Texas winterizing? A Newbie

[Kconn23]

Just bought our first RV. A Grand Design Imagine 3250BH Travel Trailer. I normally wouldn't ask this, but after this last winter down here, I'm a bit concerned. Just picked it up less than a week ago. It's sitting out on our property, about 75 minutes from the house. It's uncovered for now.

With winter hitting us soon, do I need to winterize if I'll be staying in the RV EVERY week to 2 weeks?

There is no power or running water out there. It's only powered by generator when we're there, and fresh water tank filled from 55 gallon barrels. Closest town is 25 miles away.

Just concerned.

 

[Second Chance]

You don't say what part of Texas you're in (Amarillo is a LOT different than Mission!), but yes, I would still winterize. The water in the lines and P-traps is what you need to worry about. You can search YouTube for methods for winterizing with an air compressor rather than anti-freeze (though anti-freeze is still needed in the P-traps). An RV cover will not affect whether or not you need to winterize the water system, either.

Rob

 

[TXkmpr]

I'm in central Texas, all i do is open the pressure release valve on the water heater and drain both hot and cold water at the low point drains. Also add anti-freeze to the P-traps and flush the toilet a few times to get water out of the flush valve.

 

[TXkmpr]

Adding to the above while draining the water lines I will leave all the faucets both hot and cold open. I just leave them open till I use the trailer again.

So far no issues.

 

[TXkmpr]

One last thing. The tanks probably have water in them from the dealer testing to make sure everything works. Best to drain them.

 

[Rivercityjeff]

Kconn23 with a small portable compressor you could just blow out the lines. Whether you use anti-freeze or air, don't forget to drain/blow out the spray ports. Farmer's Almanac says this winter Texas "will be bitter cold."

 

[CaptPicardo]

God bless Texas, we're down in Jamaica Beach now and loving it. Never thought that I'd say that being a Colorado boy

 

[4x4dually]

Kconn23 with a small portable compressor you could just blow out the lines. Whether you use anti-freeze or air, don't forget to drain/blow out the spray ports. Farmer's Almanac says this winter Texas "will be bitter cold."

I'm with Jeff. I use air. Set your regulator to 40-50 psi and blow all the lines out until the air comes out dry...and as mentioned, do NOT forget the spray ports. Most on this forum recommend antifreeze from what I've read. The only thing I can think that it helps is keeping all the seals lubed.

 

[txarsoncop]

I'm in central Texas, all i do is open the pressure release valve on the water heater and drain both hot and cold water at the low point drains. Also add anti-freeze to the P-traps and flush the toilet a few times to get water out of the flush valve.

Same here, just NE of San Antonio. All I do (and did during Snowmageddon) is open the low points and open the faucets. Our RV is stored under a carport (open to the weather) and we had no problems. PEX tubing is VERY forgiving of freezes. Zero problems in our RV but my cast iron pressure pump for the house grenaded and they were within 100' of each other. If I was using mine as often as you are I'd just open the low points and faucets and let it ride.

 

[alkbch]

Staying in San Antonio this winter. Considering what happened in February, I’m not taking chances. I have blown the lines with an air compressor and winterized with antifreeze.

 

[Linndoren]

Winterizing

Just bought our first RV. A Grand Design Imagine 3250BH Travel Trailer. I normally wouldn't ask this, but after this last winter down here, I'm a bit concerned. Just picked it up less than a week ago. It's sitting out on our property, about 75 minutes from the house. It's uncovered for now.

With winter hitting us soon, do I need to winterize if I'll be staying in the RV EVERY week to 2 weeks?

There is no power or running water out there. It's only powered by generator when we're there, and fresh water tank filled from 55 gallon barrels. Closest town is 25 miles away.

Just concerned.

I am in Galveston county and during the big freeze, I had only drained from the low points and left the faucets open. My trailer sits at a storage unit uncovered. The damage I had was my plastic shower head cracked where it was screwed into a stainless hose, and my brass water pressure regulator stored in my wet bay also cracked with no water in it. Up to you how much you want to do but I would think much more is needed.

 

[DBKBSA]

We are 30 minutes north of San Antonio. It did not take long to drain the rig and use air to clear out water lines. We add antifreeze to the p-traps and to the toilet to keep the seal from drying out. An ounce of prevention.....

 

[Yonder]

Just do it.

Winterize. I'm in the Hill Country and you can bet there will be at least one cold "snap" in the coming year. You just paid "how much" for your new second home? And you worry about spending 90 minutes and $10 on anti-freeze to protect that investment?
When I blew out the lines this year, after draining at the last campground and later draining again at my storage location, I still blew out a significant amount of water from every outlet, including a thorough soaking from the washer/dryer lines (that we had never used) and the two outside spray lines.

 

[Bob Davis]

We had a 2016 Winnebago Ds2106 the last 5 winters here in the DFW area. We store it in a covered storage unit, but it is not airtight for sure. I never "winterized" it to the extent of adding antifreeze. But I do make sure the Gray and Black tanks are drained and also open the faucets when stored. Never had any freezing issues. Now we have a new 2022 Imagine and we may just do the same since it will be parked in the same storage unit and it is easy to drain all the water at the low point drains underneath. If it was going to be below freezing continuously for more than a few days, which is a very rare occasion here, I would probably drain the hot water heater as well. But to each their own.

 

[Maddgopher]

I live in South MS, (about 70 miles north of the gulf) and all the winterization I have ever done to our last trailer was open low point drains, drain the tanks and open ALL faucets inside the trailer. I haven't had any problems. The issue we face in MS and in TX alike is not the cold but the prolonged cold. If several nights were going to be well below freezing, with daytime highs around 40, I'd take a small space heater and run inside. We don't leave our trailer connected to shore power when not in use. Antifreeze in the pea traps certainly wouldn't hurt though.