Avoiding the pink stuff in winter with shore power Momentum 31G travel trailer

[bossman2024]

I have shore power at my house so I am trying to work out the best way to avoid putting the pink stuff in during the winter. I plan to blow the pipes clear and empty the tanks, but there is no easy way to stick an Xtreme Heater in the underbelly like I can with my class A.

So what is the best way to do this? Turn on the tank pad heaters? Is that going to be enough? I plan on having an Xtreme Heater inside the unit plugged in which will take the edge off inside but not sure if there is a way to find a spot to mount one permanently in the underbelly somewhere. Has anyone done that on a momentum travel trailer?

I live in Charlotte so we don’t deal with super low temperatures. Most of the time it likely won’t get to freezing inside but we get the occasional periods in the winter where it might get down to 20 degrees at night and warms up again during the day. But it’s those times that I need to be worried about.

Assuming I have all the water blown out of the pipes and some active heat in the unit, is that going to work?

Main reason I want to know is I take a trip to Miami for track days in January and both before and after I get back is when it can be the coldest. So it sucks to fully winterize it once, then use it, and have to do it again before the spring when the rest of the track days start up again.

 

[triplethreat]

I have shore power at my house so I am trying to work out the best way to avoid putting the pink stuff in during the winter. I plan to blow the pipes clear and empty the tanks, but there is no easy way to stick an Xtreme Heater in the underbelly like I can with my class A.

So what is the best way to do this? Turn on the tank pad heaters? Is that going to be enough? I plan on having an Xtreme Heater inside the unit plugged in which will take the edge off inside but not sure if there is a way to find a spot to mount one permanently in the underbelly somewhere. Has anyone done that on a momentum travel trailer?

I live in Charlotte so we don’t deal with super low temperatures. Most of the time it likely won’t get to freezing inside but we get the occasional periods in the winter where it might get down to 20 degrees at night and warms up again during the day. But it’s those times that I need to be worried about.

Assuming I have all the water blown out of the pipes and some active heat in the unit, is that going to work?

Main reason I want to know is I take a trip to Miami for track days in January and both before and after I get back is when it can be the coldest. So it sucks to fully winterize it once, then use it, and have to do it again before the spring when the rest of the track days start up again.

The tank heaters will not address the issue if there is any water left in the system after you blow it out......and there will be some water, somewhere! The question then becomes, how much water and is it enough to freeze and damage something. One of the known "pockets" of where water can stay is the fresh water pump assembly. I'm guessing there may be some other places that simply will not get all of the water blown out of it, but I cannot say that with 100% confidence. A heater inside the trailer, depending of course on how much heat it puts out, may be able to take care of the inside, but I would still be concerned with the belly. Myself, I have never trusted it to just blow out the lines and not use the pink stuff. I'm sure that others will come along and offer their opinions of your situation, then it will be up to you to decide which route to go.

On a side note, and totally off the topic at hand.......are you talking about motorcycle track days? If so, my wife and I used to be Instructors/Coaches with STT until we retired from that back in 2017.

 

[bossman2024]

Yeah motorcycle track days. Heading to Miami in a little over a week

My concern is the underbelly yeah. For the class A it’s easy to locate one down there to keep it nice and warm, but not so easy with a travel trailer. Might just have to stock up on the pink stuff. Hopefully it will use less than the class A which takes about 6 gallons.

 

[triplethreat]

Yeah motorcycle track days. Heading to Miami in a little over a week

My concern is the underbelly yeah. For the class A it’s easy to locate one down there to keep it nice and warm, but not so easy with a travel trailer. Might just have to stock up on the pink stuff. Hopefully it will use less than the class A which takes about 6 gallons.

It should. I've got a triple axle Momentum and mine usually takes about 4 gallons. Make sure that you read the winterizing instruction in the Owner's Manual that should have come with the trailer, Especially if this is the first time winterizing it.....it's pretty specific on how to do it.

Enjoy the trackdays and warm weather. I still miss doing them, but old age finally caught up with me enough to stop/retire from it!

 

[IBEW Sparky]

Yeah motorcycle track days. Heading to Miami in a little over a week

My concern is the underbelly yeah. For the class A it’s easy to locate one down there to keep it nice and warm, but not so easy with a travel trailer. Might just have to stock up on the pink stuff. Hopefully it will use less than the class A which takes about 6 gallons.

I wouldn't chance it, even with blowing out the lines water can still lay in certain areas, the cartridge in the faucets for example can hold water and crack. You should be able to winterize your RV with 2 gallons of antifreeze, 3 gallons at most if your not sure what you're doing. I reclaim about 3/4 of a gallon when I dewinterize and mark it as "used", it gets reused in my traps and waste tanks the next time around. For less than $10 in antifreeze and an hours work I'm not chancing it. Not only does the antifreeze give protection from freezing it provides a lubrication for the O-rings in your water line valves and the seals in your waste tanks

 

[bossman2024]

Yeah I have watched the videos on it because it’s a bit tricky to make sure the water heater properly gets anti freeze. So should be easy enough to do if I have to.

