Do you leave antifreeze in all winter or drain it?

[FishByFly]

For ten years while living in the Chicagoland area, I blew out the water lines with an air compressor and then added the antifreeze. Just left it in the lines all winter until spring cleaning and sanitizing. No issues.

Last year, I changed. After my typical process, I decided to blow the lines AGAIN after the antifreeze went through the system. My thought was this. Why does the liquid need to remain in the lines? If we got extreme freezing, having air space in the lines would provided added room to prevent pressures from potential freezing.

Well, we had 48 hours of extreme subzero temps last year. Spring came and the water system tested out just fine.

[drbrick]

I blow out the water lines with a Viair compressor and then added the antifreeze through the pump. I lean towards leaving it in the lines all winter until spring cleaning and sanitizing. No issues. Don't forget the indoor and outdoor shower and the toilet spray (do not put it in the fresh water tank) .

[rwnash]

A number of years ago I filled the system with the pink antifreeze and flushed it in the spring. We (the humans) did not notice anything but our dog would not drink the water. Since then I decided not to use anything but compressed air and have not had any problems.

On our last day of the season I open the tank drain (and line drains), remove the water heater plug and head for home. Gravity and road motion remove most of the water. Arriving home, I replace the water heater plug and run the pump briefly to suck air from the water tank to clear the pump. Next, I use the air compressor and remove the remaining water. It takes several cycles rotating through all the fixtures; I quit when I get a very fine mist. With empty gray and black tanks the very little water in the lines causes no problems.

Last step are the gray water drains. I have a vacuum pump for bleeding vehicle brakes which I use to suck water from the traps. I complete the job by using a cup or so of the pink stuff in each trap. No problems for about 20 years and a gallon of antifreeze lasts at least 4 or 5 years.

Granted, I do have a decent shop air compressor. But most of the water comes out on the trip home with the road action doing the work.

whit Nash



















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[uncle_bob]

Originally Posted by marter

Paranoia I guess. Thought about it, this is the first year I've done this. When I was blowing out the water I kept getting a fine mist; maybe I didn't keep going long enough. How long do you keep the air going?

Hi

Equally - if you stop, let things settle while you go have lunch .... you can blow out a lot more than mist once you come back. How many repeats over how many days ....

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In a modern trailer, the supply piping is PEX. That stuff *will* withstand a freeze. The drains are (for the most part) empty so no issue there.

What will not like freezing:

1) Your water heater. Leave it full of water and indeed you get to replace it come spring. It needs to be blown out.

2) Your faucets. They are metal and far from freeze proof. This includes shower faucets as well as the ones on the sink. The water valve in the toilet is also on this list.

3) Your fresh water pump. It will crack if it's full of water.

4) Your shower "hoses". The hose and shower head for your shower(s) need to be pulled and drained.

As long as your tank drains are open, they aren't going to have enough in them to freeze. Leaving the waste tank drains open may not make you popular at your storage site

So what to do:

If it's a valve / faucet, leave it open. That way it *should* drain. No water = no freeze problem. There may be several drain valves on your trailer.

Dump some anti-freeze in the waste tanks and close those valves. Much easier than getting yelled at.

Do up your water heater per the manual. If there is a "dump plug" be sure to pull it. There are way to many different water heaters to have a single way to do them. After it's dumped / blown, seal it up per the manual. They don't seem to get anti-freeze.

Indeed if you have an older trailer with metal pipes or PVC supply lines, anti-freeze is the only real solution.

Bob

[Shacksman]

Too be safe, test the antifreeze in your house freezer. I've hade some poor quality freeze, so I never leave it in the lines. If I use it I always blow it back out. It's use is to chase the water out of the lines, no need to stay in all winter.

[pcskier]

Switched to compressed air only, no problem and it gets well below zero here. Flushing AF was just too much of a hassle. AF in traps only. I blow everything out...including low points, go around multiple times doing so. Let sit overnight with low points open (if time allows) and go around again in the morning.

Also disconnect water pump inlet and outlet connections and run pump to clear it. Compressed air will not do so because of the check valve preventing compressed air from pushing back through the pump toward the fresh tank. Clear the filter from the fresh tank before the pump as well.

Don't forget outside shower, and hit the black tank flush to clear the anti siphon valve.

So much easier to get going again without antifreeze to clear. I gave up a couple years ago after flushing my lines endlessly till water was clear and odorless. Got to Joshua Tree and after a couple days, water coming from the taps smelled 'sweet'. That was the end of my AF days.

[uncle_bob]

Hi

We also went through the "months and months" of flushing to get the anti-freeze taste out of the water system. We sat at several campgrounds running water for days with very little effect. That very much reduced it's appeal for us.

