Winterized today - did I miss a step?

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scooterjm

Member
Joined
Jun 21, 2023
Posts
15
Location
Kansas City, MO
Due to several expected nights of hard freezes I went ahead and winterized today for the first time. Getting antifreeze through all the lines and in the drains was a breeze. But after I got home (my storage site is about 20 miles away) I realized I didn't think about the Black Tank Flush inlet. The last time I flushed the black tank was early September. Do I need to go back and push some antifreeze through that line, or is it likely empty and dry by now anyway?
 
I always use a hand pump to put A/F in the black tank flush. Normally these lines will self empty, but there may be a low spot in the line. Did you press the check valve on the city water fill while pumping the A/F? If you used the water pump to push the A/F through the lines, the city water fill needs to have the check valve pushed and A/F pushed out that line also, just like a faucet.
 
If it's anything like ours, when you disconnect the hose, any water runs back out indicating that there isn't a check valve there. I would then assume trying to add antifreeze would have the same effect.
 
gwinger said:
I always use a hand pump to put A/F in the black tank flush. Normally these lines will self empty, but there may be a low spot in the line.
Click to expand...

I do have a hand pump but didn't use it today. Sounds like I ought to play it safe and go back out tomorrow to do that.

gwinger said:
Did you press the check valve on the city water fill while pumping the A/F? If you used the water pump to push the A/F through the lines, the city water fill needs to have the check valve pushed and A/F pushed out that line also, just like a faucet.
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I did, that was my favorite part. :)
 
Western Slope said:
Antifreeze doesn't belong in the water heater and/or fresh water tank unless the owners manual states otherwise. Drain them both.
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I totally agree. I use to just drain the water heater then just put the plug back in loosely just in case water should get into the tank, it would be able to drain out. If there is a little bit of water left after draining, it won’t hurt a thing?
If you add pink stuff to the heater and there is a little bit of sludge in the bottom of the tank, that may act like a sponge with the antifreeze. I wouldn’t do it.
 
TonyL said:
If it's anything like ours, when you disconnect the hose, any water runs back out indicating that there isn't a check valve there.
Click to expand...
All of the waste tank flush systems that I have worked with have a check valve designed into the nozzle that is inserted into the tank. If it wasn't there you would get waste water back from the tank into the flush system anytime that the tank was full and it would probably plug up the nozzle very quickly. If the water connection is physically below the nozzle and no plug is put into the fitting, air will enter the line and allow the water to drain out by gravity. I don't recall anyone winterizing the waste tank flush system in my experience or of there being any freeze damage to one.
Gary RV_Wizard said:
The flush inlet opens into the black tank, so if there is any water left in the line, it can expand into the tank rather than break a fitting. I wouldn't worry.
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In addition, some freezing of a small amount of water in the RV water lines doesn't cause any problem. It is the parts that are hard and inflexible that can be damaged.
 
I found our 2023 TT's largest battery power drain while its sitting idle this morning after looking at the cold climate features listed below. Thought that it was my carbon monoxide and smoke detectors which were draining the batteries down in the cold after a week or so. It's not.

It's winter temperatures (below freezing cold and snow) here so the refrigerator cold weather heater kit is switched to on automatically when it stays at freezing outside even though the refrigerator itself is off. Got to wire a manual 12V power switch to it.

As a final step it's best to disconnect or switch the 12V entirely off.

20231028_153610.jpg
 
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scooterjm said:
Due to several expected nights of hard freezes I went ahead and winterized today for the first time. Getting antifreeze through all the lines and in the drains was a breeze. But after I got home (my storage site is about 20 miles away) I realized I didn't think about the Black Tank Flush inlet. The last time I flushed the black tank was early September. Do I need to go back and push some antifreeze through that line, or is it likely empty and dry by now anyway?
Click to expand...
Likely no.. Here is why.
Somewhere above the black tank is a device called a vacuum breaker. it's the HIGHEST point in the line to the tank. You might notice some "Drain back" when you disconnect (The water in the line UP to the vacuum breaker drains back towards you when you unhook)
And the water on the other side drains into the otherwise empty black tank.

