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Old 10-09-2007, 06:22 PM   #1
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Sun-n-Fun
My Water System Winterizing

Hi everyone cold weather is coming and it's time to think winterizing your water systems, I have used this method for years and to date have never had any thing to freeze in my water system.

I always completely drain all my water lines and hot water heater,and fresh water tank, Then i add 4 gallon's of rv/antifreeze to my fresh water tank and shut off all hot water valves and run pump until the antifreeze comes out of hot water heater drain, then plug or shut off the water heater drain,close bypass, and open all cold water lines and toilet, then run pump until antifreeze comes out of all open faucets and toilet. I have never had a freeze up yet and have been in areas of low temperatures 10 above zero at times.
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Old 10-09-2007, 06:56 PM   #2
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I basically do the same thing, except instead of putting the antifreeze into the fresh water tank; I pump it through from the input side of the water pump. Our current trailer has a winterizing kit, which makes this easy. Our previous Sunline didn’t and I just disconnected the hose between the fresh water tank and water pump, attached a siphon hose, put the hose into a bottle of antifreeze, bypass the HW tank, turn the pump on and run antifreeze through all hot & cold water lines (don't forget the toilet & outside shower). Then poor some done each drain to make sure there is antifreeze in each trap and leave a little in the toilet bowl. Use <2 gal of antifreeze via this method. In our area, we typically will have 1 or more weeks of below zero temps. No problems in 10 years of doing it this way also.
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Old 10-09-2007, 07:01 PM   #3
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I do it like Hutch does. But, I will not be winterizing until the morning of November 25th when I leave Pigeon Forge, TN and head for home.

Kitty
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Old 10-10-2007, 05:47 AM   #4
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Mine didn't have the winterizing kit so I just bought a valve and some tubing and added my own. I also set the compressor to about 20 psi and put the valve on the water hookup and blow the water out of the lines. Then add the RV antifreeze. I need to do it in the near future.
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Old 10-10-2007, 06:26 AM   #5
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Since this is my first winter with the trailer, I am wondering how long I can go before shutting her down for the winter. I live just south of Atlanta. Seems we usually get our really cold stuff in late December and into February.

I would like to take an early December trip to somewhere with a Christmas theme.

Any advice from some of you in the Southeast

Thanks,
David
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Old 10-10-2007, 07:04 AM   #6
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Hi David,

I’m not in the Southeast, but I would think that you want to make sure your trailer is winterized before your temps continually start dropping below freezing for the whole night.

Until then I would recommend that you drain your water system (lines, HW tank, and tanks) between camping trips. I would do just a gravity drain & keep all faucets & low point drains open (you may also want to put a little antifreeze in the drain traps & toilet) between trips until you feel it’s time to winterize. This will protect from water freezing if the temps temporarily drop below freezing.

Hope this helps.
Hutch
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Old 10-10-2007, 07:37 AM   #7
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I use the method like Hutch described. My only suggestion is to make yourself a checklist. As I have become a "seasoned" camper I figured last year I would just winterize by my head. Well I too ended up with a little remaining antifreeze and went to each trap to add a little more of the extra pink fluid. Well I got to the toilet and realized I forgot the toilet supply line. Off to Wally World to buy another gallon. So much for trusting my "seasoned" brain.
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Old 10-10-2007, 07:55 AM   #8
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Looks like I will be headed to wally world soon as well. My wife really does not want to put it up for the winter. She wants to get in a couple of cold weather trips. I will be watching the temps closely in the mean time. The risk here is that we normally do not get much extreme cold, but when we do, it is the result of a blast of artic cold for a few days at a time.

As my Scoutmaster training said - 'Be Prepared'!

