De-Winterize Portland, OR Area

[stevanpierce@gmail.com]

My wife and I want to de-winterize without having to pay for it OR driving the RV or to the dealer for a "freebie". We live in an apartment in Portland, OR without access to a hose to start the process.

We've heard that Flying J's are a good place to hook up for water and sewer. However, since this is our first time, wanted to get opinions and advice.

Where would you advise we take it? How do others de-winterize while in apartments?

[avanti]

Why do you need sewer access? Just fill up with water and pump out the pink stuff from the freshwater plumbing. Dump the tanks the first time you go camping.

For future reference: If you learn to winterize using compressed air rather than that stuff, you won't have much of anything to do next time.

[stevanpierce@gmail.com]

Originally Posted by avanti

Why do you need sewer access? Just fill up with water and pump out the pink stuff from the freshwater plumbing. Dump the tanks the first time you go camping.

For future reference: If you learn to winterize using compressed air rather than that stuff, you won't have much of anything to do next time.

True on the sewer connection. The winterize was taken care of by the dealer. Since I don't readily have access to fresh water via hose, it is hard to fill up....in an apartment. The only access I would have is taking it to someplace like ???? or back to the dealer. (Which is what I am going to do since it's free...and on the way out of town to camp/rv.)

[avanti]

You can get potable water at most truck stops.

[Davydd]

If you live in an apartment and have no hose hookup I would recommend the first and last time you use your RV to go to a full hook up campground like a KOA near home that has a sewer connection and water right at the campsite. For winterizing at the end of the season you can empty your tanks and water lines thoroughly by taking the time to use the compressed air method. For de-winterizing you can continually flush your water tanks if you do have the pink anti-freeze in them and fill up before breaking camp. You can do this at your leisure instead of feeling pressure if you are causing a waiting line at a truck stop or a central dump site at a campground.

[OregonTrader]

There are free dump stations in the Portland area, and some also have potable water to refill, too. Here's one that's a short drive up I-5 from Portland:
https://www.wsdot.wa.gov/travel/safe...i-5-northbound

There are a few websites and apps that help you find dump/refill stations. Here's one:
RV Dump Sites