Blow out

Dana

I'm sure this is answered somewhere but.......I didn't blow out my plumbing before winterizing.  I drained all the lines, did the 45 degree angle thing in Nautilas, nothing was coming out of faucets, added antifreeze.  The Nautilas manual says you can do one or the other (blow out or antifreeze)  Are you supposed to do both?  My Tab 320 is already covered with batteries pulled.

qhumberd

In my mind, unless you are in a region with extremely low temperatures, running antifreeze thru all your plumbing after a gravity drain should prevent freezing, even if a small amount of water was trapped. It would slightly dilute the antifreeze, but not to an extent that the antifreeze should fail to protect. 

Sharon_is_SAM

@Dana - both the Nautilus and nuCamp instructions require blowing out before adding antifreeze.  It helps to remove water from areas of the plumbing that tend to pool water (including the Nautilus manifold).  

https://youtu.be/Xo8_nbYUqfo

qhumberd

@Dana, do what @Sharon_is_SAM says. The Nautilus thingy looks too expensive to mess with. My 2019 just has pipes.

manyman297

I live in Salt Lake City where it can get down to maybe 0 degrees in extreme temps on average. I blow out what water I can and then add antifreeze but most people just do the antifreeze only. And I’m leaning towards that method next fall. 

Common sense (at the least the sense I have) tells me that the majority of trapped water is going to be pushed out by the antifreeze. Sure you might get some turbulence in some lines where trapped water and antifreeze are mixing but as long as you run your taps long enough (run the taps into a clear cup and keep running til the antifreeze color looks like it does in the bottle). Almost all of the water should work its way out. It may take more antifreeze but it’s cheaper than dealing with broken lines come next spring.