Fresh water tank & anti-freeze

[Andre Qc]

Hi,
I have to travel from North to South for approximately 2 months. My Rv (Escape 17 b), is actually winterized. i will have to de-winterize.
During the travel I will not have to use the fresh water tank and will still have to winterized the water system on my way back home.
Do I necessarily have to flush the freshwater tank of his anti-freeze as they mention on the de-winterize process ?
Tanks for answering
Andre Qc

[Raspy]

You'll need to flush it thoroughly only if you plan to drink the water.

[Glenn Baglo]

I've never put RV anti-freeze in the fresh water tank. I simply drain it. There is plenty of room for expansion.
I pump RV anti-freeze through the lines via the city water inlet, using a hand pump.

[Raspy]

Glenn,

That is a good method, but it doesn't protect the suction line, the toilet valve or the pump. Then, you still have to pour some into the sink and shower traps.

I don't like RV antifreeze, but if used it seems best to put some in the fresh tank, isolate and drain the WH, and run the pump long enough to flush the toilet. Then get some into the gray tank and traps by running it through the faucets and the outside shower. The tanks should remain mostly, or completely empty to simplify the whole process and require less antifreeze.

On one of my trailers, I had no fresh water pump and just hooked up a compressor each winter to the city connection. After blowing all the water out of the system, and draining the tanks, I added some antifreeze to the traps. This method only failed when I forgot to blow out the outside shower.

[Andre Qc]

If the anti-freeze stay in the fresh water tank during 2 months of summertime, will it contaminate the water circuit when I will have to winterized it in pumping the old anti-freeze in the water circuit ?

[Glenn Baglo]

Originally Posted by Raspy

Glenn,

That is a good method, but it doesn't protect the suction line, the toilet valve or the pump. Then, you still have to pour some into the sink and shower traps.

I know. I do all that, but the question was about the fresh water tank.

[Glenn Baglo]

Originally Posted by Andre Qc

If the anti-freeze stay in the fresh water tank during 2 months of summertime, will it contaminate the water circuit when I will have to winterized it in pumping the old anti-freeze in the water circuit ?

I wouldn't leave RV anti-freeze in the system when it is not needed ( ie. summer ).

If you have your Escape manual, there are instructions in it. If not, you can download it from the Escape Trailer Industries site.

[k0wtz]

As Raspy said it works fine it but don't drink the water. We bring our own 1 gal jugs of water for drinking...

bob

[Andre Qc]

Originally Posted by k0wtz

As Raspy said it works fine it but don't drink the water. We bring our own 1 gal jugs of water for drinking...

bob

Why can’t I drink the water if it comes only from city water fill not from the fresh water tank ? If the water pump is not activated the anti-freeze remains in the fresh water tank ?
This is the reason of my question !

[k0wtz]

If you put that stuff in and you want to drink the water you are going to have to do a lot of flushing.

I really don't like drinking water from sources I don't know about! thus we bring our own jugs of water from the house!

up to you

bob

Originally Posted by Andre Qc

Why can’t I drink the water if it comes only from city water fill not from the fresh water tank ? If the water pump is not activated the anti-freeze remains in the fresh water tank ?
This is the reason of my question !

[Glenn Baglo]

Originally Posted by Andre Qc

Why can’t I drink the water if it comes only from city water fill not from the fresh water tank ? If the water pump is not activated the anti-freeze remains in the fresh water tank ?
This is the reason of my question !

You can drink the water from the city inlet and leave the fresh water tank with anti-freeze in it if you wish.

[Rzrbrn]

You said you won't be using the water out of the tank if I am reading this correctly. If so just keep it winterized and take bottled water from your tap or buy it. When you do winterize using the pink RV antifreeze put it in the fresh water tank and run it through as noted in a number of posts above. When you eventually dewinterize you will have to get serious about flushing out the pink stuff, do the best you can. Even so, you may get a slight taste of the antifreeze, but it won't hurt you. We only drink from the main tank when we have to, but do use it to clean dishes and shower, and drink home water or bottled water. I put a porthole in the fresh water tank of our Casita so I could reach in and clean it. This worked well. Do spend a lot of time fretting over this pink Rv stuff.

[Bing M.]

I have a valve near the fresh water tank that is similar to the HW bypass. when opened to a tube by the fresh water tank the line to the tank is closed.
it is then a simple matter of putting a tube connected to the valve into a gallon jug of antifreeze and turning on the pump. Usually can pump the system full with less than a gallon. In the spring I pump some fresh water through the system before filling the fresh water tank and turning the valve back to the fresh water tank. Be sure to position the valve between the pump and fresh water tank when installing.