Thanks for the input. I want to make sure I address the winterization effort well as I understand it can create major problems later. (And I did not mean to hijack the thread - if so - sorry)

back to work,
David

oops - should not have used that 4 letter word....
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Old 10-10-2007, 09:54 AM   #9
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I prefer not to winterize using antifreeze. I use air. Here's the basic steps:

- Drain all holding tanks
- Open low point drains
- Drain WH
- Close all drains
- Install air fitting in fresh water inlet
- Put air in lines, opening each faucet one at a time
- Turn on water pump for brief time to pump excess water out
- Remove incoming line from pump to drain
- Re-plug WH
- Pour antifreeze down all drains and traps
- Cover all outside vents and storage doors with plastic carpet protector
- Put Bounce dryer sheets in all storage areas
- Cover all sharp exterior areas with pipe insulation
- Cover trailer

I'm sure I've forgotten stuff, but by using air, I'm ready to go any time. Just hook up the water and I can use it right away.

Jon
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Old 10-10-2007, 04:37 PM   #10
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I know it was mentioned, but easy to pass by if you were reading fast.

DON'T FORGET THE OUTSIDE SHOWER.

And don't ask me how I know that.
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Old 10-10-2007, 06:32 PM   #11
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I may just be paranoid, but I use air and antifreeze. I blow out all of the lines and then winterize with the antifreeze. And to save a little money I use winshield washer fluid in my drain traps and tanks. I haven't looked but I hope my new trailer has the winterizing kit, like the last one did.
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Old 10-10-2007, 06:34 PM   #12
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Al in PA
Paul, thanks for the reminder. Since this is my first year with an outside shower, there's a good chance I would have forgotten about it.
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Old 10-10-2007, 06:45 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Al in PA
Paul, thanks for the reminder. Since this is my first year with an outside shower, there's a good chance I would have forgotten about it.
Same here, I haven't had an outside shower in a Sunline since that '97, so that would have been 7 years ago we would have winterized it.

I'll admit, it is very easy to overlook. The same goes for those of you with SeaLand toilets equipped with sprayers. We learned that the hard way last winter!

Jon
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Old 10-12-2007, 05:00 PM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sunline Fan
I prefer not to winterize using antifreeze. I use air. Here's the basic steps:

- Drain all holding tanks
- Open low point drains
- Drain WH
- Close all drains
- Install air fitting in fresh water inlet
- Put air in lines, opening each faucet one at a time
- Turn on water pump for brief time to pump excess water out
- Remove incoming line from pump to drain
- Re-plug WH
- Pour antifreeze down all drains and traps
- Cover all outside vents and storage doors with plastic carpet protector
- Put Bounce dryer sheets in all storage areas
- Cover all sharp exterior areas with pipe insulation
- Cover trailer

I'm sure I've forgotten stuff, but by using air, I'm ready to go any time. Just hook up the water and I can use it right away.

Jon
What exactly is this air fitting you mention?

And by water inlet, are talking about for the fresh water tank or the city water hookup?

I like the idea of doing this early in the year, and then maybe going the anti-freeze route for the coldest part of the year.

Thanks,
David
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Old 10-12-2007, 06:07 PM   #15
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If you've blown all the lines out with pressurized air why bother with the antifreeze?
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Old 10-12-2007, 06:43 PM   #16
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We have done it both ways - with air (before we had a winterizing kit) and with anti-freeze......

If you blow air(city water hookup) thru the system...watch the pressure you use, Leo has blown out the filter once.....we would then would use the anti-freeze in the traps and in the toilet....just to be on the safe side!
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Old 10-12-2007, 06:44 PM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by partimcmpr
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sunline Fan
I prefer not to winterize using antifreeze. I use air. Here's the basic steps:

- Drain all holding tanks
- Open low point drains
- Drain WH
- Close all drains
- Install air fitting in fresh water inlet
- Put air in lines, opening each faucet one at a time
- Turn on water pump for brief time to pump excess water out
- Remove incoming line from pump to drain
- Re-plug WH
- Pour antifreeze down all drains and traps
- Cover all outside vents and storage doors with plastic carpet protector
- Put Bounce dryer sheets in all storage areas
- Cover all sharp exterior areas with pipe insulation
- Cover trailer

I'm sure I've forgotten stuff, but by using air, I'm ready to go any time. Just hook up the water and I can use it right away.

