Antifreeze in fresh water, not any more.

[UncleTim]

Okay so this make me look a little inexperienced.

First Winter I put antifreeze in my fresh water system. Of course I bypassed the heater, and after the Winter I flushed the tank.

Problem is, my water was cloudy for about a year. I like to make coffee in the morning and this was outside of what I consider acceptable water.

Anyway, I flushed the fresh water tank, bought an air compressor and now blow out the lines in the Autumn.

This year I am only putting antifreeze in the gray and black tanks and blowing everything else out.

I finally got clean, non cloudy water suitable for world class coffee! Oh joy.

BTW, I love this fitting.

[HABBERDABBER]

But I've never used the antifreeze in my fresh water system. Sure, down the traps, but my logic is if you can blow all the water out, it won't be an issue. I do drain the pump strainer and such, but I've never "cottoned" to have the anti-freeze in the fresh water system.

YMMV

P.S.
But why put the stuff in the grey and black tanks? You did empty them, eh?
There's next to no water in there to expand and cause an issue. Just curious on this one.

[fudge_brownie]

Like Tom I prefer to blow out the water lines and add just enough antifreeze to fill the p-traps. When blowing out the water lines I pay special attention to the toilet and make sure that I pull the flush lever several times when connected to the compressor. It seems that a small amout of water in the toilet valve has caused a cracked fitting and the need for replacement.

[gbaglo]

Water turning to ice expands, which is why it is a problem in pipes and valves. A bit of water in a large space like fresh, black and grey tanks is not an issue. Just drain them and dump enough antifreeze down the drain to displace water in the P-trap.

[JeffreyG]

My take, there are a lot of places in the fresh water supply system (especially around the pump) where water can collect and freeze, causing damage.


But I don't like to drink propylene glycol either.



What I do is blow all the water out of my system. Then I suck up propylene glycol and run it to all faucets. Then I blow the system out with compressed air again. The final system is mostly empty and any remaining drops of liquid are not water. I find this reverts to clear water pretty much on a single flush in the spring.


There are many reports of people who rely on just blowing systems out finding broken pumps and fittings at low spots.