Help winterizing with air

[robert g]

Help can anyone tell me how to winterize a Roadtrek 2012 popular not putting antifreeze in fresh water tank by using air. Just bought it and learning the process Thanks in advance all help appreciated.

[avanti]

You need to get yourself one of these:



https://www.amazon.com/Winterize-Mot...s%2C147&sr=8-6

and a little automotive air compressor.

For the procedure, there are lots of good how-to's on the Net and youTube.

Don't forget to put some pink stuff in your drain traps and macerator if you have one.

[jrobe]

Here is my winterizing workflow on my Class B to keep antifreeze out of the freshwater tank and water heater. I first drain the freshwater tank. Then I drain my water heater by removing the anode rod. Then I attach the Camco blow out plug (see link below) to my RV outside water connection. I use my home air compressor to pressurize my water system which blows out any leftover water in the water heater through the anode rod drain plug. Then I reinstall (or replace if needed) the anode rod and bypass the water heater to keep antifreeze out of my water heater.

Than again I pressurize my water system to 30-40 psi or so and one by one open each water valve in the van (kitchen sink, bath sink, shower, toilet, hot and cold water). This requires me to repressurize after opening each valve. This step get rid of the vast majority of water in the water lines. Many people stop here but I go one step further to protect all my water lines and faucets.

I then pump a little RV antifreeze into my water lines bypassing the freshwater tank. I have self installed a side siphon hose in the water line between my freshwater tank and my Shurflo water pump. I used a cheap PEX Tee connector in this line with a couple valves which allows me to shut off the flow from the freshwater tank and open the valve to a 2 foot piece of plastic hose. I close the valve on the freshwater tank so no antifreeze gets into the freshwater tank and then open the valve to the short siphon hose. I stick the siphon hose into a gallon of RV antifreeze and turn on my Shurflo pump as I open each faucet for a few seconds till I see pink antifreeze flowing from the faucets. I probably use 1/2 gal of antifreeze total to protect my system.

In the spring I hook up my home garden hose to the van and run water through all my faucets to get rid of the antifreeze before I open the system to the freshwater tank and my water heater.

https://www.amazon.com/Camco-36153-B...WY2SWEWA3FFPZK

[avanti]

@jrobe:
If you are going to use antifreeze, your setup for avoiding contaminating the tanks (and wasting antifreeze) is very nice. However, I can't quite see the point in blowing out each line and then immediately filling it with pink stuff. What you describe seems to amount to an air winterization that is immediately replaced with an antifreeze winterization.

IMO, the only good argument for putting pink stuff in any part of your fresh system is that it is somewhat more forgiving of sloppy execution. The reason is that if each water outlet is running pink, you are pretty sure it is protected, whereas a too-quick blowout is slightly less obvious. I think this is why most upfitters recommend antifreeze--it is just more robust to sloppiness.

My preference is to stick with just air, but (a) take your time and do it carefully (it is still faster than an elaborate antifreeze process); (b) Take all removable fixtures such as shower wands indoors for the winter; (c) remove the little clear plastic screen cover that is probably on or near your water pump; and (d) leave all remaining valves open. If you do these things and fill your traps and macerator with antifreeze, you will be fine, and you don't have to do anything in the spring except sanitizing and driving off.

P.S. -- If you have a Keurig in your rig, be sure to take it indoors for the winter. It retains water and there is no easy way to drain it.

[SKrejsa]

Could someone give a more specific description of the type of air compressor that will do the job? Or perhaps if easier, what type(s) will NOT do the job? Would a portable air compressor rated to 120psi work?

[booster]

Originally Posted by SKrejsa

Could someone give a more specific description of the type of air compressor that will do the job? Or perhaps if easier, what type(s) will NOT do the job? Would a portable air compressor rated to 120psi work?

Compressor size really doesn't matter much, as long as you are willing to spend more time with a small one compared to a large one. You only need 20-30 psi.



We have an onboard compressor that is quite small and a big two stage 5hp that will put out 17cfm at home. The big compressor is just big enough to hook up and open the faucets and toilet valve and let it blow them all out together, but it runs continuously. Quite fast, maybe 10 minutes of blow out. The small compressor will bleed one faucet at a time, and you have to let it recover between short periods of faucet opening, plus it needs to cool off periodically. It will take me over an hour before it is done, but I am picky about how much vapor is still coming out.


We have had people say they just pump it up with a hand tire pump repeatedly and gotten OK results.

[<<B-Guy>>]

Over the years with several travel trailers and now our camping van, I have tried all methods of winterising, just air, just antifreeze, and both. I have been lucky and never had a freeze proble except with our last Airstream trailer.

In that case, we bought the trailer three years old and I didn't realise it had a rinse hose for the toilet! The previous owner had tucked it up in behind the toilet and I had never seen it. Sure enough, next spring water all over the place when we used the toilet ! A simple fix- new hose and nozzle/valve for about $35!



These days, if I winterise our van "On the road" when heading home to Canada I just use the antifreeze method.


On the other hand, If I am winterising the van at home, I will first blow the lines as I have good-sized compressor in the garage. But then i do follow up with antifreeze to be as sure as I can be of no problems.

The reason i do this is that I have heard that when you blow the lines out, you likely won't get all the water out and it is "Possible" residual water could still collect at some point in teh plumbing and cause a problem. I never experienced that in years gone by when at times I have only used air - but accept that it is not impossible it could happen.

The main reason I blow the lines first is to save time watching for the taps to run pink - saves antifreeze too! I'm a bit colour blind too, and so never really sure when the taps are running so this way,as soon as I get a good flow of liquid I know it is antifreeze!!


Similarly, at home we have a buried lawn sprinker system with about 60 sprinklers, and that system has to be winterised.

