Winterize questions

[luberhill]

Ok blow out method or antifreeze ?
And if I do the antifreeze do I leave the bypass valve in the bypass position until I put the rv back in service or open it after I’m done adding the antifreeze

Also I know how to drain the tank but when done it says replace the plug and close the pressure valve , does draining it get ALL the water out ??

[RedRocket204]

Realist1948 wrote:
Has anyone ever tried the following?
I'm expecting a few below-freezing nights on my next trip with my travel trailer. It has a propane fueled hot water heater. It also has a hot-and-cold mix faucet on the outside. I can run a hose from that faucet into the fresh water inlet. If I keep the hot water heater on, trickle warm water from the outside faucet back into the fresh water, I figure I should be able to keep lukewarm water cycling through the plumbing. I may want to trickle some water from the kitchen and shower faucets (even though that water will end up in the grey water tank). As long as it doesn't stay below freezing for more than a few hours, I'm hoping this will prevent freezing.

Any comments? Thanks!

Should not be necessary if you are not getting a hard freeze. I just got back from a 9 day boondocking trip where temps were at lows of 17f - 25f every night. Highs reached 60f - 70f during the day. I kept my furnace at 50f during the night and turned it off in the morning once I warmed up. Since there was no connections, my water tank was originally full and got used up during the trip. I experienced no freezing problems. Even the 1 gallon fresh water grocery store bought jug that sat outside did not fully freeze. Yes there was ice in it but it was not solid ice.

I purposely did not use my outside shower and made sure that was drained out. All of my holding tanks are exposed, so not enclosed with heat. There are also no heater strips on them. You should be fine using your camper, normally, without running water like you are saying since you indicated no hard freeze.

[jplante4]

After draining the water heater, you should also stick a flushing wand in there to clean out the crud that accumulates over the season. Putting the plug back in also prevents bugs from setting up house.

[jplante4]

luberhill wrote:

FYI
I DID search and read many comments, about as clear as mud
Came away with 50/50 split...

Well, there's your answer.

[luberhill]

aftermath wrote:
All of this has been good advice. It is not hugely important to drain every last drip of water out of your HW tank. Pull the plug and drain the tank. Use the bypass to shut out the HW tank. Blow or run pink through the system. Replace the plug to avoid any rust forming on the threads on the plug and in the tank. Don't mess with the bypass until you get ALL of the pink stuff out of the lines. Introducing pink into your HW tank will create and issue trying to flush it out. I did this once and it took many, many fill and flush cycles to fix things.

I blow my lines because Airstream designed my water system in such a way it is almost impossible to install a hose to add the pink stuff to the system. Blowing works but you have to be careful and not skip any steps. 9 years now without a huge problem.

Good info thx,,, the Winne manual steps you thru both ways, also says last to oust in the anti back tow spring loaded device just inside the water fill inlet to release that little bit of water
Not sure but looks like my Atwood WH is aluminum

[luberhill]

Mickeyfan0805 wrote:
Do you have an antifreeze inlet? I know people do both. For me, with the antifreeze inlet that is driven by the pump, filling the lines is easy and gives me a sense of security in case there is any lingering water anywhere. If I didn't have that, I might choose to just blow them out.

Which bypass valve are you talking about? Are you talking about the hot water tank? If you are talking about the HWH bypass, I leave it in place. In the spring, I run water through all of the lines to clear out the pink stuff before putting any water back into the water heater.

As for the plug, if you are talking about the heater, I'm not sure what you are 'supposed' to do, but I leave mine out all winter.