[Adirondack Anthony]

Originally Posted by Rzrbrn

You said you won't be using the water out of the tank if I am reading this correctly. If so just keep it winterized and take bottled water from your tap or buy it. When you do winterize using the pink RV antifreeze put it in the fresh water tank and run it through as noted in a number of posts above. When you eventually dewinterize you will have to get serious about flushing out the pink stuff, do the best you can. Even so, you may get a slight taste of the antifreeze, but it won't hurt you. We only drink from the main tank when we have to, but do use it to clean dishes and shower, and drink home water or bottled water. I put a porthole in the fresh water tank of our Casita so I could reach in and clean it. This worked well. Do spend a lot of time fretting over this pink Rv stuff.

I'm with this. I also put a boating deckport on the top of my freshwater tank. When I winterize late fall, I put in 2 gallons of antifreeze and run it through every fitting, just a bit into hot water tank after draining. I then flush tank and, with car wash sponge, reach into tank to get out what remains. I'm in northern NY, not far from the poster. Last April we were coming home and had to winterize in Ohio. Drain the hot water tank and fresh tank (easy), add 2 gallons antifreeze , and run through each fitting. Took 15 minutes. Leave the fresh water tank drain open for the rest of your trip home and all will be gone.

[Jann Todd]

Originally Posted by Andre Qc

Hi,
I have to travel from North to South for approximately 2 months. My Rv (Escape 17 b), is actually winterized. i will have to de-winterize.
During the travel I will not have to use the fresh water tank and will still have to winterized the water system on my way back home.
Do I necessarily have to flush the freshwater tank of his anti-freeze as they mention on the de-winterize process ?
Tanks for answering
Andre Qc

If they put the anti-freeze into the tank which is not a good idea you will need to really flush out the tank several times since you cannot drain all the water out of the tanks usually. I would never put anti-freeze into the tank. You can bypass the fresh water tank by taking off the line at the pump and using a short piece of hose with the proper connection to connect to the pump putting the other end into the gallon of anti-freeze jug and turn on the pump. Bypass the hot water tank also. Then in the spring when you want to de-winterize all you have to do is flush out the lines using the city hookup and some water in the tank to flush out the pump.

[Andre Qc]

Originally Posted by Jann Todd

If they put the anti-freeze into the tank which is not a good idea you will need to really flush out the tank several times since you cannot drain all the water out of the tanks usually. I would never put anti-freeze into the tank. You can bypass the fresh water tank by taking off the line at the pump and using a short piece of hose with the proper connection to connect to the pump putting the other end into the gallon of anti-freeze jug and turn on the pump. Bypass the hot water tank also. Then in the spring when you want to de-winterize all you have to do is flush out the lines using the city hookup and some water in the tank to flush out the pump.

I think it is the best way of winterization and it will be the one I will use next time.

Tanks to all who have furnished comments. I appreciate!

Andre Qc

[novasquid]

Originally Posted by Adirondack Anthony

I'm with this. I also put a boating deckport on the top of my freshwater tank.

i've been wanting to do something similar but never knew it was possible. what size hole did you add? was this hard to do? i assume a simple hole saw will easily cut through the plastic fresh water tank? did you have to seal the port with caulking or a rubber gasket to prevent water leaking out?

[Adirondack Anthony]

I bought the deck port from a West Marine store, was pretty cheap, I think less than $10. I cut the hole with a jab saw, one of those tools used by sheetrock guys/gals. So, all done by hand, no hole saws. Did it in place I caulked it in before screwing it, have not noticed any leakage but it would not happen unless the tank was at capacity, which is usually right after pulling into a campground. I travel with half a tank.

What I like best about is that I can stick a hose through the deckplate now and actually fill my 25 gallon tank. Before, the tank only seemed to fill to 3/4 or so. Also, the bit about being able to stick your hand inside to wash it out/sterilize etc. is nice. BTW, it was a 5" deckport

[Lynn Eberhardt]

If you're afraid of ever drinking any of the pink stuff, you could winterize with cheap vodka - but it probably wouldn't taste any better.

[Rzrbrn]

I agree with Lynn, although I put a porthole in my Casita fresh water tank, it was really necessary. I have sold the Casita and now own a Big Foot and have no intention of installing a hole in the tank. I am not fond of the taste and try to get out as much as possible but still use it. I do use bleach now and again.