Winterizing with air

[Ron]

Any advice is appreciated. On a 315rlts whats the easiest way to winterize using air compressor?
Can I just put air into the red & blue drain lines under coach and turn on hot/cold faucets until air comes out? Also, there are two sets of drain lines under coach, I suppose one is main lines and one is washer lines, would I need to blow out both of these?

[Calbar]

Any advice is appreciated. On a 315rlts whats the easiest way to winterize using air compressor?
Can I just put air into the red & blue drain lines under coach and turn on hot/cold faucets until air comes out? Also, there are two sets of drain lines under coach, I suppose one is main lines and one is washer lines, would I need to blow out both of these?

The owners manual actually provides really good step by step instructions how to winterize with the Nautilus to ensure you get all of the water out. That is what I follow when I winterize.

Rob

[Cate&Rob]

A few years back, I completely rebuilt my water system. Before I started taking things apart, I blew out the system with air. When I began disassembly, I found that there was still lots of water left in the system! . . . particularly in the lines to and from the pump (which are not involved in blowing out the system with air). BTW . . . the pump manufacturer expects that the connections to the pump will be disconnected and drained, as part of "non- antifreeze" winterizing of the water system.

There is a reason that the factory and all their dealers use plumbing antifreeze to winterize their products . . . . this is cheap "insurance".

(another) Rob

[Calbar]

A few years back, I completely rebuilt my water system. Before I started taking things apart, I blew out the system with air. When I began disassembly, I found that there was still lots of water left in the system! . . . particularly in the lines to and from the pump (which are not involved in blowing out the system with air). BTW . . . the pump manufacturer expects that the connections to the pump will be disconnected and drained, as part of "non- antifreeze" winterizing of the water system.

There is a reason that the factory and all their dealers use plumbing antifreeze to winterize their products . . . . this is cheap "insurance".

(another) Rob

I agree totally. I not only blow out the lines per the instructions in the owners manual but then fill with antifreeze per the instructions just to make sure I don't have a nasty surprise in the spring.

Rob

[Cate&Rob]

I know that some owner's manual instructions include blowing out the lines with air before filling with antifreeze. The potential problem with this is that it creates air pockets in the plumbing. When drawing antifreeze from a jug and the on-board pump encounters one of these air pockets, the pump will have difficulty drawing in liquid. I have never had a problem leaving out the air purge and going directly to antifreeze. Either way, the antifreeze will push some amount of water out of the fixtures before the antifreeze appears.

Rob

[Ron]

I'm trying to figure out the quickest and easiest to do. Air seems to be the easiest and its less expensive. I live in Fl and have my RV in NC. I travel back and forth frequently and stay in RV so I'll have to do this often. Thats why Im asking about the air.

[Second Chance]

I don't see a need to do both (air and antifreeze). Either is sufficient. We don't winterize any more (full-timers), but when we winterized our previous travel trailer, we cleared the lines with an air compressor, ran the pump until it was dry, and poured some antifreeze in the traps in the sinks and shower. I would apply the air pressure at the inlet while Laura opened each faucet individually inside until no more water came out. This method got us through winters with lows as low as 10 deg. F without any issues.

Rob

[Cate&Rob]

I'm trying to figure out the quickest and easiest to do. Air seems to be the easiest and its less expensive. I live in Fl and have my RV in NC. I travel back and forth frequently and stay in RV so I'll have to do this often. Thats why Im asking about the air.

Hi Ron,

This is one of those "best truck/hitch/tire/etc" type questions . Some get away with just blowing out the lines with air. Part of this is because the Pex pipe and soft hose used by Grand Design in the plumbing system can tolerate freezing with water inside. Fittings and particularly the water pump may not fare so well if these freeze with water inside. If you just blow out the lines, you will be watching the weather and wondering if you got it right. If you use antifreeze you will not give any cold weather a second thought. To use the trailer, purging out the antifreeze with water is easy. There will be some trace of antifreeze left for a while, but the antifreeze is non-toxic, so this will be barely noticeable for dish washing, showering, etc. Stick to bottled water for drinking.

As far as the "ease of doing" . . . one RVer that I know who uses his trailer on and off during the winter season as you describe, keeps a supply of antifreeze in his fresh water tank. When he arrives at the trailer he hooks up to city water and purges the system with water. When he leaves the trailer, he drains the water heater, puts it on bypass, starts up the onboard pump and flushes the system with antifreeze from the tank. Says that this takes him 5 minutes and he is absolutely sure that nothing will freeze while he is away. Purging the lines with antifreeze also fills the drain traps with antifreeze.

Just my "2 cents worth"

"one of the" Robs

[Ron]

"one of the" Robs, Thanks for the info. I appreciate it. Still would like to hear from someone regarding just using air though.

Don't know why its putting ** above, Tried correcting it but system keeps putting in the **.

[Second Chance]

"one of the" Ro**, Thanks for the info. I appreciate it. Still would like to hear from someone regarding just using air though.

Don't know why its putting ** above, Tried correcting it but system keeps putting in the **.

The **s are a result of a known issue with a spam/profanity filter on the forum. Any words with a "b" and an "s" next to each other get flagged and the letters are replaced with asterisks.

The info I provided was regarding just using air...

(This) Rob

[Cate&Rob]

We (the moderators) are trying to get this "bs" profanity filter thing sorted out with the vBulletin5 system. One way around it (I know . . . we should not have to work around this) is to change the font color of the "s" to dark blue. (Thanks TucsonJim for figuring this out)

Rob