Winterizing

[SecretAgentMan]

So, this will be my first time going through the winterization process. I live in Ohio so the season for my camping is soon coming to a close. When do my fellow Ohioans or similar latitude campers typically winterize? Do you do it yourself or hire it out? Are there any special tools or kits I'll need? Any helpful hints or tricks? Good resources that lay out the process for me? I have a Heritage Glen hyper lite 27bh. Thanks!

[5picker]

Winterizing is very opinionated mostly depending on your location.
You will find MANY differing ideas as to what is necessary and what isn't.

As far as when... you'll need to monitor you local forecasts and when temps are consistently (more than a night or two) going to be below freezing, it is time.

The degree of your 'handy skills' and whether your rig is equipped with an antifreeze injection point will determine whether YOU can do it.

I live in the high mountains of Western PA and I blow my plumbing system with compressed air and then add antifreeze to the plumbing, traps and tanks, along with the required water heater bypass and draining.

It only takes one small droplet of water, trapped in a faucet/toilet cartridge, to freeze and break some cheap plastic and then you will have havoc come next spring. I have seen it happen more than once.

A search here and on You Tube will turn up hundreds of how-to's.

Best of luck whichever route you choose.

[SecretAgentMan]

Thank you for the response. I am just curious why a water heater bypass is required? I get that you should drain the hot water tank, but why is a bypass required? Thank you.

I saw a camco kit on amazon for just under $19 but the reviews said that installing it restricted water flow. Do you have any recommendations on a good bypass kit if it really is necessary? Thanks again.

[WFD]

Without a water heater bypass you will fill your hot water tank with 6 gal of antifreeze, totally unnecessary. Other thing is if your water heater is full of antifreeze when you go to drain it in the spring, it can be difficult to get it all out.
A bypass kit should in no way restrict water flow...all it is is a valve that redirects water from one pex tube up to another thus bypassing the hot water tank.

[SeaDog]

SAM
You may want to check your rig I would think it already has the bypass. Like has been mentioned when to winterize depends on your temps, Myself with this TT I will use low pressure air to blow out the water from the plumbing and then pump RV antifreeze thru the system using the potable water pump. I will pump enough to fill the lines and traps and have some against the dump valves.

[Flybob]

There are several tutorials here that will walk you through what is an easy process. The Camco winterizing valve works fine 15 mins to install. The area where most people run into problems is forgetting to open everything to allow the antifreeze to get in. Don't forget inside shower, outside shower, outside kitchen if you have one, kitchen sink sprayer (if you have one) and toilet. I blow the air out of the city water line. Put some pink stuff down the drains to fill the traps. NO pink stuff in fresh water tank or water heater. Drain black and grey tanks and make sure there is no liquid in the drain behind the dump valve. Just a heads up so you don't panic when it happens, the pink stuff will freeze ( slush) at about 10F but it does not expand until about -50F.

[WFD]

As SeaDog mentioned....have a good look, especially around where your water pump is located...you may very likely already have all you need. There may be a water bypass valve already installed in there allowing you to draw antifreeze from a jug. It would have a bypass valve with a short piece, maybe 1 ft or 2 of clear plastic tubing that can be placed inside the rv antifreeze jug.
Do check out tutorials on Youtube, many great ones on there.

[SecretAgentMan]

Thanks all!

[SRN]

Remember to replace the exterior low point drain caps before sucking the RV antifreeze into the system. I forgot to put the caps back on, sucked up three gallons of antifreeze & wondered where the he** it was all going. Found out when I stepped back outside to grab ANOTHER gallon!