How To Winterize a Trailer

[cpaharley2008]

It is safely inside the garage til needed.

[Bobbie54]

Originally Posted by gbaglo

And what did you do with the anode? What did you do?

I would lose it. (Or put it inside so that I wouldn't lose it.)

[kavm]

I need some advice...

We successfully winterized our camper for the first time. There are, however, a few things we need advice on:

• I am attaching two pictures of our anode rod. Being a new camper, we did not anticipate that it'd be so eaten up and did not have a replacement handy. Should we replace it?
• After emptying the hot water heater, I noticed that there was some water and debris (remnants of the portions of anode rod?) at the bottom (below the level of the hole where the anode rod sits. I tried to get that out but wasn't successful. Any advice?
• Should we get some of the anti-freeze into that? It's a narrow hole but we can do it.
• Finally, we obviously had the hot water tank bypassed. We have winterized the camper now. Should we undo the bypass now?

As a tip for others, a somewhat expensive but excellent compressor to use is VIAIR 400P with VIAIR RV winterization kit. https://www.viaircorp.com/air-access...terization-kit . It only fits 400P and 450?. What's what we used and it was really nice system. With VIAIR, the compressor is smaller and can sit in the camper and is also oil free.

[cpaharley2008]

That rod is fine, that is what hard water does. Until it gets pencil thin you will be okay....no antifreeze in h/w tank as no water, no freeze issues.

[gbaglo]

That anode is almost new. It has a long way to go before needing replacement. You can buy a wand to insert into the tank to flush debris.

[kavm]

Thank you, Jim and Glenn! Found this wand... Is that what you mean? https://www.amazon.com/Camco-Rinser-.../dp/B002XL2IBS

Should we not worry about the small amount of at the bottom of the water heater tank?

[rubicon327]

Originally Posted by kavm

[*]Should we get some of the anti-freeze into that? It's a narrow hole but we can do it.[*]Finally, we obviously had the hot water tank bypassed. We have winterized the camper now. Should we undo the bypass now?[/LIST].

No antifreeze in hot water tank! Keep it bypassed until after you flush the system out in the Spring.

Don’t worry about a little bit of water in the bottom of tank. Plenty of room for expansion if it freezes.

[cpaharley2008]

Originally Posted by kavm

Thank you, Jim and Glenn! Any pointers to the flushing wand would be appreciated.

Should we not worry about the small amount of at the bottom of the water heater tank?

Here is the flush https://www.amazon.com/Camco-Rinser-...4507460&sr=8-1
do not worry about any residual water, it will not hurt.....

[kavm]

Thank you very much, Dave, Jim! With all that, seems like we are in a good place - having completed the winterization.

We will delay the hot water tank cleaning to a later time - as I am not too keen to remove the anode again.

Thank you very much to all of you!

[cpaharley2008]

Originally Posted by kavm

Thank you very much, Dave, Jim! With all that, seems like we are in a good place - having completed the winterization.

We will delay the hot water tank cleaning to a later time - as I am not too keen to remove the anode again.

Thank you very much to all of you!

When you do remove and reinstall, do not forget the teflon tape..

[kavm]

Thanks Jim! We used plumber's tape when we screwed the anode rod back in.

[glsails]

Apologizing in advance if someone already covered this in the 8 pages of this thread.....but, a good practice when winterizing is to unscrew the strainer cup on the water pump. Just put it aside next to the water pump to re-install when de-winterizing. Small amounts of water in the threads of the strainer cup can expand when they freeze and cause the threads to crack, resulting in air getting sucked into the system, and the water pump not working. I had this experience when storing my trailer in cold temps last winter. It was very frustrating to chase down where the problem was. After checking the entire system, all that was left was the pump and I decided the $15 gamble of buying a new cup might be worth it. The guy at the RV store told me this little trick and that cracked threads on the strainer cup are not uncommon, even when everything else has pink stuff in it. My pump immediately stopped sucking air once I installed the new cup. The old one had no visible damage.

[alanmalk]

Originally Posted by kavm

I need some advice...
...

You are missing out on some fun if you use a rinse-out wand. I just blast water in directly from the garden hose and get a bath when it blasts back out. Since I camp for months where the water is questionable I usually manage to flush out a couple of cups of sediment and other unpleasant residue.

[kavm]

Fun has not even begun to enter into this equation yet. Being new at this, we it’s all an adventure with new experiences mixed with stress of doing it right. We are just relieved that we managed to do most of the tasks without causing any damage, though we will truly know next year when we de-winterize it.

@glsails - Thank you for this tip. We did take off the strainer cup, dried the insides a bit and left it open. This being a dry climate - it ought to dry up in a day or two.

[HABBERDABBER]

TIP:
To dry out the water heater after a trip I slide a 2" wide or so strip of old cotton bath towel into the water heater using a dowel, piece of coat hanger or metal rod scavenged from a yard sign. I leave 6" out and drape it out of the opening. Capillary action gets the dregs of remaining water, and some detritus from the sacrificial anode. Water will drip off the end of the towel strip. I leave it in for days sometimes.
Works for me .

The weak point in our water systems are the toilet valve and pre-pump strainer. PEX tubing is nearly bullet-proof and very tolerant.

[Perry Butler]

I use a $60 Black and Decker oil-less compressor. Contrary to what some think, a cheap oil-less compressor works great. As you remove water from the lines the remaining air becomes a tank of air. To begin, just open a faucet, turn on the compressor, go into the camper and start turning valves on and off. Next thing you know your lines are clear, but there's more...

This procedure is simple and foolproof.

1. Blow all lines clear
2. Fill all lines with RV antifreeze
3. Blow out the RV antifreeze

Blowing the lines clear first easily removes +95% of the water. Then filling the lines with antifreeze dilutes what water is remaining with mostly antifreeze. Finally blowing the antifreeze out eliminates that possible remainder from freezing.

Has worked for a few decades.

Enjoy,

Perry

[Jean and Dale]

We are new owner as of 96 hours. We’d appreciate input regarding air compressors for winterizing. We want to buy a smaller compressor as we have no need for a household “tool” compressor. Thank you

[cpaharley2008]

No air compressor, just using the "on board' pump and "E-Z winterization option" installed by the factory which allows the use of the water pump to winterize the Escape....

[Iowa Dave]

We used the winterizing kit on the 19 after I installed it. Always worked and had the “advantage” of running the RV antifreeze through the pump displacing any in the pump and the lines, don’t forget the shower head. I did have to remember to depress the backflow screen on the city water inlet.so water was not perched in there.

Our 21 does not have the winterizing “T” valve. I decided that I would try the Camco hand pump to push water through the system. It has worked well. The only thing I added were two hose clamps to hold the suction and discharge hoses on the plastic fittings on the hand pump. Otherwise the hoses might blow off at an inopportune time while under pressure. I use a a gallon and a quart of RV antifreeze to winterize the 21. Once the RV antifreeze has been run through the system, I remove the filter cup on the pump and get the perched water soaked up with a few paper towels.

I happen to have a garage air compressor and I have the fitting used to blow the camper water system out but I like the pink stuff.
The upshot is, you don’t have to have an air compressor, for $20 you can get the reusable pump and clamps and your annual investment in RV antifreeze is less than $5.00. (If you only winterize once a year.)
Iowa Dave

[Jean and Dale]

We are winterizing for the first time and would appreciate recommendations for an air compressor. We don’t need one for house projects - just for winterizing.
Thank you