Do we Winterize Travel Trailer in south-central Texas

[Larry-NC]

Originally Posted by NavyLCDR

Desert Boat beat me to it. I did not forget the first step. I don't bypass the water heater because I do not fill the plumbing system with antifreeze, so there is no need to bypass it. Yes, it should be bypassed and drained if you are going to pump antifreeze into the plumbing system. Simply blowing out with air is sufficient protection where I live in western Oregon. Antifreeze down the drains only because I don't feel like blowing the water out of traps with air.

And you don't blow out the traps with air because the trailer would STINK!!! Why do you think they're called traps?

[NavyLCDR]

Originally Posted by Larry-NC

And you don't blow out the traps with air because the trailer would STINK!!! Why do you think they're called traps?

Good point. I have seen people post adapters to blow out drains with. Now there is a good reason, besides laziness, not to do it!

Originally Posted by Iwritecode

Even with only blowing with air, it's a good idea to drain the water heater through the anode hole first. There can be crud in your water heater that you don't want getting pulled into your water lines via the low point drains.

There is a check valve on the inlet side of the water heater. Therefore, it does not drain via the low point drains. That is why mine is still full of water when I remove the anode rod in step 7 of my procedure.

I prefer my method of winterizing because my trailer sits in my driveway. It is my guest room when I have relative/friends for overnight visits and I like to be able to just hook up water and put it in service without having to de-winterize. After their stay, I take the trailer to the dump station about 2 miles from my house, dump and flush tanks, and then I can winterize in my driveway again easily. But the coldest it gets where I live is about 20 F, and never more than a few days at a time.

[Larry Gunn]

Live in San Antonio. Had our Shasta 29RK for three years. We store it where we bought it. The dealer told us there was no need to winterize here. But to be safe we do a couple things. Drain the water heater, then put antifreeze down the sinks, shower and toilet. We have not had a hot water heater cutoff installed. Same for a special hookup to blow the lines out. We only use shore power and water so far. So our fresh water tank never gets filled. We have drained it from the low point valve. So far we haven’t had a problem. Please educate me if there is more that I really should be doing. I’m still learning the finer points.

[Eric H.]

Originally Posted by Cajunrver

Last year they had a hard freeze in South Texas for days. Just saying.

That's what insurance is for. In Norcal we occasionally see nights in the high 20's with freeze warnings but in 16 years, I've never done any kind of winterizing or even draining.

[NavyLCDR]

Originally Posted by Larry Gunn

Live in San Antonio. Had our Shasta 29RK for three years. We store it where we bought it. The dealer told us there was no need to winterize here. But to be safe we do a couple things. Drain the water heater, then put antifreeze down the sinks, shower and toilet. We have not had a hot water heater cutoff installed. Same for a special hookup to blow the lines out. We only use shore power and water so far. So our fresh water tank never gets filled. We have drained it from the low point valve. So far we haven’t had a problem. Please educate me if there is more that I really should be doing. I’m still learning the finer points.

If by water heater cutoff you mean bypass - that is normally installed by the manufacturer at the factory. The two trailers that I have had both had water heater bypass valves installed when they manufactured the trailer. There is no special hookup that must be permanently installed to blow the lines out. There is a less than $10 adapter that screws into the city water connection and allows you to connect an air hose to it:

https://www.amazon.com/Winterize-Mot...dp/B017CM0134/



The fact that you have never used the freshwater tank and pump has really very little to do with the need to winterize or not. The low point drain will only gravity drain most of the water out of the plumbing system. There will be parts of the plumbing system (dips and loops in the tubing and faucets above the valves) that will not gravity drain. Any water left in these dips, loops and faucets will freeze if temps get low enough and could burst the tubing or faucet when it does freeze.

Blowing out with air, when done properly, will get 99% of the water out of the plumbing. There will still be drops of water left in the plumbing system. Many people prefer pumping antifreeze into the system to make 99.9% sure that any water droplets remaining in the system will not freeze. Since it is generally a bad idea to blow out drains, replacing the water trapped in the drains with antifreeze is definitely the way to go there.

[Larry Gunn]

Thanks Navy, I’ll have to get the adaptor and look for the hot water heater bypass. I only have the one low point drain as far as I know. The dealer told us it was for the fresh water tank. I’ll have to check into the drain situation further.

