Question - winterizing

[Cmtodd1000]

Hi, new to the trailering game. In the process of interesting my apex Nano 151. Pump doesn’t have an antifreeze Bypass, so I had to fill it via the fresh water tank. Got all the lines flowing pink, but my question is that there is still a lot of leftover antifreeze in the fresh water tank. I thought I could drain a lot of it out via the low point drain. Opened it up and it’s just a dribble. Is it because everything is pressurized? I didn’t try taking the cap off and then opening the low point. But I didn’t want to screw anything up, so I thought I’d ask.
I’m going to put a bypass in next Spring.
Your collective wisdom is appreciated!
Cheers
Chris

[HangDiver]

Personally, I would NOT put antifreeze into the fresh water tank. I'm sure it seems like the obvious thing to do if your Apex Nano didn't come from the factory with an antifreeze inlet port. Instead, I would have found a way to attach a tube to the inlet side of the water pump (using a switch over valve) and run the other end of the tube into the gallon container of antifreeze. Then simply use the water pump pulling directly from the rv antifreeze container to winterize your plumbing. Hope this makes sense.

I suggest you find the drain for the fresh water tank and flush that antifreeze out of there, repeatedly, with clean water.

Have fun with your new TT.

[HangDiver]

There's also a Camco hand pump that screws in to your city water connection, the other end drops into the antfreeze gallon container(s). You can pump the antifreeze by hand throughout the plumbing without it back filling into the fresh water tank.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Camco-Ant...36003/21803196

[Cmtodd1000]

Thanks for the comments. I will be putting in a bypass for an antifreeze jug in the spring, but did need to tackle it for this winter. I guess my question is this... If I drained the fresh tank of the antifreeze thats currently in there via the low water point, would that depressurize the winterized lines? Or would it be fine because the pump, which is off, creates a division which would maintain the winterized water lines? Hopefully my question makes sense.

[Skip12]

You can safely drain your fresh water tank. The problems is you wont drain all antifreeze so it will take several flushes to get it all out of there.

For what it's worth, the point of the antifreeze is not to pressurize the lines. It's to displace all water out of the lines. As long as you dont put water back into the system, it wont freeze at the temperature water freezes.

Hope that helps.

[Cmtodd1000]

Thanks skip12
I willing to deal with the fact it’s was going to take a number of flushes to get rid of the antifreeze, I’ll tackle that issue when it’s time. Any thoughts as to why when I opened the low point drain what came out was just a trickle? I don’t think the cap is airtight, and I can see a hose that lets air in that’s by the fresh water inlet. There is enough antifreeze that it’s should’ve gushed out when I opened it.

[BigH]

Originally Posted by Cmtodd1000

Thanks skip12
I willing to deal with the fact it’s was going to take a number of flushes to get rid of the antifreeze, I’ll tackle that issue when it’s time. Any thoughts as to why when I opened the low point drain what came out was just a trickle? I don’t think the cap is airtight, and I can see a hose that lets air in that’s by the fresh water inlet. There is enough antifreeze that it’s should’ve gushed out when I opened it.

Water/af is sitting in the lowest point of your tank. One expects the drain to be the lowest point when level but my trailer has to have the nose down some to move the water to the drain.

Its easy enough to raise and lower the front of the trailer to move water. If that doesn't do it and you have a side to side issue, I would not put the af in the fresh tank next year because rinsing the tank will take much longer to dilute what doesn't get drained.

[eye95]

Do you mean “low point drains”, or do you mean “fresh water tank drain”?

I cannot speak to your specific model, but low point drains are intended for draining the lines (which could defeat putting AF in them). The fresh water tank drain would, as its name says, drain only the fresh water tank.

How much AF did you put into your system? If almost all that you put in was sucked into your lines, then there would be very little in your fresh water tank to drain, and you would just get a dribble by opening the fresh water tank drain.

Once the antifreeze (RV antifreeze, that is) is in your fresh water tank, it shouldn’t make any difference whether you drain it out now or when you dewinterize. If all of your lines, drains, toilet bowl are filled with AF, I’d just button things up for the winter, and then flush and drain the fresh water tank in the spring.

