[VAC] winterizing

[Terry Tyler <tylerbears@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Phil,

When I winterize, I not only drain the system, I tilt the Airstream so the
drain outlet is the lowest point (duhh), drain the water tank after I've
tilted the Airstream so the faucet is the lowest point (duhh) and then, I
bring my handy dandy air pressure tank out to the trailer, hook up the
adapter to the water inlet line, open one faucet, give it a healthy shot of
air, close that faucet, open another facucet, give it a shot of air, etc.,
etc. until all faucets have had their shot of air and no more water comes
out of any faucet or hose. A spritz of wet air is okay.

For me, that is a trustworthy way to merely drain the system completely.

But that's not all I do. Once draining is done, I open all the faucets and
give it one final whoosh of compressed air (empty my air tank). Then and
only then, do I close up everything and introduce the pink antifreeze.

Sometimes I use a lot of antifreeze (when priced at $1.50 a gallon) and
other times I use less (when priced at $3.69 a gallon). This year, True
Value hardware is selling it for $1.89 a gallon here in Albany, NY so I
bought a lot of it.

After pouring the antifreeze into my water tank, I ran the pump to
distribute it to all the lines and the hot water tank (no bypass valves on
my '67 22'). During the process of pumping and opening each faucet, all the
drains are filled with antifreeze. I use the hose for the toilet to put
antifreeze in the holding tank.

Last steps are to (1) open the valve directly behind my inlet connection and
let antifreeze flow back into that line and out onto the ground so I know
it's protected and (2) open the water tank drain valve to flood it and the
valve. Then, close both valves tightly.

Granted, this amounts to overkill, but I have yet to have a leak in any of
my Airstreams the next Spring. With one trailer, I used the pump to suck
antifreeze out of the gallon jug and distribute it to all water lines. My
Rube Goldberg set of hoses did the job, but I wanted a simpler method.

Forty years ago when I knew everything and no one could tell me anything, I
used windshield wiper fluid in the drains. I don't do that anymore. The
alcohol isn't good for rubber gaskets.

Have fun with winterizing. The first hard frost in our part of the country
has already occurred north of Albany, NY. The WX man on TV shows the
record lows every night. We could have 20 degrees any night now, but
probably won't until mid November.

Don't forget to bring in the big Tamarack level on the front of your
trailer. That's not alcohol in it,

Terry

mailto:tylerbears@airstream.net