Chuck_S
Broadview Hts, OH, USA
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I blow out, fill with antifreeze, and then blow that out as all the water has now been displaced and the antifreeze is NOT tasteless despite the label.
-- Chuck
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rootrujill
Riverdale Utah
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Chuck, I have a question about how you store with your battery. I know you leave your batteries in, but you also store inside a barn. Do you think the batteries would still be OK if I store my trailer outside?
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sapoc
Burlington, Ontario, Canada
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Additional to making sure the water is gone, don't forget to leave the refrigerator door ajar. Mould will grow inside when it is closed for extended periods.
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DavidP
Raleigh
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rootrujill wrote: Do you think the batteries would still be OK if I store my trailer outside?
Batteries are fine left outside. Make sure they are fully charged and water level is topped off using distilled water. If you have a garage they would be better stored inside simply to keep an eye on their charge status while keeping them topped off. I never remove my boat or RV batteries any more and just keep them charged and disconnected. A switch makes disconnecting them easy. No worries about freezing temps, it will have no effect on them. More important to where they are stored is making sure they are not left in a discharged state.
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Chuck_S
Broadview Hts, OH, USA
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Gets just as cold in the barn as outdoors. No need to charge a battery over the winter if it was fully charged when you started. Trojan, among others, recommends a routine charge when the battery dips to 70% charged. My batteries go from this week to the first week of April in outdoor temperatures and are at 70% when they come out.
Critical they be fully charged before storage and that they be totally disconnected from the trailer. Pull or switch the negative cable from the battery to totally isolate it.
Mid winter recharge won't hurt, but is unnecessary.
A battery in your warm garage, however, may self discharge faster.
-- Chuck
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LEMII
Jonesborough, TN
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Chuck_S wrote:I blow out, fill with antifreeze, and then blow that out as all the water has now been displaced and the antifreeze is NOT tasteless despite the label.
-- Chuck
You blow oout the city water lines, then you pump anti-freeze into them, then finally blow them out again. Do I understand you correctly? Why do you want to blow out again after adding the anti-freeze? Doesn;t this defeat the purpose of adding it in the first place? To de-winterize, don't you just fluch all the water lines clean with city water?
Am I missing something here?
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Chuck_S
Broadview Hts, OH, USA
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While my method is (perhaps) reduntant the purpose the initial blow-out is to force out any water from the system. A dry system has nothing to freeze.
Since a blow-out may leave small residual amounts of water in the lines adding anti-freeze will force that out with full strength, not diluted anti-freeze.
The reason to blow the anti-freeze out is the horrible taste it will leave in the water system if left there several months. Takes weeks of use to get rid of the taste, not merely a simple rinse or flush with city water. This is also the reason to never put anti-freeze in the fresh water tank. Will have a pink spell and taste a good portion of next season. The taste/spell issue may be similar to the "princess and the pea"  but I can taste and smell it.
In addition, once the anti-freeze has eliminated the last spec of water it's done it's job and is no longer needed anyway. Why wait until spring to discard it?
In the spring I sanitize the fresh water tank and plumbing. (Yes, we drink the water.) Then I flush the chlorine from the system and put a fresh filter in the canister.
We normally make our first camping trip in April and I just blow out the system afterward to prevent a late freeze.
-- Chuck
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DavidP
Raleigh
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Chuck_S wrote:While my method is (perhaps) reduntant the purpose the initial blow-out is to force out any water from the system. A dry system has nothing to freeze.
Since a blow-out may leave small residual amounts of water in the lines adding anti-freeze will force that out with full strength, not diluted anti-freeze.
The reason to blow the anti-freeze out is the horrible taste it will leave in the water system if left there several months. Takes weeks of use to get rid of the taste, not merely a simple rinse or flush with city water. This is also the reason to never put anti-freeze in the fresh water tank. Will have a pink spell and taste a good portion of next season. The taste/spell issue may be similar to the "princess and the pea" but I can taste and smell it.
In addition, once the anti-freeze has eliminated the last spec of water it's done it's job and is no longer needed anyway. Why wait until spring to discard it?
In the spring I sanitize the fresh water tank and plumbing. (Yes, we drink the water.) Then I flush the chlorine from the system and put a fresh filter in the canister.
We normally make our first camping trip in April and I just blow out the system afterward to prevent a late freeze.
-- Chuck
I would say leave it in. I’ve tried both ways and in my expereince it smells the same until the system is well flushed. Blowing it out is not getting all the stuff out and is leaving plenty trapped. This is evident the following season when flushing some foamy pink water . There is also dry residue in many places that still smells until flushed. Once the system is flushed and sanitized, atleast in my experience, there is no smell or hint of pink stuff. Either way would be fine and in either case the system still has to be flushed and sanitized the following year. I found this to be a useless step that is arguably leaving the trailer less protected than a system full of antifreeze.
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LEMII
Jonesborough, TN
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Thanks for all the advice. I really appreciate the dialogue and debate; I've learned a lot. This is what makes this board so valuable.
Thanks again.
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