Quote:
Originally Posted by shelly66
Here in sunny CA it may or may not frost each winter. Once in a while we get cold enough to kill off some tropical flowers, but we still grow oranges and lemons. Never stays below freezing more than a few hours. We've been using the 2363 as our emergency earthquake water supply source and don't want to winterize and drain the emergency water unless we need to. It never snows here (20 years and counting).
would you winterize?
|
Shelly,
In your situation, here's what I think I would do.
- Use compressed air to blow the fresh water lines out.
- Drain whatever remains in the water heater. Make sure it's off!
- Dump and flush the black and grey tanks. Close the valves.
- Pour some RV antifreeze down the shower drain, enough to make it past the trap and down into the grey tank. For sake of argument, a half gallon should be more than enough. This will keep the grey valve lubricated so it doesn't dry out and become a problem later.
- Through the toilet, pour some RV Antifreeze into the black tank, this will keep the black valve lubricated.
- Close the toilet flapper and put a little RV Antifreeze in the bowl. This will keep the toilet seal lubricated.
- A little RV antifreeze down both sink drains will keep the traps wet and prevent freezing there.
- Making sure the fresh water pump is off, fill the fresh water tank. I would leave an air cushion at the top of the fresh tank. When water freezes, it tends to expand upward. If for some reason, it does freeze, this space will give it somewhere to go.
- Prop the bed open just a couple of inches to allow for some airflow under the bed. This will help keep the fresh water tank a little "warmer." You don't want to just open the bed entirely, as ambient light will encourage algae growth in the fresh water tank.
Then, like Tweety said, if you are expecting some cold snaps, you could simply run the heat on a real low setting the keep the fresh water liquid.
This should keep you safe, and with no antifreeze in the water lines, you could have water running in a few seconds in case of an emergency.
- Frank
__________________