Winterizing new Unity with compressed air

[Peter Tourin]

I always winterized my ʻ12 MB with compressed air to blow out the feed lines and antifreeze for the drains. We stored it in an unheated warehouse in Vermont for 4 months. The only time I had a problem was when I forgot about the macerator pump and cracked a small bypass fitting.

Now we have a 2020 RL. We now store the RV near San Francisco for the winter - a much less harsh winter environment than VT but there will be some below-freezing weather. Iʻm planning to winterize as I always have done - does anybody know any gotchas or things that are different in the newer rigs that I should hear about? I believe I understand how to bypass and drain the Truma.

 

[cbaarch]

Did you see this video for winterizing? it includes the Truma water heater.

Winterizing Truma AquaGo | Leisure Travel Vans Help Centre

Learn how to properly winterize your Truma AquaGo Comfort Plus water heater

help.leisurevans.com

 

[Peter Tourin]

Thanks - yes Iʻve seen it - ran into it about 15 minutes ago <g>...
Itʻs a great video in general and very useful to me, as Iʻm putting together a winterization checklist for the new RL.

 

[borabora]

There are a handful of places in the Bay Area where you'd have to worry about the occasional nighttime hard freeze but they are far and few between. Here in Santa Cruz it never froze last winter and the inside of my Sprinter never dropped below 40.
It's of course good to be careful but maybe use a min/max thermometer inside your RV to record this winter's minimum temps and determine if you need to winterize in the future.

 

[avanti]

There are a handful of places in the Bay Area where you'd have to worry about the occasional nighttime hard freeze but they are far and few between. Here in Santa Cruz it never froze last winter and the inside of my Sprinter never dropped below 40.
It's of course good to be careful but maybe use a min/max thermometer inside your RV to record this winter's minimum temps and determine if you need to winterize in the future.

One year's temperature statistics tell you approximately nothing about next year's temperatures. The variance of temperature lows is very high. There are precious few places in the US where freezing temperatures are not possible.

Also, I'm not sure what a "hard freeze" is, but don't assume that you need extremely cold temperatures to risk damage. The danger point is just below 32F. After that, ice contracts like any other solid. You just need barely freezing temperatures for a long-enough period to fully chill your van.

 

[paintrain]

I'd like to ask the community an opinion...

I'm here in Longmont, CO. Our temps dipped drastically overnight and it's snowing. I didn't get to officially winterizing my vehicle in time.

I visually verified a bit of frozen water thru the water pump 'window' as well as the poly water tank itself. The 20gal tank has what could be ~3gal of frozen water. The tank shows zero expansion as the water likely expanded 'up' as it froze.

I did not turn on the water system on at all - pump, water heater, etc.

I considered turning on the Webasto and heating the cabin up, but I think it's futile to do so as there's likely drain tubing and tubing close to outer skin of van that wouldn't thaw anyway.

I've reserved myself to just let it sit as is - don't f*ck with it.

While I've since reached out to our outfitter and asked for the rig to be winterized, my nervous side is wringing my hands wondering what damage could have occurred thus far. It is what it is, but hoping the outfitter will slowly bring the van up to temp (far above freezing) in their shop and perform the service.

I'd love to use being on crutches as an excuse, but it's just plain 'ol poor planning/prioritization/awareness.

Hard lessons learned have value, but not my favorite. Sadness.

Thanks y'allz.

 

[avanti]

I'd like to ask the community an opinion...

I'm here in Longmont, CO. Our temps dipped drastically overnight and it's snowing. I didn't get to officially winterizing my vehicle in time.

I visually verified a bit of frozen water thru the water pump 'window' as well as the poly water tank itself. The 20gal tank has what could be ~3gal of frozen water. The tank shows zero expansion as the water likely expanded 'up' as it froze.

I did not turn on the water system on at all - pump, water heater, etc.

I considered turning on the Webasto and heating the cabin up, but I think it's futile to do so as there's likely drain tubing and tubing close to outer skin of van that wouldn't thaw anyway.

I've reserved myself to just let it sit as is - don't f*ck with it.

If I were you, I would definitely turn on the heat (or use a small plug-in "cube" heater). Your tanks are very unlikely to be damaged by freezing, as is the PeX piping. The biggest risk is to fragile mechanisms such as the pump, shower heads, toilet, etc, and heating would benefit them.

I would also pour antifreeze into any drain that will accept it. You definitely want some in the traps and if you could get some down into the sewer pipes (which are not PeX), that would be good, too. If you have a macerator, I would turn it on briefly to see if you can get some antifreeze into it.

Oh, and open any doors that might let heat into areas with plumbing.

 

[mikeme]

since the ice is already there, damage likely to happen has happened.

at this point, I would wait until the van is in the warm shop, and ask them to perform a leak check on the system.

this would be a good time to fix or at least order parts if required.

would not want to put more liquids into what could be cracked components that could leak inside the structure.

 

[avanti]

since the ice is already there, damage likely to happen has happened.
at this point, I would wait until the van is in the warm shop, and ask them to perform a leak check on the system.
this would be a good time to fix or at least order parts if required.
would not want to put more liquids into what could be cracked components that could leak inside the structure.

Disagree. The various parts of the system do not reach freezing at the same time, and the presence of ice does not prove damage. There may also be freeze/thaw cycles. Getting antifreeze in the traps and drains may well prevent additional damage. I don't see the downside. if there is ice, there will be water to leak anyway. RV antifreeze isn't that much worse than water if there is a leak.

 

[mikeme]

....RV antifreeze isn't that much worse than water if there is a leak.

This depends on the RV antifreeze used. it took us a while to get rid of the smell of antifreeze when we first purchased Our RV.

The specific coach is not an LTV. (20 gallon tank, webasto....)

I think the point here is to get this taken care of as soon as possible.