Leaving the lines full of AIR. and if the AIR ever freezes... You won't worry about it.
NOTE: I found it's better to push air in all the lines... Forget the pink save for drains and toilets (You don't need to flush those out.. Just "Flush" normally next time you use 'em)
Again after about 10 blows with a 6 gallon compressor. all valves open (Cycle the ice maker after the first blow and don't forget to drain and bypass the water heater) there is not enough water left in the system to matter. and again if the air freezes.. Don't worry about it (You'll be dead of course).
 
scooterjm said:
... I can't do that for the new trailer because there's no power source at my storage site and there's no room at my home to bring it here for work.
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If you have an outside shower, especially if you have one of those blue coiled hoses where you put your own sprayer on the end, then you have a very easy solution to winterize the black tank flush line.


Simply connect the outside shower hose to the black tank flush connection and turn on your water pump after setting up the antifreeze jug.

Now turn on the hot or cold water for the shower and it will "pump the pink" right into the black tank, displacing any water that may be trapped in the black tank water line.

It works, and it works well. That's how I winterize my black tank water line with the "pink stuff."

And Note:
Yes, you do want to winterize that line. It does go into the trailer, under your bathroom sink, and passes through the anti syphon valve. It does have water in the line all the time unless you blow it out or "pump the pink."
 
Western Slope said:
Thought that it was my carbon monoxide and smoke detectors which were draining the batteries down in the cold after a week or so. It's not.
Click to expand...
A smoke detector or a CO detector or a propane detector will each use about 0.01A for a total of around 0.03A. Remember that any of those will work for a year or two when supplied by the little 9V batteries. Most flooded-cell (a.k.a., wet) batteries self-discharge about 3% of their capacity per month when open circuit.
 
scooterjm said:
I do have a hand pump but didn't use it today. Sounds like I ought to play it safe and go back out tomorrow to do that.


I did, that was my favorite part. :)
Click to expand...
A nice PINK shower first time. Now I cover it with a rag before depressing the check valve.
 
Western Slope said:
I found our 2023 TT's largest battery power drain while its sitting idle this morning after looking at the cold climate features listed below. Thought that it was my carbon monoxide and smoke detectors which were draining the batteries down in the cold after a week or so. It's not.

It's winter temperatures (below freezing cold and snow) here so the refrigerator cold weather heater kit is switched to on automatically when it stays at freezing outside even though the refrigerator itself is off. Got to wire a manual 12V power switch to it.

As a final step it's best to disconnect or switch the 12V entirely off.

View attachment 168520
Click to expand...
I installed a cutoff switch back in July. Apparently I forgot to turn if off at my visit to storage back in September, so when I went to winterize I had a dead battery so couldn't couldn't run the water pump. Had to take the batteries home for a recharge and return later to do it. Now I've decided to just keep the batteries at home over the winter so I can keep them maintained.

After a week of low 20s, it's back in the 70s again so we've decided to put the camper back in service for a couple more trips. Not a problem, now that I know the process it's just a few bucks of antifreeze about about 15 minutes of my time to do it all again.
 
scooterjm said:
I installed a cutoff switch back in July. Apparently I forgot to turn if off at my visit to storage back in September, so when I went to winterize I had a dead battery so couldn't couldn't run the water pump. Had to take the batteries home for a recharge and return later to do it. Now I've decided to just keep the batteries at home over the winter so I can keep them maintained.

After a week of low 20s, it's back in the 70s again so we've decided to put the camper back in service for a couple more trips. Not a problem, now that I know the process it's just a few bucks of antifreeze about about 15 minutes of my time to do it all again.
Click to expand...
I had a cutoff switch that I had purchased and installed from O'Reilly auto parts on our 2016 TT, but it quickly became faulty where it was located just below the two Group 24 battery boxes on the inside of the trailer tongue frame. Corrosion from magnesium chloride sprayed on the highway during winter got into it. Couldn't find a better location for a replacement so I went without one.

On our 2023 25 foot TT it came with a cutoff switch inside a protected storage bay.
 
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