15 degrees burrrrr

[Bill Johnson]

Originally Posted by dkoldman

You started off good You lost me with all of the antifreeze stuff.

I am with your primary point though. Temps are expected to be in teens, winterize BEFORE you leave. Drain everything and simply blow it out. Make the trip, and add water after the freeze.

I found everywhere it says not to add water to RV antifreeze. Many forums have people say add RV antifreeze to the black and gray tank and right after they say use the tanks while on the trip. RV antifreeze freezes in the 20 degree range but won't damage anything because it doesn't expand. Adding water just ruins the RV antifreeze because it expands. I looked up on a chemical website the ingredients in RV antifreeze and Regular green automotive antifreeze. The website showed how each chemical reacted to rubber, vinyl, Nitrile, EPDM Rubber, Viton and a long list of others. Both antifreezes were good with all but the RV antifreeze was not good on one. If just made sense to me that if someone was going to use their black and gray while traveling the green stuff would be the way to go and it wouldn't even need to be mixed 50/50 because how many people on the road need to protect down to 34 below

[dkoldman]

Originally Posted by Bill Johnson

I found everywhere it says not to add water to RV antifreeze. Many forums have people say add RV antifreeze to the black and gray tank and right after they say use the tanks while on the trip. RV antifreeze freezes in the 20 degree range but won't damage anything because it doesn't expand. Adding water just ruins the RV antifreeze because it expands. I looked up on a chemical website the ingredients in RV antifreeze and Regular green automotive antifreeze. The website showed how each chemical reacted to rubber, vinyl, Nitrile, EPDM Rubber, Viton and a long list of others. Both antifreezes were good with all but the RV antifreeze was not good on one. If just made sense to me that if someone was going to use their black and gray while traveling the green stuff would be the way to go and it wouldn't even need to be mixed 50/50 because how many people on the road need to protect down to 34 below

To prove I am not a lost cause, I actually follow this and agree with you.

I think my block was related to your assumptive statement that I missed before "if someone was going to use their black and gray while traveling the green stuff would be the way to go and it wouldn't even need to be mixed 50/50"

I do pour some RV Antifreeze in blank tank after I fully winterized, but my intent is to aid against any residual moisture that may build up in holding tank, NOT to expect it to be effective solution to use while traveling with freezing weather.

What you state may apply for fulltimers? But for me, if freezing temperatures are expected; I will winterized in full, unless people like the OP say they did nothing and it got down to teens and had no issues. Any RV owner with frozen or busted pipe(s) earned it in my opinion

[Bill Johnson]

Originally Posted by dkoldman

To prove I am not a lost cause, I actually follow this and agree with you.

I think my block was related to your assumptive statement that I missed before "if someone was going to use their black and gray while traveling the green stuff would be the way to go and it wouldn't even need to be mixed 50/50"

I do pour some RV Antifreeze in blank tank after I fully winterized, but my intent is to aid against any residual moisture that may build up in holding tank, NOT to expect it to be effective solution to use while traveling with freezing weather.

What you state may apply for fulltimers? But for me, if freezing temperatures are expected; I will winterized in full, unless people like the OP say they did nothing and it got down to teens and had no issues. Any RV owner with frozen or busted pipe(s) earned it in my opinion

Mine is parked next to the house for the winter and all my RV antifreeze is flushed out except for the gray and black tank because like we said before no water is mixed with it. I would love to head south for the winter but my son in law is in bad shape and could go at anytime, my daughter found him unresponsive on the 23rd and he was sent home last night after they got him stabilized. He has mesothelioma and we don't know how much time he has left, so we are staying close to home

[dkoldman]

Originally Posted by Bill Johnson

Mine is parked next to the house for the winter and all my RV antifreeze is flushed out except for the gray and black tank because like we said before no water is mixed with it. I would love to head south for the winter but my son in law is in bad shape and could go at anytime, my daughter found him unresponsive on the 23rd and he was sent home last night after they got him stabilized. He has mesothelioma and we don't know how much time he has left, so we are staying close to home

To be clear, maybe I should have said it like this. My RV is stored at home as well. I NEVER use the RV Antifreeze on fresh water supply lines, I always drain, blow the lines with compressed air. But before calling it a day, I pour a cup or two of RV antifreeze in each drain to fill p traps to block odors, and pour 2 or 3 cups direct in the toilet. IT IS NOT TO PROTECT MY HOLDING TANKSFROM FREEZE FOR ACTIVE USE. It is to help in case any water residue from walls form at the bottom of tank's valve area, and to block odors from gray tank.