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One trick: Open all the low point valves and faucets. Then go for a drive around town. My neighbor swears by opening it all up at the last campground of the year and then driving home.

====

Indeed the traps do need a bit of anti-freeze .... forgot that on my list.

Bob

[thewarden]

I like to leave the antifreeze in. It keeps all the joints wet and sealed and you always want some in the p-traps to keep tank odors from coming back into the trailer. It is also wise to keep some in the toilet as well. You want to keep the toilet seal from drying out over the winter to prevent it from leaking when you go back to using it.

[rmkrum]

Ours sat with pink stuff in the lines and traps for a couple years. Flushing several times got it all out. No flavor detected. No leaks or seal issues. Even the toilet worked fine.

I do use air to get most of the water out then add pink stuff to the lines and traps.

[CRH]

Originally Posted by Shacksman

Too be safe, test the antifreeze in your house freezer. I've hade some poor quality freeze, so I never leave it in the lines. If I use it I always blow it back out. It's use is to chase the water out of the lines, no need to stay in all winter.

Some RV antifreezes will freeze....The difference in it and water is that the antifreeze doesn't expand.

[Silvr_Bullet]

Hi all! Anyone aware of hearing or first hand knowledge of frozen pipes while using RV Antifreeze?

[strangepod]

Originally Posted by waninae39

we blow our system first so its dry
then just add antifreeze to the traps
one jug does the whole AS

YES, don't forget about putting some in the traps..

[Moflash]

Pour a little vegetable oil in the toilet or the pink antifreeze will dry out your seal.

[CRH]

I suppose the ethanol based antifreeze may dry out rubber seals, but I don't believe the propylene glycol based stuff will.....Never has mine, anyway.

[doughpat]

Originally Posted by uncle_bob

Hi

Equally - if you stop, let things settle while you go have lunch .... you can blow out a lot more than mist once you come back. How many repeats over how many days ....

--------

In a modern trailer, the supply piping is PEX. That stuff *will* withstand a freeze. The drains are (for the most part) empty so no issue there.

Thanks for pointing this out. I have heard that one of the big advantages of PEX in residential construction is this ability to withstand a freeze.

[Dan and Liz]

Originally Posted by waninae39

we blow our system first so its dry
then just add antifreeze to the traps
one jug does the whole AS

That’s what I’ve done for years. Never had a freeze problem, and the antifreeze isn’t in the fresh water tank or pipes, so taste is no concern.

[uncle_bob]

Originally Posted by doughpat

Thanks for pointing this out. I have heard that one of the big advantages of PEX in residential construction is this ability to withstand a freeze.

Hi

We had PEX in a house in Kansas. Due to a construction issue, one set of pipes froze on a regular basis. They never broke. After a few years we tracked down the problem and tore open the wall to fix it (they missed some insulation ....).

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Below freezing is below freezing. It does not matter if it's 28 degrees or -28 degrees. If you have water in the pipes and it stays cold, you have a problem. People in northern Florida do have pipe freeze issues, just like folks in Maine.

What you *can* get away with is "the low last night was 28". Yes it was, for about 10 minutes just before sunrise. The pipes never made it below 34 degrees.

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The "pink stuff" comes in a couple of varieties. One is a concentrate that you then dilute and use. Another is already mixed with water. Get the mix wrong and indeed it will freeze at a higher temperature. Get it in the pipes with a bunch of water and ... yup same thing.

Since it's designed to work to a nutty low temperature ( like -54 ...) having it *only* be good to -28 probably isn't a big deal in most of the country.

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Indeed the pink stuff has the same digestive impact on a dog as on a person. If anything it has *more* of an impact on them.....

Let's see .... for $500 a month (on a 1 year contract ...) I can get heated storage for the trailer and not worry about any of this ... hmmm.....

Bob

[thewarden]

Originally Posted by doughpat

Thanks for pointing this out. I have heard that one of the big advantages of PEX in residential construction is this ability to withstand a freeze.

Problem is, I am not sure that the pex plumbing joints and elbows are made of a material that would withstand a freeze.

[Rich W]

Originally Posted by Moflash

Pour a little vegetable oil in the toilet or the pink antifreeze will dry out your seal.

Originally Posted by CRH

I suppose the ethanol based antifreeze may dry out rubber seals, but I don't believe the propylene glycol based stuff will.....Never has mine, anyway.

I leave our AS toilet completely empty after I have run the RV antifreeze through the pipes. I plug up the flush fill tube with some paper towel and use Oatey (plumber) silicone grease (waterproof, safe for rubber) on the seal.

The first year I just left the pink stuff in and the gasket warped a little, letting the water leak out. The next year I started draining the bowl and using the Oatey silicone grease; no problems.

[CRH]

Perhaps you used the wrong pink stuff....lol

My bowl holds the pink stuff all winter with no leakage.