2017 Winterizing Thread

[bansai]

I still have a few trips planned. But...

Those of you that live where this is an issue to begin with...

When do you plan on shutting your rig down for the year, this year?

I follow the 'Thanksgiving to Tax Day' winter schedule, and usually re-winterize 4 times throughout that period since I can't guess the seasons any better than I can Wall St.

Too soon to think about?

[Flyrotor]

It's just about that time here in Montana, but I blow out the lines with an air compressor so it is never permanent for the season, it only takes about 15 minutes to winterize, and nothing to undo it, just add water!

[wanderlust]

Originally Posted by Flyrotor

I blow out the lines with an air compressor so it is never permanent for the season, it only takes about 15 minutes to winterize, and nothing to undo it, just add water!

I do the same thing for Jan > March. We get back home just before New Years and will do it then. If we head south again in Feb or March for a long weekend (4-5 days) then I'll just re-blow when we get home.

[bearcat77]

Here in Cincinnati, we'll probably make our last trip the first weekend in November, then batten down the hatches until early May.

For those of you that blow out the lines, how exactly do you do that? Where do you hook up the air compressor? Do you need to do multiple places? How much psi do you need? Will a tire inflator work, or do I need a heavy duty compressor?

Thanks.


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[Midnightmoon]

For you all who are blowing out the lines, I assume then that you are not adding antifreeze correct?

[cariboocreek]

Winterizing this weekend. Sigh....

[mike837go]

Taking a VERY DIFFERENT path this year!

I'm cleaning out my barn/shop of ALL the clutter and replacing the wood stove with propane heat. There'll be enough room for the TT to stay above freezing the whole winter!

No cover controversy neither...

[SOMBATFAMILY]

Originally Posted by Midnightmoon

For you all who are blowing out the lines, I assume then that you are not adding antifreeze correct?

That is correct, no antifreeze in water line. I still put antifreeze in gray and black tank, down the sinks and toilet and shower. But you have to make sure that there is no water at all in the lines. I set my pressure to 30psi and blow in through the city water line. Open one valve at a time starting with the low drain points and work my way up and back down.

[Force]

Sometime in November I'll winterize mine

I tried compressed air but I'm not convinced it is 100% foolproof. I say that because I tried it, then said "I'm going to add anti-freeze anyway", and the amount of clear water that came out before I started seeing pink at the faucets was very surprising... So, I just don't trust it.

Your mileage may vary, as always.

[Bassdogs]

Originally Posted by SOMBATFAMILY

That is correct, no antifreeze in water line. I still put antifreeze in gray and black tank, down the sinks and toilet and shower. But you have to make sure that there is no water at all in the lines. I set my pressure to 30psi and blow in through the city water line. Open one valve at a time starting with the low drain points and work my way up and back down.

A small tire inflator compressor is fine and probably best since you don't have to worry about to much psi. I follow the above procedure but add that after I'm finished cycling thru all the fixtures, I start over and do it again just to catch anything that drained or collected anywhere in the pipes. Done this for 10 years on both of my TT's and have never had a problem other than cracking the hand wand on the outside shower because I forgot to open it up to let it drain after I disconnected it from the faucet.

[Midnightmoon]

Originally Posted by SOMBATFAMILY

That is correct, no antifreeze in water line. I still put antifreeze in gray and black tank, down the sinks and toilet and shower. But you have to make sure that there is no water at all in the lines. I set my pressure to 30psi and blow in through the city water line. Open one valve at a time starting with the low drain points and work my way up and back down.

Thanks. I'll have to look in to this a little more over the next few weeks. I like the idea of not drawing that antifreeze through the fresh water system.

One more question, do you bypass the hot water tank for this process like you do when adding antifreeze or just blow the pressure through it after you manually drain it.

[SOMBATFAMILY]

I by pass water heater after I drain and blow air out the drain hole. I by pass because in spring time I sanitized the water lines and fresh water tanks and I don't want it to go into hot water heater.

[North of 49°]

First, I drain and bypass the water heater. Then I set my air compressor's output to around 40 PSI, then blow out the lines. I pump antifreeze through the system, and then blow out the lines again. It's twice the work, but in winter around here, temperatures of -30* for extended periods of time are not unheard of, so the belt-and-suspenders approach guarantees that I won't have any problems come springtime.

Our last trip is this weekend, so it won't get winterized until after that. Then the trailer will go into storage sometime around the end of the month. I found a storage yard not far from home that's not too expensive and the owner is easy to work with.

[BCK]

I adapted a 1/4" air chuck to a brass garden hose fitting so I can attach an air hose directly to the fresh water intake for blowing out the lines. That was 12 years ago and have never once had a problem. Camco makes one now #36143.

I use 40lbs pressure. It takes a little longer than just using rv antifreeze but I prefer it. Like others I put rv antifreeze in the plumbing traps & toilet.

[Midnightmoon]

Just ordered the camco fitting. Thanks

[bankr63]

Hoping for one more trip next weekend if the nice weather holds, then it will be time for winterizing the following weekend or so.

Living in one of the coldest capital cities in the world, I am firmly in the antifreeze camp; you don't leave anything to chance when the temps are regularly dipping below the -30 mark (our coldest ever temp was -38F). Of course where @North of 49 lives gets stupid cold; I'd never live there

[turbo130]

My trailer is set up to winterize, I drain the water heater and use a hose under the kitchen sink to pump in antifreeze. I have never had a problem in the spring flushing out the lines.

[Jagiven]

We store our HTT up north in a barn, and I do not like towing in snow. So It comes out a few weeks before Mother's Day. I usually put her to bed around Halloween. I could probably get a few more weeks in the fall but I like not pushing it. If I stored it at home, I would be winterizing much later in the year.

As for winterizing with CA. I put the water heater in bypass mode and drain it first. then open the valves to the water heater and the bypass valve to flush any standing water out of the lines. As for an adapter, I made mine, it screws into the City Water port. You can buy them too. I connect my CA to it with the pressure regulator turned down to about 40 psi. I just go from faucet to faucet and blow out the water. There is always some water left. I then make sure to close the valves to the water heater and drain again.

I then pump one gallon of antifreeze through the system. I then blow out the lines one last time of any antifreeze. You can tell diluted antifreeze from pure antifreeze when coming out of the faucets. The antifreeze that is blown out of the lines goes into the traps. I can do my whole system with less than a gallon of antifreeze, but I always use a full gallon. I also always make sure I have two gallons on hand, just in case I oops and forget something.