Winterizing/Sanitizing - When?

[TerribleTim68]

Hey gang,
Looking for some general input on when you guys winterize your units. We tend to go camping more in the September through February months because that's when my racing season is over. Should I be worrying about winterizing it between each outing during that time? Or should i just be draining the water tanks each time? What would you guys do in this case?

Also, when do you generally sanitize your systems? I assume you'd do that after it's been sitting winterized for several months. But if we're still using it on a regular basis, what would you advise?

 

[sengli]

Well the obvious thing is water will freeze. We camp mostly in the spring, and late fall. So when its starting to get down in the high 20's at night I put a 60W lightbulb in the basement behind the UDC, and have even left the heat on in between outings... set at 40 degrees, to extend my season as needed. But if it gets into the low 20's for an extended period of time, things are going to freeze up. Our season ends when the temps stay low. Running the water will help, but the most important thing is keep the heat on. Here is another alternative, we have camped before with no water on board, and the RV winterized.. used the bath houses at the campground that were still open.

As for sanitizing your water system, I usually do it at least once per season. Adding some bleach to the fresh water tank, and running it thru everything. We still dont cook, or drink the water from the RV.

 

[danemayer]

Depends on how cold it gets.

If you have a water feed line to the refrigerator, you need to close the cutoff and evacuate water from that line, and perhaps also from the refrigerator. Leave it that way for the entire winter.

You probably can't depend on using the furnace to keep water lines/tanks/fittings/drains from freezing while in storage because you can run out of propane, so it's best to drain the system. If it doesn't get more than a little below freezing, using compressed air to winterize will work well. With a little practice, you'll find it's pretty quick.

Take a look at our Winterization user guide for more.

 

[JohnDar]

If you have a washing machine, you will definitely want to winterize it with antifreeze per the instructions. Failure to do so, or try a shortcut method will cause you grief. I have photos to prove it.

The way they operate, you cannot clear the lines with air pressure. It has to be operated on a specific setting with the AF being supplied via the water pump.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[TerribleTim68]

Thanks guys, appreciate the input.

We're in Western Washington, so it doesn't get crazy cold, but occasionally can get just below freezing for a few days here and there. My last rv (2005 R-Vision R-Wagon 291) we never really "winterized" it. We'd just leave a heater inside it. But all the plumbing was "inside" the main body, not underneath like the 5th wheel is, so it's a new ball game for sure.

I printed out the Heartland "winterizing guide", "water system usage guide" and "water heater usage guide", so we'll take a good long look at those and make sure we're taking care of this thing correctly.

 

[Gaffer]

Until it gets crazy cold just set the furnace to 50 on nights it gets below the upper 20s. If you get a hard freeze that lasts multiple days, blow out all your lines.