Winterizing Wet vs. Dry Opinions!

[Starmaster]

I blow out everything with air. Then, I pump antifreeze through the lines. I used to do only air with some antifreeze in the drains and a little through the pump. Then I realized that the antifreeze is mostly alcohol, so by filling the lines with antifreeze, it also keeps them sanitized.

Dave

[Cheezy1]

I do both. Living in WI I would hate to screw up and make more work for myself. You have to flush and clean out the lines before the season anyway so may as well be safe. The cure all is to go south for the winter! Even then I flush out the lines every three months.

[jeff_banning]

I had a Keystone Springdale and I did the blow out method, blew each line for 30sec to a minute, absolutely no water spitting out of any faucet. Next spring turned on pump and water was pouring out over wheel wells... cutting the underbelly I found the lines running through there were drooping between frame and water had settled back into these droop areas and froze splitting both hot and cold.. No more chances for me, its pink every year.

[scottz]

I also do both. Blow the water out, then fill with anit-freeze. The blow out is probably not necessary, but only takes a couple minutes; just use low pressure, about 30psi max.

[beeje]

I had mentioned this on many different threads, so here I go again. LOL

By far, the easiest/most foolproof way is to put 3-4 gallons of antifreeze in the fresh tank and pump it through all lines until you see pink. You should be flushing and sanitizing in the spring anyway. 2-3 fills and flushes in the spring will get rid of any antifreeze that may be remaining in the system.

There is NO WAY to be absolutely sure there is no water in the system when blowing it out. My brother in law found this out the hard way several times before he started using antifreeze.

Its simply not worth the chance since repairing a line buried deep in the campers underbelly would be, in some cases nearly impossible to fix.

[bethandkevin]

I'm trying the air method this year as it took so long to remove the taste and smell of the RV antifreeze this past season. I used 40 psi at the city connection and opened and closed faucets individually until there was nothing but the sound of air coming out(toilet, black flush and outside shower/faucet as well). I also cycled the pump while the air was flowing. RV antifreeze in the P-traps. My only concern is the possibility of a very low hanging line collecting what is left like Jeff mentioned. PEX is very forgiving and so the scale tipped toward this method for me this year.

[Mark N.]

Northern Utah, where lows will usually hit zero or a bit below at least once each winter, I do both. Simple and at $1.99/gal. for 2 gals., I'm not taking a chance with some residual water in a low spot after the blow-out. In southern Utah, where winter lows seldom got into the teens, and then only for a few hours during the late night, I just did the blow-out. Never once an issue.

[kdeiss]

Just an FYI their are two types of RV Anti Freeze


anti freeze, Camco Antifreeze, ethanol, propylene glycol, winterize
Choosing RV Antifreeze
December 22, 2015

Did you know there a number of choices to be made when buying your RV antifreeze? *The first choice is temperature rating and the second and more important is the main antifreeze ingredient. *When choosing the temperature rating, the standard -50 degree antifreeze is good for most locations. *When was the last time you had a sustained night time low below -50? *Unless you live in Alaska or the Canadian Territories it is very unlikely. *If however you need lower, there is -100 antifreeze as well. *Most RV antifreeze do not stay liquid when below freezing. *If you were to look, it should look like a pink Slushie when below freezing.
The second factor is the chemical composition of RV antifreeze. *There are two possible primary ingredients, and they affect the price dramatically. *One is Ethanol, it is cheaper and is the one that you can find at Walmart on sale for 99 cents a gallon. *Even though both types are usually pink, it is very easy to tell the difference as Ethanol based RV antifreeze is flammable so it has a flammable symbol on the bottle. *Because of this the MSDS states that it is more dangerous to handle and can be dangerous to ingest.
MSDS
Being alcohol based it will dry out the seals in your pump and toilet bowl, and the most noticeable reason the RV community dislikes it is that it leaves a bad taste behind in the fresh water pipes.
The other type of RV antifreeze is Propylene Glycol based. *Glycol based antifreeze is safe on your lawn, septic tank, and storm sewers. As it is a mineral oil it also will lubricate the seals as opposed to dry them out. *But the most amusing fact about it is that there is nothing that suggests it is harmful*to ingest. *I wanted to back this fact up so I checked the MSDS and the only reference to health effects is it may cause diarrhea if ingested in large quantities. *Many studies on rodents have shown no long term effect on them as well.
MSDS
I also spoke to my local RV dealer about it and they told me that they once did a taste test of all the Glycol based Antifreeze and Camco was the best tasting and I can confirm the Camco RV anti freeze does have a slightly fruity taste. *The most important fact for most people is that Glycol based antifreeze does not leave the “antifreeze” taste in your pipes. *This comes at a cost. *Glycol based antifreeze can be up to 4x more money than Ethanol and you usually only find it at RV dealers, not at Walmart or Home Depot.
So if you are looking for a solution that will not leave a bad taste in you pipes but are concerned if simply blowing out the pipes is enough, than glycol may be the solution. *An option for cutting down the amount of glycol needed, is you could use both types, glycol for the fresh water lines and ethanol for the P traps.
Camco -50 antifreeze on Amazon.com
Camco -100 antifreeze on Amazon.com
Advertisements

[Lenny K]

Today for the first time I have used air to blow out the lines and put a couple of cups of pink antifreeze into the p-traps. Other times that I've had to winterized I used antifreeze but it is such a pain to get rid of all the pink stuff.
This has been the first time in many years that I've had to winterize as we leave Vancouver Island about the 20 November every year for Arizona. Due to a medical appointment we are waiting for, probably means we won't be leaving until mid January.

[mlh]

If done properly either way will work. If you don’t do it right you will have frozen pipes if you live where it gets cold enough. My water system is pressurized now and has been for two weeks. Every time I go by my camper I open up each valve until no more water or vapor comes out. I put about a cup of bleach in my hot water tank and pumped it through the entire system before I pressurized it to sanitize it.
Lynwood