I do have the antifreeze tube that runs off the pump

[luberhill]

shelbyfv wrote:

2oldman wrote:
Winterize with air pressure - adapter 2007
Blowout lines discussion- how to 2010
Blow or antifreeze 2010
Blow only? 2012
Blow and/or AF.. again late 2012
Blow necessary? Oct 2013
Does blow do the pump?-Nov 2012
AF, blow or both? 2014
Pink or blow? 2015
How to blow 2015

Well, apparently there is no inclination or ability to search.....:R

FYI
I DID search and read many comments, about as clear as mud
Came away with 50/50 split... some blow, some anti freeze, some do both, but what I was more looking for is IF there are any cons to either

[Realist1948]

Has anyone ever tried the following?
I'm expecting a few below-freezing nights on my next trip with my travel trailer. It has a propane fueled hot water heater. It also has a hot-and-cold mix faucet on the outside. I can run a hose from that faucet into the fresh water inlet. If I keep the hot water heater on, trickle warm water from the outside faucet back into the fresh water, I figure I should be able to keep lukewarm water cycling through the plumbing. I may want to trickle some water from the kitchen and shower faucets (even though that water will end up in the grey water tank). As long as it doesn't stay below freezing for more than a few hours, I'm hoping this will prevent freezing.

Any comments? Thanks!

[aftermath]

All of this has been good advice. It is not hugely important to drain every last drip of water out of your HW tank. Pull the plug and drain the tank. Use the bypass to shut out the HW tank. Blow or run pink through the system. Replace the plug to avoid any rust forming on the threads on the plug and in the tank. Don't mess with the bypass until you get ALL of the pink stuff out of the lines. Introducing pink into your HW tank will create and issue trying to flush it out. I did this once and it took many, many fill and flush cycles to fix things.

I blow my lines because Airstream designed my water system in such a way it is almost impossible to install a hose to add the pink stuff to the system. Blowing works but you have to be careful and not skip any steps. 9 years now without a huge problem.

[shelbyfv]

2oldman wrote:
Winterize with air pressure - adapter 2007
Blowout lines discussion- how to 2010
Blow or antifreeze 2010
Blow only? 2012
Blow and/or AF.. again late 2012
Blow necessary? Oct 2013
Does blow do the pump?-Nov 2012
AF, blow or both? 2014
Pink or blow? 2015
How to blow 2015

Well, apparently there is no inclination or ability to search.....:R

[enblethen]

We use the blow out method for the fresh water system. I drain the water heater, blow out the lines, then drain water heater again. I reinstall the plug in the water heater loosely so if any water accumulates, it will leak out.
I put some RV anit-freeze in all the drains.
Don't forget to drain toilet water valve and outside shower if equipped.
Make sure there is no water setting against the drain valves.
As in other thread, we have a small heater inside the coach.

[kknowlton]

We do the antifreeze method. The water system in our camper is designed really well (I wish all of them were like this!) - it's all centralized into one compartment (pump, accumulator, filter, water heater & all the connections to allow for bypassing the HWH), and there is a separate inlet on the outside of the camper for pumping antifreeze through the system. It's great! We just finished doing it and it took us perhaps half an hour. 🙂 Our winters haven't been that severe of late (minimum temperature probably about -15) and this method has served us well for quite a few years.

[2oldman]

Winterize with air pressure - adapter 2007
Blowout lines discussion- how to 2010
Blow or antifreeze 2010
Blow only? 2012
Blow and/or AF.. again late 2012
Blow necessary? Oct 2013
Does blow do the pump?-Nov 2012
AF, blow or both? 2014
Pink or blow? 2015
How to blow 2015

[downtheroad]

DrewE wrote:
Either method, if done properly, is effective and viable; like a lot of things, it comes down to personal preference as much as anything. I use the blow out method, since it's less expensive (as I already had a suitable compressor) and doesn't leave lingering antifreeze to make fresh water taste bad.

My procedure too for 30+ years and never had any freeze damage....It's also easier to de-winterize using the blow out method.

[DrewE]

Either method, if done properly, is effective and viable; like a lot of things, it comes down to personal preference as much as anything. I use the blow out method, since it's less expensive (as I already had a suitable compressor) and doesn't leave lingering antifreeze to make fresh water taste bad.

If you're talking about the water heater bypass valves, leave them bypassed until you put the RV back in use. You want to avoid getting antifreeze into the water heater if possible because it takes a lot of water and time to rinse it out on the other end when you dewinterize. It doesn't make any difference in terms of preventing freeze damage one way or the other, though.