Hi JohnB! Thanks so much for taking the time to explain the basics to me. Now that I have my Toad I can concentrate on the Sunny. I have an inspection appt with Shady Maple RV on 4/22. I asked them to go over it because I just bought it.
I also asked them to flush the water system but the guy said they will run water through it but don't have a dump so I will have to dump the water myself. This didn't sound too good to me.
I'm worried they may run water with the antifreeze in it through the water heater and it sounds like this could be bad.
So I'm thinking maybe I should tell them not to flush and I will do it at a dump station somewhere. Or I'll wait to flush it until I take it on a local trip and do it at the campground? You know whats really cool? A read a lot about this and also the guy that sold me the camper said to use air to push the water out. I don't have access to air and I think I posted that somewhere. I was walking down the street the other day and there sitting in front of someones house was a portable air compressor with a free sign on it. haha. I don't know how to use one of these so I'm not sure if I'm gonna use it but isn't the universe cool! They say when your following the right path things just flow.
I know this is all new to you and we are here to help as we can. When you said this
I have an inspection appt with Shady Maple RV on 4/22. I asked them to go over it because I just bought it.
It is good they are going to do something to it. Did you tell them specifically what to look at or did they tell you specifically what they are going to do?
Understanding you may not know what to ask them, the list I posted earlier is a place to start.
Before you go, ask them what they are going to check (try to be specific) and for what cost. That is a simple question and they should be able to give you some specifics. Just because they "looked it all over" does not always means they actually checked everything.
At least tell them you are about to go on a cross country trip or X,XXX thousand miles and the camper needs to be able to hold up to that kind of towing. They may approach the inspection differently.
If you want to share the list, we can help to see if there are any other things that could be helpful.
As to antifreeze water inside the hot water heater, it happens from time to time and it ends up there. It is not bad, it will not hurt the heater, it will through need to be flushed/drained enough to get it all out so you do not end up with fizzy hot water.
If there is antifreeze, it "should be" the food grade RV antifreeze that is often pinkish in color. If the prior owner used compressed air to blow out the camper, then where may not be any antifreeze in it. Do you know that there is any antifreeze in it? if so how did you know this?
I do not know where the camper is located. City, country etc, Just flushing plain water through the camper and letting it out on a gravel driveway is not a problem normally. This is no different then washing a car. But, if someone did put automotive antifreeze in it that is deadly, that is a problem. Try and ask the prior owner if he can confirm that is not in the system. That would be bad.
RV antifreeze is made to not be deadly. It can give you the runs maybe, but not lethal.
Caution about towing with full tanks. While in the campground this is done all the time, the speed is very slow and not a problem. Towing with full black or gray tanks down the highway can be an issue. Ideally you do not do this as it can upset the weight and balance of the camper at highway speeds if not accounted for. And pending your setup, it may crack a tank from a bad bump. Suggest you can find a different way then filling the tanks and towing to a dump spot if possible. Odds are high you are not going to have enough capacity in the gray/black tank to do a good flush, sanitize and then flush with just filling your gray and or black tank. It takes a lot more water then 1 gray tank full.
Looking up your 86 T1850, it has a 24 gallon fresh system, 25 gal gray and 25 gal black tank. First you need to flush the system. Then do a system sanitize with a bleach solution, then several clean water flushes to get rid of the bleach water. You will run out of tank capacity on both the gray and black tank trying to do all the flushing needed. Try and find a place you can dump the water while flushing and not holding it in the tanks.
Hope this helps
John
