The process above is a pretty good primer for winterizing. My one comment is that if you have a washer or just a hookup, those lines must be blown out if there is a washer or opened if not. If there is a washer, that needs to be drained and pink stuff added - see the owner's manual for that

While I usually blow the lines out prior to adding the pink stuff, was very surprised at how much water was left in the system this year. I had opened the drains before we left our usual summer CG and left them open for the full 110 miles home. Not only did I pressure dump another couple gallons out, the fresh water tank still contained, probably, 5 gallons (that wasn't part of the blow out).

I found last year that my 6 gallon Porter Cable pancake compressor, while it initially has good pressure, just wont maintain enough constant volume so out rolled my much bigger shop unit and a (very!!) long hose. I used about 50 psig to account for line losses with ~75 feet of 3/8" hose. I'll blow it out and do a good flush in the spring to get rid of any bleeehhh tasting stuff.

Oh, and those that dump pink stuff in the fresh water tank - if its like our long ago Sunline, the water pickup as well as the drain was an inch or so above the bottom which meant that it took hundreds of gallons of water to flush the system, therefore a $15 Camco kit was added to pump the antifreeze after the tank.

 

Blowing out the lines can work for smaller water systems. I have a rear kitchen and a lot of tubing goes back and forth in the trailer. I thought I did a great job blowing out the lines this year as a temporary measure in between trips. I have always used the antifreeze over the winter. When I went to add the antifreeze yesterday, a whole lot of water came out of a couple of fixtures before the pink antifreeze appeared. I am not confident enough now to use the blow out method for over the winter use.

 

We last camped about 3 weeks ago and I winterized shortly thereafter. Before I pulled out I opened the low point drains and all the faucets to let it gravity drain on the ~30 mile drive home and the next couple days sitting.

When I pulled the plug on the water heater it was bone dry, and when I air blew the lines I got maybe a cup out of the longest line and nearly nothing out of the rest. Followed up with pink juice (water heater bypassed) and got almost zero water before the pink.

Kitchen sink, bathroom sink, tub, toilet, outside shower, and cracking tue low points all got done with less than 2gallons.

IMO, opening the low points and all the faucets goes a long way toward getting 95+% of the water out. I started doing that to make sure water didn't sit in the water heater, but it made winterizing super easy. I didn't even use enough air out of my little 10gal tank to make the compressor run.

Highly recommended

 

What Mike is suggesting works well for some campers. For some I used to joke the "lower point" drains designated the highest point on the camper. Almost nothing came out (just joking here). It works best if you do it before you haul and less well if it is just sitting. Also don't assume. One of my dealers used to use this method instead of having me winterize until we had a hard winter a few years back and I spent hours in the spring making plumbing repairs. That was all he did for several years and was lucky!

Two gallons of antifreeze or less is about the standard amount, at least it is all I use regardless of size and still have enough for the traps. Smaller ones usually take about a gallon and a half. I don't dump any in the tanks, but they have to be drained and the dump lines have to be empty.

One of my friends does an entire campground of residentals and just uses air, but I am just a little too cautious for that except in our own rigs.

Steve

 

My current one I open the lower points and a facet or two. then pull the plug for the hot water heater and hit the bypass. then hit the drain for the fresh water. Once the water is out of the hot water heater I seal it back up. By then all the lower points have long stopped draining. then I just syphon the antifreeze throughout the trailer. I have not been blowing it out. Just opening each facet, toilet, shower till I see the pink stuff. Takes a little over a gallon.

 

is there any need to worry about the flush valve for the black tank?

 

I don't think so. As you flush the toilets the pink stuff goes down into the black tank so it gets there.

 

I gotcha,

I was talking about the fresh water line you use to flush clean water through the black tank while dumping.

Is that flush valve/line self draining, or do you need to blow it out?

 

Its a back check valve. I think I have only seen one case where there was a break and it was actually in the hose as it had a dip in it. I would not hurt to blow it out, but I do not think it is a common problem (but a nice catch on your part to bring it up!)

Steve

 

I connected a short section of hose to mine, poured RV antifreeze into the hose, them blew into the hose with my mouth to get antifreeze into mine. Hopefully that works for me.

 

I have just been blowing the black tank flush line out with compressed air for the past 3 years with good results, no anti freeze there.

 

Just blow the tank flush out with the air compressor. Make sure the pink antifreeze gets through the toilet flush valve and the pump good because these are 2 places that are costly if you have water in them. Don't get pink antifreeze in the hot water heater but make sure you get all the water out because it's another costly fix.

 

Here my winterizing setup. I pump it in from the outside and always use antifreeze so no one every has to wonder if I really did flush the system and fill it with antifreeze.




Steve

 

trailer is looking a little rough there.

 

Quite aged for sure. I could say a classic or an antique, but actually this is just a very very old trailer that is on my regular race prep and winterize list at the Bristol Motor Speedway.

Steve