Oh No! Snow!

The weather has been so nice since we were Ready to Flush! last month. There were two nights that touched freezing for an hour or so, but that was not enough time to damage a warm trailer. Especially with the installation of the battery disconnect switch, @sowewentdad wasn’t too worried about damage to the trailer for the previous, brief freezes.

However, now the wonderful weather of Colorado is throwing 7 inches of snow at us. While the temperatures are now expected to be at or just below freezing, the trailer is going to be at that temperature for 48 hours or so. Especially when predictions earlier in the week had temperatures reaching the mid-20’s, action was needed to protect the travel trailer.

So after a late day at the office, @sowewentdad loaded up the air compressor*, generator**, and tools to drain and blow out the fresh water systems before the Friday storm. Freezing weather always seems to come when I have to work at the storage lot at night instead of the day.

While I don’t think it will be cold enough for long enough to freeze the hot water heater, I wanted to be on the safe side. I went ahead and pulled the plug and drained the heater. This is a fast-moving storm and predictions have changed significantly over the last several days, so @sowewentdad didn’t want to take any chances.

While working on flushing the trailer freshwater system, I connected the generator to the trailer to charge the batteries. In reality, the batteries didn’t need a charge even though it has almost been two weeks since their last charge. This is due to the new battery disconnect switch @sowewentdad installed last month. This new battery disconnect switch has been wonderful and was also why the previous two freezes were less of a concern.

Using @sowewentdad‘s “Draining the Fresh Water System” procedure, I was able to drain and blow out the freshwater system in about 30 minutes at the storage lot. Draining the freshwater system is straight forward and provides some insurance against the impeding freezing weather. Using a procedure helps make sure I perform all of the work in the proper order; especially when I am in the storage lot in the middle of the night trying to go fast.

My “Draining the Fresh Water” procedure guides me through these steps:

• Drain the Hot Water Heater (Make sure it is cold first)
• Bypass the Hot Water Heater
• Using gravity, open the low point drain and all the trailer faucets for an initial drain (this is a more important step when adding antifreeze to the system)
• Then use the air compressor at 25 psi (no higher) to drive the water out of freshwater system.
• Finally, drain the freshwater tank

I didn’t drain the black and grey water tanks. They still have the RV antifreeze in them from the winter, plus water from dewinterizing last month. I don’t expect these tanks to freeze in this weather.

The u-pipes in the grey water sinks and shower still have water in them. I am banking that there is enough room for the water to expand without damaging the drainpipes. For a full winterization I would have run RV antifreeze down the drains to protect this u-pipes.

Also, I didn’t add any RV antifreeze to the system. Driving out the remaining water with the air compressor will remove most of the water. The remaining water in the freshwater system will have room to expand as it freezes.

To help keep the black tank smell down, @sowewentdad filled the toilette bowl with water to about 1/3 full. This will seal the black tank from the trailer living area until it is needed in the near future. Once again, there should be enough water that it will not freeze at these temperatures.

With the freshwater system blown out, the crazy Colorado weather can go all over the place without risking damage to the trailer. Did you do anything to prepare your trailer for this late season snowstorm?

@sowewentdad

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* – So We Went to the RV Show Blog owns a Briggs & Stratton 3 Gallon Air Compressor, the Campbell Hausfeld 3 Gallon Air Compressor is similar although that we have not used it.

** – So We Went to the RV Show Blog owns an older version of the Ryobi 1800/2300 Generator.