Any Damage Reports of Incorrect Winterizing?
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Topic: Any Damage Reports of Incorrect Winterizing?
Posted By: Pushing70
Subject: Any Damage Reports of Incorrect Winterizing?
Date Posted: 05 Dec 2018 at 6:39am
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Hi all! I have read a lot about winterizing and there are several methods described from casual to complex. Just wondering if you could share any real damage reports due to improper or incomplete winterizing, including what failed and what it took to fix. Thanks! 2018 RPod 180 ------------- 73 Ely |
Replies:
Posted By: furpod
Date Posted: 05 Dec 2018 at 6:43am
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LOL.. Yes, every year. Toilet valves, water pumps and pump filter housings, outside showers.. It happens.
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Posted By: Ben Herman
Date Posted: 05 Dec 2018 at 8:25am
| Yup, toilet valve on mine - when I purchased my used 189 last year in the spring, had to pull the toilet and replace the valve. Could have been worse, since all the water that leaked was contained within the shower pan and drained out. Made it hard to diagnose the problem at first, though |
Posted By: StephenH
Date Posted: 05 Dec 2018 at 10:38am
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That is why I always use RV antifreeze, even if I do blow out the lines with air first. It gets the residual water out of the pump, lines, and valves.
------------- StephenH Happy is the man that findeth wisdom,... http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=7712 - ouR escaPOD mods Former RPod 179 Current Cherokee Grey Wolf 24 JS |
Posted By: Ben Herman
Date Posted: 05 Dec 2018 at 12:51pm
I agree, I follow the same protocol. Blow out lines, add antifreeze.
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Posted By: crw8sr
Date Posted: 05 Dec 2018 at 5:39pm
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Me too! .........Blow out lines, add antifreeze. ------------- Chuck & Lyn Izzy, Morkie. RIP Zoe Joy & Gracie, Yorkie 2018 R Pod 190 2019 Traverse In moments of adversity;when life's a total wreck, I think of those worse off than me and really feel like heck. |
Posted By: SC for Huskers
Date Posted: 06 Dec 2018 at 3:38pm
 HEHE had a "here, hold my beer and watch this" moment. When blowing the lines, remember those famous last words " open water heater vent". You can blow the lines down, but, that doesn't get rid of all the water in the hot water tank. Think you are done, (but have left the air on) pull the anode plug on the water tank, oops. NOW you need ANOTHER shower! Lucky it wasn't hot. Fastest 4 gal dump I have ever experienced. I now add antifreeze. LOL ------------- Happy Traveling, Tom 2017 172pod 2011 F150 STX |
Posted By: mcarter
Date Posted: 06 Dec 2018 at 4:56pm
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The first thing I do is drain the water heater. AND the low point drains. Hard to use compressed air with 6 gals of water, antifreeze or not. Good lesson. ------------- Mike Carter 2015 178 " I had the right to remain silent, I just didn't have the ability." |
Posted By: jato
Date Posted: 06 Dec 2018 at 9:20pm
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Same a Mike, drain water heater, close bypass valves, use compressed air 2x to toilet and both sinks, takes just over 1 minute to blow out and then I will use a total of 16 oz of rv antifreeze for the 2 sink traps, 1 shower trap and a little bit on the toilet valve lid to keep the seal wet. Done it this way since 2012, with zero issues, problems, or breaks.
------------- God's pod '11 model 177 '17 Ford F-150 4WD 3.5 Ecoboost Jim and Diane by beautiful Torch Lake "...and you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free." |
Posted By: Shane
Date Posted: 07 Dec 2018 at 12:34pm
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I do not blow out my lines, instead I drain everything including the low point drains, turn on the pump to make sure its not pumping anymore water, add antifreeze to my freshwater tank and turn on the water pump, then open each water valve on each hot/cold sink valves, shower valves, and run toilet a few times until I see pink antifreeze coming out, I add a little antifreeze into the toilet bowl also. Don't forget the shower on the outside of the pod. I do close the bypass valves and drain WH. Never had a problem doing it this way but takes a bit more antifreeze since you need a bit more for the pump to start pumping it though the system. ------------- ENGINE 55,TRUCK 44,BATALLION 12 |
Posted By: onesojourner
Date Posted: 11 Dec 2018 at 4:34pm
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I am going to chime in just to reinforce what the OP said. He is not asking what you do to winterize he is asking about specific examples of failures. I was actually just doing a google search on the site for just that. I had the pleasure of experiencing a trailer that had not been winterized. Every faucet in the thing exploded spectacularly. I am going to piggy back on to this thread with a couple more specific questions. Does any one have specific examples of empty trailer failures? What was the temperature? (I understand this one may be tough because often this will be because the trailer was forgotten so the day and temperature that the damage occurred on may not be known.) Does anyone have specific examples of failures in occupied trailers? What was the outside temperature? Where was the failure?
