Winterizing Procedure - Shower

Well, the idea of "low point drains" sounds nice, but I just had my first casualty...

I always drain the trailer at low point drains. Usually I leave them open from where I camp last, to let the trailer rattle the water out of all the horizontal parts. I didn't do this last time, it's been sitting (level) in my drive way, and that's where I drained the water before it got cold last time.

The shower facet broke - there's a tube that runs between the hot and cold valves and forms a "T", with the other end going to the shower hose. That "T" piece broke. I'm guessing there was just enough water left in this horizontal pipe to not drain fully.

Fortunately this is a very easy repair, with plenty of room to do it, at least in my 2619. Cost was about $20 for a new facet at Camping World.

But that makes me think the winterizing procedure I've been using is inadequate. So I think I'm going to start blowing out the lines with air (maybe 40 PSI?). It'll give me an excuse to buy a bigger air compressor someday.

I just thought I'd post my rambling post in the event that someone else might be considering winterizing procedures for these TMs.

Joel, I use this to blow out my lines: http://www.campingworld.com/search/i...pc=1&x=32&y=10

But I do not use a compressor. After seeing the oily residue that comes out of the condensate drain of my compressor, I just use a plain old bicycle pump.....I just don't want to contaminate my lines. It doesn't take much pressure to blow out the lines.

[Bill]

Joel -

That happened to my outside shower when I was new to TM'ing, and I'm sorry it happened to you. As you have discovered, opening the four low point drains is necessary, but not sufficient, to fully drain the system. It is also necessary to open all of the faucets in the TM, including the ones in both sinks and the indoor and outdoor showers. Were you able to do this? If you did, the shower faucet should have drained backwards into the bathroom plumbing at floor level, and out the low point drains under the TM. In my TM, at least, the pipes leading to the faucet assembly come directly up to the faucet from the floor level. Did yours have some kind of loop that would prevent draining?

It is also a good idea to remove the shower heads from both hoses, shake the water out of them, and drain both hoses. And turn the water pump on for two or three seconds.

I'm not sure that blowing out the pipes is necessary, but it certainly can't hurt.

Bill

[4Kids2Dogs]

Same thing just happened to us! Question is: How do you get the old faucet out of the shower? We removed the handles but there is no way to get the plastic front off of the spigot that leads up to the shower hose--what am I missing here? DH is about to drimmel the whole thing off. Is there another way?

Bill,

I thought I had things covered. My winterizing procedure has always been:

- Remove kitchen sprayer, bathroom shower head, and outside shower head and store
- Open all four low point drains
- Open all facets, both hot and cold
- Give a little "blast" with the water pump
- Poor pink stuff down every drain and into the toilet

The only difference between what I did here and what I normally do is that I omitted a final step: driving home. I'm suspecting that a level trailer may not drain as well as one that is bouncing around on the way home. I would have thought gravity would have drained that tube in the shower, even when stationary, but maybe I'm not quite as perfectly level as I think I am...

As for the suggestion from another to use a bicycle pump to avoid the oil, that's a good idea - I didn't think of oil from the compressor, but I do know I would rather not drink it!

For 4Kids2Dogs (wow, that's a lot of life inside a TM), if you are talking about the hose that connects to the shower facet (out the back of the facet), it just unscrews, at least in mine. Don't use a dremel on it, it will need to be replaced, as the hose ends both are the same (the end that goes to the facet is identical to the end that goes to the shower head). I couldn't get it off when it was installed in the shower, but when I took the facet out of the shower, I could get it, although it took more force than I expected. If you are talking the entire facet assembly, there are two water pipes that screw onto the bottom of it and two plastic "nuts" that hold it on the shower. You can get to all of that from the access panel on the outside of the TM, if you have a TM like mine (2619).

As mentioned best bet is to remove both shower heads. Then extend the shower hoses as straight and high as you can and you can simply blow into it with your mouth and that will empty water from the fixtures. Also just in case you are interested. Even driving several hundred miles with the water tank drain open, you will still end up with about 1/2" to 3/4" of water remaining in the water tank. See my post from several months ago in adding a marine clean-out port to the water tank to address this.

[4Kids2Dogs]

Thanks for the info-- we are not trying to get the hose out, but trying to get inside the entire faucet assembly to fix the leak at the "T" between the hot and cold water pipes. DH looked, but we do not have an exterior access panel. That's probably corrected on the newer units. DH just wanted to remove the cover over the plumbing for the faucet so he could access the leaking area. We live in the boonies in Southeast Colorado and are not close to any RV store to get a replacement faucet assembly, so we have to just fix the leak so we can leave in a couple days cross state to camp. So, after removing the hot and cold handles, DH did "dremel" out the back of the hole in the top part of the plastic face covering the faucet plumbing to remove it from the top pipe that the hose affixes to. This revealed the problem area, which he then sealed with Loctite. After testing it, he put the face back on the faucet, reattached the handles, and will caulk the whole thing in place. Whew. Hope it works! You're right, we do have lot of life in our TM!!! Need a working bathroom, for sure. This winter we will winterize carefully.

Here in Central Illinois I still use a couple of gallons of RV antifreeze after our last trip of the year, "just in case". I pour 3/4 of it into the empty-as-can-be water tank and then run some through all the faucets. The little I have left I split between the two sink drains, shower drain and head. I try to do this at our last campsite then drive home with all low points open and all faucets left open. Five years in sub freezing temperatures with no problem so I look at the cost of the pink stuff as cheap insurance. - Camp2Canoe

[Bill]

Being a belt-and-suspenders guy myself, I find no problem with this approach. It is easy and cheap, and all winter long you have peace of mind.

What you don't need is a complex water-heater bypass kit. TM has made things easy for us. Gravity draining with all faucets open WILL take care of the water heater, and if there is some pink stuff, that's fine too.

Bill