getting rid of the taste of RV antifreeze

[swamphog]

I thought I did a good job of removing the the RV Antifreeze from the RV, the water ran out clear, but never tasate it, took her out this weekend, and hooking the water up, it smelled so bad ( antifreeze) no coffee, was made, anything done with the water didn't happen.
did I need to run the water through the system longer?
was I suppose to add something to the system?
come to think of it my old rv had some taste & smell of the antifreeze too, but this time, its really bad.any advice????

[J Walker]

It is hard to get the taste and smell of antifreeze out of your plumbing. A LOT of water to purge all pipes is necessary. Open ALL faucets, exercise the water heater bypass valve, flush the toiler, exercise the toilet sprayer, and run the ice maker. I also take a Brita filter to supply drinking water on the first camping trip after de-winterizing. All the purging plus one camping trip seems to be the end of the antifreeze.

[RocketDork]

Stop using the antifreeze and blow the system out with air. Its faster, easier to do again, if you did it earlier than you needed to and use the coach again.

Nice bonus, you never have to worry about getting the taste and smell of the antifreeze out of the water lines.

I drain and bypass the water heater, then I set the pressure regulator on my compressor to 45PSI, connect to the pickup hose for the antifreeze and sequentially open all the faucets until no water comes out. I leave the system to sit for a while, then repeat. I repeat until no more water comes out.

Then I dump a bit of antifreeze into each of the P-Traps.

[Gary - K7GLD]

I tried the antifreeze route just ONCE - never again!

Took all season for the awful taste to disappear - and THAT, only after LOTS of flushing and purging...

I suspect that the different types of water lines used each add their own problems, as they absorb varying amounts of taste and odor. But, for sure, only a complete drain and air purge will be used from now on!

[REWahoo]

A little Jack Daniels, swished around prior to swallowing, works very well.

[AFChap]

I've used RV antifreeze many times and had bad after-taste only once ...I blamed it on not getting it all out of the water heater but that probably wasn't the whole problem. I cured it by sanitizing the fresh water system. For sanitizine, I use sodium dichlor crystals (used in hot tubs, etc) rather than chlorine bleach because the crystals are easy to carry in the RV and there is no bleach aftertaste from the salts in the bleach.

[Gary - K7GLD]

Quote:

Originally Posted by AFChap I've used RV antifreeze many times and had bad after-taste only once ...I blamed it on not getting it all out of the water heater but that probably wasn't the whole problem. I cured it by sanitizing the fresh water system. For sanitizine, I use sodium dichlor crystals (used in hot tubs, etc) rather than chlorine bleach because the crystals are easy to carry in the RV and there is no bleach aftertaste from the salts in the bleach.

You're probably right Paul - but I have to question the "need" and effort/economy to use ONE product for winterizing, then ANOTHER to counteract the first, and then....

[mahon1993]

I use the air system like Gary. Never had a problem. Gets down to well below zero around here in the winter. I only use the antifreze in the drains. Just don't forget any sprayer hoses you might have. Like on the toilet and in the shower. Also don't forget the washer/dryer if you have one. Oh yea, and the ice maker. I remove the strainer from the warer pump. I bought a lock-on air chuck and set my compressor at 35 psi or so.
Greg

[PlayItForwrd]

As for using air, I do it somewhat backwards to what I've read here---What I do after all the lines are drained, is to take a rubber-tipped air nozzle and blow air into the FAUCETS so all the water goes out the drain valves. Doing this moves all the water downhill instead of UP hill, leaving little chance of puddles in the water line's low spots. I also blow backwards thru the shower hose, and disconnect the toilet line and blow back thru the line AND thru the toilet (those stupid toilet valves seem to trap water better than anything else)

[azloafer]

We don't have to winterize where we live, but the Jack Daniels idea seems sound! Joe

[swamphog]

well I did purge it out the 1st time B-4 we left for the campground, but after talking to a friend of mind who also was their had the same problem, I purge it out and after four (4) hours of running my water pump ( live out in the country) my water taste great,,again. After reading all the answers in the future, I am just going to use the antifreeze just for the P-traps,& use my air compressor to blow out the lines. but I too like the Jack Daniels ideal, just wonder if you take a drink B-4 you drink the water or after, or both?????
Hey thanks everone for your help.

[Cruzer]

In Wisconsin most RVers uses antifreeze. The blow out method isn't fool proof. The problem with air is that it goes through the water lines and tries to drag the moisture along with it. A bit of it still hangs as condensation in the water lines. It can settle out after a while and sometimes there's enough to create a good amount of water in a low section someplace and that's when the freezing and cracking begins. Up here I've seen too many cases where air just hasn't been effective.

The antifreeze actually pushes the water out of the system so it does a more thorough job. What I do is blow the system out, then pump antifreeze through it, then blow out the antifreeze. By blowing out the opink stuff it helps to minimize the aftertaste you otherwise get. Some of the antifreeze remains and settles after the final blowout but at least it can't hurt anything.

Also, AquaHot does not recommend blowing the system out if you have AquaHot or HydroHot. They recommend antifreeze because there are too many nooks and crannies and loops within the domestic water heating system and if they freeze up you are looking at some serious expense.

[swamphog]

You know Cruzer, I think I will do that this year, blow out the system but will be using about 20 to 25 psi, then push the antifreeze into the pipes and blow it out again, then just put in the RV Antifreeze in the P-Traps, then have a drink of Jack.

[Cruzer]

Actually, once you blow the pink out of the faucets there wil be probably enough in the traps that you won't have to add any more, unless the lines were fairly short.