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Posted By: Ben Herman
Date Posted: 11 Dec 2018 at 4:46pm
I have one - empty trailer, the example that I mentioned above. The problem is that the damage that occurs from winterizing freezes (as you discovered) does not occur until you de-winterize it in the spring, so who knows when the damage occurs or at what temperature. In my case, it was a week before a planned trip; I went through the process of sanitizing the water tank, letting a bleach solution soak overnight, only to discover that the next morning the water tank was empty. To add insult to injury, I then discovered that the grey water tank was showing 1/2 full. Yet there were no traces of water anywhere in the trailer. I could not for the life of me figure out how the water got from fresh water tank to gray water tank. Filled it again, and when I turned on the pump I noticed water flowing from behind the toilet into the shower pan drain. The flush valve had cracked. Thankfully the leak occurred where there was a drain to catch it, otherwise it would have been all over the floor. The trailer was new to me so who knows how and when it was winterized. Lesson learned - at the beginning of the season, test the system and look everywhere there is a fitting to see if there are any leaks and/or damage. Do this as soon as you fill the tank or hook up city supply - if it had been a sink fitting that was damaged and I left the pump on all night, without checking the trailer first, I would have opened the door the next morning to 15 gallons of water on the floor.
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Posted By: mcarter
Date Posted: 11 Dec 2018 at 5:01pm
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Not sure where you are headed. A trailer not winterized is subject to many varied failures. A trailer in use can have failures depending on conditions. I have never had a after winterization failure. But a lot of that has to do with the degree I winterize. I have never had a trailer related in use failure, mainly due to being prepared. Maybe a better subject is what did you do wrong, what didn't you do to be prepared and what did you learn from not taking the right precautions and not following some well documented processes. Travel trailers are not a market surprise this year, the extent of info on winterization could keep a person occupied for days. If there is an issue learn from it. I believe in being over prepared and not reactive. Not one instance I have seen was not preventable, just bad planning. OR a bad procedure. If you freeze a toilet valve or a water pump for instance, that's just bad winterization. ------------- Mike Carter 2015 178 " I had the right to remain silent, I just didn't have the ability." |
Posted By: onesojourner
Date Posted: 12 Dec 2018 at 9:58am
Where is the weakest link in this trailer when it comes to freezing temperatures, when occupied and when not.
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Posted By: mcarter
Date Posted: 12 Dec 2018 at 1:55pm
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The two failures I have had in an occupied trailer in freezing temps was the campground water spicket froze, I have a heated hose so the trailer was fine. The other was the gray water drain froze and I couldn't dump it.
Common problems in an unoccupied trailer are the toilet flush valve and the water pump if not winterized properly. Some folks forget their outside shower units. ------------- Mike Carter 2015 178 " I had the right to remain silent, I just didn't have the ability." |
Posted By: lostagain
Date Posted: 12 Dec 2018 at 4:34pm
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For the gray/black water valves, if you have access to electricity, a heat lamp will do nicely to melt the ice in the black pipe. It doesn't take very long. Just keep the lamp far enough away that things don't get too hot. ------------- Never leave footprints behind. Fred & Maria Kearney Sonoma 167RB Our Pod 172 2019 Ford F-150 4x4 2.7 EcoBoost |
Posted By: mcarter
Date Posted: 12 Dec 2018 at 4:47pm
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I used my cube heater. Was odd because I had black tank open to sewer and gray had the heated water from hose draining into it, when the water pipe froze, the gray tank was sealed and the drain froze. I also used the cube heater to thaw water pipe from campground. Just a camping day. ------------- Mike Carter 2015 178 " I had the right to remain silent, I just didn't have the ability." |
Posted By: Happy Tripping
Date Posted: 13 Dec 2018 at 10:06am
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I did an internet search, this subject is surprisingly complicated. We lived in a rented house once and the pipes froze and burst at the connection of two pipes. Therefore I always thought that the many connections of the small-diameter water hoses in an r-pod would be the source of any burst. Apparently high water pressure BETWEEN the freeze and a nearby faucet is the primary culprit, altho that expansion CAN'T be good for connections over multiple repetitions.
https://disastersafety.org/wp-content/uploads/Freezing-Bursting-Pipes_IBHS-White.pdf ?Has anyone experienced a burst water pipe?? |
Posted By: mcarter
Date Posted: 13 Dec 2018 at 3:18pm
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Pex pipes and connections are extremely resilient. Areas where expansion can't occur are an issue, like valves, outside shower heads, maybe the pump. ------------- Mike Carter 2015 178 " I had the right to remain silent, I just didn't have the ability." |