Advice, De-winterizing for Departure

[Quickuc]

For the 1st time we will travel south from Colorado in 3 weeks from now. Reservations at RV parks have been made
If we are lucky temps will be in Colorado at that time are days maybe 43, nite low as teens. So dewinterizing will be my last thing I'll do before we go south (that day) Now my question, had anyone done this to where you can advise of anything else I my need to consider. And yes we've done our share of packing ect..checking all fluid levels. thanks

[Sequoia]

We just did something similar last week for a trip from Baltimore to Savannah. I de-winterized at our first campground. It was very easy. Once we arrived, I hooked up to the campground water and flushed the system. 15 minutes later we were good to go. On the way back north, we winterized at our last campground prior to departure for Baltimore. If you use your camper's exterior anti-freeze inlet to winterize, I would suggest bringing along a manual pump just in case your inlet doesn't work to pump the anti-freeze into the system. I bought one from Walmart just in case and I ended up using it to winterize the entire system. If I didn't have the manual pump, I would not have been able to winterize until we returned to Baltimore and risk the system freezing in the meantime while I fixed the problem. For $20, having the manual pump saved a huge hassle.

[georgelesley]

I just drain the system and then blow it out with compressed air to winterize, thus dewinterizing is not an issue since everything is empty. No bypass valves to worry about just close everything and add water. I do carry a compressor anyway and that makes winterizing on the road easy as well if needed. Just a bit of antifreeze in the drains and that is it.

The compressor takes about as much space as three gallons of antifreeze and costs me nothing to use each year.

Just a suggestion for next year.

[jsmmonaco]

my opinion..........as long as you don't drink water coming out of coach faucets, dewinterizing is a nothing project..........open all low point drains, let antifreeze drain out, check hot water tank to make sure no antifreeze in there..........close low point drains, hook up water or fill fresh water tank, run some water thru system, including shower, flush toilet a couple of times.................done..................

[Maik]

We do the same. We de-winterize at the first campground that has running water. We use RV antifreeze to flush the toilets on the way down South. On the return North we usually gauge the weather and were it will start to be well below freezing. We will blow out the system with air and fill it with Rv antifreeze. Drains get the same treatment with antifreeze. What ever is remaining in the gray and black tanks is emptied at the local sewage treatment plant near home. I run the heat to keep the compartments warm so that the drain valves don't freeze up.

[Waiter21]

For me, discovering and dealing with a leak while at home is significantly easier than dealing with a leak in a strange location.

When we start heading south, I normally leave the coach winterized until I get to warmer climate. We flush the toilet with windshield antifreeze and don't dump any water in the drains.


This year, it was 45-50 degrees a couple days before departure, so I decided to de-winterize, sanitize, and fill the tanks. I'm glad I did. I found a frozen pipe that had shattered and needed to be replaced. It was a 6 hour job while sitting in my driveway the night before we were to leave.

Winterize – FAIL – Broken water pipe – 1999 Southwind 35S


..

[smsawle]

Good tip Maik about flushing with rv antifreeze while heading south. Will do in a couple of weeks.

[Quickuc]

Originally Posted by Maik

We do the same. We de-winterize at the first campground that has running water. We use RV antifreeze to flush the toilets on the way down South. On the return North we usually gauge the weather and were it will start to be well below freezing. We will blow out the system with air and fill it with Rv antifreeze. Drains get the same treatment with antifreeze. What ever is remaining in the gray and black tanks is emptied at the local sewage treatment plant near home. I run the heat to keep the compartments warm so that the drain valves don't freeze up.

So when you blow it out do you put the air at the same place you would winterize with antifreeze, and how much air pressure? Also do you open one area at a time, meaning kitchen sink ,then shower ect.

[Monacoach]

Originally Posted by Quickuc

So when you blow it out do you put the air at the same place you would winterize with antifreeze, and how much air pressure? Also do you open one area at a time, meaning kitchen sink ,then shower ect.

I put the air nozzle where the antifreeze goes and open one faucet at a time until there is no water coming through ( not even mist).
When done I still pump antifreeze through the lines.

I strongly advise if using air only method, do it right or some thing will freeze. Make sure there is no water left in the pump.