winterizing

[Choptop]

I know that I have something in both tanks, per previous owner and some water in the water tank. Can I just expel everything, blow air threw the lines and just leave it dry over the winter or do I need to winterize ? Thanks in advance I might say that I plan to head south, sometime, somewhere this winter.

[skater]

I know that I have something in both tanks, per previous owner and some water in the water tank. Can I just expel everything, blow air threw the lines and just leave it dry over the winter or do I need to winterize ? Thanks in advance I might say that I plan to head south, sometime, somewhere this winter.

Draining the tanks (all three) and blowing out the lines is sufficient, as long as you do it well.

The benefit of the RV antifreeze in the fresh lines is that if you didn't get all of the water out for some reason, the RV antifreeze reduces the odds of having a leak. Or, if you're winterizing a camper that's already been freezing, and there might be some ice in the lines already, the RV antifreeze will melt that ice. (I had that happen once.)

But, I no longer use it in the fresh water system; it takes too much flushing to get it all out when it's time to use the camper again.

I do still use one gallon on our trailer in the waste system - about half goes in the toilet and black tank, and the rest gets split among the shower and sink drains. You could probably use less in a B190, but it's pretty cheap stuff, so the savings hardly seems worth it.

We sometimes camp in winter, so I'm used to winterizing our trailer 2-3 times each season, so the RV antifreeze would be an even bigger headache. Last winter, I winterized three times - once at Thanksgiving, once after our Christmas trip, and once after we got back from our January trip to Florida. This year we're planning a January trip to Pennsylvania (wrong way, I know), so it'll be another year where I do it three times.

[Choptop]

Thanks Skater, I got, w/the camper a little plastic thing that is for blowing out the system, will have to read up on it.

[Kentuckian]

<Edit 2/25/17> After I wrote the below, I remembered Skater's good tutorial on winterizing. Here is a link to that thread. http://b190.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=83 ... nter#p4262



You can find fitting that has a Shrader valve (tire air valve) fitting on one side and a garden hose fitting on the other side. You can screw that fitting on to the city water connection port on the B190. This works well with a bicycle pump for low pressure air flushing of the fresh water lines.

The following has worked for us...
1. Open all the water system drains until water stops flowing and then close all the drain valves.
2. Be sure to drain the hot water tank. I remove the drain plug on my tank that is accessible behind the access panel on the outside of the B190.
3. Install the above air pressure fitting then apply a little pressure to the water lines then open the water line drain closest to the city water port that you are using to add the air pressure. Apply a few pumps with the bicycle pump until water stops flowing. Close that drain valve and repeat for each water line drain working your way further and further away from the city water port.
4. I usually repeat step 3 one more time until I don't have any more water coming out of the system.
5. Drain both gray and black tanks.
6. Pour a little RV antifreeze in the sink and shower drains to make sure the sewer traps don't freeze.
7. Pour a little RV antifreeze in the toilet to prevent the toilet bowl seal from freezing.

When we use the B190 during freezing temperatures we will keep the cabin heated and pour some RV antifreeze down the shower drain for the gray tank and down the toilet for the black tank. If it is really cold, we may not use the fresh water system and just carry bottled water.

The above has worked reliably for us.

[skater]

I always use an air compressor. I found one of those adapters that lets me connect directly to an air hose, like an air tool would.

[Choptop]

Thanks guys !!

[okaynagan]

[quote="Kentuckian"]You can find fitting that has a Shrader valve (tire air valve) fitting on one side and a garden hose...


Thanks for the detailed info, it is not anything we were even thinking about here is Phoenix, heck, we are still running the AC. We do get Frost and friezes here every blue moon, they sneak up on us. Therefore this is essential information to keep in our files, we just have to put an alarm on the calendar to do it.

[Choptop]

Do believe I got her taken care of today, drained the fresh water tank, pulled the plug on the hot water heater and drained it, opened the two valves accessed threw the right rear door and drained whatever came out, drained grey and black water tanks, blew air threw the lines, a couple of times and put some rv antifreeze in the toilet, sink and shower.

[mountaindent]

I live in Asheville, NC and we do have snow and cold weather. I will drain the lines, empty the tanks(gray, black and fresh), drain the water heater and will place antifreeze in the various drains and toilet but, I do not have the air pressure technique available or down yet. If I place a small heater in the van and some insulation around the back around the piping....what do you think? I guess I could take it somewhere to have the lines blown out...

[mountaindent]

Ok, winterizing plan #2. I went and did get a bypass placed on the hot water tank/heater which needed several "connectors" to accomplish that. Then I did get a connection placed which needed several other "connectors" again to be able to winterize the lines. Now my dumb question of the day...Checking my process here! I think I close off the hot water tank/heater and drain it (1). I bought the right size socket wrench and will depressurize it first from the relief valve.
Drain all the lines from the low point valves and drain the fresh water tank. Open up the faucet in kitchen and shower (2) then I attach the winterizing tubing and connection to the new winterizing connector then I (this is the question) turn on the water pump and allow the antifreeze to go in all the lines and come out the faucets. Then I pour winterizing solution down the drains in shower and kitchen. No out door shower so were are good there.

Will I be able to run the water pump if I plug the electrical cord with adaptor into my house? Will that do any damage since my generator right now not functional. Need some advice here. It is not "hard" everyone always says and that really IS true but, newbies want to be cautious.

