winterizing question

guscampag wrote:
Who has an antifreeze inlet on their camper and how do you use it?

All my RVs have a winterization hose for AF,and this is how i do it

There should be no issue getting antifreeze out of the HW system. You should remove the HW tank drain plug. I have a nozzle I use to spray out the tank before putting the plug back. When dewinterizing I bleach the system including the HW lines and tank. I pull the plug again to rinse out the bleach.

I agree with BruceMc.

That's a good way to do it as well! Though I like to flush the pink out before placing the water heater back into the system. Trying to flush any amount of pink out of a WH can be a pain.

I actually take one more step after winterizing.....I then de-winterize, draining the system and returning all valves back to home position as the antifreeze already did it's job, displace water.

Come spring, rinse and go camping.

On our Sunseeker, I access the plumbing through a port. Inside, a pick-up hose is rolled up and capped; I pull it through the port, and uncap it, then into a gallon of pink. Where the hose meets the valve, I turn the handle to point to the pick-up hose.
When the power to the pump is turned on, the pump pulls from the pick-up hose instead of pulling from the main tank.

This image is looking down into the area inside the port; the pick-up valve is on the right, tank/plumbing drain on the left:



I winterize as follows:

o Turn off pump.
o Rotate valves on water heater to winterize positions
o Park the MH on a slant to drain as much water as possible out of the tank.
o Vent pressure in WH by opening T&P valve momentarily, then drain water heater.
o Open tank drain; wait until it stops flowing.
o Open low water points just aft of the door: (apologies for the fuzzy image)



o Once all has drained, close the tank/plumbing drain valve.
o Turn on pump, then open all faucets for a few moments, then turn the pump off.
o Pull city water inlet screen, push on check valve to drain inlet line.
o Drive around a bit to further drain the lines.
o Park on an angle again so tank outlet is at low point.
o Close low points
o Turn off tank/plumbing drain.
o Pour pink gallon into tank.
o Run pump momentarily to winterize pipes to pump.
o Place winterizing pick-up hose in pink gallon, rotate valve to pick-up hose.
o Turn on pump.
o Open kitchen cold faucet which is the furthest away from pump, until a bit of pink arrives; close.
o Open hot faucet the furthest away from pump, until a bit of pink arrives; close.
o Open/close bathroom hot & cold faucets.
o Open/close shower faucets.
o Open toilet valve.
o Optionally, push city inlet check valve to get sprayed by pink...
o Turn off pump!
o Pour remainder of gallon in tank, if any.
o Turn winterizing valve to tank; store hose.

Two gallons is usually all it takes unless I screw up and pour a gallon on the ground because I forgot to cap the low water points.. Yes, I've done it more than once.

This post is way more info than the OP asked for, but I hope that helps!

What type, brand, and model RV do your have? And a picture of your "antifreeze inlet" would help also to get a more accurate answer.

Ours has a winterizing inlet, a couple switches to turn, and uses the on board pump making the winterizing with antifreeze a pretty simple task. But other RVs may be completely different.

To suck anti freeze into system , there should be a 3ft hose just before pump that has a valve to open and another valve to shut off tank. Stick hose in jug and turning taps till pink shows up.

What does your RV manufacturer say? What year, make and model RV do you have?