General conversation about winterizing.

[M109Rrider]

Had a great camping season. Never really kept close track but I'm guessing around 20 nights. Today I winterized the camper. Drained the tanks, drained the water/water heater and pumped it full of antifreeze. I also disconnected the battery and put it on a tender. .
What do you do in addition to the above mentioned to prepare your RV for the long cold winter?

[grhodes50]

I buy a couple of buckets of DampRid to help keep moisture from building up inside the tt. I buy it at wal mart.

[MtnGuy]

Originally Posted by M109Rrider

Today I winterized the camper. Drained the tanks, drained the water/water heater and pumped it full of antifreeze.

You filled your water heater with antifreeze ?? You really don't need to do that. Just set the bypass valves, drain the heater, and leave it empty in future years.

[LadyWindrider]

Don't leave antifreeze in your water heater. It will eat the anode rod, if you have one, and then it will start eating the tank itself. Just my two cents.

[M109Rrider]

No antifreeze in water heater. It's bypassed.

[Steve38]

Rodent control. Don't forget to take precautions or they will cost you a lot of $$

[hankpac]

After draining from the low point drains, I recap them, pull the whole house filter reservoir, and empty it, and leave the filter out replacing the reservoir. then I drain the water heater by pulling (unscrewing) the anode rod/plug. I leave it behind the heater cover, so it is there when I want to use it again.
then I turn my bypass valves, so no fluids run into the tank.
Finally, I have a kit permanently mounted on the intake line near the pump, and I use that to completely charge all the lines.
Lastly, I put a few oz in the fresh water tank to keep the dregs of water from freezing.
A word about that: I never ever drink the water from our tanks. We cook and drink water we carry in special 5 gallon containers. Everything else is for washing, not drinking.
As to mice: I put Decon at each ground contact point. I don't have much problem at home, since we have cats, and a lot of Decon out, but when dry camping, we have not only white footed mice, we have pack rats (about half a pound or more) that eat the wires and nest on top of the batteries. So, more Decon, and constantly check for rats under the hood.
Ironic, We leave here in January, for warmer climes so I dump all that antifreeze when I get to Texas. About 2 gallons, but it saves my pipes.

[kandl]

Originally Posted by M109Rrider

What do you do in addition to the above mentioned to prepare your RV for the long cold winter?

Pray that global warming will accelerate and that we won't have to suffer through five months of snow'n ice!

The emoticon above is precisely representative of what happens to us after five months of snow and ice. Some refer to it as cabin fever...

[paulmac]

Only other thing we do is remove the battery and store it indoors (heated cellar) and cover the camper. We also leave the refrigerator and freezer doors cracked open to keep them dry and mildew free.

[tentcamper1]

all the above and I turn off the propane tanks, blow some air into the tank rinser to get any water out of it, cover the electric jack with a bucket.
we also remove everything from inside, vac out the cabinets, wipe them clean, vac the floors and take the register covers off and vac, etc - a good cleaning. sounds like a lot of work but we can get it done in about 4 hours. we have dogs so I want to make sure there are no hidden pieces of food for the mice to get.

[SaskCampers]

We do as above but take the outside fridge vent cover off and put a piece of plastic ove the opening then replace the cover. We do this as FR only puts silicone along the bottom edge and up maybe an inch on the side of the opening leaving the the sides and top open to water damage and delamination as this aera will fill with snow when the winds are right then melt. I believe it was Crocus who picked this one up last winter and I checked and sure enough ours was made just like he said his 5ver was.

[kjoh75]

I have used dryer sheets to keep the mice out. I place one in all the cabinets, dresser drawers and inside storage areas in my tt. So far so good.

[bodzcampers]

We cover with a breathable RV cover here in Michigan. Don't want all that snow and slush on the roof!
Bodzcampers

[kevnval]

In addition to what has already been said..We leave all the cabinet and appliance doors open for air circulation....remove the LCD TV...place several trays of BBQ charcoal around to absorb moisture...leave the ceiling vents open a bit also....lube /lock de-ice all locks in case I want to get something out when it's -30c...make sure the insurance is paid up ...and pray that spring come quickly.

[2Susan]

We use the air compressor to blow out all the lines after draining the system. We remove the water filter, then replace the plastic cover to blow the system. I open each hot and cold tap in turn and then do each again. You can feelmthe air against yournhand and see whether there is any moisture. The plastic filter cover is left off, as is the bottom of the water pump. Don't forget inside and outside showers and the toilet! Then we dump the antifreeze into the drains. Last year we also left the grey / black valves open (After thorough cleaning) but ran into a little problem when a forgotten 1/2 filled 5 gallon jug of distilled water sitting in the shower pan burst. The result with temp warm enough to melt the water inside, but cold enough to freeze ouside, was a frozen waterfall from the drain! Weird Chinook winds that give you warm weather in the middle of winter!

I would also look through again to make sure there aren't forgotten items that might burst - the can of soda for example.

[campdohbrew]

If you can, go drain the antifreeze out the water heater.

[ret2006]

For the past three years I have used low pressure, about 20psi, to blow all the water out of the water lines in my 5th. wheel then pump pink RV antifreeze into the system (after bypassing the water heater).
I just purchased a new Sabre and the dealer rep., told me using air pressure was not recommended due to all the check valves in the system.
I can understand if high pressure, 60 or 70 psi, was used but not very low pressure as has been recommended by a lot of people.
Any comments on using air during winterizing?

[2Susan]

Good question. So where are those check valves? The system has to stand up to water pressure of 45psi. If you blow out the system you don't buy the antifreeze.

[caper]

There is a check valve on the city water inlet. That is why when you use the pump and fresh water tank the water does not flow out the city in let. I know because the check valve on my unit was not working and when I was dry camping and turned on the water pump there was a stream of water coming from my city water outlet. There is also a check valve at the water pump. This stops the water from backing up into the fresh water tank.

[kidhoule]

Just a simple inexpensive trick to keep the rodents away " BOUNCE SHEETS " everywhere, never had a problem with the critters !!!