[Choptop]

I hope I did mine right, will wait for the smarter guys to chime in, I drained and blew air and poured in RV anti freeze in the orifices, I was looking for a sentence to use that word in for a long time.

[micabarry]

The water pump runs off 12v so you can run it off your house battery and you definately want to protect the pump by pumping antifreeze from the fresh water tank. I ve by passed the hot water heater now but before that I drained all the water the way described above, including taking plug off hot water tank, screwed a little plastic valve (Wal-Mart has them) on the hose input and used a compressor to blow out lines. Then I bought 7 gallons of antifreeze, dumped it into the fresh water tank using a plastic quart soda bottle with the bottom cut out as a funnel, turned on the pump and pumped until water came out all the faucets, flushed the toilet and sprayed the shower hose. Then I would drain it all into buckets placed under the vehicle to catch the anti freeze. Most will come out the hot water heater. I refill the empty jugs and end up with about 5 gallons for the following year. I live in Vermont so I need to plan on 20 below. Never had any problems doing this and I use the same procedure with the hot water bypass but obviously don't use as much antifreeze.
One other important preventive maintenance thing you can do during this process is to take the opportunity to wet vac the hot water heater. I have adapted a piece of tubing by running a bent coat hanger through a plastic pipe so I can snake it into the hot water tank through the drain plug and vacuum out all the sediment that settles in the bottom of the tank. I'm amazed at what comes out.

[skater]

I think you have it, mountaindent. Good for putting in the water heater bypass - in mine, I would have to cut the polybutelene to do it, so I never installed the kit I bought.

For what it's worth, a lot of places don't recommend putting antifreeze in the fresh water tank (I need to update the winterizing guide I have on here) - I learned that recently. It's safe to drink, so there's no problem, you'll just want to flush the tank well come springtime, which is easy enough to do. I think the concern is about the residual taste.

Theoretically what you're supposed to do is disconnect the pipe on the inlet side of the pump and rig a tub to pump in the antifreeze there. However, there's a major problem with the B190s for doing that - the pump is essentially inaccessible. (In my trailer, for example, the pump is easily available under the floor of the closet.)

When I replumb our B190, I'm going to think about putting in a Tee to allow for using antifreeze without putting it in the tank, but given the headache and extra connections it would require (tee, plus a valve to keep the antifreeze from going into the tank - it's just a lot of extra places for things to fail/leak), I'm not sure I will - instead I might just make it so that one of the connections, such as at the filter, is easily removable for this purpose. I will also put in a water heater bypass when I replumb ours.

[mountaindent]

The water pump runs off 12v so you can run it off your house battery and you definately want to protect the pump by pumping antifreeze from the fresh water tank. I ve by passed the hot water heater now but before that I drained all the water the way described above, including taking plug off hot water tank, screwed a little plastic valve (Wal-Mart has them) on the hose input and used a compressor to blow out lines. Then I bought 7 gallons of antifreeze, dumped it into the fresh water tank using a plastic quart soda bottle with the bottom cut out as a funnel, turned on the pump and pumped until water came out all the faucets, flushed the toilet and sprayed the shower hose. Then I would drain it all into buckets placed under the vehicle to catch the anti freeze. Most will come out the hot water heater. I refill the empty jugs and end up with about 5 gallons for the following year. I live in Vermont so I need to plan on 20 below. Never had any problems doing this and I use the same procedure with the hot water bypass but obviously don't use as much antifreeze.
One other important preventive maintenance thing you can do during this process is to take the opportunity to wet vac the hot water heater. I have adapted a piece of tubing by running a bent coat hanger through a plastic pipe so I can snake it into the hot water tank through the drain plug and vacuum out all the sediment that settles in the bottom of the tank. I'm amazed at what comes out.

That is some very good information...while I have done most of what a winterization needs something tells me the van is not completely protected yet after reading this. Thank you

[mountaindent]

I think you have it, mountaindent. Good for putting in the water heater bypass - in mine, I would have to cut the polybutelene to do it, so I never installed the kit I bought.

For what it's worth, a lot of places don't recommend putting antifreeze in the fresh water tank (I need to update the winterizing guide I have on here) - I learned that recently. It's safe to drink, so there's no problem, you'll just want to flush the tank well come springtime, which is easy enough to do. I think the concern is about the residual taste.

Theoretically what you're supposed to do is disconnect the pipe on the inlet side of the pump and rig a tub to pump in the antifreeze there. However, there's a major problem with the B190s for doing that - the pump is essentially inaccessible. (In my trailer, for example, the pump is easily available under the floor of the closet.)

When I replumb our B190, I'm going to think about putting in a Tee to allow for using antifreeze without putting it in the tank, but given the headache and extra connections it would require (tee, plus a valve to keep the antifreeze from going into the tank - it's just a lot of extra places for things to fail/leak), I'm not sure I will - instead I might just make it so that one of the connections, such as at the filter, is easily removable for this purpose. I will also put in a water heater bypass when I replumb ours.

I really did not want to put antifreeze in the fresh water tank but, looking back that would have been an easier and less expensive way to winterize for sure! I felt like a first grader yesterday trying to winterize this particular camper. I kept thinking in what order I should do this and that, is this enough pink coming through etc....After what seemed like a day, I thought maybe it is protected for the winter. I will take a picture of the water heater bypass and the winterizing connection. It is pretty complicated but, the tech did it evidently because it worked.