1987 34W - Winterized and gave her a bath

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Razorback
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1987 34W - Winterized and gave her a bath

Post by Razorback »

This is a really sad time of the year............here in NW Arkansas, we can get some really cold weather, or it can be almost hot on any given day. Last night it got down to 28, so I decided it was a good time to winterize the Avion today. Finished up by giving the old girl a much-needed bath.

I had picked up a brass blowout adapter yesterday, so I put it to use today. First, I drained the hot water tank, drained the fresh water tank, and opened the low-point drains. Once those stopped dripping, I closed them, opened the faucet in the kitchen, set my compressor for 50psi output, screwed the adapter into the fresh water input, then connected the compressor hose to the adapter. Went inside and remembered to remove the aerators from the faucets, then watched until it quit sputtering and was just blowing air on the cold side, then did the same for the hot side. Also cleared the filtered water spigot (filter had been removed earlier). Then, I moved to the bathroom and cleared the sink faucet, then the bath faucet and shower head. Also cleared the water line for the toilet.
I remembered that our Avion has a pretty good size accumulator tank. I had closed the valve on it earlier, so I opened it and made sure that was cleared of water by letting it drain through one of the low-point drains. Next, I poured a cup or 2 of RV antifreeze in each trap. I made sure the holding tanks were emptied, and left the valves for those open. (Note to self..... remember to close those later!!!!)

I had never winterized with compressed air before. I usually drained everything, bypassed the hot water tank, then filled the lines with RV antifreeze via a valve/hose near the water pump. I think I like the air method better...... should make it easier to use during the winter months if we get a chance to take it out (which we will do in early December), and next Spring when we are preparing for a new camping season.

How do you do your winterizing?
Razorback (Paul)
1987 Avion 34W
1995 Ford F-250 7.3L PowerStroke
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KYAvion
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Re: 1987 34W - Winterized and gave her a bath

Post by KYAvion »

I use our trailer a lot in the winter, so the first thing I did when I got our Avion was set up all water lines on a downward slope leading to two ball valves that serve as low point drains. After opening all faucets, a simple turn of both valves and all the water lines and the water heater drain through tubing exiting underneath the underbelly. The only other thing I do as an extra precaution is remove and physically blow any water out of the shower head.

Side note: I do bypass the toilet in the winter so no water gets into the toilet valve. I set it up so the water pump directs antifreeze into the toilet for winter flushing.
KYAvion
1984 Avion 30R
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pbsled
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Re: 1987 34W - Winterized and gave her a bath

Post by pbsled »

These are helpful tips above. Today was my first winterizing since the bathroom remodel with all my new plumbing. I evacuated the plumbing using a venturi system from an old automotive tool. Since I don't have my freshwater tank install complete I had to do something a bit different.

I have all my PEX running "downhill" from all the facuets towards a common low point right by the hot water heater where there are two values that drain outside through the exerior wall (in hot water exterior flange plate). Once all the drainable water was out, I hooked up an old style venturi evacuator (run by compressed air) that pulled a vacuum on the camper piping, and I could just go around and open faucets and it pulled all the water out of the system, which seem to work pretty well. I let it run for quite awhile in hope of getting the inside of my hotwater heater as dry as possible. The only thing I had to manually drain and remove were the inline cold water drinking filters under the kitchen and bathroom sinks, plus some antifreeze added to all the p-traps.

The only
PbSled
"Mr. Eternabond"
1990 30P
2017 F-250 Reg. Cab
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