Winterizing

[ROBERT CROSS]

cleaned it up a bit.....Sure doesn't look like AF to me...the pink AF is more translucent. If we could taste it.


Bob

[kswelsh]

Speaking of Camping World. Do you all know if you go to the Ebates.com site first then to Camping World, you get an additional 2.5% cash back just for using the Ebates.com site? It adds up when you make big purchases.

[SteveSueMac]

Originally Posted by ROBERT CROSS

cleaned it up a bit.....Sure doesn't look like AF to me...the pink AF is more translucent. If we could taste it.

Bob

Nice job on the pic! It looked like 70% water, 30% AF to my eye. I'll have to keep a watch on it. I know you said too many ands and ors to worry about it, but I'm a little worried about it. Not the highest degree of confidence everything was done right at the dealer. As an example, they said they fixed the blown fuse in our range hood fan (there's a thread on that problem in the forums). When I went in the trailer, the filter was out of the hood sitting on the counter next to the sink with the blown fuse sitting on it. No replacement fuse in the fan either. So it just makes me nervous they may have missed something. Sure hope there isn't a cracked water line in there somewhere!! Dang!

[Alumaholic]

Originally Posted by SteveSueMac

Nice job on the pic! It looked like 70% water, 30% AF to my eye. I'll have to keep a watch on it. I know you said too many ands and ors to worry about it, but I'm a little worried about it. Not the highest degree of confidence everything was done right at the dealer. As an example, they said they fixed the blown fuse in our range hood fan (there's a thread on that problem in the forums). When I went in the trailer, the filter was out of the hood sitting on the counter next to the sink with the blown fuse sitting on it. No replacement fuse in the fan either. So it just makes me nervous they may have missed something. Sure hope there isn't a cracked water line in there somewhere!! Dang!

Make it a goal, by next year, to winterize your Airstream yourself (yourselves).
Liberate yourself from the dealer. Inculcate yourself with experience based knowledge and self confidence.
Yes, that is diluted antifreeze in the photo. No, I have no idea where it came from, but if I had winterized that Airstream, I would know; and if you had winterized you would know too.
Yes, the FW holding tank drain should remain open, and yes it will continue to drain as you drive around.
Yes, the HW heater drain should be left open. (Don't forget to put the plug in when you take it out of winter storage. You, not the dealer).
Don't deny yourself any more direct experience opportunities.

[SteveSueMac]

You're right, Alumiholic!


I had all intentions of doing it myself (including an adapter for my ViAir compressor to blow out the lines) but we brought it to the dealer for its first round of warranty items in mid-October and figured it would be there for a while so it had to be done. While it was there, the forecast included 2 straight sub-freezing nights and I called to be sure it was winterized in advance of that. They assured me it was.

I just need work to get out I the way of enjoying the Airstream so I can learn and do more. :-)

While I'm surprised (and DW is too!) at how much I've learned this year, there is always more to learn.

Gentle suggestion fully appreciated!

[m.hony]

In the past, and even the first time last year I always put the pink antifreeze in the entire system. I have a winterizing T installed by the pump under the closet floor.
The second time I winterized I used low tech compressed air- a bicycle pump-
Just blowing the lines out may be sufficient in our mild climate, and I only flush the lines with air when I see a weather forecast like this week- it is supposed to get into the mid to upper 20's a couple of nights this week.
I always end up winterizing twice because we ho camping Thanksgiving.
I may winterize 3 times this winter because we are going to Canopener in January.
One time I did all the steps in the owner 's manual- way too much work.
Now I drain the water heater and blow out the water in the lines with compressed air- lavatory, toilet, shower, sink, low point drains-
Is this a built in water pressure regulator? I always use a water pressure at the water supply because I think I am protecting my hose as well.

[Goal15]

Originally Posted by murreywalker

We had a 2011 FC 23FB and the filter was a Moen 9601. Matter of fact I have two new ones if you're interested (if you have the same setup we had).

We're in Dallas for Thanksgiving.

Thanks for the offer, but when I saw the model number I got one. Hope you enjoy Thanksgiving im Dallas. Are you camping here or just visiting?
Dana

[murreywalker]

Originally Posted by Goal15

Thanks for the offer, but when I saw the model number I got one. Hope you enjoy Thanksgiving im Dallas. Are you camping here or just visiting?
Dana

Dana, we're towing the trailer to Dallas. At this point, we a planning to park the trailer at a RV dealership near my son and DIL.

