Best way to winterize yet still use unit in winter?

[DatacomGuy]

Looking for the safest, best route to take.

Plan on camping once a month or so through the winter season. We keep unit at a storage yard with no shore power.

I realize my options are to winterize/dewinterize every time, or i could run a heater. Since i have no power, could it run off of solar? I had planned on getting a solar panel to keep my battery charged.

Would this be effective and safe? Would it keep all plumbing safe? What about anything outside, like lines or tanks?

Or should we invest in what would be needed to do dry winterizing?

[Uncle_Rj]

We winterize after each time, but I have made some mods to be able to do the whole process in less than 10 minutes so it is really easy.

1) our pump and hot water heater is behind a panel under the sink so I made the panel "quick release" so I don't need to fuss with screws and a screwdriver each time.
2) our water heater has a bypass so that is already solved.
3) I bought a quick connect hose for the inlet of the pump. I still might buy the RV winterization kit that T's into the water line.
4) I bought the hand pump for pumping antifreeze in to the city water line.

Our winterization consists of bypassing and draining the water heater, squirting some antifreeze in the black tank flush system and city connection, and then connecting the hose to the suction side of the pump and pumping antifreeze to all the outlets. I pump a bit extra in each drain to cover the tanks too.

I don't bother with blowing the lines out and just use a bit more antifreeze. The whole process is really quick and is cheap insurance.

Usually we winterize as we are packing up the last day of the trip, but ironically, I never did it last weekend as we were supposed to be going back out this weekend and it is only September......

But, we have about a foot of snow now and it is going to be -4C (24F) tonight, so the trailer is getting a visit.

[JaxDad]

scottz wrote:
Use windshield washer fluid in the toilet (cheaper than RV antifreeze.

I'd be concerned about using WWF if the drive was very far or the tanks weren't going to be dumped right away. It's basically a 50/50 blend of methanol or ethanol and water. The alcohol is very quick to evapourate when exposed to the air. Given the large surface area of liquid in a grey or black tank and the sloshing effect and draw on the vent stack while driving I would think you'd have straight water in relatively short order.

[Dakzuki]

RedRocket204 wrote:

DatacomGuy wrote:
EDIT: Side note, don't let the south fool you. We get below freezing very often. We thaw out during the day, but we freeze nearly every night. And 8 days of snow last year. Whoo hoo.

But, it's not getting very far below freezing and as you pointed out, goes above freezing during the day. That may not even be enough to cause issues.

If it sits unused for any length of time, just blow out the lines, pretty easy and quick, which will give peace of mind.

That's pretty much what we do. We use the RV during the winter. When stored the the lines have been blown out with air. When we go to use it and it's going to get below freezing, I pre-charge the gray and black tanks with some pink stuff. I know lots of ski bum types and RV plumbing is pretty robust in the event of a freeze. I have had my fresh water lines freeze before with no harm done although I prefer to not let it happen.

[K3WE]

I'm not sure that anyone's suggested "to watch the weather and use a little common sense".

Around ATL- I'd think most of the time (Early and Late winter) your camping trips would have minimal freeze risk- I'd use the holding tanks at will (dump them at the end of the trip), and your call on whether to use the water system...

(Of course, if the weather man is predicting an unseasonable hard freeze, you operate more cautiously)

Then, maybe for December and January-where a hard freeze is more likely, have the unit fully winterized and maybe don't even use the holding tanks....

I definitely would NOT take the camper to storage without the lines being blown out.

There can be some fierce debates over JUST blowing and no anti-freeze...Just blowing is not perfectly safe (there's usually one poster who will chime in with a busted pipe story). That one person is countered with generally-overly-confident folks spouting how they've just blown for 10-zillion years and never had a problem...

To me, re-winterizing after EVERY trip would be a pain- but by watching the weather and maybe roughing it more in the heat of winter would help you not have to re-winterize.

There's a risk- a small one- but it's your call, not ours.

Definitely go for it- we have had some wonderful 'wintertime' camps including several with hard, overnight freezes.

[jaycocamprs]

This is how I do it. I blow out the lines getting most of the water out. Pump in the antifreeze, and then blow agian catching the antifreeze. Pour a little antifreeze in the pee traps. I use the same antifreeze over and over. I do this seveal times a year. Should not have to winterize till after Thancksgiving. March is a crapshoot, we park at home so we can and do heat in late March if needed. YMMV

[wbwood]

DatacomGuy wrote:
We'll be doing a mix of state parks, and commercial parks.

