Winterizing question

[Tony w]

Time to put my a-frame to bed for the winter. I have winterized many other RV's with no issues, but I am not sure what to do with the city water connection line on my A122S.

I had a by-pass valve (for winterizing) added. After bypassing the hot water tank and draining it, I used this valve to hook into a gallon of RV anti-freeze and ran antifreeze through all the hot and cold water lines until solid pink color was showing. But I am not sure how to best take care of the water line that I used to hook city water directly to my unit. It must have some water in it. I have a small compressor/tank unit. Should I look for an adapter that will let me just blow the line out with compressed air?

Any advice would be appreciated. Hope you all had a wonderful camping season.

Tony

[Pooneil]

Far be it for a Gulf Coaster to give definitive advice on winterizing because a blow out is all I would use for the whole camper, but..... For you heartier souls, I bet there is a simple way to use low air pressure to force some antifreeze into the city water line.

My thought would be to connect a short piece of hose to the inlet, fill it with antifreeze, plug the open end with the blow out adapter. Then use gravity or low pressure air to transfer the antifreeze from the hose to the city inlet tubing. Make sure a faucet is open.

YMMV

[Roger1984]

This is my first winter with my A122S. Can you winterize with using anti freeze? Can you just drain the entire system?

[Roger1984]

Sorry missed a word. Can you winterize without using anti freeze?
Thanks

[mTn_biKer65]

Originally Posted by Tony w

But I am not sure how to best take care of the water line that I used to hook city water directly to my unit. It must have some water in it.

Any advice would be appreciated. Hope you all had a wonderful camping season.

Tony

The city water connection outside has a check valve that allows water in from the city water hose but won't let water back out when using the pump. That check valve will have a little pin in the middle that you can push about 1/4" to bypass the check valve. Be careful when you do it because water & antifreeze will come flying out. With the pump on and hooked up to antifreeze this will allow you to clear out any remaining water.

[Tony w]

Biker,

That did the trick. I had to pull out the screen where the hose hooks in to get to the check valve. After turning on the pump and filling the lines with antifreeze solution, I hit that check valve. Thanks for the warning. I stood to the side when I hit the button, and the antifreeze came out pretty vigorously and squirted about 10 feet. I would have been soaked if you had not mentioned that.

I would not trust just blowing out the lines in my cold climate. It would be nice to avoid putting a foreign substance into the lines, but I will just rinse vigorously with fresh water in the spring.

[chuck9997]

Today I ordered a Pump Converter Kit (below).. and I am gonna use the pink stuff. This makes it easier to get the anti-freeze in the line without using the fresh water tank.

http://www.amazon.com/Camco-36543-Pu...+converter+kit

[oldman2]

I too am new to the A-Frames (128s). I did a winterizing last week, or least tried to. Drained the FW tank, and the Water heater. And emptied the water filter. left the drains open, then hooked air compressor adapter to the City water connection (used 25 lbs pressure) to blow out system. Left the hot/cold water faucets open (yes the outside ones too). then ran the water pump for a bit to get more water out. Blew out the system again. Got a bit more water out. There was a bit of water in the water heater that wouldn't drain out, so put a bit of pink anti-freeze and also some in the FW tank. From reading above, I will also check to see if any water comes out the CW connection when I push (carefully) the check valve.

[1A Camper]

You need to blow out the sink drain.

[newhitney]

Use air to drain water, pink stuff in the traps. One thing I forgot last year was disconnect the water from the toilet. The plunger valve for the toilet froze and cracked. Made a little mess when I put water in the camper first thing this past summer.

[BooBoo23]

Don't forget to open the low point drains since you can't blow that water out. Put the plug (or close the valves) back on/in to prevent insects from taking up home in the lines. I'm not sold on just blowing the lines out, I still prefer the RV/Marine Antifreeze. It only take 2 or 3 gallons, less than $10 to do it.

[Tony w]

Boo,
I was not aware of any low point drains on my 122s. Where might they be located?

Thanks for the help.

[BooBoo23]

I'm not familiar where they are on a Roo. They will be two short pipes extending under the trailer just like there would be for the FW drain. The low point drains most times just have a cap on them, no valve. One many times is blue and the other is white. Not saying you have them but chances are that you do, every RV with a water system has them. There is probably no mention of them in any manual either.

[1A Camper]

On my A frame, they under the sink and on the floor.

[Pooneil]

Originally Posted by Tony w

Boo,
I was not aware of any low point drains on my 122s. Where might they be located?

Thanks for the help.

On the floor of the sink cabinet next to the water pump. Look for the "T" handles that get in the way of using the cabinet space.

[61cubby]

How long is your city water connection line? Just asking to see if it is the same as in my 2514g pop up. Mine is lucky to be 18 inches long. I can easily see where it connects from the sidewall and runs to the pump. I unhooked it to install a bypass and just blew into it and then held it down to see if anything else ran out.....nothing. Then hooked it back up in-line.