Winterized RV question.

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Kemo

Active member
Joined
Feb 2, 2018
Posts
28
Location
Macomb,Mi
Hi folks.  Ok so we bought a new 5th wheel last fall and when the season was over I winterized the rig.  No I'm not a complete newbie as we shared a Class A with my in-laws for years.  BUT as I was thinking about spring coming and getting ready for our first outing I couldn't remember if I actually drained the shower when I did all the rest.  I drained the fresh water, water heater and both facets in kitchen and bath but I think I forgot the shower plumbing.  My question is should I be worried about the lines getting frozen over the winter?  For sure a rookie mistake.
 
If you have Pex water pipe, you may be all right.  The fittings might crack before the pipe will. 
You did drain the gray water tank? 

Did you by chance leave the faucets open  if so the water would have not had anything to expand against and not caused a problem.
 
Tom Hoffman said:
If you have Pex water pipe, you may be all right.  The fittings might crack before the pipe will. 
You did drain the gray water tank? 

Did you by chance leave the faucets open  if so the water would have not had anything to expand against and not caused a problem.

Thanks Tom.  Yes I drained everthing. 
 
RedandSilver said:
Did you blow out the lines or use anti-freeze?

Used anti-freeze.  But like I said forgot to open shower head and run anti-freeze thru it.
 
Just wondering - if you raised the shower head with the pump turned off, and opened the spigots on the shower, would the water in the hose drain back into the fresh water tank?  Or is it better to pump antifreeze through the shower head ?
How about an outside shower?
just curious...
 
You should have pumped the pink antifreeze through the shower and also through the toilet.
In other words through the entire system including all faucets.

jack L
 
Fogetty said:
Just wondering - if you raised the shower head with the pump turned off, and opened the spigots on the shower, would the water in the hose drain back into the fresh water tank?  Or is it better to pump antifreeze through the shower head ?
How about an outside shower?
just curious...

No it would not because the pump has a built in check valve which would prevent this.
 
Thanks all for the responses.  I ran pink thru everything except the stupid shower head.  So that's the only plumbing I was concerned about.  Look's like we'll see in a few weeks now that the weather is changing.  Just wondering if anyone else may have a similar experience and what was the result?
 
If you have a conventional tub/shower faucet with the knob on the spigot you have to lift to get water through the shower, you might be ok.  Mostly when you turn off the water, that knob falls and the water drains back out of the hose, not into the tank, but down the drain.
 
Old_Crow said:
If you have a conventional tub/shower faucet with the knob on the spigot you have to lift to get water through the shower, you might be ok.  Mostly when you turn off the water, that knob falls and the water drains back out of the hose, not into the tank, but down the drain.

On mine, the hose droops down then back up similar to a trap in a sink. That would be the only concern. Where the hose is open on both sides of the loop, it may allow for expansion when the water freezes. If that's all that breaks because of freezing, you're lucky. You can replace the flex hose.
 
Rene T said:
On mine, the hose droops down then back up similar to a trap in a sink. That would be the only concern. Where the hose is open on both sides of the loop, it may allow for expansion when the water freezes. If that's all that breaks because of freezing, you're lucky. You can replace the flex hose.

Thanks Rene.  I think you're right.  The only water that might be trapped would have been in the hose itself.  I drained all tanks and ran water pump until air was being spurted out and then ran with anti freeze until it came out of taps.  So water in shower plumbing should have drained back down I hope.
 
It  is easy to remove the flex hose from the spigot assembly, which I do when winterizing. Hopefully you added some anti freeze to your black and gray tanks. I may get some disagreement here, but I feel that although you drained the tanks, there is still residual water in them that can drain down over time. It would puddle up against the closed valves and if a sufficient quantity, freeze and possibly cause damage to the valve area. May be overkill, but I add a good dose of AF to the tanks, "just in case". I also blow the  water lines out with compressed air and add AF, esp., in all of the "P" traps. Antifreeze is cheap compared to the trouble and expense of repairing cracked pipes.
 
Antifreeze is cheap compared to the trouble and expense of repairing cracked pipes.

It's way cheaper to just leave the gate valves open. ;D ;D ;D
 
Tom Hoffman said:
Antifreeze is cheap compared to the trouble and expense of repairing cracked pipes.

Just as a point of reference, the cost to completely re-plumb a '00 Bounder 36S with PEX runs just about $9333.17.
 
Thanks for all the responses.  Another question is what is better then...blowing out pipes with air or winterize with RV anti-freeze?
 
Many just blow out with air, but one must be very diligent to get all the water out. Don't forget the little things, outside shower that you don't use, ice maker line if you have one, etc. With antifreeze, you still have to remember these things. The antifreeze just needs to be flushed out with a lot of water. A lot of folks sanitize their system right after the flush.
 
Tom Hoffman said:
Antifreeze is cheap compared to the trouble and expense of repairing cracked pipes.

It's way cheaper to just leave the gate valves open. ;D ;D ;D
Not where I live Tom....I'll spend the $20 on antifreeze.
 
kdbgoat said:
Many just blow out with air, but one must be very diligent to get all the water out. Don't forget the little things, outside shower that you don't use, ice maker line if you have one, etc. With antifreeze, you still have to remember these things. The antifreeze just needs to be flushed out with a lot of water. A lot of folks sanitize their system right after the flush.

And so much depends on your rig, too. If you have a hydronic heating system such as Aqua Hot or Oasis, then you need the pink stuff, at least on the hot water side. The manual says that internally, it's so intricate that air cannot possibly get all the water out, and it doesn't take much to leave you with several thousand dollars in repair/replacement. On both my Beaver and my Ventana I've blown it out with air, then run pink stuff through the hot water side. So far so good...
 
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