How cold before winterizing?

[Bowmans]

I'm with Wingeezer. We winterize right after the last trip of the summer usually. I was a little later this year but winterized 2 weekends ago. With the original lines from 1979, I don't want to take any chances. I wish I had replaced the water lines when I had the inside stripped. In the last 8 years, I have had 3 years with leaking lines in the Spring that I had to patch/replace. The first was the Aqua V sprayer that I didn't think about the first winter.

[MitchR55]

Wind increases the rate of conductive heat loss, so if the temp is below freezing, the chance of freeze damage increases. Wind also allows air movement through many types of insulation.

[crisen]

On our trip home from the dealer in Oct. 2013 we winterized at -10F in Dawson Creek, BC after un-seasonable cold spell hit. Don't recommend that 😀but all was fine in the spring.

[EarlM]

I live in Newport, PA and I have winterized.. nicer to do when not freezing don't forget the two little low point drains.

better safe than sorry

Earl

[stsammy]

We're in Toronto, here, and the typical time for winterizing seems to be just after Canadian thanksgiving (which was last weekend)

We brought the trailer into the city the weekend before & did a wash / wax on everything, plus any other little repairs/ maintenance we identified (hinges, locks, etc).

Took her out for the last trip of the year for us, and did final winterizing on site. Blew out the lines best we could (our larger portable air compressor needs a repair on its switch, unfortunately, and the one we brought just didn't have the tank capacity to blow out as much as we would have liked), then hooked a bypass right up to the water pump & put a couple of gallons of antifreeze through everything, dumping the remainder in the traps and on top of the toilet mechanism.

All in all it went fine, but I guess spring will be the test of our success.

Sad to see the end of our first season. Managed to squeeze in four long weekends between buying it mid-August and putting it away last weekend, and towed just over 1000km. I'm already starting to rough out what plans 2016 will hold, including our first longer trips.....

[stsammy]

Also, glad we did it last weekend! We're forecasting a cold snap this weekend. Just over freezing tonight, with tomorrow night's forecast dropping below freezing. First snowfall this weekend, potentially

[paiceman]

A meteorological degree earned years ago - Wind Chill is only a measurement of the effect of wind on human skin. All other statements in this thread, however, do have relevance and should be considered. But as far as temperature is concerned if it's 32* F outside it's 32*F regardless of wind velocity, except on human exposed skin.

[TimeForFun]

Originally Posted by EarlM

I live in Newport, PA and I have winterized.. nicer to do when not freezing don't forget the two little low point drains.

better safe than sorry

Earl

I'm curious how the low point drains work. Mine look like a couple of tubes coming out of the pan. No visible valve. Thanks

Howard

[SSquared]

Originally Posted by TimeForFun

I'm curious how the low point drains work. Mine look like a couple of tubes coming out of the pan. No visible valve. Thanks

Howard

There is probably a valve located on the floor inside, directly above where the tube comes down. My trailer has one like this (just forward of the water heater; the valve is located in an outside storage compartment).

[Tsmith.wp]

Originally Posted by SSquared

There is probably a valve located on the floor inside, directly above where the tube comes down. My trailer has one like this (just forward of the water heater; the valve is located in an outside storage compartment).

Two things:

My 22FB has two sets of drain valves--one forward, one aft.

While wind chill does not reduce actual temperature, something to be wary of when storing without winterizing is that cold air sinks. If you store your AS in a low spot, or live in a low area, you will likely have morning temps below the surrounding area.

I live on a hill above my town. The morning temperature at my house can be 15 degrees warmer than a mere two miles away in town.

[m.hony]

Originally Posted by 68 TWind

In Mississippi we face this decision about a month later than you folks up north. If I know I am not going camping for a while and the weather is getting into the 30's I go ahead and blow out my lines. Why, because sometimes the weather will turn very cold vey fast and it is always when I am gone or don't have time to work on the trailer. Also, it is much nicer to do it on a 50 degree day than a windy, cold and wet 30 degree day.

Hello there, Bruce.
I winterize sometimes 2 or 3 times per year, the first time when I hear of a freeze coming. Then we go camping again and I winterize again, sometimes at the campground before the trip home.
I first blow the lines out with air. I don't have a compressor, so I use a bicycle pump. Then I use a winterizing T to draw the antifreeze right out of the jug into the pipes. Don't forget the toilet or the black tank flush.

[CRH]

Originally Posted by TimeForFun

I'm curious how the low point drains work. Mine look like a couple of tubes coming out of the pan. No visible valve. Thanks

Howard

I am curious as to how and why yours are different than mine since the trailers are similar.....Mine has two brass petcocks, one hot and one cold sticking out of the belly pan directly below the kitchen. I assume they drain the kitchen and bath?.... It also has one rubber hose hanging down under a rear twin. I open it via a turn knob under the bed....I don't know exactly what it drains and why there aren't two valves on thay side...Anyone know?

[ericpeltier]

Why take a chance? It takes me about 15 min to run antifreeze through my lines. It costs about $15 in antifreeze. If I freeze a toilet valve, it cost more than $15 for a new valve and then I spend 45 minutes crawling behind the biffy. Just my $0.02

Eric

[55AS]

We are spoiled here on the Texas Gulf Coast. Since it is almost never below freezing and I store my trailer in the garage I never winterize. The price we pay for this is blistering summer heat :-)

[Caroyl]

All this talk about when to winterize... ;-) Does someone have a good checklist and directions for someone who is just about to buy her first Airstream? Trying to navigate the logistics of traveling cross country to see/buy a 1976 26' Argosy :-)

[m.hony]

There are several threads on winterizing on Airforums.
Do a Google search for "winterizing Airforums" and you will see the threads on winterizing.
Also, there are lots of winterizing videos on Youtube.


Sent from my iPhone using Airstream Forums

[AtomicNo13]

I might suggest just before the pipes freeze and go snap!

[m.hony]

If it drops just below freezing for an hour or so I do nothing, but when I hear there will be a sustained freeze for at least 2 days, I git-r-dun.
When the newscasters say bring houseplants in, winterize.

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by m.hony

When the newscasters say bring houseplants in, winterize.

In my area, weathermen rate freezes in terms of the "4P"s - People, Pets, Plants, Pipes, in order of which will be harmed by the cold. Plants are included in the list because this is a citrus-growing area. So if they list only three Ps in the weather portion of the 10:00 news, no worries. If they list all four, the Airstream had better be winterized.