Your goal in flushing out the AF is to eliminate any taste. RV AF is safe for human consumption. In fact the typical chemical in RV AF is a food additive that also has a low freezing point.

[badger5301]

Way back in the day we used put rv AF in the fresh water tank then pump it through the system. Took quite a few gallon jugs to get the job done. When we got educated we then started pumping right out of the jug through the water pump. With the new fifth wheel we just hook up to the AF connection on the side of the unit and use only about one and a half gallons.

I have always opened up the low point drains when I'm done and have always had clear water run out before it would turn pink then close them.
Never have had a frozen pipe issue but am I doing something wrong by opening up the low points after running AF through the entire system?

Never to old to learn.

[Cmtodd1000]

@eye95 thanks for highlighting the need for the right term. I am speaking about the tank drain positioned at the bottom side of my fresh tank. (Not the low point drain).
I’m going to see if it’s plugged, but it looks like it’s acting like it’s vacuum locked, going to see if that’s the case. As another option if I undid the line from the inlet side of the pump, would I have to worry about all the antifreeze in the lines running back out or would it stop at the pump?

[HangDiver]

Originally Posted by Cmtodd1000

@eye95 thanks for highlighting the need for the right term. I am speaking about the tank drain positioned at the bottom side of my fresh tank. (Not the low point drain).
I’m going to see if it’s plugged, but it looks like it’s acting like it’s vacuum locked, going to see if that’s the case. As another option if I undid the line from the inlet side of the pump, would I have to worry about all the antifreeze in the lines running back out or would it stop at the pump?

Some of us have the fresh water tank drain coming out of the bottom of the tank. Since your drain is coming out the side its likely that there just isn't that much antifreeze in there to come gushing out. As eye said in his post above, all thats necessary is to have antifreeze in the lines. Pressurizing the lines with antifreeze is not necessary. If you're confident that you have pink stuff coming out of all the faucets, bath, shower head, outdoor shower, toilet flushed thoroughly, you're done. I would not worry about undoing anything at the pump.

[Cmtodd1000]

thanks everyone. so i inspected the drain a little bit more and i wouldn't be surprised if there was a little blockage. the pointy end of a long zip tie gently poked up the line seemed to make for a pretty consistent stream after the fact. i got the majority of the antifreeze out of the fresh tank and pumped it back into the jugs...i've got my antifreeze for next year! i know i will have to do lots of flushing next year, sounds like a good job to sit by the trailer with a beer.

[hack522]

I use air to blow out all lines. Then add AF into all drains to eliminate the freeze possibility. Haven't had any issues whatsoever for the last ten years.

[The Evil Twin]

Originally Posted by Cmtodd1000

Thanks for the comments. I will be putting in a bypass for an antifreeze jug in the spring, but did need to tackle it for this winter. I guess my question is this... If I drained the fresh tank of the antifreeze thats currently in there via the low water point, would that depressurize the winterized lines? Or would it be fine because the pump, which is off, creates a division which would maintain the winterized water lines? Hopefully my question makes sense.

Low point drain- drains the pipes in the rig. There should be two. One hot one cold. Taking off the caps might only let a little out unless you open up a faucet to break the vacuum. Additionally, some rigs have valves on the drain lines with or without caps. These do not drain the FW tank.

FW tank drain- drains the fresh water holding tank. May or may not actually be at the low point of the tank. May or may not have a cap but definitely has a valve. That needs to be opened to drain the tank.

Draining the FW tank has no bearing on the pressure in the pipes. The pump has a check valve that maintains line pressure. If you want to release system pressure, you will have to open a fixture or the low point drains. There is no need to keep the lines pressurized.

Hopefully that answers your questions.

[Scrapper]

Originally Posted by hack522

I use air to blow out all lines. Then add AF into all drains to eliminate the freeze possibility. Haven't had any issues whatsoever for the last ten years.

You've been lucky, it takes only a few drops of water to crack the toilet flush valve. Using air alone to get the water out of your system tends to leave enough water behind to settle in low areas of the plumbing and with the flush valve near the floor whatever water remains in the toilet rim and adjoining line tends to settle in the valve.