Am I just being lazy / stupid??

[Sierrapapa]

I have my AS inside an insulated unheated building. Our outside temps here in SE Idaho of 12 and 13 degrees have never taken the tempratures inside the trailer down to 32 F. I have only drained the hot water heater, drained out the fresh and black water tanks and have blown out the lines with a compressor. I have had an unexplainable reluctance to put anti-freeze in the system.

Now it is forecast to drop to minus 10 F. Am I stupid to think that I am OK without antifreeze? Feel free to be blunt, because I can still mend my ways.

[RBolton]

If you have blown out the system properly you should be OK. You should, however, still put some antifreeze down your drains to displace the water in the traps.

Having said that, I am still an advocate of winterizing the whole system with antifreeze. I even filled the water heater. I do not put any in my fresh water tank.

Happy New Years!

Roger

[clancy_boy]

It sounds like you have the ideal storage location. As far as freezing temperatures reaching the critical parts of your trailer, you may want to use some precautions to prevent damage. I would at least blow out the lines - there is cheep adaptor for this at Walmart. I would add antifreeze to the sinks and shower drains and insure that some of it reaches the tanks as a precaution. And, I would continue to empty the hot water and fresh water tanks.

If your storage location has power, maybe look into an electric space heater to keep temperatures up in the the trailer to above freezing, set it on a low setting to come on when it gets real cold. You never know when the door may be left open and at those temps it would not take long to freeze a water line.

My opinion only - if you are comfortable with the setup then you should be fine.

[jcanavera]

Originally Posted by Sierrapapa

I have my AS inside an insulated unheated building. Our outside temps here in SE Idaho of 12 and 13 degrees have never taken the tempratures inside the trailer down to 32 F. I have only drained the hot water heater, drained out the fresh and black water tanks and have blown out the lines with a compressor. I have had an unexplainable reluctance to put anti-freeze in the system.

Now it is forecast to drop to minus 10 F. Am I stupid to think that I am OK without antifreeze? Feel free to be blunt, because I can still mend my ways.

Blowing out the lines is perfectly adequate if you get enough pressure into the lines to get them clear of moisture. My local dealer uses air pressure only with no ramifications. Now, he's running a fairly decent compressor and not one of the 12 volt units which really can't dry out a line.

You do however need to address those drains. You have two ways to go here. One is to pour some RV antifreeze into them or blow them out with a shop vac. I used to do both. That way a minimum of antifreeze could be used (and really the only reason was to prevent odor backup from the grey tank).

Bottom line there are probably lots of folks on this forum who have been victims of a previous owners neglect or guessing that all is ok. Personally I believe in overkill rather than have to deal with split pipes or fittings which can cause much more grief than what little time you spend on pumping a little antifreeze into the system and then doing a good flush in the spring. I've been doing this routine for over 20 years without having any issues with freezing or removing the antifreeze from the lines.

I still believe however that there is a difference in products out there and I've always used a premium brand of antifreeze. I used to by the low cost stuff until I had a rubber toilet bladder disintegrate over a winter. I know that the antifreeze caused it to melt down.

Jack

[jdalrymple]

I agree completely with the blow-out solution. I let the pump run until it won't pump water from the fresh water tank. I then use a "home-owner" type 110 volt compressor regulated to about 40 psi, and let air flow several minutes with all faucets open, until I don't hear the water rumbling in the pipes. I do drain the water heater and add RV antifreeze to the traps. With your indoor storage, and blown out, I'd just go with it. I never want antifreeze in my tank or pipes.

[Fyrzowt]

Several have mentioned antifreeze, and I know this has been covered elsewhere...
There is a difference between automotive antifreeze and RV antifreeze. Even if you aren't comfortable using rv anti freeze in the fresh water system, there is no reason that I'm aware of, not to use it in the drains.
Automotive antifreeze is entirely different.
Dave

[john hd]

i would advise using the anti freeze unless you are very adept at anually replacing your moen faucet cartriges and your toilet sprinkler head.

seems no amount of air gets all the droplets out.

last year the coldest it got was -44F where i store my trailer, perhaps i am just paranoid and tired of fixing the faucets!

john

[InsideOut]

Originally Posted by john hd

last year the coldest it got was -44F where i store my trailer

Where do you store it? At the northpole????

Shari

[clancy_boy]

Originally Posted by john hd

i would advise using the anti freeze unless you are very adept at anually replacing your moen faucet cartriges and your toilet sprinkler head.

seems no amount of air gets all the droplets out.

last year the coldest it got was -44F where i store my trailer, perhaps i am just paranoid and tired of fixing the faucets!

john

Geeee, Santa - have one of your Elves check up on the trailer after your Christmas rush.


-44F now that's cold.

[safari57]

Originally Posted by john hd

i would advise using the anti freeze unless you are very adept at anually replacing your moen faucet cartriges and your toilet sprinkler head.

seems no amount of air gets all the droplets out.

last year the coldest it got was -44F where i store my trailer, perhaps i am just paranoid and tired of fixing the faucets!

john

Wow, and you still live there? Can people actually do that?

I'd be doing more than blowing out the lines and adding antifreeze - I'd be taking it somewhere warm for the winter where going outside doesn't mean the potential of losing fingers and toes, etc.

Happy New Year

Barry

[john hd]

Minus 44? I don't think our freezer gets that cold

Wow, and you still live there? Can people actually do that?

nope just a "normal" winter here in wisconsin.

data was collected by my friend who has his trailer stored with mine, he has a high/low recorder on his onboard thermometer.

down by where i live the coldest i actually saw was -37F in my truck on the way to work one morning last jan.

needless to say i was glad my diesel did not gel up that day!

john

[Minnie's Mate]

I removed the Moen filter cartridge and took it in the house last winter. Worked for me. Of course, we don't get down to -44F in Metro-Atlanta very often.

