Winterized RV question.

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Kemo said:
Thanks for all the responses.  Another question is what is better then...blowing out pipes with air or winterize with RV anti-freeze?

Depends on how well you blow.
Winter 1: I used Pink Stuff. Spring 2 (got the RV Spring 1) I had a lot of "Fun" getting rid of all the pink stuff.

Winter 2 I blew the lines.. and blew, and blew and blew

Basically I opened all valves and blew till I ran out of air (Six gallon compressor 150 PSI max with a 50 PSI regulator) Then let it refil and blew again about 5-10 times till I no longer got any water coming out. Used pink in toilets and traps (Drains) where flushing it out is... Not required.

SPring 1 I had to re-assemble one fitting

Never again have I had to do that.
 
John From Detroit said:
Winter 2 I blew the lines.. and blew, and blew and blew

Basically I opened all valves and blew till I ran out of air (Six gallon compressor 150 PSI max with a 50 PSI regulator) Then let it refil and blew again about 5-10 times till I no longer got any water coming out.

When doing this, I always open one faucet at a time and not all of them at the same time. Is that what you meant John?  I didn't want any newbie to get confused.
 
  Kemo,  Living in an area with temperatures similar to yours....I probably “overkill” a little bit. I blow it with air, but don’t spend a lot of time doing so. THEN...flush with the antifreeze. My thought....eliminate most of the water, minimizing dilution of the antifreeze. Once you get a good flow of antifreeze... you’ve taken care of the traps. I run antifreeze thru everything, shower hose, toilet (including the spray nozzle), and each and every faucet. “If” you have a washing machine....be sure to flush some antifreeze thru pump to displace any water. I’d rather spend a little more time “flushing-out” the antifreeze, than repairing damage!  Hopefully this will continue to work for us... it was -21 F yesterday morning. But today, the big inning of a heat wave....only a -18 F. 
 
Old_Crow said:
Just as a point of reference, the cost to completely re-plumb a '00 Bounder 36S with PEX runs just about $9333.17.
Wally,  That is an astounding number as PEX very cheap to buy the pipe and fittings themselves probably less than $100 for the whole coach.  I have plumbed 3 new houses for less than $200 each and that was running separate lines for each fixture.  It is super easy to run during new construction.  Through the bowels of a MH would be much more complicated, but not $9K more complicated. ;D ;D

My tongue in cheek comment was just that, as I live in very rural and dumping a little water on my lawn does not do as much as the grass roots reaching down to the septic fields in the yard.  Remember Erma Bombeck's book "The Grass is always greener over the septic tank" 8) 8)
 
Many thanks to all for your responses.  Exactly what I was looking for. Last question I hope...IF I have a leak in the shower plumbing how do I access it to fix it?  Or is this a dealership issue?
 
Here is another one of the "need more info" questions (no offense meant). But where is it leaking? And when? Behind the wall, from underneath the shower stall? When you run water? When a faucet is turned on?  More details may help you get a better answer.
 
2kGeorgieBoy said:
Here is another one of the "need more info" questions (no offense meant). But where is it leaking? And when? Behind the wall, from underneath the shower stall? When you run water? When a faucet is turned on?  More details may help you get a better answer.

It does not have a leak...that I know of.  As I have said all the pumbing was winterized with the exception (I think) of the shower.  I can't remember if I ran anti-freeze thru it when I did the rest.  Looks like an early spring so I'll get the chance to test it soon.  Fingers crossed. 
 
Kemo said:
Many thanks to all for your responses.  Exactly what I was looking for. Last question I hope...IF I have a leak in the shower plumbing how do I access it to fix it?  Or is this a dealership issue?


    I?m not familiar with the construction of your unit. It may be an easy access or a real ?bugger?. And, could be dependent upon how good you are at ?do it yourself ? repairs.

    On my unit, everything is reasonably accessible... if you are a 130 pound contortionist. ?
 
Kemo said:
Thanks for all the responses.  Another question is what is better then...blowing out pipes with air or winterize with RV anti-freeze?

I posted this before but here is my opinion.

AIR is the way to go.  Anti-freeze they say won't hurt you - remember when they thought SMOKING was OK?
The point is it might take 40 years before the effects show up in large enough numbers to say it's RV related -
are you willing to take that chance?  I'll pass.

Lot's of people think the anti-freeze method is fine and maybe there right - but I doubt that the AIR method will be bad for you
in comparison.

