Time to winterize

The time of the year I dread….  The local campgrounds are closing and the temps are dropping….

We had hoped to get one more trip in before we did this but …  Needless to say with the way the temps are looking if we don’t winterize soon we will be doing some major plumbing repairs come the spring…

For us (for me) its fairly easy….  Make sure that all three tanks are drained (empty)… The fresh tank, the grey tank and the dreaded black tank…  After that I pick up about 12 litres of plumbing antifreeze (that the pink stuff you don’t put in your cars radiator)….

I close the valve on the fresh tank (remember we opened it to drain the fresh tank) and I pour the 12 litres into the fresh tank.  I also double check that I closed the grey and black as well…  Then I turn on the 12 volt water pump and charge the system.  I then turn on the cold water taps and run them until the pink anti freeze runs out if them.  I then keep on flushing the toilet till the pink anti freeze runs through the system as well.

This ensures that :

There is antifreeze in the fresh tank,  There is antifreeze in the water lines, There is antifreeze in the pump and all the holding tanks….  After that all I have to do is double check that the fridge is empty and all the food stuffs have been removed…  After leaving some moth balls around the various hideyholes in the camper and leaving a couple of mouse traps out in case they don’t mind the mothballs the last step is to remove the 12v storage batter and bringing it home.  I maintain it here and it always helps to have a booster battery here just in case the truck needs a boost and also a battery back up for the hams toys.

In the spring time a day will be spent draining the tanks and flushing out the fresh water system….  Install the battery and away we go…  I don’t see us going south this winter as between the Low Canadian Dollar and the high (next to impossible cost of travel insurance) is just a bit hard to handle this year.

This spring some time will also be spent installing a 600w solar system along with adding a 2nd storage battery as we plan to spend some time off the beaten path this coming summer but really want to keep our comfort level where we like it.

Safe Travels

Bob