Bypassing the Fresh Water Tank When Winterizing With Antifreeze

Bert

The dealer where we bought our new Tab Outback Max S has suggested that we install a winterizing bypass kit so we do not have to pour antifreeze into our fresh water tank when winterizing our unit. He said the kits are relatively inexpensive. Many trailers come with the bypass installed at the factory, he said. Does anyone know whether it makes sense to have the dealer install such a bypass or know why Little Guy does not?

Nomad

Never heard of such a thing.

ScottG

It sounds like something that would allow you to fill the electric pump line with antifreeze, without having to put antifreeze in the holding tank.

I'm also up north and facing my first winter with a new T@B. I opted to just blow the lines out really well, skip the antifreeze (except for the traps and drain slides), and call it good. However, most owners here do seem to prefer the "belt and suspenders" approach of both blow out and antifreeze. (I may find out in the spring that I agree with them!)

WVWanderer

What in the world is the "belt and suspenders" approach to blowing out the lines???

Bert

I'm assuming that wearing suspenders when you're wearing a belt means that you're covering all the possibilities--what if your belt breaks? Blowing out the water, then using antifreeze is also covering all the possibilities--what if a little bit of water got missed? I'm wondering whether a better approach might be to blow out the water, add antifreeze, then blow that out--particularly for those of us with Aldes who will be using the furnace in winter.

jkjenn

I did both last winter and given how cold it was, I was glad I had. If you live south of I-70, north might be overkill. If you live north of it, I would rather be safe than sorry.

ScottG

Bert said:

I'm assuming that wearing suspenders when you're wearing a belt means that you're covering all the possibilities--what if your belt breaks? Blowing out the water, then using antifreeze is also covering all the possibilities--what if a little bit of water got missed? I'm wondering whether a better approach might be to blow out the water, add antifreeze, then blow that out--particularly for those of us with Aldes who will be using the furnace in winter.

Yeah, what Bert said! It's a phrase my buddy used to use a lot...

The T@B manual (which admittedly is not very good) says to drain the lines and then blow them out or fill them with antifreeze. Doing both is like wearing a belt and suspenders--probably unnecessary, but it virtually guarantees your pants will stay up!

I suppose we could call Bert's suggestion the "belt, suspenders, and duct tape" approach.

Ultimately, it's a personal thing that depends on how much work you want to do, how much risk you are comfortable with, and how able and willing you are to fix your own screw ups.

2canoe

I'd be interested to hear about any winterizing failures.  How did you winterize and how did that fail?

ChanW

2canoe, I got one (or two, actually).

I failed to rinse the black and gray drain gate-valves with antifreeze, which left enough water in the blade part of the valve to expand and crack it.

I also neglected to blow out the toilet water-inlet valve thoroughly enough, and ended up needing to replace the valve on the toilet.

Both jobs were not too awfully difficult, and fairly inexpensive, so I was lucky.

ScottG

Yeah, the toilet valve is easy to overlook!

For those that only blow out the lines, do you do anything special to ensure all the water is out of the pump? I just ran mine for a bit until there was no more gurgling evident.

On my model, it looks like you could also put an air line on the fresh water tank drain and blow from that direction, too. You'd be blowing with the pump, rather than against it, though it's unclear if that gains you anything. Anyone do this?