[ScottW]

getting down to about 20 here near Memphis. I'll just turn on the water heater, heat pump/propane auto backup, leave the cabinets open under the sinks and don't worry about it. Worked last year. People do live in these things in the colder climates.

[Chuck]

compressed air won't reach the pump; the pump won't pump itself completely dry. It is only protected then, if you remove it from the trailer...or, pump it full of antifreeze.
The one year I used only compressed air, I had damage to the pump, where the pressure switch was pushed away from the pump housing 'till it cracked and split. That was a fairly cold winter...but it wasn't any "-44".

But apparently, I'm the only person on the face of the planet that this has ever happened to.

in any case, after I added the water heater bypass, and the "winterizing kit", it takes less than 10 minutes, and about 1.5 gallons of antifreeze to fill everything....including the pump.

[Minnie's Mate]

We are supposed to get down into the 20's tomorrow night so I will "re-winterize" ours tonight. Last year and this past fall that consisted of blowing out the water pipes, draining the fresh water tank, draining the hot water heater, and leaving the furnace set on 45F with the cabinet doors open and pink anti-freeze in the traps. We are going to the Can Opener Rally this weekend so I wouldn't want to do anything I would have to undo Thursday night when it won't get so cold and we are arriving after 12:00 PM on Friday so I certainly don't want to undo it then.

BTW, how do you read that gas valve thingie to tell if there is gas in the LP tanks? It was green with both valves open when we went to Florida the weekend before Christmas, but I'm not sure if I was reading it right.

[Minnie's Mate]

Originally Posted by Chuck

in any case, after I added the water heater bypass, and the "winterizing kit", it takes less than 10 minutes, and about 1.5 gallons of antifreeze to fill everything....including the pump.

I can just imagine setting up camp and getting ready to make my first picture of iced-tea with pink water....euwwwe!

And I know I'd forget to purge the system before we left and there are many things this southern boy can do without on a camping trip, but iced-tea ain't one of 'em!

Fortunately, we don't get all that cold here.

[jcanavera]

Originally Posted by Minnie's Mate

BTW, how do you read that gas valve thingie to tell if there is gas in the LP tanks? It was green with both valves open when we went to Florida the weekend before Christmas, but I'm not sure if I was reading it right.

Well there are two ways to check the gas if your trailer is like mine. First the systems monitor panel can give you a level of each tank. Also each tank should have an actual gauge on it up at the top. The green thingie tells you the gas flow state of the tank that you are or were operating on. There is a little flip lever by the thingie that points to the tank that the indicator reflects. Once it turns red, it means that the regulator has switched over to the other tank. At that point you flip the lever so it points to the opposite tank. The thingie will now turn green.

Obviously if you only run with one tank open. The indicator will turn solid red when the tank empties. You will technically be out of gas and will need to turn on the other tank and flip the lever. Normally I only run with one tank open, until we get down close to empty.

Jack

[dmreilly10000]

Originally Posted by Sierrapapa

Now it is forecast to drop to minus 10 F. Am I stupid to think that I am OK without antifreeze? Feel free to be blunt, because I can still mend my ways.

You could get one of the little electric "cube heaters" or other type of small portable electric heaters and put it inside the trailer on the coldest nights. Open up all of the cabinets to allow the heat to get to the pipes.

I became a fan of RV antifreeze after using the compressor "blow out" method and having my Moen $$$$ kitchen fawcet and my Moen $$$$ shower regulator freeze up and break.

But, by all means, get some antifreeze and pour it down the sink drains, the shower drain, and into the toilet. Also, remember that holding tanks with liquid in them could also freeze and break if exposed to enough cold.

[flyfisher]

Originally Posted by Sierrapapa

Am I stupid to think that I am OK without antifreeze? Feel free to be blunt, because I can still mend my ways.

Stupid? Maybe not.

A bit foolish? More likely.

It only takes 10-15 minutes, and 1-1 1/2 gal of antifreeze pumped throughout the system, poured into the traps, and filters, showerheads, batteries etc, removed to be on the safe side.

So for less than $5 bucks and a half hour you get to sleep at night. And that's priceless to me.

I'd never even think of keeping my trailer stored inside over the winter in southwest MT the way your keeping yours.

But, maybe unlike John HD, you won't get tired of fixing faucets.

[Minnie's Mate]

Originally Posted by jcanavera

Well there are two ways to check the gas if your trailer is like mine. First the systems monitor panel can give you a level of each tank. Also each tank should have an actual gauge on it up at the top. The green thingie tells you the gas flow state of the tank that you are or were operating on. There is a little flip lever by the thingie that points to the tank that the indicator reflects. Once it turns red, it means that the regulator has switched over to the other tank. At that point you flip the lever so it points to the opposite tank. The thingie will now turn green.

Obviously if you only run with one tank open. The indicator will turn solid red when the tank empties. You will technically be out of gas and will need to turn on the other tank and flip the lever. Normally I only run with one tank open, until we get down close to empty.

Jack

Thanks Jack. My monitor panel doesn't do the gas tanks. I guess you are talking about the black lever when you say to flip the lever so it points to the opposite tank? I originally thought that flipped automatically but I found mine to be really hard to flip so I flipped it manually when my first tank ran out last winter and I opened the other valve. This year I got a little squeamish and was afraid that the one tank would run out and I would forget to switch them before a cold spell and now they are both open. Last night we got down to 21F (that's 20 degrees colder than the night before) and tonight we are supposed to get down to 17F and by the next night we won't hit freezing and by the weekend we will be above 40F at night. That's the way our weather is here. Not too much cold and not too often so it's easy to forget to check on the gas and it's easy for it to run just a little at a time until it runs out. We can camp year 'round here so it's hard to justify winterizing.