Andy, having just purchased a 5th wheel let me tell you what is involved in winterizing that and most other conventional trailers.
Basic result of the steps below is that you fill the water lines with anti freeze instead of water.
First thing you must do is BYPASS the hot water heater (isolate it from the rest of the piping system) otherwise you would need 6/10 or even 12 gals of antifreeze just to fill the hot water heater. Once it is isolated you have to drain the water out. This is done by removing the anode from the tank and letting the water splash all over your feet. You probably need a special socket to get the anode out - I brough one when I replace the anode on my TM which is a yearly maintainance item.
Then you have to introduce antifreeze at the suction of the pump. Most higher end units have a special connection in their hook up section (outside) to allow you to attach a small length of hose and put the end in a gallon jug of antifreeze. Low end units require you to disconnect the piping at the entrance to the pump and use tygon tubing to suck antifreeze out of the jug. The pump is normally tightly squeezed under the sink or some other out of the way place.
Then you turn on the pump and one at a time open the fawcets until you have anti freeze come out. You must bleed the water out of all the lines including the ones to the outside shower, to the washer and dryer hook ups (even if you don't have a washer and dryer hooked up!)
you then need to pour antifreeze down all of the drains to ensure the water seal has antifreeze in it and you have some in each of the holding tanks.
You also want to fully drain your fresh water tank. Some units have drain lines off the tank, others require you to pump all the water out one of the fawcets using the pump until the tank is empty.
First time I do it I am going to allow myself 2 hours but will probably get the procedure down to 1 hours with practice.
Hopefully this provides the comparison you were looking for.
Bill
|