What plumbing mods are "must haves"?

[Rugged Brown]

Originally Posted by dirttracker18

I never blow out my lines. My experience is that it takes less than 2 gallons of anitfreeze, run from the pump, to fully winterize almost any unit.

Shut off the water heater, use your pump to pump out of the antifreeze jug and let your pump run until it pressurizes. Then run each tap, toilet, shower, etc. until the antifreeze runs out. The run out is enough to fill the traps as well.

All done! Nice and fast.

In the spring I run fresh water through the entire system for a while at home and then dump the tanks on the way out for the first trip.

Not that I against a blow out but I just find it easier to drop a hose in the jug then turn the taps on.

This is my technique as well. Worked well in -30C with no problems to date.

[mTn_biKer65]

Originally Posted by flyrotor

I built this connection for about $8, simple to use, I also labeled it 40 psi so I remember to down grade the line pressure off the air compressor, 40 psi will not hurt the trailer as my city water supply has a residual pressure of 76 psi. I can hook up water to the city line and have never had any issues with 76 psi. My compressor is a 6 gallon pancake compressor.

I ended up going an almost identical route only a little longer. I bought a 1/2' inch 5' long compressor hose. Cut off one end and inserted a brass water hose repair end into the cut section then used a hose clamp to keep the brass water hose repair end nice and tight. Hose was about $7 and the brass end was about $4. Final total with taxes and hose clamp was close to $12. I would've saved a few dollars if I went with the shortest compressor hose possible in 1/2" but I thought I was swapping the hoses on the compressor so I thought the extra length would come in handy. As it turns out I just attach this new hose to my existing compressor hose so no need to mess with the existing set-up.

Can't wait to give it a try this weekend perhaps.

[BackInAction]

This afternoon I blew the lines out, pumped in antifreeze ('till it filled the water filter container an inch) and poured antifreeze in the drain lines. I also drained the hot water tank and opened the freshwater drain plug and the hot/cold water line drain plugs. I have a couple of questions...

1. Should I blow out the lines before or after I bypass the hot water heater? I have a 3-valve bypass setup.
2. Should I re-install the fresh water tank and the hot/cold water line plugs? Currently I have all three off, but I can stop by the storage and put them back on.
3. I also put a bit of antifreeze in the toilet basin, as there always seemed to be a touch of water sitting on the aperture.
4. Does the shower drain have a trap under it? I don't think it does, but if it does I need to pour some antifreeze down its drain.
5. I left the freshwater input line off of the pump (so it would drain back into the freshwater tank and drain onto the ground), should I re-attached it.

All in all, winterizing was fairly easy using the compressor (40 psi output). The hardest part was removing the hot-water tank drain plug. (1-1/16" socket, that's just silly).

Switching topics slightly, should I drain the hot-water tank after each trip? I thought I read somewhere that helps to extend the life of the anode. True? False?

[jimh]

i believe the manual says to drain it. i never did and changed my anode rod last year. (8 yrs).
it is going to depend more on how conductive the water is that is left in there.

[BackInAction]

One more winterizing question to add to my list 2 post above...

I read (maybe it was a video?) that you should leave the black/grey water drain cover off and leave the gates opened slightly. Thoughts?

[dezolen]

If you don't have an air compressor a shop vac does a better job in my opinion. Use it either way blow or suck.
Used one for my inground pool for 25 yrs to blow out return lines without a hitch

[BackInAction]

Originally Posted by dezolen

If you don't have an air compressor a shop vac does a better job in my opinion. Use it either way blow or suck.
Used one for my inground pool for 25 yrs to blow out return lines without a hitch

Does a shopvac generate enough pressure to open the "city water" check valve?

[capucine]

shop vac is no good to winterize your trailer. It will give you aprx less than 10 pound psi. You need at least 40 psi. for your case. I use a shop vac to blow the air in my zodiac at the beginning of the season and that give me a quick inflation but I have to finish with the hand pump because of the low pressure I can get from the shop vac.

[mtnguy]

IMHO, using a shop-vac to blow the lines is not a good idea, especially if you don't change the filter and clean the vacuum before blowing the lines. Reversing the flow from vacuum to blowing is going to throw a lot of dirt and dust into your water lines.

A bicycle pump and this (Camco Mfg Inc - Blow-out Plug - Winterizing - Camping World) will easily open the check valve on the city water connection.