Also didn’t think about the water pump having leftover water in it. Have to find where that is located as if I can find a way to get a heater in the underbelly making sure it gets warmth will be key.

 

[IBEW Sparky]

Yeah I have watched the videos on it because it’s a bit tricky to make sure the water heater properly gets anti freeze. So should be easy enough to do if I have to.

Also didn’t think about the water pump having leftover water in it. Have to find where that is located as if I can find a way to get a heater in the underbelly making sure it gets warmth will be key.

Im not sure which type of water heater you have in your RV but if you have a 6 gallon traditional "tank style" water heater you don't want any antifreeze getting into it if you can help it. I have no knowledge of what procedures you follow to winterize the tankless water heaters.

 

[bossman2024]

The water heater is tankless so it’s easy to winterize with pink stuff in the line. Just blow it out like the rest of the plumbing and run antifreeze through it.

I suspect the instructions to bypass the water heater and not get antifreeze in there is for the older tank water heaters.

 

[Scott'n'Wendy]

I never use the pink stuff. There will be some residual water in the lines but nowhere near enough to cause an issue. I live where -20* to -40 occurs in January, February. It's -19* as I write this. Also need to remember that RV pex is not going to split if there is some ice in it. A hard plastic elbow might, if it is completely full of water, but they are never at low points where water would gather, the pex hangs downfrom them. So if you end up with a few inches of water in a line...it doesn't matter. It can freeze and it won't hurt the pex. Run the pump for a minute while blowing the line to the tank, takes care of the pump
Actually I do put some AF down each drain, about a cup. I also leave taps half open.
You will have no problem if you blow out the lines thoroughly and don't bother heating the belly. By the time you are set up near the track, any small bits of ice will be melted. I have no experience with tankless water heaters though, no idea if they can be blown out with air successfully.
If you go the AF route, bank on 2 gallons each time. But, you could save some as you drain it out? Maybe more effort than its worth.

 

[retired_engineer]

If you have the Furion tankless water heater there is no way to blow all of the water out of its plumbing. That water heater uses a mixing bowl that due to its design will always have some water in it after opening the water heater drains and blowing it out. To ensure it doesn't freeze and crack you need to use antifreeze in order to keep the water in the bowl from freezing. Should the bowl crack Furion will claim freeze damage and won't cover it under warranty based on complaints I've read on other RV forums. The part itself is not available for replacement and the only alternative is a new water heater. I live in the RTP area and went ahead blew out my lines and used antifreeze just to be safe.

Our trailer is in for warranty work so I have not been able to verify this but according to a conversation I had with Lippert the newer models that end in an 'F' or 'FA' have freeze protection. As long as the water heater has 12V and gas it will cycle on and off to prevent freezing. Once I get our trailer back next week I intend to verify the model number with Lippert again and see if it works as stated. My only concern would be how much propane this might use and running out at a critical time.

I can't speak for your trailer. In our 22MLE the water heater is located under the kitchen sink in the same cabinet as the furnace. There appears to be enough heat from inside the trailer to keep the water heater from freezing with overnight temps in 20's. I have not used this trailer during our typical really cold snap where we won't get above freezing for a day or two (to you Northerners really cold is all relative ). In our last trailer when this overlapped with us leaving for warmer climes I would blow out the antifreeze before leaving and flush the lines when we arrived at our destination. This seemed to work well and used less water than flushing the lines with them full of antifreeze.

 

[Keebler]

Not sure why folks despise the pink stuff. Takes me about 30 minutes and 3 gallons; that includes doing the washing machine. Biggest pain is that I need to be on shore power to do the washing machine to cycle it. I store on a remote lot with no power. So, when ever I am taking my last planned trip of the season, I do it before I leave the site. Yes, I have had years where i've winterized more than once in a season.

 

[Scott'n'Wendy]

Not sure why folks despise the pink stuff. Takes me about 30 minutes and 3 gallons;

'Despise' is kinda stronger than I feel...lol
For me the main reason is residual taste. It takes about a month for all the AF 'flavour' to be out of the lines. Second reason is time. Takes me about 10 minutes to winterize, zero minutes to de-winterize. A gallon of AF lasts me four or five years.
Somebody on the forum told me a few months ago that the taste issue I have must be from the type of AF I had used. That may be true but I see no positive reasons to go back to using AF after successfully going the 'air only' route for 25+ years.

 

[Keebler]

I see no positive reasons to go back to using AF after successfully going the 'air only' route for 25+ years.

25 years of winterizing success for someone in Canada says it all. The zero minutes to de-winterize is another excellent point. I may have to give the air method a try. I already use air to blow out my black tank flush anyway, so I have the connector and the compressor.