My only fear is the kids. Four year old may struggle with that plan, but we can give it a shot.

I wonder if we cant leave the gray winterized, and just mess with the black. Use it, dump in, pour in antifreeze.. Thoughts? Am i missing anything?

Then you would be good to use the bath houses and have electric...I would recommend getting an electric heater or two and use those over your propane furnace as well. You will be paying for the electricity already....save your propane. You could take jugs of water and use a dishpan. Whatever water you use, use it in the dishpan. If the site has a sewer hookup, just pour down it. You could use the toilet and dump it, but you will need to use jugs of water for flushing. You will need to make sure your water pump is off so it's not trying to draw water. But I would want to dump the black tank pretty quick. Depending on how cold it gets, it could freeze up in a day or so.

[camper19709]

obgraham wrote:
To me, going thru the winterize/dewinterize protocol every week or so would eventually lead to a frozen pipe, due to me being too stupid to do it properly every time.

So I'm also in the "jugs of water for everything" crowd, and leave the plumbing winterized till it warms up. Toilet and black tank can work with pink stuff or windshield washer antifreeze, whatever is cheapest.You can heat water quickly on your stove top.

x2.
I also carry containers of water. Use the toilet and grey tank(sparingly) making sure there is LOTS of windshield washer antifreeze in the tanks.

[DatacomGuy]

We'll be doing a mix of state parks, and commercial parks.

My only fear is the kids. Four year old may struggle with that plan, but we can give it a shot.

I wonder if we cant leave the gray winterized, and just mess with the black. Use it, dump in, pour in antifreeze.. Thoughts? Am i missing anything?

[wbwood]

dahkota wrote:
In Atlanta? I wouldn't think there is much of a winter.
We lived in Maryland. We waited until the first long hard freeze to winterize - as early as November or as late as January. We kept the tanks and water lines dry and put antifreeze in the traps. Our first season, we winterized/dewinterized four times(antifreeze in the entire system). It got old quick. But on those trips, we took drinking water in jugs.

Yes it does get cold in Atlanta....

Where are you going to camp? Will you have hookups and will they have a bath house? If so, just leave it winterized. Get a spot near the bath house. Don't use the toilet, shower or any plumbing in your unit. That way, you don't need to dewinterize and rewinterize. We did this a couple years go when we had the travel trailer we used to have stored at Myrtle Beach. Just left it winterized and picked a spot several spots from a bath house. Worked out great.

[RedRocket204]

DatacomGuy wrote:
EDIT: Side note, don't let the south fool you. We get below freezing very often. We thaw out during the day, but we freeze nearly every night. And 8 days of snow last year. Whoo hoo.

But, it's not getting very far below freezing and as you pointed out, goes above freezing during the day. That may not even be enough to cause issues.

If it sits unused for any length of time, just blow out the lines, pretty easy and quick, which will give peace of mind.

[scottz]

Perhaps you can avoid using the freshwater and gray tanks.
Use windshield washer fluid in the toilet (cheaper than RV antifreeze)
Carry gallon jugs to wash dishes in a bucket, dispose of graywater outside the camper.

[DatacomGuy]

Guys, we use water simply for washing dishes, and bathroom, and shower. Nothing else - we drink bottled water. Would you think we'd be okay to just leave it winterized? And simply dump gray/black when leaving the campground and add AF to both tanks upon return to storage?

EDIT: Side note, don't let the south fool you. We get below freezing very often. We thaw out during the day, but we freeze nearly every night. And 8 days of snow last year. Whoo hoo.

[Grit_dog]

I don't know the ATL very well but it can't get that cold there.
They say the most boats with cracked blocks are from down south because people didn't need to Winterize!
Blowing out the lines, drain water heater and some AF in the drains should take about 30 min once you have a routine. First winter last year with a camper......in Alaska and this is what I did with no freezing damage.

[obgraham]

To me, going thru the winterize/dewinterize protocol every week or so would eventually lead to a frozen pipe, due to me being too stupid to do it properly every time.

So I'm also in the "jugs of water for everything" crowd, and leave the plumbing winterized till it warms up. Toilet and black tank can work with pink stuff or windshield washer antifreeze, whatever is cheapest.You can heat water quickly on your stove top.