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Old 09-12-2022, 10:07 AM   #1
Jameskrapf
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Winterizing

Do I have to worry about the air check valve, and where do I find it in my montana fifth wheel?
Any help is appreciated.
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Old 09-12-2022, 11:28 AM   #2
chuckster57
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Air check valve? If your talking about the back flow preventer for the black tank flush, I would probably remove it. I don’t winterize and I don’t know what temps you see in your area so I’ll let someone who lives in similar conditions comment.
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Old 09-12-2022, 11:33 AM   #3
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How are you planning on winterizing? Are you pumping the pink antifreeze or blowing with an air compressor?
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Old 09-12-2022, 03:09 PM   #4
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Originally Posted by dutchmensport View Post
How are you planning on winterizing? Are you pumping the pink antifreeze or blowing with an air compressor?
Guessing he is in Massachusetts? Would be nice to have that info as the air compressor method is best left to places where you don't see frigid temps. I am not an expert as we generally don't see real cold temps. I drain, blow out lines and add some pink stuff to the p-traps. It usually isn't real cold here in Texas where I am.

Suggest the OP go back to where he put Worcester in and add two letters for state and then put together a signature with year, make and model of camper and the same for tow vehicle so there will be context to the questions that are sure to come. Good luck!
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Old 09-12-2022, 03:58 PM   #5
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I'm a guy that:


1. drains water
2. pumps pink stuff.
3. through lines and into tanks
4. blows out water lines, which goes into the drains.


#4 is where I blow air through the flush valves as they don't really come into play with 1-3


We have below 0 temps where we are.
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Old 09-12-2022, 04:20 PM   #6
NH_Bulldog
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I always use air to clear all the lines and then follow-up with pink antifreeze. Two gallons is enough for all the water lines, fixtures, toilet, drain p-traps, outdoor shower and outdoor kitchen. I use the water heater bypass, pull the plug out of the water heater, drain it, leave the plug out and it’s done. We started this year in mid April (upstate NY) and have a few more trips planned through late October (last trip will be in Maine) before we put her to bed for the winter.
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Old 09-12-2022, 04:46 PM   #7
dutchmensport
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I always use air to clear all the lines and then follow-up with pink antifreeze. ....
Wouldn't it make more sense to pump the pink first, then blow with the air? The pink stuff will displace any water and then air will push all the pink out and that will go into your p-traps and such. (That's how I do it).
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Old 09-12-2022, 05:18 PM   #8
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It really depends where you live. Here in Northern New England, I want undiluted antifreeze sitting in the pipes due to the cold temps we get. I displace the water with compressed air and follow that by pumping in antifreeze using the on board water pump. It’s worked for me for 30+ years and 4 different travel trailers (not including my 1972 Starcraft Star Master 8 pop-up that I bought in 1988). What works for one may not work for another. Just sharing my method. YMMV
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Old 09-12-2022, 06:07 PM   #9
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I do the same procedure as Rob. Blow out all the lines with air (to remove as much water as possible, which keeps the antifreeze "undiluted")... Then pump antifreeze into the lines until it runs "red at every faucet", pour some into the toilet, sinks and shower drain.

So far, in 10+ years, I've had no freeze damage from our typical sub-zero winters. I'd guess that New England is pretty much the same temperature as us during the winters.
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Old 09-12-2022, 06:46 PM   #10
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I've found a very simple way to winterize. Years ago it was blow then pull in the pink stuff. Then it went to just blow it out. Then I found this great way to just not winterize....go somewhere it doesn't freeze (like FL)!! Never have to blow out anything or put in pink stuff!!!

I say this tongue in cheek as I recover from a big water blowout under the S&B kitchen sink as the sprayer hose connection somehow decided to "unsnap". Thankfully I heard what sounded like water running "somewhere" while walking through the kitchen. Couldn't see anything and the sound was so small...but it was running water; pulled the cabinet doors open and poof, water running under the sink from that crappy snap connection. Think I caught it in time and got the water out. Connection is just junk. Moen....don't ever buy Moen. I bought that one because DW liked the way it looked (I always buy Delta or Kohler). Well, it will be a new Delta tomorrow.
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Old 09-13-2022, 06:16 AM   #11
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Originally Posted by JRTJH View Post
I do the same procedure as Rob. Blow out all the lines with air (to remove as much water as possible, which keeps the antifreeze "undiluted")... Then pump antifreeze into the lines until it runs "red at every faucet", pour some into the toilet, sinks and shower drain.

So far, in 10+ years, I've had no freeze damage from our typical sub-zero winters. I'd guess that New England is pretty much the same temperature as us during the winters.
I like this method. I never thought of the dilution issue. What PSI do you use for blowing out the water before adding antifreeze.
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Old 09-13-2022, 06:28 AM   #12
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I like this method. I never thought of the dilution issue. What PSI do you use for blowing out the water before adding antifreeze.
I set my air compressor's regulator to 45psi for this.
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Old 09-13-2022, 07:22 AM   #13
JRTJH
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I like this method. I never thought of the dilution issue. What PSI do you use for blowing out the water before adding antifreeze.
I use 40 PSI. My "reasoning for this pressure" is that my FloJet pump provides 40 PSI water pressure and I can expect my water system to "safely" handle the same pressure when blowing out the lines.

I have no doubt that 45 PSI or probably even 50 PSI would not damage the plumbing, but I've had good success at pushing the water out of the low pressure drains, the faucets and the toilet at 40 PSI, so for me, why go higher?

