Un-winterizing a Scamp

[Wallo]

This is my first year owning a Scamp. I'm going to the Quartzsite Scamp gathering next week. Right now Scamp is winterized and sitting in my driveway. Here in S. Utah, it still gets cold overnight in the 20 - 30's. I would like to fill up my tank with water before I leave. Do I "rinse" the pink antifreeze out before hand? Still being cold in these parts, would there be a concern for freezing before I go? Are there any precautions that should be taken? If it were summer, no problem. The biggest concern is freezing before I go. I can hold off unwinterizing until the night before I leave, but there is a lot to do that night, packing and all. Any suggestions welcome.
Alice

[floyd]

Originally Posted by Wallo

This is my first year owning a Scamp. I'm going to the Quartzsite Scamp gathering next week. Right now Scamp is winterized and sitting in my driveway. Here in S. Utah, it still gets cold overnight in the 20 - 30's. I would like to fill up my tank with water before I leave. Do I "rinse" the pink antifreeze out before hand? Still being cold in these parts, would there be a concern for freezing before I go? Are there any precautions that should be taken? If it were summer, no problem. The biggest concern is freezing before I go. I can hold off unwinterizing until the night before I leave, but there is a lot to do that night, packing and all. Any suggestions welcome.
Alice

We just left N. Illinois with our Eggy-Sue fully winterized,Once we got south of Nashville, we added a gallon of water to the tank, then ran the faucets and the toilet until they ran clear, then filled with water and used the system. On the return home trip , we will empty the system and
rewinterize before reentering the frozen north.

[Wallo]

Originally Posted by floyd

We just left N. Illinois with our Eggy-Sue fully winterized,Once we got south of Nashville, we added a gallon of water to the tank, then ran the faucets and the toilet until they ran clear, then filled with water and used the system. On the return home trip , we will empty the system and
rewinterize before reentering the frozen north.

Thanks Floyd; The weather forcast here says it will be in the 60's during the day, and down to 30 at night for next Tues. and Wen. I'll be leaving after work Thurs. afternoon. I'm going to try to rinse everything out and fill the water tank on Tues. after work. Upon returning, I'll re-winterize it for insurance against those really cold mornings we may get for a while yet.

Hope to meet you at Quartzsite, you have alot of good tips and information!.
Alice

[Radar1]

Originally Posted by floyd

We just left N. Illinois with our Eggy-Sue fully winterized,Once we got south of Nashville, we added a gallon of water to the tank, then ran the faucets and the toilet until they ran clear, then filled with water and used the system. On the return home trip , we will empty the system and
rewinterize before reentering the frozen north.

We just went through that routine last month for a quick trip to FL. I waited til I got to FL to flush the antifreeze and was surprised the state park we stayed at had full hookups to make it easier. Fortunately the temps in GA stayed above freezing long enough when we returned to re-winterize after we got back, and now we're headed to FL again. Hopefully it will remain warm enough after we get back so I don't have to winterize again this winter. See ya in Sebring!

John

[skephart]

Originally Posted by Wallo

This is my first year owning a Scamp. I'm going to the Quartzsite Scamp gathering next week. Right now Scamp is winterized and sitting in my driveway. Here in S. Utah, it still gets cold overnight in the 20 - 30's. I would like to fill up my tank with water before I leave. Do I "rinse" the pink antifreeze out before hand? Still being cold in these parts, would there be a concern for freezing before I go? Are there any precautions that should be taken? If it were summer, no problem. The biggest concern is freezing before I go. I can hold off unwinterizing until the night before I leave, but there is a lot to do that night, packing and all. Any suggestions welcome.
Alice

I pickup our new Scamp in October for a planned trip to California for Thanksgiving. We just moved for So Cal to the Denver area so the idea of winterizing is all new. What we did for our trip, was to keep it winterized and carried water in gallon jugs for drinking and flushing the head. We got about 6 inches of snow in Las Vegas, NM and pulled of at the KOA. Had no problems with freezing and it was a good way to brake in the Scamp.

[Borden]

Our temperatures have been running 0 to -24 c or 32 to -11 f during the day; most days around -14 c or 7 f, nights well below this. Current sunny and is only -6 c or 21 f nice enough for a walk.
They give wind chills at -18 c to -30 c in general. The right clothing is every thing. ( 0 f to -22 f with wind chill )
We hope to do some winter camping will jug our water and unhook sink drain to pail.
The toilet black water tank is above floor grade, thank goodness for forced air and portable toilet drain tank.
Just jealous of your weather.
Keep your propane full and your nights warm

[Donna D.]

Originally Posted by Borden

The toilet black water tank is above floor grade, thank goodness for forced air and portable toilet drain tank.
Keep your propane full and your nights warm

But the valves are outside the trailer, right? Use of "pink stuff" will prevent the valves from freezing (and cracking?) I can't imagine a black tank cracked valve when the trailer is in use YMMV

[Borden]

Had to replace one this year

[Borden]

Will try to figure a way to insulate under trailer for better winter usage in future.

[Carol H]

Alice - why not just fill and rinse out your fresh water tank and then drain it. Stop at a gas station and fill it up once you are close to where you are going. No need to rinse the anti freeze out of the black water or gray tank.

[Donna D.]

I'm with Carol. Leave the antifreeze in the gray and black water tank. When you drain at the conclusion of your camping experience, the antifreeze will be flushed too. One less step to worry about in your prep and the antifreeze may prevent the valves from freezing... if you're going to be camping in cold weather.

[Stoney]

If you have added the pink antifreeze to your freshwater holding tank and pumped it through your lines , pump , and drain , will it completely flush out when you de-winterize come spring just curious , cheers mike

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by mike stone

If you have added the pink antifreeze to your freshwater holding tank and pumped it through your lines , pump , and drain , will it completely flush out when you de-winterize come spring just curious , cheers mike

Mike, yes - if you fill you water tank up to about a third and then run all your taps and pump - yes it will clear it all out. I then fill the freash water tank up again to the top and run the water through again just to be sure it is completely clear.

[Stoney]

Thanx Carol , does anyone add anything after flushing the tank such as products like tankfresh from westchem or tastepure spring fresh from camco/rv or perhaps a litre of vinegar or something and how or where do you dispose of the winter antifreeze , thanx for your input cheers mike

[Carol H]

If the anti freeze was the RV non toxic type you do not need to take it anywhere/or do anything special to dispose of.

I do not normally drink the water out of my water tank but at least once a year and usually in the spring after I have flushed out the anti freeze I normally add no more than a 1/4 cup of bleach to a *full* tank of water and let it sit over night - then run all the taps for a couple of minutes. Then drain the water tank from the freash water tank and the holding tanks and fill the fresh water tank up again and run the taps again using the water pump. Then empty the tanks again - open the fresh water tank drain valve to speed up emptying the tank and dont forget the plug on the hot water tank as well to drain it. Fill the freash water tank again and it should not smell at all.

Others may have better suggestions but the above works for me. :-)

[Wallo]

Thanks to everyone for your suggestions. I ended up rinsing and adding water to my fresh water tank. It only hold 10 gallons. When I got to Quartzsite, I opened up the hot water heater and WHOOSH, 6 gallons were gone. Being my first time dry camping, I under estimated usage and ran out of water the 2nd day. I'll get a 7 gallon tank for my next dry camping outing. If it weren't for the fact that it still gets below freezing here some nights, I'd have rinsed and filled everything before leaving. It won't be a problem in the summer.
Thanks again everyone.