[A/S] Re: temporary winterization?

["airstream22630" <balloon@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

When you winterize a trailer it can be done a in a couple of ways. 
Some people with a small trailer don't even use RV pink juice because 
they are able to get all the water out of the tanks/lines by using 
air or opening all valves and letting it drain out. On a larger 
trailer you can not always use this way because some water may remain 
in a lines somewhere and freeze. So, some people when they winterize 
will push RV antifreeze through the water lines and traps to get the 
remaining water out of the lines. When doing this, you have a couple 
of ways of doing it. One of the ways is to empty the tanks 
fresh/HW/gray/black, blow air through the system to get as much water 
out as possible. Then its up to you how you want to get the 
antifreeze into the system. The best way (IMHO) is to use a "bypass" 
system for the fresh/HW tanks. This allows you to use your pump to 
suck the antifreeze out of the bottle, run it through your lines, 
(bypassing the H/W tank). Put some in the traps and your done. Even 
on a large trailer it takes no more than a few gallons of antifreeze. 
Worst case is, you have no "bypass" systems installed, to get 
antifreeze into the pump/lines you got to pour it into the fresh 
tank, use enough top fill the H/W tank and run it through the system. 
By using this method, come time to un-winterize you have to run 
a "huge" amount of water through the system to get the taste of the 
antifreeze out. Because of the simple fact that you filled your 
fresh/HW tanks with the stuff. Up to you how or if you want to 
winterize. I was just giving you worst case. I still think you will 
save money in the long run if you do, no matter how you do it. The 
question I have would be, "If you don't winterize, how long will it 
take you to find/fix/cost of a water line if one breaks?" also, "How 
much money will you spend in propane/elec. to keep the trailer form 
freezing?"

Paul Waddell