But since you asked - that's my 2 cents worth of advice and what I plan on doing if I need to Winterize.
 
RedandSilver said:
...
AIR is the way to go.  Anti-freeze they say won't hurt you - remember when they thought SMOKING was OK?
The point is it might take 40 years before the effects show up in large enough numbers to say it's RV related -
are you willing to take that chance?  I'll pass.
...

It's a good thing you don't have Aqua Hot or equivalent then. Air won't do the job on the hot water side for those. Expensive.....
 
4 gallons of non toxic anti freeze for me. Total cost $20. I know I'm safe I think!?
First ever road trip starts tomorrow! I'll let you know.
Peace.
 
Tom Hoffman said:
Wally,  That is an astounding number as PEX very cheap to buy the pipe and fittings themselves probably less than $100 for the whole coach.  I have plumbed 3 new houses for less than $200 each and that was running separate lines for each fixture.  It is super easy to run during new construction.  Through the bowels of a MH would be much more complicated, but not $9K more complicated. ;D ;D

My tongue in cheek comment was just that, as I live in very rural and dumping a little water on my lawn does not do as much as the grass roots reaching down to the septic fields in the yard.  Remember Erma Bombeck's book "The Grass is always greener over the septic tank" 8) 8)

I  understand rural.  17 miles from town, 3/4mile off the pavement, on 9 acres of woods.  Even my S&B house dumps the gray water on the ground.
As far as the coach, well, there was the whole "disassemble the wet bay" thing to get to part of the lines.  Then they had both tires off one side and had to come up through the wheel well to get to the lines under the vanity and shower.    The rear furnace had to come out for access also, as did 1/2 the bathroom floor.
The adjuster made a mistake and approved the claim(apparently not supposed to cover frozen pipes, just broken ones), he told my guy to make sure the estimate covered every possibility.  Said they would not approve a supplement if he missed something, so he put everything he could think of on the estimate. New water pump, w/heater check valve, and water heater also figured into the estimate.
Since it turned out the water heater was okay, instead of that, we got a fancy new kitchen faucet, a nice porcelain toilet and new fixtures in the shower and bathroom sink.  The black water flush lines were also cracked.  That was a pretty fun project to get to them, I tell you. 
I owned a shop restoring old cars for the last 10 years of my work life, and I wouldn't have wanted to do this job for any amount of money.  Oh, and he waived my deductible, so I was out of pocket exactly nothing.  The RV park I was staying at even pro rated my stay so I was able to pick up where I left off after the coach spent 3 weeks at the shop(6 days waiting, the rest being worked on).
Overall I was pleased.  I visited the shop several times(usually to get more my wife more clothes)and both guys were busy with the coach every time I showed up.  The coach is better than it was, heck, I even got to fix the dryer while they had it out of the cabinet to replace the plumbing behind it. 
We're in our second week of being back in the coach and everything is just about back to normal.  Now...if it'd only quit raining.  Going on the 3rd day straight and I'm parked about 50 yards from the Arkansas River.
 
Memtb said:
  Kemo,  Living in an area with temperatures similar to yours....I probably ?overkill? a little bit. I blow it with air, but don?t spend a lot of time doing so. THEN...flush with the antifreeze. My thought....eliminate most of the water, minimizing dilution of the antifreeze. Once you get a good flow of antifreeze... you?ve taken care of the traps. I run antifreeze thru everything, shower hose, toilet (including the spray nozzle), and each and every faucet. ?If? you have a washing machine....be sure to flush some antifreeze thru pump to displace any water. I?d rather spend a little more time ?flushing-out? the antifreeze, than repairing damage!  Hopefully this will continue to work for us... it was -21 F yesterday morning. But today, the big inning of a heat wave....only a -18 F.

One additional comment is that my 5th wheel is a Four Seasons rig that's pretty well wrapped up underneath and is extra insulated.  Would that help lesson the possibility of the shower plumbing getting froze?
 
Kemo said:
One additional comment is that my 5th wheel is a Four Seasons rig that's pretty well wrapped up underneath and is extra insulated.  Would that help lesson the possibility of the shower plumbing getting froze?


Only ?if? it is in use and heated!  Without heat....?everything? reaches ambient rather quickly!
 
Update: Weather finally got nice enough to open up the slides and check the plumbing.  I was glad when I opened up the shower faucets and let it hang down pink came out.  So I had AF in the shower plumbing and everything looks good.  Left the faucets open to let drain back down.  Thanks all for the responses.  Camp On!
 

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