Post winter woes.......

[MotorSeven]

Well, i thought i had circulated enough winterizer fluid thru my pipes. Filled the tank today and hit the pump......schhhhhwwoovveeee! Yep the copper pipes had frozen & burst behind the shower stall wall, under the bathroom sink & who knows where else. From looking at the pipe under the sink it had a loop that turned up slightly trapping water. I am guessing the same thing happened on the run to the shower. I had thought that the drain under the LR of the trailer was the lowest point in the system.......NOT!
Oh, well, i guess it is time to re-pipe the whole trailer with the flex hose........{sigh}

RD

[Zeppelinium]

Use PEX.

It's still a good idea to (1) install so there are no traps, eg, loops, (you can't eliminate the uphill tube in the toilet, so always step on the valve once you've drained the pipes--to open the toilet tube back into the pipes [this water is clean]--then drain the pipes again--and you always have trapped water above the shower valve, so remember to open that one, too) and (2) make an adapter from compressor air quick disconnect fitting to male hole bib so you can blow the whole system out.

Don't worry that your air pressure is too high--water systems should be able to withstand 400 psi and the working pressure of city water is usually 100 psi, while your pump is ony 45 psi. Your run of the mill air compressor is only 125 psi so you shouldn't be able to hurt your plumbing with air.

Zep

[jayray5]

You don't need winterizer in your pipes if you DO blow them out. Zep is right--blow it all out.
Replumping is not an easy job because the access to the pipes is very tight, but much easier with pex. As we age we want to simplify our lives. Pex will not burst. This needs to be a one time fix unless you are fickle and buy more Airstreams

[vswingfield]

Ditto on the PEX. I have both, copper in the ’67 Trade Wind and PEX the ’83 Excella. You wouldn’t believe the soldered patches in the copper. Some of them are from one size swelled to the next with filer patches of copper soldered in (We don’t want to talk about who is responsible for these, but it was quick and worked just fine). PEX would not have done that. When I sell my Trade Wind, the copper plumbing will be one of the last things I miss.

[Cracker]

Originally Posted by jayray5

You don't need winterizer in your pipes if you DO blow them out. Zep is right--blow it all out.
Replumping is not an easy job because the access to the pipes is very tight, but much easier with pex. As we age we want to simplify our lives. Pex will not burst. This needs to be a one time fix unless you are fickle and buy more Airstreams

The only thing to beware of is the water in the pump. It's awfully hard to make sure it's dry. That, and the potential for loops in the plumbing that may not get thoroughly blown out, makes me a proponent of "blow dry and then run antifreeze throught the system." Overkill - maybe; piece of mind - for sure --- but, then again, I'm one of those guys that tows a 30' Excella with a 3500 GMC diesel.

[Chuck]

Originally Posted by Cracker

Overkill - maybe; ...

the one time I used "air only", I had droplets of water in my pump freeze, and damage the pump. so, I'd say, "no, not overkill".

I don't see how one could "miss", with antifreeze...unless you didn't do it completely, as defined by running each fixture until there's nuthin' but pink coming out.

[MotorSeven]

Thanks for the "air" idea, i will do that this year, AND use the antifreeze. Chuck you are right, i missed the shower completly....my fault. I don't rember, but i had to have been in a hurry and it was my first "winterizing" after moving from FL to TN. Even when i get it all pexed out, i will still blow it out and flush with pink. The system is cobbed togehter anyway with automotive hoseing & hose clamps, so i knew it had to get replaced, but i had it on the back burner. The 2do list is qiute large, but this has moved to the top.
RD

[jdalrymple]

I agree with the blow-out techinque. I use no antifreeze, except in the drain traps. I simply drain the holding tank, run the pump dry. I have made an air hose to city water connection adapter. I set the regulator on the compressor to about 80 psi, and open all the faucets and le the air flow to water quits running. I used this process for 10 years on my AS and SOB with no failures.

I like the pex plumbing. My home was plumbed with polybute, which of course failed after 20 years. So I completely re-plumbed the house with pex. It works well.

Good luck.