Dumb winterizing mistake....

[M109Rrider]

I've always used antifreeze in past. This year I thought I'd try a blow out instead. It's bothered the crap out of me since it's gotten cold that I didn't use antifreeze so today I got antifreeze and began to run it through the lines. Low and behold I have pink fluid running out of the bathroom. When I originally winterized I drainied the tanks, HW heater and used the LP drains. I installed the blow out and went to each faucet making sure to get all the water out......well I forgot something....the toilet.....cracked the flush valve. $40 for a plastic valve....lessons learned....

[M109Rrider]

oh and of course all the local shops carry every valve for every toilet except mine so I have to order it

[Herk7769]

Thanks for the "head" 's up! I plan on blowing out the water when we get back from Florida (it will be the end of march in PA - still plenty cold).

[KyDan]

Tough luck.
If you forget something like that, it's in danger from freezing
no matter if you use antifreeze or just blow out.
Don't want to be a nag but,
check lists are real "life savers"-

Whether it's your TV antenna left up while on the road or
something as simple as forgetting to clip the stove vent shut
and arriving at your destination without your vent door
I highly recommend check lists.
I'm gonna bet Lou uses them at work too!!

(That $40 would have bought 10 gallons of RV anti-freeze!)

[polkatronron]

Another point of concernw when winterizing is the inlet water hose valve. You have to make sure antifreeze reaches this point as well. An easy way to do this is to take the pressure of the line by opening a tap for a second. Then go and hold the little valve open with your finger and start the pump and see if antifreeze squirts out. Don't push on it as it will break but you will be able to see if antifreeze or water is in the valve. It gets to darn cold here in Canada to even think about using air to winterize. Everyone uses antifreeze. A little water in an elbow can cause so much grief. Antifreeze is the only way to be sure and as well as the toilet, don't forget the shower hose and hand held shower head.

[MtnGuy]

I blow my lines, follow up with antifreeze, then blow the lines again. I too forgot about the toilet.

So, when it finally dawned on me that I didn't do that line, and not wanting to introduce antifreeze again, I blew the toilet line, took a turkey baster and squirted antifreeze into the outlet hole while holding the valve open, and blew the lines thoroughly again. Hoping that will be sufficient.

[Herk7769]

Here is a tip I learned about winterizing the check valves in the city water line and the turboflush lines. I use the outside shower wand and a short hose with a brass thread adapter and brass checkvalve.



Remove the shower wand and insert the adapter. Screw a water hose onto the shower wand hose. Attach the other end of the short hose to the city water inlet. Open the shower valves (each) briefly to flush fresh water out and antifreeze in. With the check valve in place you can use the same technique to flush the turboflush line. This is NOT my camper. It was from the site I got the tip from.