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Is there such thing as antifreeze concentrate, that eliminates the draining step - just pour in the fresh water tank and run through all lines?

I've seen people put the bypass on the water heater then do that with the rv antifreeze - just takes more, and you have to make sure you really rinse and drain the water holding tank good after - a few times. It'll work.

I always pulled the low point drain on my fresh water tank and then left it empty. I would drain the hot water heater and put the water on bypass. It doesn't take much RV Pink stuff to fill the lines and put a little down the traps.... When it comes time to take off you can fill the fresh water tank and or hook up to city water and the water pushes the pink right out of the lines and you are good to go. After you have eliminated the pink stuff you can flip the bypass on the hat water heater and it will take a while but the heater will fill with clear water and be ready to go also.....do be sure the anode rod is back in tightly...

BirdbyBird wrote:I always pulled the low point drain on my fresh water tank and then left it empty. I would drain the hot water heater and put the water on bypass. It doesn't take much RV Pink stuff to fill the lines and put a little down the traps.... When it comes time to take off you can fill the fresh water tank and or hook up to city water and the water pushes the pink right out of the lines and you are good to go. After you have eliminated the pink stuff you can flip the bypass on the hat water heater and it will take a while but the heater will fill with clear water and be ready to go also.....do be sure the anode rod is back in tightly...

And this is really the best method.

No one has ever found my low point drain lol, but I have managed to empty the tank best I could - and a little in that tank isn't really a problem - it's the lines that are. Right now while it's cold overnight, after anyone unhooks their water, they should also run the faucet until nothing is in the lines - and do that after using the pump, also - just to be safe. That's where problems are most likely to occur with freezing.

Thank all of you so much for the advice! I think I've got it now. I'll flush with city water, run taps until clear, flush toilet w/ antifreeze, turn off bypass to water heater after lines are flushed. I'll disconnect city water hose at night and bring inside. I'll empty tanks before leaving camp. please let me know if I left anything out! So many people do it themselves so I don't want to go back to the dealer and sit for a few hours while they do it, and pay for it! My Roadtrek is not very big so it won't take long for lines to clear or for antifreeze to reach faucets.

Um. . . [brains falling out here] am I clear in my understanding that you all put antifreeze in your drinking water tank/lines?

Just askin'.

Judi: Do you have any larger photos of your RoadTrek? I would love to see them.

Thanks.

Anne

Cudedog wrote:Um. . . [brains falling out here] am I clear in my understanding that you all put antifreeze in your drinking water tank/lines?
Just askin'.

Anne

It's not the same antifreeze that you put in auto radiators, it's special pink RV antifreeze for protecting pipes.

AH!!

Thanks for the clarification. I knew I must be missing something!

Anne

Cudedog wrote:AH!!

Thanks for the clarification. I knew I must be missing something!

Anne

And please, don't go getting anything but the special anti-freeze!

judi wrote:Thank all of you so much for the advice! I think I've got it now. I'll flush with city water, run taps until clear, flush toilet w/ antifreeze, turn off bypass to water heater after lines are flushed. I'll disconnect city water hose at night and bring inside. I'll empty tanks before leaving camp. please let me know if I left anything out! So many people do it themselves so I don't want to go back to the dealer and sit for a few hours while they do it, and pay for it! My Roadtrek is not very big so it won't take long for lines to clear or for antifreeze to reach faucets.

Judi, don't forget to put it down the sink traps, also - you want it in those lines, also. Or is that in what you said somewhere and I'm missing it? And you don't want the antifreeze in the water heater (although they say it won't hurt it- you really don't want it there - which is why you bypass that before putting antifreeze in any lines.

This really is easy - we're making it sound so hard lol

You can also blow your lines. Then you don't have to worry about flushing all the antifreeze out in the spring. Put the hot water tank on bypass, then drain it. Blow the lines, then put some antifreeze in the p-traps.

You can blow out the lines with a helper.....but you also run the chance of destroying your flow back seal on the city water line......Yes, I no longer have a seal. I COULD replace it I suppose but instead I have to keep and extra plug screwed on so that when I try to pump water from the fresh water tank it doesn't just start spouting out the intake opening.

The right "pink stuff" is supposed to be non-toxic. You would not want to drink it, but if you accidently did drink some that was diluted, it would not kill you. Just make sure you get the right stuff and read the labels.

I was told it is not good on the water heater anodes, which is why you bypass the hot water heater and drain it before you add the pink stuff.

I went into one of the auto stores and ask for the pink RV anti-freeze one time and they tried to sell me the anit=freeze that goes in the radiator. I had two of them arguing with me and I finally had to go get what I wanted off the shelf. Some people don't have a clue what an RV needs.

Martha

Roadtrek advises to NOT blow out the lines. As it turns out, the manual I got when I bought my RT is not the proper manual. When I called Roadtrek they kept referring me to certain pages about winterizing. My manual pages didn't jive and at first I was feeling really stupid but we finally decided the manuals were different. The tech emailed the correct manual and it's very different! It explains how to winterizing in detail, and how to un-winterize. I'm glad I can do it myself because I hate being dependent on others for these relatively simple chores!