Dewinterizing

[MeandMB]

Going to Florida, the day after Christmas and will be traveling from MD, would like some advise on the best way to dewinterizing by 2014 ext.cab. Thanks in advance.

[loudruff]

We will be heading out of Ohio to FL in the new year. We will dry camp until we hit the warm weather somewhere south. Then we will dewinterize and hope for warmer temperatures. We take water in jugs and use it for drinking and cooking. We only use the black tank for overnight. Leave the pink stuff in the lines until we get far enough south.

[crabbey1]

I am doing the opposite. Leaving Los Angeles and heading to Ohio for Xmas. How big of a pain is it to dry camp? How do you wash dishes after cooking or shower?

[RickDavis]

WE make a decision as to whether to dewinterize at home or on the road based on conditions at the time.
If it is going to be significantly below freezing we will leave with jugs and then take on water and flush the system further south. Most rest areas in Georgia have both easily available water and dump stations which works well heading for Florida

[Wazbro]

Originally Posted by crabbey1

I am doing the opposite. Leaving Los Angeles and heading to Ohio for Xmas. How big of a pain is it to dry camp? How do you wash dishes after cooking or shower?

How big of a pain is it to dry camp?
Depends on how long and the people doing it, 1 or 2 nights is easy and some people feel the need to shower 2-3 times a day for them dry camping would be terrible.

How do you wash dishes after cooking?
Fill a dishpan with water heated on the stove and wash the dishes outside and rinse with hose. If it's only a couple days this can be minimized with eating out, eating sandwiches and using paper plates.

How do you shower?
Campground facilities, truck stop, gym, sponge bath or stay in hotel some nights depends on available options and their quality/cleanliness.

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by crabbey1

I am doing the opposite. Leaving Los Angeles and heading to Ohio for Xmas. How big of a pain is it to dry camp? How do you wash dishes after cooking or shower?

Don't shower. Sponge-bathe, using water heated on the stove. When I was a kid, I lived in northern Maine for four years in a 38×8 mobile home, back in the 60's when mobile homes weren't insulated. Months on end of frost on the inside of the walls, and wearing thick sweaters indoors to keep from shivering! All we did for hygiene, all winter, was sponge baths, and always with water heated on the stove because the pipes had to be dry lest they freeze (and because we could expose just a small amount of skin at a time to sponge-bathe, no need to get naked and cold all over at the same time). Our toilet was a 14" rubber bucket with a wooden toilet seat attached to the rim for comfort because a flush toilet was out of the question. The bucket was carried out to a pit latrine when it got ripe enough or full enough, by whoever next needed to step outside.

But it wasn't nearly as much of a pain for me as it was for my parents; I was too young to remember living any other way, but they were miserable the whole winter.

[loudruff]

Originally Posted by crabbey1

I am doing the opposite. Leaving Los Angeles and heading to Ohio for Xmas. How big of a pain is it to dry camp? How do you wash dishes after cooking or shower?

It is not that big of a pain to dry camp. I have an electric hot pot to use to heat water for dishes etc. Or you can use your stove to heat it up. Paper plates help keep the dishes to a minimum. No showers, just military type sponge baths. Or you camp where you can use the campgrounds have heated showers. In Ohio there are some State Parks that stay open all year long. I don't know where you are headed in Ohio, but we are up near Cleveland and offer courtesy parking. Merry Christmas! Have a safe trip.

[crabbey1]

I am heading up to Warren, OH. It is just outside of Youngstown. Fun stuff! Do you know any parks in that area that are open?

Well, i guess I better winterize before I leave. The last thing that I want to do is to ruin all the plumbing I did over the summer. However, I do wish that I would have researched this while I had the entire trailer in pieces. I would have found a way to heat the pipes and tanks using heat tape or pads and insulated all of them much better. I plan on taking this same trip nearly every year for X-mas. Bummer.

[2dabeach]

Originally Posted by MeandMB

Going to Florida, the day after Christmas and will be traveling from MD, would like some advise on the best way to dewinterizing by 2014 ext.cab. Thanks in advance.

MeandMB......We're heading south 1 week after you. We usually wait until our first stop in Selma, NC or Georgia before we start using the trailer water system. Watch the weather reports as we activated the system in North Carolina one year and hit freezing temperatures in northern Florida. Could not find any water system antifreez in Florida and worried that we would have damage. We ended up pouring volka in our sink traps to prevent problems. Now we check the forcasts before we activate the system.

[Skater]

Dewinterizing - if you used the antifreeze, you need to flush the lines of that, and turn un-bypass the water heater if yours has the bypass (it should). If the lines were just blown dry, then just add water and you're good to go.

[SteveSueMac]

Ok - getting ready for a shakedown next weekend (I'm giddy like a 3rd grader :-) ).

