An Option to
Traditional Winterizing
Last updated March 13, 2005
Even though
1. Our T-160 stays parked next to our home when we're not camping. With the battery cutoff "knife" switch in the off position, I run an extension cord directly to a small electric space heater that faces the open cabinet door where the batteries are located which keeps them above freezing.
2. All of the water lines are on the inside going through cabinets and storage areas. None of them are in the walls or the floor or under the floor. With cabinet and storage doors open and the space heater running (the one sitting on the floor pointed toward my batteries), I can easily keep the inside of the trailer, and thus the water lines, above freezing.
3. I keep the water lines "depressurized" by opening all the faucets with the water pump turned off, letting the faucets run dry, and then leaving the faucets open.
4. I completely drain my grey and black water holding tanks.
5. I pour a little bit of winter windshield washer fluid (protects to -20F) in the sink and shower drains, just enough to fill the elbow “p” traps.
6. I don't have an outside shower unit, so I don't have to worry about it freezing.
The steps I use for completely winterizing my system when I anticipate we will be traveling or doing overnight stops in sub-freezing weather are:
1. Open all faucets (including the shower faucets) with the water pump off.
2. Open the drain spout on the fresh water tank (leave spout in open position, even after drained).
3. Remove the drain plug on the hot water tank (leave plug off, even after drained). I use a 4-way lug wrench to remove the plastic drain plug. The lug wrench head fits perfectly, so I don’t experience any “chewing” or “stripping” on the head of the plug. The wrench is the fastest way I know to both remove and then re-insert the plug at just the right “snugness.”
4. When both tanks are completely empty, I turn on the water pump until no more water spits out of the faucets, then quickly turn it back off (leaving all the faucets in the open position).
5. Drain the grey and black holding tanks.
6. Pour just enough windshield washer fluid (-20 rated) in the sink and shower drains to fill their respective elbow “p” traps.
7. Keep a bottle of windshield washer fluid in the bath for use in "flushing" the toilet. The practice in our family is "liquids only" in the toilet/black holding tank--I have special sanitary disposable bags for emergencies that involve solids (see “Minimizing Grey (Gray) and Black Water”).
We always carry our drinking water in a large 5 gal container. For teeth brushing when our water system is winterized, we have a dip cup for wetting, a sip cup for rinsing, and a spit cup for expectorating. These get dumped on the nearest vegetation when we're done or directly into the black tank.
Happy winterizing--no matter how you choose to do it!