Winterizing

[Terre]

I appreciate your answer however I’m not sure that you understood what happened. Both my grey and black tanks were emptied prior to starting the winterizing. The previous owner never used an air compressor to blow out the lines prio to using antifreeze. Since the opinions vary I decided to continue how he did it. The step I forgot was emptying the water heater. I do not have a bipass valve. I continued to put antifreeze in until the water was fully pink. The amount I used was excessive because, as I found out afterwards it had to run any water that had been in the water heater out and through the lines. This ended up working however it filled my gray tank with antifreeze causing it to overflow a couple of inches in my tub, where based in the info from others on this thread; will not harm things and in the spring I can dump it all out. Thank you for your reply, however, I am happy that their are so many of you who are willing to share your knowledge to a novice rv’er without judgment.

[Terre]

Originally Posted by LETMGROW

If Dav L is going to use antifreeze he wouldn't have to blow out the P traps. He made reference to antifreeze in his post but didn't detail it any further. I just wanted to be sure he attended to the P traps.
I blow mine out after I run antifreeze through the lines to be sure no water is remaining in the traps. Then I add pure antifreeze which will not evaporate as fast as water or antifreeze mixture.
Blowing the P traps out is simple. You can pull the air line into the RV or do as I do and use a portable air tank. In the kitchen sink I screw the drain basket into the drain above the trap, wrap a rag around the blow gun on the air hose and slowly blow air into the open drain. When the drain stops gurgling I stop. Then I move to the bathroom drain and blow it out then do the same with the shower drain.
Once the traps are blown out I add the clear antifreeze.
My RV will sit in storage from the second week of October until mid May. I have been accused of going overboard with my winterizing methods but I continue to be as through as I can doing the winterizing.
I bought a TT back in the 80's which hadn't been winterized. I knew this when I bought it and the price I paid for it reflected it. It was a real job redoing all the plumbing etc. I'm not anxious to do it again.
Lynn

Love your reply! Thank you.

[Dav L]

Originally Posted by LETMGROW

If Dav L is going to use antifreeze he wouldn't have to blow out the P traps. He made reference to antifreeze in his post but didn't detail it any further. I just wanted to be sure he attended to the P traps.
I blow mine out after I run antifreeze through the lines to be sure no water is remaining in the traps. Then I add pure antifreeze which will not evaporate as fast as water or antifreeze mixture.
Blowing the P traps out is simple. You can pull the air line into the RV or do as I do and use a portable air tank. In the kitchen sink I screw the drain basket into the drain above the trap, wrap a rag around the blow gun on the air hose and slowly blow air into the open drain. When the drain stops gurgling I stop. Then I move to the bathroom drain and blow it out then do the same with the shower drain.
Once the traps are blown out I add the clear antifreeze.
My RV will sit in storage from the second week of October until mid May. I have been accused of going overboard with my winterizing methods but I continue to be as through as I can doing the winterizing.
I bought a TT back in the 80's which hadn't been winterized. I knew this when I bought it and the price I paid for it reflected it. It was a real job redoing all the plumbing etc. I'm not anxious to do it again.
Lynn

Hey Lynn,
Yeah, I use first air and then antifreeze. I just stopped typing because this has been documented so many times on this forum it's silly. Including by myself several times.

I let the antifreeze run out of each spigot and that fills the P-traps.

Terre - the grey / black tank were empty and then post winterizing the grey is now full? That's a TON of unneeded antifreeze used (25 gallons?) You should need six at the most. If you filled the hot water tank (not recommended) that would never see the grey tank anyway unless you applied air and pushed it out to the drains. So where did the 25 gallons come from (or whatever your grey tank capacity is)?

The hot water tank is drained at the tank - usually by removing the electric aux heat element or other drain plug at the bottom of the tank. So this water / antifreeze just goes to the ground.