travel trailer winterized

suggestions for protecting a travel trailer from a deep freeze next week?

Drain hot water heater tank and ensure the bypass valves are open/closed. Blow all water out of the lines with compressed air (helps to have an assistant). That should be enough, but you can also pump the non-toxic pink RV antifreeze through the lines as well. Make sure you have the pink stuff coming out of all faucets, toilet, and the low point drain valves, if you have them.

Should be good to go from there. My TT survived the great freeze in an unheated shop doing the above. We had -9 degrees then, and I'm quite sure it was well below freezing inside the shop still.

We just winterized the TT and the RV. We used to use the RV antifreeze, but now use compressed air introduced through the water inlet line. You’ll need a fitting, with shutoff valve, that will go from air compressor outlet to TT water inlet. Keep the air pressure at 45# or less. I use 30# pressure. Drain all low points first, and drain the fresh water tank. Drain the water heater. Apply the air pressure and open each valve (hot and cold) till you just get air. Do the same with the shower and toilet. Run the water pump to clear it of water. If you have an internal water filter, like our RV does, dump the water out of it. Last freeze I forgot that little detail, and it cost me a new filter housing. Attach the outside spray hose to the connection and blow that out too. And you may have a spray hose connection in the TT pass through, so blow that out too.

You can also leave the fresh water tank drain and the low point drains open, just to be sure you don’t hold water there and crack the valves. Dump the black and gray tanks and shut the valves.

Pour the RV antifreeze into the sinks to fill P traps. Pour anti freeze into the shower drain. Use enough to also cover the bottoms of the black and gray tanks. That last step isn’t probably absolutely necessary, but it won’t hurt anything.

I think that covers it pretty well. The only weak spot in this process is that it might not get all the water out of the water pump.

Plenty of internet videos to watch on this procedure.

Kudos to y'all for taking care of your equipment. And thanks for reminding me that I do not need to own a travel trailer ever again.

I always used a RV water line bow out plug and hooked up a small 12 Volt compressor up to my camper while I went inside and turned all the faucets off and on to get the water blown out. I drained the water from the water heater first and bypassed it as well. I always made sure all the faucets and cabinet doors were left open. I used this method many, many times when I had my camper at my lease and never knew when I`d be back. Never had a problem with pumps or lines in over 20 years with this method. If my camper was at my home I used a regular compressor, turned the pressure down and same method.


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You mentioned bypassing the water heater. With the TT that’s part of the winterizing instructions. With the RV, they don’t mention it. I am unclear why bypassing the water heater is recommended, or even needed. You got any idea?

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best part of Container life. Two second Winterization

If you winterize with antifreeze, it's so you don't have to burn 6 gallons (my WH capacity, others may be different) of antifreeze to get antifreeze at the hot faucets.

Never used antifreeze or blew out lines on my TT,s. Just drain WH, fresh water tank, open low point drain valves, and leave all faucets and spickets open. Never had any freeze damage, went through several winters of bad weather including the Big Freeze a couple years ago.

It's also a real pain to get the RV antifreeze all out of the water heater.


Supposed to get to 14 here in Fredericksburg. I'll make sure grey tanks are empty, close them off, turn tank heaters on. Make sure black tank is emptied, flushed and started new, tank heater on. Pack foam insulation into the convenience center and around fresh water spigot. Already have heated fresh water hose going. Redo to remove P trap created in sewer hose so water isn't standing in there. Make sure sewer hose is empty. Make sure both propane tanks are full plus 20lb grill bottle is full. Fill fresh water tank as backup and turn tank heater on.

If using TT or RV during real cold weather the first thing to worry about is the fresh water hose. I put pipe insulation on mine, the metal connections are the first to freeze. I’d leave a faucet dripping, but always worried about the sewer hose freezing and causing a back up.

Heated water hose with thermostat works very well. That's what I use. Or you can use heat trace cable and make your own. I looked at the cost at making my own and there was very little savings. In this location our fresh water spigot attachment is in a box below ground so I'll just stuff that full of insulation. I use that egg carton style cheap mattress topper material.

Some full time people will have a shorter section of heat trace and wrap that around the spigot. That works well. Some parks already have that.

With the sewer hose, shut the grey tank valves at the RV and empty any standing water in sewer hose by lifting it up to drain. If you have set a P trap in the hose, then remove that P trap. If you have to dump grey in really freezing cold then make sure your sewer hose ideally is a straight run, then lift up sewer hose to empty. You can also wrap insulation around the sewer drain pipes coming out of your RV. Just don't leave the valves open. Use gas central heat because that will help heat the basement and water works.

My son and good friend of mine never blew out their lines either, until they had their 12 volt pumps get cracks in them. You can get away without doing it until you can`t.

