Winterizing your B190

Keep the water inside the pipes, tanks, and sinks
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skater
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B190 Year: 1991
WBCCI: 13270
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Winterizing your B190

Post by skater »

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
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Buckeye
Weekend Camper
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Joined: Tue May 20, 2008 12:00 am
B190 Year: 1996
WBCCI: 6009
Location: Columbus, OH

Re: Winterizing your B190

Post by Buckeye »

I have added a few pictures to my album (BUCKEYE) showing the new by-pass valve that was added to my Bvan in 2008. It is easy to get in there if you take the screws out of the closet floor and flip it back to the wall or take out, instead of trying to reach through from the rear "hole." I use about 1 - 1 1/2 bottles of antifreeze now for the whole van. It takes less than 15 minutes to winterize (if the water heater has already been drained out) and I can do it all by myself - and I'm a woman! I had an old guy from my Airstream club install the bypass initially, but still had a couple drips. So another Airstream club friend exchanged out one of the tubes and pinched it tighter for me. You do not need to worry about using the old gray tubing. There is now an identical size tubing available from Lowes, Home Depot, or Menards that works fine (but I don't know what # it is).
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skater
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B190 Year: 1991
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Re: Winterizing your B190

Post by skater »

Yeah. A couple notes on this, since I've learned more over the years:

1. Technically you're not supposed to pour the antifreeze into the fresh water tank - you're supposed to disconnect the line from the tank and use a piece of tubing to suck it into the system from the bottle.

2. I no longer use the antifreeze this way - I just drain the system, then blow it dry with the air compressor. You'll need a good compressor, though...I destroyed a cheaper one by running it too long this way. This works fine for my area (especially with the mild winter we had this year), but it may not be good enough in colder climates. I still dump a gallon of antifreeze down the drains and into the tanks.

3. If you have a bypass valve, draining the water heater is sufficient - the manual for mine indicates the remaining water will not be enough to cause a problem even if it hard freezes.

The bypass is nice, isn't it? Our trailer has it. The only downside is that I forgot to open the bypass valve the first time we used the camper after winterizing it, and I was VERY confused as to why I didn't have any hot water. :)

Here is a link to Buckeye's album with the pictures (see second page). I'm surprised and disappointed Airstream didn't see fit to start installing bypasses on B190s even in the late '90s.
1991 Airstream B190 - bought, 2005; sold, 2011; bought 2017
1995 Airstream Excella 30' trailer

WBCCI #13270, Washington, DC Unit
mtnmanb
Weekend Camper
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Joined: Fri May 11, 2012 4:45 pm
B190 Year: 1991
WBCCI: 0
Location: Warshington

Re: Winterizing your B190

Post by mtnmanb »

Where do you hook up your air compressor? Is it a valve you attach to the shore water line?

I'll be doing a lot of winter camping and want to ensure that I get all the water out of these lines.

Thanks!

B)
'90 bought 27Apr2012
Added Safe-T Stabilizer shock, port. generator, EZE RV gutters, curtains, memory foam 5.5" mattress, rebuilt bunk, Double Pancake LED light, O2 sensor, shore plug, 4655 Converter, Battery under couch, MaxxFan Fantastic Fan
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skater
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B190 Year: 1991
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Re: Winterizing your B190

Post by skater »

mtnmanb wrote:Where do you hook up your air compressor? Is it a valve you attach to the shore water line?

I'll be doing a lot of winter camping and want to ensure that I get all the water out of these lines.
I use this, but if you don't have other air tools, this works too.
1991 Airstream B190 - bought, 2005; sold, 2011; bought 2017
1995 Airstream Excella 30' trailer

WBCCI #13270, Washington, DC Unit
mtnmanb
Weekend Camper
Posts: 61
Joined: Fri May 11, 2012 4:45 pm
B190 Year: 1991
WBCCI: 0
Location: Warshington

Re: Winterizing your B190

Post by mtnmanb »

skater wrote:
mtnmanb wrote:Where do you hook up your air compressor? Is it a valve you attach to the shore water line?

I'll be doing a lot of winter camping and want to ensure that I get all the water out of these lines.
I use this, but if you don't have other air tools, this works too.

That's great news as I ordered the second one randomly and it showed up today. I have a water flow regulator that slows it to 40-50 psi, but you mentioned that it doesn't regulate air in another post. I only have a tire air compressor and I don't think I can regulate it. If I keep the kitchen faucet open, do you think it'll blow it out that way without over-pressurizing it?

Also, why isn't it ok to put the pink stuff in the water tank? I thought that if you rinse it out a few times, it should be fine? Granted, if the air blow out works, it sounds like I don't need the pink stuff except in the holding tanks and traps.

Thanks for the tips!

B)
'90 bought 27Apr2012
Added Safe-T Stabilizer shock, port. generator, EZE RV gutters, curtains, memory foam 5.5" mattress, rebuilt bunk, Double Pancake LED light, O2 sensor, shore plug, 4655 Converter, Battery under couch, MaxxFan Fantastic Fan
jb1rd73
Seasoned Traveler
Posts: 152
Joined: Fri Mar 28, 2014 9:30 am
B190 Year: 1994
WBCCI: 0
Location: Vail Valley Colorado

Re: Winterizing your B190

Post by jb1rd73 »

Winterized the Hippo last night and learned that I should have taken the time to install a complete bypass system not just the fresh water tank. Well live and learn and as my buddy said, don't worry the smell of the antifreeze will be gone by the time you are ready to winterize next year Image
Image


Sent by magic, I mean come on really, pictures through thin air, MAGIC!!!
SeaQuinn
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Posts: 102
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B190 Year: 1999
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Re: Winterizing your B190

Post by SeaQuinn »

Howdy Folks :) So in winterizing my 99 B190, I discoverd that I don't have a water heater bypass valve and I was running out of time to install one. So I purchased the 7 gallons of antifreeze and had at it. All went well and as planned. Quick question.....do you all drain the 6 gallons of antifreeze that remains in the water heater or just leave it in there until spring? Thanks!
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skater
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B190 Year: 1991
WBCCI: 13270
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Re: Winterizing your B190

Post by skater »

SeaQuinn wrote:Howdy Folks :) So in winterizing my 99 B190, I discoverd that I don't have a water heater bypass valve and I was running out of time to install one. So I purchased the 7 gallons of antifreeze and had at it. All went well and as planned. Quick question.....do you all drain the 6 gallons of antifreeze that remains in the water heater or just leave it in there until spring? Thanks!
Either is fine. I'd leave it in - less mess!
1991 Airstream B190 - bought, 2005; sold, 2011; bought 2017
1995 Airstream Excella 30' trailer

WBCCI #13270, Washington, DC Unit
jb1rd73
Seasoned Traveler
Posts: 152
Joined: Fri Mar 28, 2014 9:30 am
B190 Year: 1994
WBCCI: 0
Location: Vail Valley Colorado

Re: Winterizing your B190

Post by jb1rd73 »

leave it in, then be ready to fill and drain your fresh water tank first thing in the spring, first with bleach, (1 cup per 10 gal of fresh) let that run through all of your lines, then with baking soda (I dissolved an entire large box in hot water then added it to the fresh with a funnel),then run a full tank of regular fresh water it is a process but when done correctly you will not have the displeasure of dealing with the antifreeze smell, taste and feel for months on end. This will also let you know how long your battery will last and if your pump is going to cut the mustard :D (you will most likely want to plug into shore power, I just wanted to see how many gal I could get out of one battery charge)
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