Winterizing your B190
Posted: Wed Dec 28, 2011 11:26 am
At the end of the camping season, if you have freezing winters, it's time to winterize your B190. The general idea is to prevent anything from freezing and breaking stuff. Here are the steps I follow when it's time to winterize:
Assumptions:
* This assumes that you dumped both waste tanks prior to starting. If you haven't dumped them, definitely do so before trying to winterize.
Required materials:
* At least 6 gallons of RV antifreeze.
* An hour or so of time.
Steps:
1. Pour Sta-Bil into the gas tank(s), then drive around and run the generator to get it into all of the fuel lines. I like to fill both tanks in case of emergency.
2. Remove all perishable food items and anything that might freeze - this includes the 12-pack of Coca-Cola I have stored under the fridge, spaghetti sauce, bottled water, anything like that.
3. Open the drain valves - there are three on my 1991 B190, two accessible from the right rear door and one accessible from the side door under the water tank. Let everything drain. Open the faucets to help things along a bit.
4. While that's draining, open the water heater's pressure relief valve, then remove the plastic plug using pliers or a wrench. Allow several gallons of water to drain. Stand to the side or you WILL get wet.
5. After everything has finished draining, close all of the valves and replace the plastic water heater plug. Shut off any faucets you turned on, too.
6. Pour at least 6 gallons of RV antifreeze into the fresh water tank. Seven or even eight would be better. Keep half a gallon or so aside for the drains.
7. Turn on the pump. Unfortunately, since we don't have water heater bypasses (and it's hard to install one on mine because it uses that annoying gray pipe that requires a special crimping tool to attach), the pump will fill the water heater. This is why you need so much antifreeze. Wait for the pump to shut off.
8. Open each faucet, hot and cold, and run until the liquid coming out turns the color of the antifreeze (red). Do this for the sink(s), shower, and the toilet.
9. Pour some antifreeze in each drain to protect the traps. Also, get enough antifreeze into the fresh water waste tank to protect it. The easiest way is to just run the faucets for a bit and let the fluid drain, or you could pour more down the shower drain.
10. Pour some antifreeze into the toilet, too, to protect that tank.
As you can see, it's not an exact science. But the antifreeze is relatively cheap compared to the headache and expense of fixing a broken line somewhere, or replacing one of the tanks.
Here are some other articles on the subject:
* Winterize Your RV from GoneCamping
* Winterize RV Properly For Storage from RV For Sale Guide
* A Google Search shows hundreds of similar links
Assumptions:
* This assumes that you dumped both waste tanks prior to starting. If you haven't dumped them, definitely do so before trying to winterize.
Required materials:
* At least 6 gallons of RV antifreeze.
* An hour or so of time.
Steps:
1. Pour Sta-Bil into the gas tank(s), then drive around and run the generator to get it into all of the fuel lines. I like to fill both tanks in case of emergency.
2. Remove all perishable food items and anything that might freeze - this includes the 12-pack of Coca-Cola I have stored under the fridge, spaghetti sauce, bottled water, anything like that.
3. Open the drain valves - there are three on my 1991 B190, two accessible from the right rear door and one accessible from the side door under the water tank. Let everything drain. Open the faucets to help things along a bit.
4. While that's draining, open the water heater's pressure relief valve, then remove the plastic plug using pliers or a wrench. Allow several gallons of water to drain. Stand to the side or you WILL get wet.
5. After everything has finished draining, close all of the valves and replace the plastic water heater plug. Shut off any faucets you turned on, too.
6. Pour at least 6 gallons of RV antifreeze into the fresh water tank. Seven or even eight would be better. Keep half a gallon or so aside for the drains.
7. Turn on the pump. Unfortunately, since we don't have water heater bypasses (and it's hard to install one on mine because it uses that annoying gray pipe that requires a special crimping tool to attach), the pump will fill the water heater. This is why you need so much antifreeze. Wait for the pump to shut off.
8. Open each faucet, hot and cold, and run until the liquid coming out turns the color of the antifreeze (red). Do this for the sink(s), shower, and the toilet.
9. Pour some antifreeze in each drain to protect the traps. Also, get enough antifreeze into the fresh water waste tank to protect it. The easiest way is to just run the faucets for a bit and let the fluid drain, or you could pour more down the shower drain.
10. Pour some antifreeze into the toilet, too, to protect that tank.
As you can see, it's not an exact science. But the antifreeze is relatively cheap compared to the headache and expense of fixing a broken line somewhere, or replacing one of the tanks.
Here are some other articles on the subject:
* Winterize Your RV from GoneCamping
* Winterize RV Properly For Storage from RV For Sale Guide
* A Google Search shows hundreds of similar links