Winterize - To Anitfreeze or Not

Personally, I use antifreeze. Takes me about 20 minutes and need about 1.5 gallons. I usually buy several gallons in the spring when it goes on sale. Last spring it was $2,29/galllon. It faster and easier than blowing out. I usually end up doing it 2 or 3 times a year as we travel. I’ve done it at an interstate rest stop. No tools or hassle.
 
I put anti freeze in the P Traps to help keep the orders from rising back out of the sink. I am not worried about the residual water in the p traps that may freeze. Somebody offered me a $10 million to freeze a P Trap, I am sure I could never do no matter how cold it got.

Besides I bought 1 gallon of Anti Freeze 5 years ago that I still trying to use up :LOL:
Have you tried liquid nitrogen? :)
 
Last edited:
I never ever used antifreeze in my 40+ years. I used to live far north when winter temp were very often below -40 F or C and MH was in that temperature in storage. l never had problem. I use portable 12V tire compressor to blow all lines. Drain all 3 tanks and then drive on uneven terrain so that MH is leaning left then right.with open drains to drain everything from the low spots. That's it. It takes about 30 min and cost nothing. I drain windshield fluid, because I always use only water, and then put about one cup of windshield antifreeze in.

How do you regulate the PSI on the portable tire compressor?
 
How do you regulate the PSI on the portable tire compressor?

Depends on the compressor. Most in that market have an adjustable digital pressure setting and turn off when the tire pressure reaches the setting pressure.

But we are not talking about tire compressors, we are talking air compressors that all have a pressure regulator on the tank outlet.
 
Depends on the compressor. Most in that market have an adjustable digital pressure setting and turn off when the tire pressure reaches the setting pressure.

But we are not talking about tire compressors, we are talking air compressors that all have a pressure regulator on the tank outlet.

Ok thanks. I guess I misinterpreted what was meant in that post.
 
New 2024 Thor Indigo CC35. Winter is coming. We live in the Pacific NW and want to travel south for a few weeks of sun. When the coach is home, temps may occasionally fall into the 20's for a week or more.

We can drain the water tank and flush the system with antifreeze. However, we must then clear all the antifreeze out when we go to warmer climates, and then repeat the process when we come back home.

And we have a tankless water heater and a Splendide washing machine? Seems like antifreeze is just a source of problems with those units ...

Could we just drain the water tank, push air through the water lines, and avoid the antifreeze altogether? Is anyone doing this?

BTW we do have 30 am hookup and so the coach is always plugged in when we are home.

TIA
In VT if you don't add AF, residual water in valves can ruin them. I blow out and add AF every fall. We can get to -30F here at times. More often 0F to -10.

You can blow out and still have moisture in a valve.

Not worth saving $ on a gallon of AF for my B-class RV. Truma heater just gets drained as per manual.
Plugging in is irrelevant- can't safely use a heater in an RV that long.

Takes me about 90 min. to winterize the plumbing system. I store rig at home outdoors.
 
In VT if you don't add AF, residual water in valves can ruin them. I blow out and add AF every fall. We can get to -30F here at times. More often 0F to -10.

You can blow out and still have moisture in a valve.

Not worth saving $ on a gallon of AF for my B-class RV. Truma heater just gets drained as per manual.
Plugging in is irrelevant- can't safely use a heater in an RV that long.

Takes me about 90 min. to winterize the plumbing system. I store rig at home outdoors.

I don't think I have read where anyone is saying they do NOT use Anti Freeze to save money? I think they are simply saying they don't need to. Would you agree to think it is fair to say that no one that advocates the air blowout method has ever had any kind of freeze damage? Certainly using the AF is an option and if used like you do after the blowout method, by definition it would eliminate any worry about moisture.

With that said I don't know if anyone that use AF has talked about the additional time to drain and sanitize the AF? Doing that a few times a year would certainly add more time than simple blowout method.

Now that I am fixed on this topic, I can't wait to see how much water I actually blow out? When I learn; and if it is less than 20 oz of water, I an gonna just drain and go (no blowout) just to see what happens).
 
Last edited:
I did a drain without a blowout on my last coach. I drained the fresh water tank, water heater, and left all the faucets open. It worked for the first 10 years of ownership but one spring when getting it ready for use, the filtered water dispenser had a crack at the fitting for the supply line. I can't say it froze, it may have failed from age, but from then on I switched to the blow out method. What isn't their can't freeze and I don't have a gallon or two of antifreeze to flush.
 
One thing overlooked is every plumbing setup is different. Case in point... I blew my plumbing out this year starting with 40 psi. When opening faucets I noticed a gurgling somewhere in the plumbing near the water heater.

I gradually increased the psi to 55 psi. Then double... TRIPLE checked the tank bypass valve positions. I had the drain plug out of the water heater, so I switched the valves around hoping it was just residual water in the bypass.

Nope. The gurgling persisted. After 15 - 20 minutes I gave up. I KNEW there was water in the lines there, but it REFUSED to blow out.

So... I had two paths to follow. Start disconnecting PEX and valves to find the water, OR say screw it... add the antifreeze. We never use the rig in winter anyway, so better safe than cussing through a spring plumbing repair trying to save 15 minutes of flushing time.
 

New posts

Try RV LIFE Pro Free for 7 Days

  • New Ad-Free experience on this RV LIFE Community.
  • Plan the best RV Safe travel with RV LIFE Trip Wizard.
  • Navigate with our RV Safe GPS mobile app.
  • and much more...
Try RV LIFE Pro Today
Back
Top