Do I need to winterize?

d_v

This is our first winter owning our T@b. We live in south Texas. It gets below freezing maybe 10 times a year, there is rarely a day where the high is still below freezing. We currently have our T@b outside but hooked to shore power. Are there any exposed water lines other than the drains? From what I have seen all the water lines are inside the trailer at basically floor level. If I set the heat to 40 would that prevent the lines from freezing if it got down to say 20? I was hoping not to have to winterize because a lot of our trips would be in the “winter” and this would prevent a winterize, de-winterize on every trip.

pthomas745

Without knowing the year of the trailer, this is hard to answer.  Just because "it gets above freezing" or "we are on shore power" that would not protect things like outdoor waste gate valves, low point drains, etc. 

"How cold will it get and how long will it remain below freezing" are the key questions.

As always: it is so easy to blow out the trailer, without antifreeze (or, very little)....put water back in the trailer and be back to camping with a small bit of work. 

Or, you can worry and hope!

Blowing out is easy!

Mickerly

Yes, all the fresh water lines are inside the heated space; however, the other part of the trailer water system: tanks, drains and such, are not.

We are in Fort Worth. Before a freeze, we blow air through the fresh water lines. Our 2018 sewer side is not as well protected as the newer trailers. We make sure all three tanks are empty as well as the lines from grey and black tanks to the dump valves. We disconnect both sides of the water pump and blow it out. If there is no water in the trailer to freeze, then nothing freezes. It only takes seconds to be ready to go when it warms up.

I will mention the owners manual assumes the trailer is stored all winter. The instructions for winter storage includes antifreeze in the freshwater system.

d_v

pthomas745 said:

Without knowing the year of the trailer, this is hard to answer.  Just because "it gets above freezing" or "we are on shore power" that would not protect things like outdoor waste gate valves, low point drains, etc. 

"How cold will it get and how long will it remain below freezing" are the key questions.

As always: it is so easy to blow out the trailer, without antifreeze (or, very little)....put water back in the trailer and be back to camping with a small bit of work. 

Or, you can worry and hope!

Blowing out is easy!

Thank you!  It’s a 2021 T@b 400.  I’ll add blow out to the prep.

d_v

Mickerly said:

Yes, all the fresh water lines are inside the heated space; however, the other part of the trailer water system: tanks, drains and such, are not.

We are in Fort Worth. Before a freeze, we blow air through the fresh water lines. Our 2018 sewer side is not as well protected as the newer trailers. We make sure all three tanks are empty as well as the lines from grey and black tanks to the dump valves. We disconnect both sides of the water pump and blow it out. If there is no water in the trailer to freeze, then nothing freezes. It only takes seconds to be ready to go when it warms up.

I will mention the owners manual assumes the trailer is stored all winter. The instructions for winter storage includes antifreeze in the freshwater system.

Thank you! I’m further south in San Antonio. 

manyman297

As @pthomas745 mentioned the blowout method is great for those who are able to use their trailer year round and don’t want to deal with antifreeze. Just make sure you do a thorough job of blowing the system out. A particularly troublesome faucet is the shower on the 400. 

Even after blowing the lines out I can sometimes hear gurgling. I ultimately use antifreeze anyway so it doesn’t matter in my situation but what helps is unscrewing the showerhead line and blowing the water out into a towel. The long vertical line is difficult for the pressure to push the water upward. Eliminating the showerhead portion helps.

rcarlson1957

2018 320. North Texas. We only ever use the blow out method to winterize. Never had any problems. Worked fine in mountains of Arizona and Colorado with snow on the ground. 

Mickerly

Same here. The very small amount of water remaining after  blowing out may freeze, but will not damage anything.

Side note: if you open all the faucets before opening the low point drain, most of the water pulls itself through. There will be very little water remaining to blow out up hill.