How cold is too cold: Water in toy hauler???

Heading to the track this weekend, my toy hauler is still winterized because it's getting cold here (14* last night). The next couple days the lows are going to be 27* for lows, with 65* high's... you guys think it's safe to flush the anti-freeze out of the hauler. Small tanks, 30 gallon fresh water, I'm just really paranoid about freezing and pipes busting, etc, but I don't want to be f'n with flushing the lines the day I'm leaving... thoughts ??

 

Why not flush everything out and leave it empty, then fill up whenever you're leaving?

 

It's really hard to get ALL the water out. I suggest only using the water for the toilets and carry your drinking water separate. At night drain the lines and fill them with more pink stuff (ie antifreeze). If you have an aircompressor and the right adapters you could try blowing the lines free...good luck.

 

What model trailer? Is the underbelly enclosed? Insulated? Are the pipes exposed, or just the drain fittings?

Our trailer has an enclosed under carriage. If we keep the cabin warm (60*+), the pipes stay warm. Other than that, we'll sometimes cover the spigots with those foam pyramids or socks from the hardware store



and drain everything when we get home. No problems yet.

 

Mine is still winterized.... thursday and friday night is suppose to be really cold


Why not just go to the track dry this one time and use the track facilities? Leave the antifreeze in place. This way you are sure to not hve a problem.

I have a heated underbelly with all the pipes inside for winter camping, but thats only when the heat is running. What happens when you get back home and its still freezing?

 

It's more some oddly cold weather... I'm traveling to the track, they don't have any source of water (it has to be hauled in) and only have a restroom trailer, I'd like to shower for 3 days!

I know it's hard to get all the anti-freeze out, that's why I'm considering flushing it before I head to the track. It's warmer there, and should stay above freezing, so I'm not too concerned about it there, it's just where I live the days leading up to leaving. I'll probably just wait until the day of, blow out the lines and flush the system 3-4 times. I've taken "pink" showers, sucks!

 

Simply fill your freshwater tank at least halfway (there's no way that much water will even come close to freezing overnight) and then blow out the water lines each night. My setup looks like this:



Just a few bucks in parts. Hook up the air and reverse each of the valves (closing the valve in the line leading to the tank forces the air pressure through the system instead of allowing it to go into the freshwater tank), then open all the faucets to blow out the water. The only place you'll need antifreeze is in the traps in the drains.

You can go from winterized to non-winterized as often as needed and in less time than it takes to use the pink stuff. The savings from not wasting the pink stuff pays for the parts in no time.

 

Wow, one more reason to like California that I had never considered before, I wonder if my toyhauler has insulated water lines, I doubt it.

 

You could get one of these and screw it in the outside hose hookup, open the outlets one at a time then blow. Top link is for an air line hookup, bottom has a wheel valve stem. Don't know if I would trust this for long term storage but should be the ticket for overnight.

 

I blow the lines in the fall from the city water hookup on the outside of the hauler. But I still do antifreeze just to be sure. Better to spend a few $$ and a little bit of time then have to deal with frozen/broken lines.

Only thing I don't put antifreeze in is the hot water heater. Its a bitch to get out. That I just open the drain plug and let dry out.

 

Nice rat/mouse poison. Is that dust from the poison near the water line blowout system? Remind me not to drink your water!

 

Yeah I did something similar but where the air tap is I have a line for RV antifreeze, OH gets real cold and Id rather have that then take a chance at over-compressing the lines with air, but then again if you open all the spickets etc and do that, would probably be fine.

I also turn off my inlet/outlet on my water heater, then drain it completely, still havent opened that actually as I want to run about 10 gallons of water totally thoguh the TT and haven't had a chance to run that much yet.

I like the air idea too tho, might add that also.