winterized properly?

[stargirl96]

I'm a newbie with my Jayco Greyhawk so I have a basic question. I took my Greyhawk to a reputable RV repair shop to be winterized. Later I noticed the only sign of antifreeze was in the toilet. The bathroom and kitchen sink seem to be as they were when I dropped it off--hand soap in the sinks with no sign of antifreeze. I opened one of the lowpoint drains a little and water came out with possibly some antifreeze in it. I thought the fresh water tank was completely emptied in the winterization process. Should I go back to the rv repair shop? They charged me $130.

[bobndot]

...the FW tank has its own drain.

Many of the new units are plumbed so the low point cold also drains the FW tank.
I only know this because mine is a 2018 and noticed that the cold line was plumbed this way.
Many other new units are plumbed the same way. It empties a lot faster, larger hose.


To the OP,

I opened one of the low point drains a little and water came out with possibly some antifreeze in it.

Some water came out because the dealer probably did not use compressed air to blow out the lines before they added the antifreeze. They probably skipped that step and just started adding antifreeze thru the system, allowing it to mix with water which dilutes the antifreeze. That might only be an issue if it gets really cold.
Using compressed air blown thru the system gets rid of most all residual water left in the lines after the low points gravity drain the system. This compressed air step allows the antifreeze to be the most pure undiluted protection.
You actually could drain the antifreeze back out at this point because the system is now protected and will remain so because you evacuated it of all its water, there would nothing to freeze in an empty line.


Be sure to pour some antifreeze or windshield washer fluid down each sink and shower drains. That antifreeze will sit and collect in the J-traps to protect those drains .

The winterizing idea is to protect the toilet valve, plastic faucet valves, water pump and the lines themselves, especially the elbows in those lines where residual water tends to pool (that's where the compressed air helps before adding antifreeze).

Think of your water heater as a 6 gal thermos bottle that has a drain plug on the bottom. When most of its water is gravity drained out, its protected. The small amt of remaining water in the bottom can freeze without it hurting anything. There is now so much room in that empty tank to allow for expansion, for that water to freeze and not break anything inside.

Do you know that both holding tanks for gray and black were actually dumped and cleaned ?? If not, they will freeze and maybe crack the dump valves.


As long as you are physically able and have the time (20-30 mins.)winterizing is really a very simple process and you can view many youtubes that show you how to do it. As said, out of $130, keep $124 in your pocket and you know its done right.

Photomike is closer to the real time it takes at 15 minutes. When I said 20-30 minutes I was including a coffee break . 🙂

[Photomike]

As others have said do it yourself, many units it is a 15 minute procedure and that is taking your time.

If you paid for it give the dealer a call and ask, no harm in that. More than likely it is done right but it is hard to tell after. The low point drain will usually have some moisture in it even after blowing out, should not be a lot, like a table spoon. If you can get to your fresh water tank look at it, there should be only a very little water in it at the most.

[midnightsadie]

dip a tissue in the drain at the sink ,should come back pink. learn to do it, cost about $10.bucks .less than an hour to do.

[Lwiddis]

Downtheroad's advice x2.

[DutchmenSport]

It's time to learn how to do it yourself. It takes about 2 gallons of RV antifreeze at less than $3.00 a gallon to do most RV's. Even you get extra and have room for cushion, 4 gallons is still less than $12.

I wouldn't waste my time taking it back. I'd check it out myself.

Here's a somewhat easy way.

Although you are not hooked up to water and hopefully your fresh water tank is empty, turn on your on board water pump and let it run. It will probably be pushing air, but that's perfectly fine and it does not hurt them to run with no water. Mine have been on for hours at a time with no water before (long story), so running with no water a few minutes will not hurt anything.

After the pump in on, simply go to each faucet and turn on hot and cold. It should spit something! If it spits some pink, you are good. If it spits clear water, it's not been done right. Check each faucet, hot and cold one at a time. It only takes a second to turn the faucet on and off. You want the pump to keep pressure as much as it can so you can try the next faucet.

If nothing spits, I'd be coming back to these forums and asking the question, "how do I winterize" or simply watch a few Youtube.com videos.

Winterizing is so very easy, you really should do it yourself. There are 2 methods: 1) Pump the Pink or 2) Blow with compressed air. or 3) a combination of both.

I pump the pink, and then follow up with blowing the pink out. That puts more down the drain and into the holding tanks. Total time from start to finish and throw away the gallon jugs ... 10 minutes.

Good luck.

[downtheroad]

Good question.
You might be a little confused about the winterization process...
Fresh water tank really has nothing to do with the low point drains...the FW tank has its own drain.

Sinks....you won't see any anti-freeze in the sinks or shower...it will be down in the traps only..
and then....maybe the dealer only blew out the lines with compressed air and didn't pump anti-freeze through the lines at all.

I always advise folks to learn and do their own winterization...It's easy and inexpensive.

Maybe drive over to the dealer and ask them what method they used and exactly what they did.