Emergency Winterization Blow out kit

tybladesmith

If you are out T@BBing and the outdoor temperature drops suddenly below freezing and you are not winterized, what are you going to do?

If you had this with you:



 Connect up to the spare tire.


Hook up the blowout plug to the city water connection.
 

Then pressurize and shut off the system at the blowout valve at the spare tire, each time for each sink, and shower, and outdoor shower valve, and the toilette valve, until no more water comes out of any valve.  Don't forget, this is only a puff of air each time a valve is opened and closed.  In other words, you don't want to run the air out of the tire continuously or you'd flat the spare tire.

Follow published winterization instructions!

FYI the spare tire pressure should be below the water system Max. 50 PSI. 

Don't forget to air up the spare after the adventure.

Travelin3D

Very inventive approach! Reminds me of the windshield washer tank in my ‘64 VW bug that ran off air pressure from the spare. Worked great, just had to top off the spare periodically.

tybladesmith

@Travelin3D Cool!!! I had a '64 VW bug too! 

Tabaz

We have some really smart people on this forum!! What a clever idea.

webers3

How about just a simple tire inflator, that's what I use

Sharon_is_SAM

@tybladesmith, is that a standard hose with tire valve connection that you can buy somewhere or did you create that yourself and add the blow out plug?  Really good idea for that unexpected weather change!

Cbusguy

@webers3 most standard tire inflators cannot provide the volume of air needed to force the water out of the lines.

tybladesmith

@Sharon_is_SAM This is a standard 25" 1/4" recoil hose with parts added. Clip on air chuck, 1/4" NPT-Female ball valve, 2 sets of quick couplers and a blowout plug, and 1/4" NPTM hex nipples as needed.  

Dalehelman

Clever adaptation. I like it.

tybladesmith

Thanks Dale, that means a lot! 

webers3

@Cbusguy most standard inflators can deliver more than 50 pounds of pressure. I pump up the system to 40 pounds which is plenty to blow out the lines. @tybladesmith has a clever solution although bit complicated 

Horigan

It's not the pressure that blows out the lines, it's the air flow.  Most, if not all, 12V tire inflators don't have sufficient flow to blow out the lines.  You need an air compressor with a tank, or a spare tire!

pthomas745

The whole idea of what kind of compressor will work has been brought up before, and the whole issue is Cubic Feet Per Minute. (CFM).   A small tire compressor that does not tell you what the CFM is might not be strong enough, but there are many compressors, without tanks, that do just fine. 

https://tab-rv.vanillacommunity.com/discussion/5990/recommendations-for-compressor-for-winterizing

Cbusguy

@webers3 I said volume not pressure...

TabberJohn

Cbusguy said:

@webers3 most standard tire inflators cannot provide the volume of air needed to force the water out of the lines.

Horigan said:

It's not the pressure that blows out the lines, it's the air flow.  Most, if not all, 12V tire inflators don't have sufficient flow to blow out the lines.  You need an air compressor with a tank, or a spare tire!

You can add ample volume using this hose trick: https://tab-rv.vanillacommunity.com/discussion/comment/128207#Comment_128207
It would require a lot of strokes and multiple blow out sessions, but this method also works with a bicycle foot pump.
We have a small 12 volt inflator for winterizing that fits under the passenger seat in the TV; also used to top off all 6 tires before/during a trip.
@tybladesmith's gadget looks like the quick and easy way to go, especially if your spare is mounted on the tongue.

dCliffhanger

Let me add a specific metric to the discussion. My portable ac\dc compressor, used only once so far, seems to have done the job with a rating of 1.0 cfm. It had enough volume to "burp" the water out of each valve, one at a time. I did utilize the trick I saw on here to pressurize the system via my 25 food fresh water supply hose in order to gain a bigger initial burst of air.  My sense was this burst helped some, it was only momentary and I suspect just the straight 1 cfm delivered enough air to do the job. I ran multiple cycles, (close, build pressure, open, run) on each valve, sink, shower, toilet (which I also turkey basted antifreeze into). Lastly I reopened the the drains with the compressor blowing air to help carry out any residual water. This was a test, only a test... and I think, and hope, it worked!