I have the sprinkler people do it for me, and the normal procedure is just to use air for lawn sprinklers.

Could I just do it with my own air compressor? Quite likely, but I prefer not to take the chance as my air compressor is only 1.5HP, and the sprinkler folks use a 60HP compressor on a trailer.

I believe that the larger compressor capable of delivering steady high volume air flow is much less likely to leave any significant residual water in the lines than might be the cze with my garage compressor.

[IWUGrad]

This is a great video, it's for a much larger RV, but the concept is the same. I'm going to attempt this next weekend on my 2007 Pleasure Way Lexor. I bought this compressor and accessories. I watch a lot of review videos on the compressor before I bought because it's expensive, but I saw a lot of positive reviews.

https://www.thervgeeks.com/winter-rv...v-water-lines/

[jakegw2]

I have winterized both ways and in my opinion it is very difficult to get the water out of your lines with a small compressor (I tried it with a 3 gallon). After working at it for the better part of an hour (mainly due to how long it takes the compressor to refill the tank after each faucet) I still could see water would coming out with every attempt. With a bigger compressor this would be a very simple operation and a great choice.

My van came with a winterization siphon hose and water tank bypass from the manufacturer and that method is far easier. Put the hose in the RV antifreeze jug, turn the siphon valve to the winterize setting, and go around running each faucet one-by-one until the pink stuff comes out. It takes all of 5 minutes or so and there is no chance of leaving enough water to collect in a low point or in the water heater (mine is on-demand, so no tank to worry about) that will inadvertently cause damage. Running the pink stuff through the faucet fills the traps in the drains at the same time so everything gets covered in one shot.

[Keyne]

By the way, I have heard from Roadtrek that they recommend NOT using air to winterize. Not sure why but I think it is in the manual.

[jrobe]

Originally Posted by Keyne

By the way, I have heard from Roadtrek that they recommend NOT using air to winterize. Not sure why but I think it is in the manual.

They don't want someone to get the pressure too high and blow out something in the water system (hose clamps, etc.). When I use my compressor for initial winterizing, I try not to go above 30-40 psi which requires caution depending on how your compressor is adjusted. The goal is low pressure but higher volume (which requires a compressor with a reasonable size tank).

On the other hand, to use the compressor to inflate my van's tires I want higher pressures (50-70+ psi). I don't change the compressors setting to winterize it but I am very careful pressurizing the water lines not to go too high.

[jakegw2]

FYI - do not use high pressure, you can damage the plumbing that is not designed for it. Use the air-compressor's pressure regulator to keep the pressure at or below 40psi.

[mechmike10]

I would add the following. You want to use an oil less or oil free compressor so you are not introducing oil to your water system. Second, be sure to flush the toilet and run the water pump for a second or two while there is pressurized air in the system to drive any water out of those two spots.

[ballbraindogs]

I use a connector like avanti suggested only it is plastic. Then I attached a piece of rubber tubing to it. I hook it up to the city water inlet and use a hand pump like this using the pointy adapter that came with the pump to attach to the tubing:

https://www.amazon.com/Texsport-Doub...3387899&sr=8-4

Nancy
2000 Pleasure Way Excel TD

[magicbus]

Originally Posted by <<B-Guy>>

These days, if I winterise our van "On the road" when heading home to Canada I just use the antifreeze method.

I do this too heading home to New England. For me space is too precious in a B to be toting around a compressor.

[Alain]

Bonjour. Pour réparer pour l'hiver mon roadtrek 190 1999, j'installe manuellement un bypass pour mon chauffe eau. C'est à dire, j'installe un bout de tuyau entre celui qui amène l'eau au chauffe eau, et celui à la sortie d'eau chaude du chauffe eau. Ensuite je draine le chauffe eau et le réservoir d'eau et laisse couler l'eau partout tant qu'il y a de l'eau. Ensuite, je connecte un tuyau à l'entrée d'eau de la pompe et l'autre bout dans le galon d'antigel rose. J'active la pompe et ouvre chacun des robinets incluant toilette un à un, jusqu'à ce que ca sorte rose (un galon est suffisant. Je finis en vidant mes réservoirs d'eau grise et noir. Si vous avez une meilleur facon dites le moi, car connecter mon tuyau à la pompe n'est pas facile.

[magicbus]

Je pense que vous faites de votre mieux. l'utilisation d'un compresseur nécessiterait d'accéder à l'autre côté de la pompe. je resterais avec ce qui fonctionne.

[avanti]

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[@Michael]

Originally Posted by <<B-Guy>>

On the other hand, If I am winterising the van at home, I will first blow the lines as I have good-sized compressor in the garage. But then i do follow up with antifreeze to be as sure as I can be of no problems.

The reason i do this is that I have heard that when you blow the lines out, you likely won't get all the water out and it is "Possible" residual water could still collect at some point in teh plumbing and cause a problem. I never experienced that in years gone by when at times I have only used air - but accept that it is not impossible it could happen.

I winterized today using your technique, except that I blew the antifreeze out too. That makes it easier to de-winterize. The antifreeze that I blow out ends up in the traps and tanks, so it's not wasted.

When I was done blowing out the water and started pumping antifreeze, I about a cup of clear water come out of each sink and the toilet before the pink stuff came out. That cup would have been someplace in the plumbing.

--Mike

[Dusty]

Originally Posted by magicbus

Je pense que vous faites de votre mieux. l'utilisation d'un compresseur nécessiterait d'accéder à l'autre côté de la pompe. je resterais avec ce qui fonctionne.

TRANSLATION:
I think you are doing your best. using a compressor would require access to the other side of the pump. I would stick with what works.