# Winterizing your rv



## Happy Jack (Jan 21, 2003)

How do you winterize your rv ? I'm a first timer and some people I know say they blow out the lines and others fill with anti freeze. The people who use air say they don't want that stuff in the lines. A guy I know who works at a rv dealer told me it's easy to blow by water and freeze up. I figure I'll use the rv anti freeze.


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## Warlock (Aug 10, 2004)

Anything and everything you want or need to know about RVing can be found here (winterizing is a "hot" topic right now):

http://www.rv.net/forum/


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## bklompy (Apr 6, 2005)

i drain all tanks hot water heater then blow out all my lines and put antifreeze in the toilet and all traps i dont like putting antifreeze in my pottable water system why contaminate it then spend time flushing the whole system in the spring blowing out the system is easy just need compressed air and to make a fitting to attach your air hose to your city water conn. set regulator between 40 & 50 psi and open one valve at a time you must drain your hot water tank by pulling the plug you can't drain it all the way with compressed air hope this helps some has worked for me for the past 5 yrs


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## kroppe (May 7, 2000)

Thanks for the reminder. What I do is pull the anode out of the hot water heater, and close the hot water heater bypass valve if you have one. Add about a gallon of antifreeze to the potable water tank, and run it though the system using the 12V onboard pump. Remove all low-point drain caps and open all water faucets, both hot and cold.


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## gman (Oct 13, 2000)

I have bypass valves to reroute around the hot water heater. drain the hot water heater and then all water lines. then rv antifreeze through the lines from the water supply tank. I use bleach through the tank and lines in the spring. flush a couple times til the bleach smell is gone and I'm good to go for the season. I think it's a good idea to flush out the tank with the bleach in case any mold is in there from the off season. ten years now with the same rv and no problems. knock on wood.


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## fmarke (Jun 28, 2003)

be very careful with air only. if the right conditions occur,after you blow out the lines, you can get condensation in a low area and bust a line. very expensive if it's in a hard to reach spot! i put a couple of cupfuls of antifreeze in the tank and then hook into the pump, bypassing the tank, to put a cupful or so into the drained water heater, then bypass it, and pump through all my faucets. a gallon or so of antifreeze is all you need.


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## dodge7 (Jan 18, 2005)

Really easy, drain hot water, by-pass hot water tank, dump 5or6 gallons of r/v antifreeze into tank, run12volt pump, run until anti freeze comes out of tap, both hot and cold, at all taps, same with toilet. this way all lines both feed and waste are filled with anti-freeze, also some in both holding tanks. come spring repeat process using water with a little vinegar, hole process takes less than an hour, costs about 18 dollars


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## Erik (Jan 17, 2000)

Heres how I do it.
First I drain the tanks including the hot water tank. When water stops draining from the fresh water tank I run the pump for just a few seconds to remove any remaining water in the pick up line. Blow out the entire system including the hot water heater. Theres water in the city water line that wont drain unless you blow it out. Use low pressure. Bypass the water heater, and bypass the pick up tube between the fresh water tank and pump. Install a temporary bypass hose to the pick up side of the pump. Run the other end into a gallon jug of RV antifreeze. If you put antifreeze into the fresh water tank it will be heck getting it out in the spring. Theres a little bit of fluid that sits in the bottom of the tank that wont drain out. Run pump till the pressure switch shuts it off. Open each faucet and run til antifreeze comes out nice and pink. Usaully takes about 2 gallons total. Pour a little bit of antifreeze in each trap. Finally drain the holding tanks and your done. I usaully leave all drains open, and it's a good idea to remove the fuse to the water pump til your ready to use it again.


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## kroppe (May 7, 2000)

Bumping this to the top as a reminder. 

Just winterized this weekend, and also made some mental notes to plan our next RV trip!  

Used 2 gallons of RV antifreeze. After all the lines were filled with the pink stuff, I opened all the taps, pulled the low-point caps from under the trailer, and emptied the water filter housing. The philosophy with opening the taps and removing the low point caps is to provide expansion for any tiny amount of water that didn't get purged. 

Also remove the water heater anode and store where you can find it in the spring.  Kind of like a boat plug. Now where did I put that thing?


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## Evan (Jul 24, 2003)

Also, don't forget to do your outside showers, for some reason we almost forgot that one this year. We just put ours in the backyard Sat, would have been nice to get one more weekend in, but, alas between kids and money, wasn't going to happen......til spring........


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## enfield (Apr 13, 2003)

I'm going out again in January or February, so I also poured a cup of pink antifreeze into my fresh water tank. The last time I pulled out in the middle of winter, I couldn't pump water until the 2nd day on the road because the pump inlet was frozen over. Made it hard to flush . . . .

Hope the antifreeze helps this time.


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## Backwoods-Savage (Aug 28, 2005)

Just sold our motor home. We bought it new in 1995. Winterizing it was simple, but it takes two people. The valve you can get at any RV store costs maybe $2 or $3 and you screw that into the city water line.

But first, drain the water heater and then replace the plug. Then we used compressed air at up to 60 lbs. I would blow some air into the line and then my wife would open the front most valve, usually the kitchen sink. Lots of water will come out. When through, do it again until you start getting air. Then move to the next water valve. Repeat the process you did with the first valve. Do that all the way back until you have done all of them. Then repeat with each faucet. You'll usually only get air but sometimes you might get a spitting of water. 

As long as you are getting any water from the line, repeat with the compressed air. When through, once again, pull the plug from the water heater and leave it out. Leave all water faucets inside the coach open. Pour a pint to a quart of anti-freeze into each trap and don't forget to put a little in the holding tanks also. But first you must also drain the water from those holding tanks, because that is where the water went while you were blowing it out.

As stated, we had the coach for 10 years and never had a problem doing it this way and didn't have anti-freeze in our water lines.

This may sound like a lot of work, but really, it takes us about 20 minutes maximum to complete the process. And with the money you save on anti-freeze, take the wife out for lunch! Enjoy yourself.


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## WALLEYE MIKE (Jan 7, 2001)

Backwoods-Savage said:


> Just sold our motor home. We bought it new in 1995. Winterizing it was simple, but it takes two people. The valve you can get at any RV store costs maybe $2 or $3 and you screw that into the city water line.
> 
> But first, drain the water heater and then replace the plug. Then we used compressed air at up to 60 lbs. I would blow some air into the line and then my wife would open the front most valve, usually the kitchen sink. Lots of water will come out. When through, do it again until you start getting air. Then move to the next water valve. Repeat the process you did with the first valve. Do that all the way back until you have done all of them. Then repeat with each faucet. You'll usually only get air but sometimes you might get a spitting of water.
> 
> ...


Exactly what I do.


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