Early freeze warning tonight!

[breal14]

eeeek, i'm not ready, and we are having unseasonably early freeze warning for tonight. it will be under 34 degrees from about 10pm to 9am the following day with a low around 30.

While i've drained everything i can, i'm sure there's still water in there and i haven't blown out the lines and p-traps surely have fluid in it.

I ordered the pink stuff last week - it's not here yet.

What's my best solution to get through the night? Plug it in to the house (regular 15amp), turn on the gas and turn on the heat? It's in my driveway.

 

[Kevin D Pem]

eeeek, i'm not ready, and we are having unseasonably early freeze warning for tonight. it will be under 34 degrees from about 10pm to 9am the following day with a low around 30.

While i've drained everything i can, i'm sure there's still water in there and i haven't blown out the lines and p-traps surely have fluid in it.

I ordered the pink stuff last week - it's not here yet.

What's my best solution to get through the night? Plug it in to the house (regular 15amp), turn on the gas and turn on the heat? It's in my driveway.

That works

 

[Rollin Ollen]

eeeek, i'm not ready, and we are having unseasonably early freeze warning for tonight. it will be under 34 degrees from about 10pm to 9am the following day with a low around 30.

While i've drained everything i can, i'm sure there's still water in there and i haven't blown out the lines and p-traps surely have fluid in it.

I ordered the pink stuff last week - it's not here yet.

What's my best solution to get through the night? Plug it in to the house (regular 15amp), turn on the gas and turn on the heat? It's in my driveway.

If you have drained the hot water tank leave the drain open. I would open all of the taps. If your wet bay is enclosed I would put a space heater in there set at low. Set your furnace as low as you can and turn on the heat. I don't think 30F would be cold enough to split any pipes but better to be safe than sorry.

 

[Holdmybeer]

If it's not a hard freeze you're likely okay for now. I'd go ahead and blow the lines and if you can't access RV antifreeze for the p-traps, windshield washer fluid will do.

 

[breal14]

I emptied the hot water heater - thanks for that reminder. I thought it was bypassed. I never used hot water in it. That was a wake up call. a few gallons pored out. Thanks for that!

I ran every drop i could out of the tank/pump and popped open the grey tank and drove around the block. i had previously dumped it appropriately, so this was just fresh water coming out.

opened the outdoor shower and that pored a ton of water out too. damn. never used that either. lol

I don't have the tool to blow the lines. I ordered it a few days ago and it's not in yet. ugh. This early freeze really caught me off guard. For context it was 87 last weekend! now it's going to be in the low 30s. November weather rolled in with a cold front out of no where. I was planning to do all this on Columbus day. on the plus side, it looks like the forecast went up a few degrees. I'm seeing more 33's than 29s now compared to this morning.

I went to run the heat -- turned the gas on, and damn, it smells like eggs almost immediately. ugh. I might have sprung a leak.
too risky, especially if i'm not going to be around it, i shut it off before it became another thing to deal with (on the plus side, a huge fire ball will stop the pipes from freezing lol)

I'm hoping that driving the block (which is super hilly) got everything out the drains into the grey and out the exit point. I guess we'll find out the hard way in the morning.

My holding tank is under my bed, it's nearly empty but will never be empty. I opened it as well for the block drive so maybe enough got out. it's a bit flexible of a container so it should be fine.

 

[breal14]

So following up on this, as i did the full winterization over the weekend.

Nothing froze to the best of my knowledge on that one cold night. we hit 33 according to the news. maybe we tapped freezing at my place, not sure. either way, no damage that i can tell.

I found more water, a lot of it. First year winterizing, and i had no idea i had low point drains. I've seen them on trailers but couldn't find mine. I had 'cotter pin' style pull up pins on the hoses. I had to move my bed/mattress out and get into the holding tank area to find it. Pulled em and a little more rolled out.

My fresh tank is impossible to empty completly. I tried blowing it out as best i could. I drove around the block with everything open and the pump on... there's still water in it. at least 2 gallons by eyeballing it.

So, i probably stupidly put about a 1/2 gallon of pink antifreeze in it.
we never drink or shower or cook with the water. it's 100% for flushing and washing hands.
I'll run several hundred gallons through it in the spring and then also shock it before i fill it for first use.

I blew all the lines best i could. thinking it may have been moot. I then pumped in the fresh water hookup and ran the pump to push it through, that worked pretty good working from furthest to closest outlet.

pink stuff in all the lines, bled, and then i dumped about 1/2 gallon in each holding tank direct (sink drian, toilet bowl). They should be pretty empty otherwise.

water heater WAS bypassed but did have water. pumping in the pink, it ran over the 'cut-over' pathway and didn't enter the water heater correctly. my guess is one of those valves is not fully closing causing some water to get in there. I don't use the hot water at all either, so it's moot again.
Added Stabil to the tank, ran the genny for 15 min and ran the coach, so hopefully its mixed in there too and the lines are not going to gum up.

So, let's hope we're good.

 

[Rollin Ollen]

So following up on this, as i did the full winterization over the weekend.

Nothing froze to the best of my knowledge on that one cold night. we hit 33 according to the news. maybe we tapped freezing at my place, not sure. either way, no damage that i can tell.

I found more water, a lot of it. First year winterizing, and i had no idea i had low point drains. I've seen them on trailers but couldn't find mine. I had 'cotter pin' style pull up pins on the hoses. I had to move my bed/mattress out and get into the holding tank area to find it. Pulled em and a little more rolled out.

My fresh tank is impossible to empty completly. I tried blowing it out as best i could. I drove around the block with everything open and the pump on... there's still water in it. at least 2 gallons by eyeballing it.

So, i probably stupidly put about a 1/2 gallon of pink antifreeze in it.
we never drink or shower or cook with the water. it's 100% for flushing and washing hands.
I'll run several hundred gallons through it in the spring and then also shock it before i fill it for first use.

I blew all the lines best i could. thinking it may have been moot. I then pumped in the fresh water hookup and ran the pump to push it through, that worked pretty good working from furthest to closest outlet.

pink stuff in all the lines, bled, and then i dumped about 1/2 gallon in each holding tank direct (sink drian, toilet bowl). They should be pretty empty otherwise.

water heater WAS bypassed but did have water. pumping in the pink, it ran over the 'cut-over' pathway and didn't enter the water heater correctly. my guess is one of those valves is not fully closing causing some water to get in there. I don't use the hot water at all either, so it's moot again.
Added Stabil to the tank, ran the genny for 15 min and ran the coach, so hopefully its mixed in there too and the lines are not going to gum up.

So, let's hope we're good.

A small amount of water in your fresh tank is not going to hurt but just make sure your overflow hose is clear. If you can pump a little bit of air thru it it will be fine. (Don't put a lot of pressure into it though. unless your low point drain is open.

Your hot water tank will fill if your bypass is closed. If you don't use your hot water, keep it bypassed.

It sounds like your RV is ready for cold weather.

Darrell

 

[breal14]

I meant the bypass is open to route around the water heater/bypass. I purchased the camper in the winter and it was winterized by the previous owner. I never un-did what he had. Which is why i was surprised that i got hit with 2 gallons of awful smelling water out the water heater tank (i now know i need to release the pressure valve first...). I assumed it would be empty but it was not. I think it's a 6 gallon unit.
Overflow is always open -- it has a screen mesh on the back of the camper and it will drain out uphill when the tank is full through the compartment door. there's no point to pump in air here as it will just come right back out the mesh screen. The tank is a little flexible, it has some movement likely by design unlike the hard waste tanks.