I would also "rationalize" that as long as there's a faucet or a low point drain open, the likelyhood of overpressurizing the plumbing is, at best, a remote improbability. The system can't (shouldn't) build up pressure based on the volume of air delivered to the system from most "home style compressors using a 1/4 inch supply hose"..... So, even using 60 or 70 or 80 PSI probably wouldn't cause a problem, as long as the plumbing has "something open to vent the pressure, whether it's a faucet or a low point drain or even the anode rod removed from the water heater tank.....

To me, as long as the majority of water is pushed out of the system, antifreeze dilution is kept to a minimum, which is my "desired outcome"....
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Old 09-13-2022, 03:22 PM   #14
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Originally Posted by Carrottop View Post
I like this method. I never thought of the dilution issue. What PSI do you use for blowing out the water before adding antifreeze.

I understand the concept of dilution but practically if you use a method of draining the water tank / HWH and dumping (probably 2x) of RV antifreeze in the water tank or use the new "winterization bypass" connection sucking RV antifreeze there should be next to zero dilution. Either way should work.



One item I thought I'd throw out there is my antifreeze container...


I actually have a 5 gallon container with a hose/valve for this stuff that I bought decades ago to winterize my boat engines...it attaches to the 'earmuffs' on the water intake and sucked into the engine. The hose connector now connects to the 'winterization' connection in the keystone utility bay....but as luck even though you only need a few gallons with an RV, I use this so I'm not running around swapping out bottles. The left overs are just stored in this container till for the next 'vehicle' or next year.


something like this....


https://www.overtons.com/do-it-yours...er-315917.html
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Old 09-18-2022, 07:58 AM   #15
mjsibe
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I do exactly that.
Here in PA. It gets cold.
Drain every thing, hot water heater, leave plug out,
Put in by-pass.
Blow out the lines.
Pump pink stuff with all faucets closed,
Open furthest one first both hot & cold till pink comes out, close move next down the line, ect.
This allows the traps to get done too.
When done just Open the faucets & let sit all winter
(Takes the residual pressure off every thing)
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Old 09-18-2022, 11:55 AM   #16
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I just blow out my water lines and run my pump to get all the water out of it. Drain hot water tank and leave open. I blow them out at 48 psi and let the air blow through well. I then put the pink stuff down all the p traps and drains. Put some in all the tanks except the fresh water tank. Did the fresh water tank once and learned my lesson. I never put any pink stuff in the fresh water tank, or the hot water tank for that matter. That taste takes forever to get rid of. If you do a thorough blow out of the water lines I see no reason to putt the pink stuff through the whole system. Whatever little water that might be left will not be enough to do any damage if it freezes. I leave all the faucets and fresh water drains open during the winter. I have never had an issue with process and is easy to do. De-winterizing I so simple, just run some water in the sinks to flush out the P traps and you are good to go.
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Old 09-19-2022, 05:15 AM   #17
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I'm with the group who blow out and then add pink stuff.

On a previous camper, I had a faucet crack because there was a little bit of water left in it when I only blew it out, and did not add antifreeze. From then on, I did both, and it's worked well for me(30 years or so).
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Old 10-13-2022, 05:26 AM   #18
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Hi all, its been a minute since I've been around. Typically, I blow out the lines and add the pink stuff and call it a day. However, we have found ourselves really busy, and as such, I am unsure of the amount of time I have to follow my normal procedure. We actually only camped twice this year.

So this last time, during our last camping trip, I decided to winterize at the site, before taking to the storage yard (to maximize time). This left me without my normal blow out method.

So what I did was this. After emptying and thoroughly cleaning all the tanks, FW has been empty for quite awhile, I drained the HW tank, put everything in bypass, pulled the low point drains and turned the water pump on (to try and push as much out of the lines as I could. Then I proceeded to pump in about 3 to 3 1/2 gallons of the Prestone RV Antifreeze which is supposed to be good to -100 by using the bypass and fresh water pump. Started at the furthest sink, went through all the lines including the outdoor shower, toilet, etc., and put the remainder in the traps and the black tank. I loosened the low points again for a moment to be sure to see pink run out and capped them back up again.

Now I'm second guessing lol, since I have not blown air through the outside ports to the black tank, fw tank (actually don't recall doing this in the past), and the city water inlet.

Thoughts on this? Trailer is stored about an hour away, and I have to borrow a compressor from work to bring out there, and its a finite amount of air that tank holds before I run out. If I blow the whole system, I have to buy more antifreeze and bring a battery back out to run the pump again and all that. Or I could just blow air through the inlets and call it a day.

I guess I thought this was an acceptable method to winterize, even if not the "best" method. In hindsight, I could have tried to pump the water out of the faucets first before the low point drains. I feel confident about the amount of antifreeze in the traps, since part of the pink that pumped through went in there, and I poured more in there. Its just the other stuff.
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Old 10-13-2022, 06:51 AM   #19
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....
Now I'm second guessing lol, since I have not blown air through the outside ports to the black tank, fw tank (actually don't recall doing this in the past), and the city water inlet....

I'm not sure you have to put pink stuff in but I would blow out these lines as a low point could pool a bit too much and compromise a connection...for instance the check valve on the black flush line. You could just disconnect this and blow it out. In the past when winterizing and didn't have a compressor I've found that the battery operated "mattress air pumps" have worked good enough.



something like this:


https://www.coleman.com/sleeping-bag...000017845.html
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Old 10-13-2022, 07:52 AM   #20
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You pretty much got the entire system sounds like. Did you open the toilet to run anti freeze through it? As for the black tank flush line and fresh water inlet just put the compressor on them and blow them out gently. The water (if any) will just go into the tanks and won't be an issue.
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