[RodIndy]

Originally Posted by mcr1010

If anyone worded at Farmers Ins. they would "know a thing or two."

Soooo good

[mcr1010]

Originally Posted by 16ACE27

"worded"

Right. Should be "worked". Fingers don't hit the right keys now and then.

[Bill Johnson]

Originally Posted by dkoldman

To be clear, maybe I should have said it like this. My RV is stored at home as well. I NEVER use the RV Antifreeze on fresh water supply lines, I always drain, blow the lines with compressed air. But before calling it a day, I pour a cup or two of RV antifreeze in each drain to fill p traps to block odors, and pour 2 or 3 cups direct in the toilet. IT IS NOT TO PROTECT MY HOLDING TANKSFROM FREEZE FOR ACTIVE USE. It is to help in case any water residue from walls form at the bottom of tank's valve area, and to block odors from gray tank.

Sounds good

[alajeu]

Originally Posted by Bob Denman

Good luck, and remember to keep your Brass Monkeys indoors!

If you don't bring him in he will be knocking.

[alajeu]

My sympathies. I have a nephew who underwent his 5th surgery two days ago. He has been fighting cancer for 4 years since he was 16. What they did this week is the last resort. Some kind of treatment that freezes his lungs to prevent any more growth. It may take as long as a year to completely thaw out.

[Luc]

Originally Posted by RodIndy

Hello, I have a relatively new to me 2015 Thor Vegas 24.1.. On my way south this weekend I will be overnight where temps in the teens will last for 8 hours or so..
Given all the water pipes and water tank/pump are inside the MH and I will be heating it, I don’t see this as a problem. Gray and black tanks don’t concern me much either.
Anyone disagree? Am I missing anything? Thanks..

Hello
I have the same rv as yours and it is equipped with two heated pads under the tanks see your control panel to the left of the front door

Luc from Québec

[Finch1408]

If yours is like my 2017, and you will only use bed in back, keeping slide (couch) in will help keep out cold draft out and reduce heating space. Wife and I only use small table between cab seats to eat.

[Dick Rohde]

I have a 2016 Thor 24.1 and I don't travel with water in any of the tanks, toilet, pipes etc when going south or back north to Minnesota. We use bottled water and boot scoot south to find a place where we can clean out the RV anti-freeze, flush the lines/tank, and fill with fresh water. There are plenty of places to stop along the way to use restrooms. When we return to the frozen tundra of Minnesota, we dump the tanks and winterize someplace south of the Mason-Dixon line. I've had to camp in changing weather where it got pretty cold and when we did so, we followed a lot of the suggestions in this thread. Happy camping and stay warm...it was -28 here last night!

[Beau388]

Originally Posted by dkoldman

Where is South? South Indianapolis or Miami, Florida? You have to allow for unpredictability of the weather based where you are going, i.e. it may last longer than 8 hours or it may not hot the teens at all.

I have been in the teens but we were in the RV, furnace were run running, water being used etc. By 11:00 am the next morning it was above freezing. That temp drop came as a surprise to us as we were camping and draining the tanks was not an option.

But in your case, based on assumptions of where you are really going, I would drain and winterized in full until the threat of temps in the teens has passed.

In fact, I will winterize again for the 2nd time this winter because temps are expected to hit 22* in Dallas Saturday night. Takes me 45 min to do so I will likely winterize on Friday or early Sat morning. It was 80* a few days ago

What ever you do, I hope you report back with what you decided and the results of what actually happened.

You could come 300 miles south to San Antonio and where it is predicted to be only down to 27. After last year's Feb temps, I will live with it. ERCOT has promised to keep the power ON ! this winter.

[RodIndy]

Appreciate the replies. Yes, Ive confirmed I have the tank heater blankets and that they work. Ill be overnighting in Beckly WV Monday night where the low will be 20ish, high 30ish. I wont dewinterize. Ill use “pink” when flushing. Easy enough. Hell, I may even wallydock! I have plenty of propane, 2 brand new house batteries, a good space heater. Ill run the generator using the space heater and switch to propane at bedtime.
Overthinking the situation as usual..