FYI Winterization reminders

[Neal]

Not even just for winterizing but cold weather ops, keep in mind of your water lines such as one I always forget which is in the generator bay to my hot water spigot. If in sub-freezing conditions you should find and turn off the cutoff valve.

The icemaker water line is in the basement and I've never had an issue but I've heard others have. In my coach (like above) there is a cut off valve and you may want to turn that off too, especially if in storage.

If winterizing and putting in the RV antifreeze, make sure you at least get your pink fluid showing in these lines so you know they are protected from freezing.

Anyone else feel free to chime in on more commonly missed winterizing locations.

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[Texas Clodhopper]

 

[DennisT]

For an additional item - we always emptied the tanks and put some down the black and grey so the dump valves had antifreeze against them.

 

[Neal]

View attachment 21479

Wonder what RettroAir would cost? Cheap people!

 

[Just George]

Well I'm not sure if these get missed but this is how I do the Winterizing process on my DutchStar. Perhaps the items most likely to be missed would be the Dishwasher, Washing Machine and Ice Maker.

1) Remove & drain whole house water filter, & reinstall the canister without filter.
2) Remove refrigerator water filter.
3) Drain fresh water tank.
4) Using an air blow out plug that attaches to the fresh water inlet hose & with my air compressor output adjusted to 50 PSI I "blow out" the system by opening each faucet, the refrigerator in door water dispenser, toilets, shower (both shower heads if more than one) one at a time until the water is pushed out & air flows. (In my opinion the primary benefit of this step is to get the majority of water out of the freshwater hose and hose reel. The later process that puts RV antifreeze into the plumbing does NOT cover these.)
5) Drain the Black & Gray Tanks.
6) Open low point drains & close after water stops flowing
7) Remove, empty, & reinstall the whole house water filter canister.
8) Using the winterizing valves and tube in the wet bay pump RV antifreeze throughout the plumbing system. (In my case it takes about 6 gallons) With the pump on, open each faucet, the refrigerator in door water dispenser, toilets, shower (both shower heads if more than one) one at a time until the pink antifreeze is present. Since this step flows antifreeze into the drains the gray and black tank valves are also protected.
9) Cycle the Dishwasher, & Washing machine such that they run the fill cycle until pink antifreeze is present, then cycle them to drain so the antifreeze is also pumped into the drain line.
10) Cycle the refrigerator ice maker until the pink antifreeze is present in the ice tray. (Note many ice makers can be manually cycled by using a jumper wire inserted into test points under the front cover of the ice maker.) If the manual cycling process is not used allow the refrigerator & ice maker to run until it cycles to make ice and pink antifreeze is present.
11 Optional) at this point the pluming system is protected since the RV antifreeze has displaced any water throughout the system. There is no need to leave the antifreeze in the system. If desired you can repeat step 4 which will remove the majority of the antifreeze from the system.
12 Optional) As mentioned in step 4 the freshwater hose and hose reel do not have RV antifreeze in them. I have 110v power at my storage location so for some added protection (beyond the air blow out) I suspend a 60W incandesent light bulb in the wet bay and leave it on to provide a bit of heat in that area.

 

[Neal]

Excellent info @Just George - thanks for sharing.

 

[Scooterfan]

Huh ? One should change the air in the tires ? Perhaps it's not a "thing" in our temperate zone but I guess I never heard of this...learn something new everyday Blessings

 

[Neal]

T.C. got some splain'in to do!

 

[Rosy]

I think I forgot to do the outside shower the first year I had the trailer but luckily we hadn't used it so it was still full of antifreeze from the previous owner winterizing it the year before.

 

[Texas Clodhopper]

Wonder what RettroAir would cost? Cheap people!

That's one of those questions that if you have to ask you probably can't afford it. I remember when American Petrofina stations were using pink air and it was free.