Jon
What exactly is this air fitting you mention?

And by water inlet, are talking about for the fresh water tank or the city water hookup?

I like the idea of doing this early in the year, and then maybe going the anti-freeze route for the coldest part of the year.

Thanks,
David
David,

The air fitting looks like this. It installs in the city water inlet:


I use the metal version and I've never had a problem.

Jon
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Old 10-13-2007, 09:06 PM   #18
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Hematite
Hi Jon,
I noticed that the owners manual also mentioned opening low point drains, but what are they? The holding tanks and water heater drain I figured out, but not the low point drains.

Also, you have to remove incoming line to water pump? I don't remember that in the manual.

Thanks,
Rick
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Old 10-13-2007, 09:26 PM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Hematite
Hi Jon,
I noticed that the owners manual also mentioned opening low point drains, but what are they? The holding tanks and water heater drain I figured out, but not the low point drains.

Also, you have to remove incoming line to water pump? I don't remember that in the manual.

Thanks,
Rick
Hi Rick,

The low point drains are basically what they say they are: a drain at the lowest point in the fresh water system. A quality built trailer should only have one drain for both the hot and cold, but occasionally a longer trailer will have to have two if the lines have to dip around something.

The major need for low point drains is to drain all the remaining water out of the water lines. If you winterize with air, you would go to open up the faucet with no pressure and probably have some water drip out. This is from the remaining pressure in the line. However, there will continue to be water that won't want to come out, and the air pressure won't push all of it out, so it'll drain back to the lowest point in the line, and that's where the low points come in. Once all the water is out, close them and put the air to the system. The air will push all the remaining droplets out through the faucet. In fact, it may be a good idea to open the low points once you're done just to make sure there aren't any "puddles" forming still.

I'm not familiar enough with the 2499 to know where they are in that, but I'm sure a fellow 2499'er can help there. I haven't had the joy of finding them in my 270 yet, but I remember the ones in my 2363 were under the stove and I think the ones in my 2251 were under the shower.

Irt the water pump incoming line, it may not be necessary, but once you've had a problem, you'll do it all the time. My dad forgot to take it off on our MH last year, and it froze part of the pump. I know that's an entirely different pump than in Sunline's (still as noisy though ), but the water froze inside the filter housing and broke it. Of course the dealer/factory had no record of that part. Thanks to iboats.com, we now have a working water pump.

For doing the air method, removing the line isn't necessary, but if you do antifreeze, it is. The previous owner of my 270 had a hose that connected to the fitting on the pump and the would draw out of a jug of antifreeze. It's a pretty easy to do it if you don't mind the antifreeze smell/taste in the lines even after flushing them out.

When I winterize my 270 in a couple weeks, I hope to take step by step pics of everything I do. This way, newbies can learn and southerners can see what they're missing .

Also, I plan to store a lot of stuff in it this winter, but normally I wouldn't advise that. I just have a lot of camping stuff of my own and I really don't want it sitting in the basement all winter, so I'll put it in the TT. There won't be any food stuff though. I just wouldn't advise it in case it's broken into.

Jon
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1997 T-2653 Blue Denim, #5471
1979 12 1/2' MC, Beige & Avocado, #4639
Past Sunlines: '97 T-2653 #5089, '94 T-2251, '86 T-1550, '94 T-2363, '98 T-270SR
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Old 10-13-2007, 11:06 PM   #20
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Sun-n-Fun
Hi Everyone, I have been overwhelmed by the way's and means of winterizing our Coaches.

I have one word of CAUTION I see many have stated they use ANTIFREEZE?.

Be sure if you use ANTIFREEZE that it's labeled for RV USE and not the type you use in your car or truck.

I have never had any experience with bad tasteing water useing RV ANTIFREEZE. After flushing my system!!!!!!.
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