[Larry-NC]

Originally Posted by Larry Gunn

Live in San Antonio. Had our Shasta 29RK for three years. We store it where we bought it. The dealer told us there was no need to winterize here. But to be safe we do a couple things. Drain the water heater, then put antifreeze down the sinks, shower and toilet. We have not had a hot water heater cutoff installed. Same for a special hookup to blow the lines out. We only use shore power and water so far. So our fresh water tank never gets filled. We have drained it from the low point valve. So far we haven’t had a problem. Please educate me if there is more that I really should be doing. I’m still learning the finer points.

But you didn't write anything about the gray and black water tanks. The tanks themselves are HDPE (High Density PolyEthylene) and are robust against freezing. But their low point is the black Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) valves and piping which fills with water first. This plastic is brittle and will split if water in it freezes.

It's essential to drain the tanks if a freeze is expected.

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by Eric H.

That's what insurance is for. In Norcal we occasionally see nights in the high 20's with freeze warnings but in 16 years, I've never done any kind of winterizing or even draining.

When we lived in Napa Valley, we never winterized our TT.

[NavyLCDR]

Originally Posted by Larry Gunn

Thanks Navy, I’ll have to get the adaptor and look for the hot water heater bypass. I only have the one low point drain as far as I know. The dealer told us it was for the fresh water tank. I’ll have to check into the drain situation further.

You don't have a very knowledgeable dealer. That is abundantly clear. I don't think there is really any member who would not agree with that.

[txredfish]

I currently live north of Corpus Christi. I winterize the same as I did when I lived southern Indiana. Drain water heater, blow out all lines with compressor, put antifreeze in traps and toilet. Does not take very long and to be safe. Easy to just use camper and winterize again.

[NavyLCDR]

Originally Posted by txredfish

I currently live north of Corpus Christi. I winterize the same as I did when I lived southern Indiana. Drain water heater, blow out all lines with compressor, put antifreeze in traps and toilet. Does not take very long and to be safe. Easy to just use camper and winterize again.

Same here. Western Oregon.

[tomkatb]

We were in the Houston freeze last year.

I observed several of the scholars in the trailer park we were in who never winterized their rv's. The ones that did not leave the furnace on as well.

Had to buy blankets and torpedo heaters to thaw the rvs out. Then repair the lines etc.

You should carry an air compressor. It takes about 10 minutes to blow all the lines out and fill drains with anti freeze.

In Houston we and my dear Daughter lost all power and water for three days. They slept with us in the fifth wheel several nights. We had basic amenities and running water thanks to the tank heaters.

Used a bunch of propane.

[Jnlcoleman]

We live just south of San Antonio and we, like a few others posting here, have never winterized. We usually measure freezing temps by the hour. Last year during the big freeze we had 4-5 days of freezing temps all the way down to 12.
I turned on our gas furnace in the trailer, and all was fine until my battery went dead and the blower shut down the furnace. Our electricity was out for the duration of the freeze. So, I backed my truck up and recharged the battery and we made it through with no busted pipes, traps, tanks. The furnace also blows air into the underbelly. I checked the trailer several times a day and night, watching it closely. I used 1 tank of LP gas, $27 to fill back up. We have a wood burning stove in our house or we would have been living in the trailer that week.

[cpenn43]

I live in Manchaca and have never winterized my trailer because I use it all year long. I drain the lines and leave all valves open, that is all. I learned one year to drain the toilet because the valve did freeze and split. It was an easy, but expensive, $50 fix. Another year I learned to not only drain the shower, but put the shower head on the floor. That was also an easy $10 fix. If you use the outside shower you will also need to open those valves. I had no problems in the Feb. 2021 freeze.

[timfromma]

Ask yourself this question:


Do I want to risk my camper plumbing over $10 worth of RV antifreeze and 20 minutes of my time?

[edc1911]

Originally Posted by Pred

Knowing what was coming our way I drained our fresh water tank, took the anode out of our water heater and let it drain, and finally with faucets and shower valves open, I removed the low point drain plugs and left them open.
Fortunately we had no issues with the freezing temps as far as our 21DS MicroLite was concerned. Don't go thru all of that if you don't need to; but, do pay attention to your weather and what may be coming your way. Prepare accordingly.

This..
I do not winterize my TT. I just make sure there is no water in the lines or tanks, i keep the faucets open and low dran plugs. Even with last years freeze, i had no issues with my TT.