I tried the idea of blowing out the lines with air and although it worked to get most of the water out, I could still hear some water gurgling in the lines when the air was being pushed through and thought that I would end up in trouble if there was enough left in any of the lines to accumulate in a low spot so I decided to do the antifreeze method. Everything went fine but when done I had very little antifreeze left and I felt that I didn't get enough in the traps so I bought another gallon. I added it to all of the traps (kitchen sink, bathroom sink, shower drain) and then added some to the toilet. I decided to add some to the black water tank just in case there was some water left in it so I flushed the toilet. There is no trap. Just a drop from the bowl into the black tank. When I flushed, the antifreeze that I pumped into that line came out into the toilet basin as if it was a normal flush, but I didn't have the pump on. Would this be just pressure that remained in the lines after pumping the pink stuff through the system? It stopped spitting out antifreeze within a couple of seconds but now I wonder if I need to pump more antifreeze through the system? Your thoughts and answers are appreciated.

That was just residual pressure, no problem, perfectly normal. And no need to add more to the lines because of it.Also normal behavior when you blew them out with air to start with. There is no way you can get those lines completely dry, there will always be a little water left due to the fact that water wets the plumbing, and will eventually puddle up in the low spots. This is usually not a problem. If a few drops freeze somewhere, it is unlikely anything will be hurt. But now that you've filled the lines with antifreeze, you are doubly safe.Only part of the black tank at risk would be just behind the dump valve. It you drain it well, the few spoonfuls of water that will eventually settle there have lots of room to expand as they freeze, so again, no problem.As long as you emptied the water heater, no need for antifreeze there for the same reason: the small amount of water you can't get out has lots of room to expand as it freezes.

You could run all the antifreeze out of the lines and what was left would not freeze, or at least not expand if it froze.

Thanks naturist and popeyemth. I did drain the hot water tank and then bypassed it before pumping the antifreeze in. Not sure I drained it right though. The videos I watched showed opening the pressure valve and removing the plastic water plug to drain the tank. My camper has a hot and cold valve underneath as well as a low point drain. I had opened them prior to removing the hot water tank drain plug so when I did that, nothing more came out. I'm assuming those valves underneath the camper were for the hot water tank because they are directly beneath it and nothing else came out of the tank so I'm hoping I'm good with the winterization now. Gotta love us newbies! The things experienced campers do without thinking about them are the same things us newbies stress over.

My only question is did you run each water outlet, hot and cold, until antifreeze came out? That includes the toilet. Remember the outside shower.

Winterizing question with Antifreeze | Good Sam Community

BarneyS
Explorer III
Oct 19, 2014
Yes, you could pump a bit of antifreeze through it. You can get a hand operated winterizing pump from most RV dealers. Much easier to just put an air hose to a fitting though. :) Just do something so you don't end up like I did.
Barney
oxygen
Explorer II
Oct 18, 2014
BarneyS wrote:
If you have a black tank rinsing system installed, be sure to blow out the line where you connect the hose to. I failed to do that one year and burst a line someplace under my trailer. Have not been able to use the black tank rinsing system since. Need to get under there and take down the covering material to see what really happened.

Rob,
Those drain lines are most likely either the low point drains or fresh water tank drain. I have never seen a water heater drain other than the normal large plug on the outside of it. If you removed that plug and nothing came out then you are ok. No need to get every drop out.
Barney

Since I don't blow the lines out, how does one make sure the black tank rinsing system is clear? How would one push the antifreeze through it?
BarneyS
Explorer III
Oct 18, 2014
I would bet a dollar to a donut that the two side br side red and blue ones are the hot and cold water low point drains. The single one would be the fresh water tank drain. That is exactly what mine is. There is no drain for the actual water heater tank other than the plug.
Your system sounds like 99% of all the rest of them.
Barney
Bumpyroad
Explorer
Oct 18, 2014
RobWNY wrote:
Thanks for the info Barney. There are two drains side by side. A hot water drain and a cold water drain (one red drain and one blue drain). A few feet from that is the low point drain (blue drain) I can't think of what that would be for other than the hot water tank.

fresh water tank?
bumpy
RobWNY
Explorer
Oct 18, 2014
Thanks for the info Barney. There are two drains side by side. A hot water drain and a cold water drain (one red drain and one blue drain). A few feet from that is the low point drain (blue drain) I can't think of what that would be for other than the hot water tank.
BarneyS
Explorer III
Oct 18, 2014
If you have a black tank rinsing system installed, be sure to blow out the line where you connect the hose to. I failed to do that one year and burst a line someplace under my trailer. Have not been able to use the black tank rinsing system since. Need to get under there and take down the covering material to see what really happened.

Rob,
Those drain lines are most likely either the low point drains or fresh water tank drain. I have never seen a water heater drain other than the normal large plug on the outside of it. If you removed that plug and nothing came out then you are ok. No need to get every drop out.
Barney
RobWNY
Explorer
Oct 18, 2014
bumpy, I did remove the plug and attempted to drain it the usual way but no water came out. I'm assuming because of the drains under the trailer directly under the hot water tank. I think I'll send an email to the manufacturer to make sure that's what those drains are for.
DutchmenSport
Explorer
Oct 18, 2014
FYI. I started blowing first, pink second, then blow again. It puts extra down the traps and in the tanks. What is left are just droplets of pink. Interesting observation, with clear Pex tubing you can still see pink droplets. Thus my reason for not relying on blow only.

What you experienced is normal.
tenbear
Explorer
Oct 18, 2014
I know no one recommends it but I siphon the water out of the tank after I have removed the plug and drained the water out. It is surprising how much water is still in there. It also gets any other stuff that is in the water out.
Bumpyroad
Explorer
Oct 18, 2014
RobWNY wrote:
Thanks naturist and popeyemth. I did drain the hot water tank and then bypassed it before pumping the antifreeze in. Not sure I drained it right though. The videos I watched showed opening the pressure valve and removing the plastic water plug to drain the tank. My camper has a hot and cold valve underneath as well as a low point drain. I had opened them prior to removing the hot water tank drain plug so when I did that, nothing more came out. I'm assuming those valves underneath the camper were for the hot water tank because they are directly beneath it and nothing else came out of the tank so I'm hoping I'm good with the winterization now. Gotta love us newbies! The things experienced campers do without thinking about them are the same things us newbies stress over.

I would remove the plug in the hot water tank and drain it properly.
bumpy

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