Here's my dewinterizing checklist - welcome your thoughts;

1) ensure all external tank drains (WH, FW, Black, Gray) are closed and pump is on
2) fill fresh tank (include appropriate amount of chlorine to sanitize)
3) run water until pink froth runs clear
- kitchen hot, cold, sprayer
- bath hot, cold
- toilet flush
- shower hot, cold
- outside shower hot, cold
4) turn off bypass to water heater
- bleed off water heater outside trailer
- ensure clean water in heater before turning on
5) connect city water, check for leaks
6) dump grey tank

[pappy19]

It's called using baby wipes and they also have bath wipes. The real issue is taking a dump or pee. If you don't have your water hooked up, then do it outside, wherever. Don't even think of using the toilet without a flush. It will build up and when you try and dump, it won't. Next thing you know, you will have a REAL problem. Even at a campground and hooked up, keep the black tank closed until you have a full black tank and then dump. Never open your black tank unless you are dumping. Grey tank is no problem to be open, but I like to keep it closed to clear out the black tank after I dump it. I know this is basic, but some still don't know.

[reinergirl]

Wouldn't the bleach remove the pink color? I'd be tempted to run with plain water until the pink is gone, then add the bleach.

[SteveSueMac]

Pappy - not sure what you're responding to. If to my post on dewinterizing process, I think we may not be connecting. The only "dumping" I'm talking about is the grey tank once the lines have all been cleared of pink antifreeze. When my dealer winterized, they left the drains on the bottom of the tanks open - I wanted to remind myself to close those before running water.

Reinergirl - I hadn't thought of that. I thought I could multitask and sanitize the system while pushing the pink stuff through. The ratio is 5 oz of bleach in a 39 gallon tank - would that be enough to affect the antifreeze color?

Other thoughts on steps/order? I'm especially nervous about the water heater. My dealer made a huge point out of never having pink stuff in it and being sure it had water in it before turning on because you'll kill it immediately.

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by reinergirl

Wouldn't the bleach remove the pink color? I'd be tempted to run with plain water until the pink is gone, then add the bleach.

I've never added bleach to RV antifreeze, but I wouldn't want to. I'm not enough of a chemist to know if they'll mix safely, or if they'll create a poisonous mixture, or if they'll gel into some kind of gooey mess.

If I used antifreeze in my freshwater system instead of just in the various drains, I would flush with freshwater first, then shock-treat with bleach and flush again with freshwater, so that never the twain shall meet.

[SteveSueMac]

Ok, first, I just realized this is in the sprinter forum not trailers and second - I'm clearly not articulate. There is no pink stuff in the FW tank. I planned to fill the FW tank to then push the pink stuff through the faucets. And I hoped putting in the chlorine first would sanitize the system while pushing the pink stuff out. Sorry I wasn't clearer. :-)

[jcanavera]

While I don't have this vehicle the same methods as a trailer can be used. Typically I just connect up the city water and flush fresh water through the system. After the water is clear, I'll replace the hot water drain plug (I leave it out all winter), and then change the bypass valves over (3) to their opposite position and let the water tank fill. I'll let that run for a bit. After that is done (and dependent upon the first trip of the year, I may or may not sanitize the fresh water tank. If I decide to do that my manual notes that the mixture is about 8 oz. or one cup for my 60 gallon fresh water tank. I add the bleach then fill the tank. I let it sit 4 hours. I dump the fresh water tank from the underneath drain and then refill and drain again.

Quite honestly I can't see the bleach mixture harming an aluminum tank (not sure your if your tank is aluminum) since chlorine is present in most city water systems. RV antifreeze will not promote bacteria growth so technically you shouldn't have to pump the chlorinated mixture in your fresh water tank through your system.

And if you want to pump some of the mixture from the fresh water tank through the plumbing, go ahead. Just be sure to flush the system well and drain the hot water tank and refill it a couple of times to get rid of the mixture.

Jack

[Wazbro]

Originally Posted by SteveSueMac

Ok - getting ready for a shakedown next weekend (I'm giddy like a 3rd grader :-) ).

Here's my dewinterizing checklist - welcome your thoughts;

1) ensure all external tank drains (WH, FW, Black, Gray) are closed and pump is on

Don't turn on the pump until after the fresh tank is filled.

Also I always turn the pump off when I am not actually using the water and the water heater is off. I also turn off the water heater unless I will be using a large amount of hot water since it maintains the temperature a long time even when off.

[FastEddieB]

Again, newbie with a brand new winterized CampLite.

How toxic is the pink stuff?

The spot we're thinking about flushing the lines near is about 30' from a fresh water pond with tadpoles and newts and frogs and stuff.

I do not know what exact antifreeze Sunny Island RV used, but it is pink. I could easily find out.

Want to have her ready to go by SpringStream, in less than week!

Oh boy oh boy!

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by FastEddieB

How toxic is the pink stuff?

It's not. That's the whole point of a special RV antifreeze. Your dog can drink it without ill effect, unlike the green antifreeze used in a car radiator. You can drink it, too, but it doesn't taste good.