water pump, and put the other end in a gallon of the pink stuff.
Make sure you water heater is by passed.
Shut off all your faucets.
Turn the switch on for your water pump
The pump will suck up the pink stuff and pump it through your system
One by one open each faucet and as soon as pink comes out close that faucet.
The pump will suck up the pink stuff and pump it through your system
When you have them all done flush your toilet a few times to get the pink stuff through it.
Make sure to do your shower too
When I am done, I usually put a couple of spoon fulls in the city water inlet, or otherwise the spring in the check valve will freeze and break

Jack L

If you push antifreeze through your lines, then pull off the screen on the city fill. Push the center valve until the pink stuff comes out. I recommend not standing in front of it.

I am not sure how to winterize this valve. Mine pointed downwards and trapped water. Unfortunately the trapped water froze and the valve started to leak. I suppose blowing it out would be the only way to winterize mine.

DrewE wrote:
The check valve is typically built into the city water connection itself, a part of the hose connector assembly. There's no appreciable amount of water that gets trapped there. If you're still concerned, you could always pump antifreeze through the city water inlet.

Blowing out the lines with air is, of course, a perfectly valid approach to winterizing in general.

To the OP: If the hot water heater has been bypassed all year, then there's no need to do anything to it to winterize it--it can stay bypassed. It would be a good idea to remove the drain plug (if it was installed) to make sure there's no water in the tank when it comes time to winterize. The interior pipework does need winterization as always, though; not using the fresh water tank just means that it's not necessary to drain it for winterization, but no further reduction in the work involved.

The instructions for our RV state to push the center of the city water valve after the rest of the system is full of pink from using the water pump. The system is under pressure then and a bit of pink squirts out of the city water valve thus winterizing the entire line and valve.

I just blow it all out.

The check valve is typically built into the city water connection itself, a part of the hose connector assembly. There's no appreciable amount of water that gets trapped there. If you're still concerned, you could always pump antifreeze through the city water inlet.

Blowing out the lines with air is, of course, a perfectly valid approach to winterizing in general.

To the OP: If the hot water heater has been bypassed all year, then there's no need to do anything to it to winterize it--it can stay bypassed. It would be a good idea to remove the drain plug (if it was installed) to make sure there's no water in the tank when it comes time to winterize. The interior pipework does need winterization as always, though; not using the fresh water tank just means that it's not necessary to drain it for winterization, but no further reduction in the work involved.

Well this is one I hadn't considered, but now that I think about it, Between where you connect the hose, and the check valve, how do you get antifreeze in there, or blow out the water that is sure to be there?

Would it be better to get an air line adapter, plug it in there, and blow the system out from there?

Yes as the above post says, all your water lines need to be winterized.

Make sure you bypass the water heater and empty it.

I have a 25 foot trailer, and it only takes me ten minutes and a tad over a gallon of pink stuff to do it.
Total cost is $5.00.
Make sure to pump it through the shower and flush it through the toilet too

Jack L

I could overwhelm you with previous posts about winterizing.

Try these:
AF, blow or both? 2014
Pink or blow? 2015
How to blow 2015

Yes, you need to winterize. There is water in the lines throughout your camper.