Note to self..... If you bypass the water heater after draining and blowing out water line......Be sure to turn the bypass back and refill with water before turning the electricity or breaker back on. I fried my element twice doing it this way. We went camping and I forgot to tell my wife to not turn on the breaker to the water heater until I had water in it. Good thing it ran on propane to.

We happened to be living in our trailer in Maryland during the polar vortex in 2014 with temps down to 0 at night and highs around 12-15 degrees.

I could have heated a home for a year with what I spent in propane, but by the Grace of God, the trailer took it like a champ. Never had to do the walk of shame to the bath house, and had no tank cracks or other damage.

Our only issue was our dump valves froze once or twice. Had to grab a Mr. Heater to get them thawed, but after about 45 min of heat on the wye pipe, I got the valves open. Our TT's propane furnace ducting is routed around the on-board fresh, gray, and black tanks, so they stay warm. The camp ground did make us disconnect our hose from the water bib during the nights to prevent bursting, but it was pretty easy for our family of 4 to survive on 55 gallons until the next morning.

The mobile RV repair guy was super busy in our campground with lots of busted pipes and tanks that winter.

thanks guys!

603 covered it as I do when winterize the RV. I put those styrofoam faucet covers on low point and fresh water drains even though I drain both.

Same

I'll add a +1 on the toilet. We lost a toilet at my former lease because the water froze inside the bottom of the toilet. For the shower, if you can disconnect your shower head, do it and throw it in the tub and let it drain. I lost my TT shower head a few years ago when the little bit of water left inside it froze and cracked the head.

If you have reliable power, you can use the thermal power plugs and attach them to small space heaters. I think they come on when the temp gets into the 30's.

I cracked a valve on the toilet once because after I turned the water off I didn't "flush" the water out of the toilet. Dumb mistake that you learn once and never do again.

I winterize my well house and mobile home at my rural property.

First, go to the well house and kill power to the well at the power pole. Then close the valve from the holding tank. Next, hook a hose to the pressure tank and drain it. Next, remove the drain plug from the electric motor. Then start a small electric heater in case any water is left in the lines.

Then to the house. Close the valve from the well to the house. Next, flush the toilet and dip most of the water from the bowl. Then hook an air compressor to the kitchen faucet and blow/clear the supply line. Last step is pour a small amount of windshield washer antifreeze into kitchen and bathroom sink traps. Then add some to the toilet tank and bowl.

All that works about 95 % of the time.

Been through many single digit winters with the 1997 trailer at the lease. All I've ever done, and do every time we leave, is turn off the water at the outside faucet and run out the water inside. Did have a water pump connection pop off from freezing once it thawed out and made a mess in the floor. Maybe I've just been lucky. We're going back Tues/Wedn after this freeze to get a couple of does.

Pretty much what I do but I also drain the water heater. Open all faucets and the low point drains, pull the water heater plug and let out all water you can. I also put RV antifreeze in all the drains so the sink traps don’t freeze. My camper survives every year this way in west Texas including the big freeze in 21.

There's a good reason why RV's have an air valve connection for pushing residual water out of those places where it doesn't otherwise drain to the lowest point. Water lines in toilets are good example. Don't forget these flush valves when draining.

Just called my neighbor and offered some anti-gel, figuring he had forgot that. He had.

As for TT winterizing, I think if we do the stuff that’s been discussed here, we should be good. I hope.

same here I ordered one online for about 10 dollars. A buddy never checked his and was busted bought one from a rv outlet for around 50 dollars,

My old trailer is at the lease and under cover. Water is turned off at the outside faucet. Would it be better to leave the water heater ON during the deep freeze? Especially since I have no idea how to drain it.

Can probably find a YouTube video on water heater drawing process. Depends on the brand. some you remove the electric element, some have a drain plug.

I would figure out how to drain it. Lose power and leaving it on won't make much difference (assuming it's electric).

yep, will take care of the TT tomorrow afternoon. I usually just turn off the water pump and open up all the faucets (sink, bathroom, shower) and flush the toilet until no more water comes out. I leave all the faucets open as well. That's usually what I do when it's at the lease, every time I leave since the weather might turn bad before I had a chance to return. With it being here at the house, we will leave a small electric space heater set on low just to keep the chill down.

I never thought about using RV antifreeze in the sinks for the p-trap ... hmmm ... and likewise, draining the water heater sounds like a good idea.

my previous TT I had for about 15 years, only issue I ever had was when someone else used it and didn't open up the faucets upon leaving. I had to replace the kitchen faucet once for that reason. It didn't make it thru the hard freeze of 2021 though, but draining the water heater would have resolved that I think.

It survived 2021, so I'm just overthinking it because what we went through here at home. I'm going to make the drive tomorrow to have a look at the water heater and turn a space heater on low as we're going back early next week anyways. Maybe I can pop a doe while i'm there.