Winterzing Argument

[dwaynerz]

if people werent buying bottled water of any size, there wouldnt be a market for it. and if i knew many years ago that somebody would buy plain tap water in a plastic bottle with a pretty mountain as a background, i would be laughing all the way to the bank.

[TeJay]

Point well taken. I still can't believe people spend good $$$$ for stuff that's not much better than tap water but !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TeJay

[dwaynerz]

i agree with ya tejay.

[Ditchooker]

Originally Posted by TeJay

It's clear that the preferred methods are still split. I avoid the pink stuff because of the taste. Our first TT (February-2010) came from the factory winterized. I flushed it, used baking soda and bleach. Over the next two years my morning coffee, and I drink it black, always had the pink AF taste. That's a lousy, lousy way to start your day and I will never put that stuff in my camper lines again.
TeJay

Just starting our second year of camping with our trailer, we noticed a bit of the taste in our water, had it all year. The trailer was winterized and de-winterized by the dealer as it was sitting in their lot for warrenty work over the winter waiting for parts. Wasn't till I winterized myself at the end of that year that i found the low drains were not opened when DE-winterizing as they still had anti-freeze in that section of the plumbing. When I de-wintered it the follow season, I flushed out the drains as well, and the taste was all gone.

[hockeytownmom]

We have a water jug we take with us and fill at the drinking water spigot.

[TeJay]

I may modify my water usage approach slightly. I will still not use the pink stuff. I blew out the lines last fall and when we filled it up the first of March all was well. We had no water leaks so what ever I did worked. When you only use compressed air there is a chance of having a low spot and water might settle later, freeze and split. I'll use compressed air again next fall.

I might go with some of the bottled water because where we are now the campground water does not have a good taste so we have been using bottled water for coffee. We will use the gallon containers or larger and refill them instead of putting the small bottles into the land fill.

TeJay

[rip]

Originally Posted by Ditchooker

Just starting our second year of camping with our trailer, we noticed a bit of the taste in our water, had it all year. The trailer was winterized and de-winterized by the dealer as it was sitting in their lot for warrenty work over the winter waiting for parts. Wasn't till I winterized myself at the end of that year that i found the low drains were not opened when DE-winterizing as they still had anti-freeze in that section of the plumbing. When I de-wintered it the follow season, I flushed out the drains as well, and the taste was all gone.

Good comment, Ditchooker. This should be on everyone's walk-through list when they inspect their new trailer on delivery day.

I was lucky. My dealer tech was being fairly thorough during my walk-through last month. When he opened a low water drain to show me how I should drain my system, the water came out orange for a second or two. I don't think he planned to but he immediately opened the other one of the two, and it did the same thing, just briefly then clear.

Although he didn't say anything to me, I knew what happened. I didn't put him on the spot because he went over and briefly said something in private tone to his young coworker.

So I wrote it on my to-do list... to completely re-flush all lines when I got home.

[TeJay]

I guess I'm just much more sensitive to the anti-freeze taste because the two or three times that I did use anti-freeze when winterizing I've always opened all low point drains and I could still taste the anti-freeze even after several seasons of use as well as using bleach and baking soda. I also understand that just using compressed air on a unit is taking a chance. It's always possible to have a location that does not drain properly and some water will settle, freeze and crack a fitting or line. I've done 4 unit with compressed air and have had no problems. On the latest our Flagstaff-26-FKWS when we filled to leave AR, no leaks and been here 3 weeks and no leaks. So I will winterize using only compressed air and anti-freeze in the traps. It has not compromised the toilet seals either. I just put a couple of cups in open the drain some and fill it again to keep the rubber seal immersed. It's worked for me so why not???

This is something I have done if it presents itself. On the last trip home I open all low point drains before I leave the camp ground. I believe the driving moves some of the water from the lines so it will drain more completely. I flush the holding tanks when I get home because I have a drain into my septic system. Freezing of the holding tanks is not a problem anyway.
JMTCW
TeJay

[mjones12]

Several companies, like Brita, etc., make clear plastic pitchers with build-in filters. We pour our camper tap water into one of these and in a few minutes we have a pitcher of filtered water that fits nicely in the fridge. This eliminates putting a filter on our fresh water hose, which might affect our overall water pressure in the camper.

[TeJay]

Thanks for the reminder concerning the Britta filters. Do you think it will remove the anti-freeze taste?? We don't have it now but others might. It is also good to know about the filters because as you travel around the country you will run into campgrounds that don't have good tasting water. We are in that situation now. I really hate to start my day with bad tasting coffee. I know we retired folks can be a real pain sometimes. I'm going to add some shelves around the kitchen area where we can keep a 2-1/2 gallon container of bottled water above the counter so it will be easy to get water for coffee etc. We will probably filer the campground water and keep it replenished because I still hate buying bottled water.

TeJay