Then pick the trailer up on Monday after Thanksgiving, and head for a week at Gulf Shores.

Then home just in time for Christmas.

[featherbedder]

Why go to all the trouble to winterize then use in freezing weather? Simnply use bottled water as we do all year leave winterized then enjoy.

[m.hony]

May want to take a bath...

[LFC]

That's what bath houses are for....

[BAB]

....though some of us bought our Airstreams to be able to use our own shower and not someone else's.

[m.hony]

Winterizing 2-3 times a year is really not that big of a deal. Cooking, washing dishes, washing hands, brushing teeth and what have ya.

[Becky B.]

Why have a water system if you don't use it? Hummm???

[LFC]

Originally Posted by BAB

....though some of us bought our Airstreams to be able to use our own shower and not someone else's.

That's not a high point for me....

Originally Posted by m.hony

I always put the pink antifreeze in the entire system.

Doesn't that nasty stuff turn yer gums and teeth pink....

Originally Posted by m.hony

Winterizing 2-3 times a year is really not that big of a deal. Cooking, washing dishes, washing hands, brushing teeth and what have ya.

That bicycle pump sure had me fooled.

Originally Posted by beckybillrae

Why have a water system if you don't use it? Hummm???

It's called dry camping in cold temperatures...

And not being required to run the gas furnace non stop to try and keep the tanks and water lines from freezing up.

Something I'd rather not worry about when I'm out hunting in December or January.

[m.hony]

Originally Posted by LFC

That's not a high point for me....

Doesn't that nasty stuff turn yer gums and teeth pink....

That bicycle pump sure had me fooled.

It's called dry camping in cold temperatures...

And not being required to run the gas furnace non stop to try and keep the tanks and water lines from freezing up.

Something I'd rather not worry about when I'm out hunting in December or January.

I guess you are being silly...
The pink stuff flushes out with water when you connect to city water...
Bicycle pump- I don't have a compressor or air tank...our climate is mild enough I quit doing the pink stuff- I just force water out of the lines- bicycle pump-
Pump, pump, pump, run bathroom sink- pump, pump, pump, flush toilet- pump, pump, pump, run shower- pump, pump, pump, run kitchen sink till they spew air. No water in there = nothing to freeze and burst on our 2 nights of 20 degree weather.
I have dry camped, but it isn't always necessary to do so...

[LFC]

Originally Posted by m.hony

I guess you are being silly...

Not silly......it's called being humerus while being dead serious.

Glad you could see it

[m.hony]

If you are close to the bath house...
I usually shower and do #2 at the bath house any way, but i cook, wash dishes, brush teeth, wash hands and do #1 in the trailer.
I will shower and do #2 in the trailer if it is raining or freezing.
My wife showers in the trailer sometimes while I am showering at the bath house- we get ready at the same time-

[m.hony]

I think you are being "humerus" again...
Or maybe humorous-
Humerus is a big ole bone in the leg- I think-

[Protagonist]

Staying on topic, though, last year I was fortunate to not need to winterize at all, but there were a couple of nights when I was camping during a freeze over Christmas weekend, at Chicot, State Park, LA. Which is how I managed to avoid having to winterize, in fact.

With a light freeze already predicted for tonight (~30°F just before dawn, but warming up before my pipes could freeze), this year I may not be so lucky. Light freezes now mean colder freezes are likely later even here along the Gulf Coast. I regularly check the 10-day forecast on the Weather Channel webpage, and if a freeze is predicted for anytime in the ten-day period it's time for me to winterize.

But that doesn't keep me from planning trips for the winter holidays, either. I've only got limited time off from work, so if I have time off for a holiday, best to make use of it. Winter boondocking would be more an ordeal for me and less of a good time, so I go to year-round campgrounds with hookups.

My Interstate has tank heaters, but the heaters are such energy hogs that they can only be used while on shore power or generator power. So when I arrive at a park for a winter camping trip, I fill the fresh tank when I arrive, then coil up and store my fresh hose, rather than remaining hooked up to municipal water. Then I turn on the tank heaters, which keep the tanks around 40°F. Waste tank capacity (between the black and gray tanks) is slightly more than my fresh tank capacity, so at the end of the trip as I'm packing up for the return trip, I empty whatever water remains in the fresh tank into the gray and/or black tanks before hitting the dump station. At the dump station, I also drain the water heater.

That way, all that's left when I get home is to blow out the lines and add antifreeze to the waste tanks, and I'm good until the next winter trip.