Last year (our first with our "new" camper) we winterized. That put a damper on our winter camping. So I would like to avoid winterizing this year. Any ideas on how to do that? How have YOU avoided winterizing?

Small electric heater inside, 30 watt bulb in a droplight in the water compartment for temps 20 degrees f and above.Colder than that, winterize. IMHOBill

I do not let the temps put a damper on winter use. It takes all of 5 minutes to install RVAF after trips. I de-winterize by using on-board pump and water as it is filled. I keep the city water inlet and outdoor shower permanently winterized so they are never affected.I prefer this instead of running a heater or other to keep it heated throughout the winter.

Only way would not to use any water systems, this includes toilet facilities. I have done ours several times in the winter, only takes about 3/4 gal of antifreeze and 45 min. to do it. This is not a problem for me and would rather use the camper than let it set thru the winter. Just the way we do it.

When I had a toy hauler, I had to store it where it could not be plugged in. After each trip, I would make sure all the tanks were drained (use the water heater drain plug to empty it too), lines were blown out and pink fluid dumped into the drain traps. I never pumped the pink stuff through the lines because we camp at least twice a month all year.Now that I have a TC, I can keep it at the house with electric hookups and will set an electric heater to kick on to maintain 45 degrees inside. This is enough heat that the other compartments will not freeze and nothing has to be winterized. When we take off on a trip, I leave the LPG furnace thermostat set at the lowest setting and it keeps the lines from freezing while we are in transit. You will need to experiment with heater settings to see how low you can go without freezing your storage compartments. I use a remote thermometer to monitor storage compartment temperature and now know how to set my thermostats so they do not freeze.I do not have indoor storage, so my RV's have to be able to handle the weather year round outside. I don't cover them because of how frequently we use them - This does mean you have to be diligent in inspecting the seams and caulking often.

It has taken me 30 minutes, after dark, including time to get the equipment and put everything away.No way would I try "not winterizing"

Avoiding winterizing | Good Sam Community

DWeikert
Explorer II
Oct 31, 2015
hedgehopper wrote:

If I first drain the fresh water tank, given that this fitting attaches to my city water connection, will the compressed air blow out all my fresh water lines? Should I open all my fresh water outlets at once or one at a time?

I'll be honest and confess I don't trust this to blow out all the water. I can drain the FW tank and use this to blow the lines, but I'm still concerned about any water in the pump, the accumulator tank and the line between the accumulator and the first faucet, which it seems to me this would not blow out, so I always add a little antifreeze to the FW tank and run it through the pump, accumulator and first faucet, then dump some AF in each of the traps. I generally start with the valve closest to where I hookup the air, in my case the outside shower, then go inside and open the other valves, but I leave them open as I go so it probably doesn't matter. Keep blowing (at low pressure) until you're blowing air out of all faucets.
DWeikert
Explorer II
Oct 31, 2015
Theutzigs wrote:
DWeikert wrote:
realter wrote:
Someway to use air at the gas station?

This should work
http://www.amazon.com/Camco-36153-Brass-Blow-Plug/dp/B0006IX68O/ref=pd_sim_263_2?ie=UTF8&dpID=41JjZ9BsviL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR160%2C160_&refRID=14ZGBACG12FVNQ7FQZ0W

The only issues with this one is that it does not have a quick connect for the air hose, so you need 2 people to winterize the trailer.

I needed mine in a hurry, so pieced it together at Home Depot, I made it with a quick connect so I could do it by myself.

As someone already posted the Camco Quick Connect one would be a lot easier..

Yeah, I posted a link to that one first. But realter asked of there was some way to do this at a gas station. Don't recall many air pumps at gas stations using a quick connect fitting on the air line.

Why would this require 2 people? Just open the faucets before applying air. But now that I think of it, you would need another person to verify the water has stopped flowing, so... never miind.
pcoplin
Explorer II
Oct 30, 2015
I just drained my system. I have a winterizing valve, and low drain points for the hot and cold. I didn;t pump antifreeze into it though like the manual says.

I can't stand the smell of RV antofreeze, anyone just leave the water in the P traps? If they freeze, they should just expand up the pipe yeah?

I may pour some salt water into it I guess...
hedgehopper
Explorer
Oct 30, 2015
DWeikert wrote:
realter wrote:
Is there some special gadget to use air to blow out the lines?

Something like this-
http://www.amazon.com/Camco-36143-Brass-Quick-Connect/dp/B002XL2IEA

If I first drain the fresh water tank, given that this fitting attaches to my city water connection, will the compressed air blow out all my fresh water lines? Should I open all my fresh water outlets at once or one at a time?
Theutzigs
Explorer
Oct 30, 2015
DWeikert wrote:
realter wrote:
Someway to use air at the gas station?

This should work
http://www.amazon.com/Camco-36153-Brass-Blow-Plug/dp/B0006IX68O/ref=pd_sim_263_2?ie=UTF8&dpID=41JjZ9BsviL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR160%2C160_&refRID=14ZGBACG12FVNQ7FQZ0W

The only issues with this one is that it does not have a quick connect for the air hose, so you need 2 people to winterize the trailer.

I needed mine in a hurry, so pieced it together at Home Depot, I made it with a quick connect so I could do it by myself.

As someone already posted the Camco Quick Connect one would be a lot easier..
JimBollman
Explorer
Oct 28, 2015
This will be our first Winter in our new location and the Winters have enough breaks we may take a Winter camping trip further South. Our slide in has a lot less to Winterize but my plans is use water jugs and a porta pottie and leave it Winterized accept for drain and grey water tank and that will be easy to re-winterize in minutes as needed.
Paradox123
Explorer
Oct 27, 2015
I drain the hot water heater, blow out the water lines with compressed air, and I'm done. I go out several times in the winter. Also, I put RV antifreeze in the sink traps. I usually have to run a hair dryer to thaw out the pump in mid-winter and I put hot water in the fresh tank until water is flowing throughout the system. Winter is a great time to go out in the camper. Sometimes I'm the only camper in the state park I like.
brholt
Explorer II
Oct 27, 2015
Not normally as cold as Denver here in Seattle but we can have sub freezing periods. Like you we wanted to be able to just go and use all of the systems. We can plug into a 15 amp circuit so we use an oil filled heater running on medium (800 watts) and installed a digital thermostat that has a manual fan switch that lets us manually run the basement fan to keep the tanks warm. Has worked well.
DWeikert
Explorer II
Oct 27, 2015
realter wrote:
Someway to use air at the gas station?

This should work
http://www.amazon.com/Camco-36153-Brass-Blow-Plug/dp/B0006IX68O/ref=pd_sim_263_2?ie=UTF8&dpID=41JjZ9BsviL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR160%2C160_&refRID=14ZGBACG12FVNQ7FQZ0W
DWeikert
Explorer II
Oct 27, 2015
realter wrote:
Is there some special gadget to use air to blow out the lines?

Something like this-
http://www.amazon.com/Camco-36143-Brass-Quick-Connect/dp/B002XL2IEA

Mine actually has about 6" of tubing between the hose fitting and air line quick connect, but I don't remember where I got it.

PS: I use this to blow the water out of my garden hose reel to winterize it also.

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