Winterizing Water Tanks

[Clip18]

I apologize. I think I asked this first in the wrong forum. Pasting again here. I’m following the Oliver Winterization video step by step. All pretty straightforward. I’m at the step of pumping antifreeze into the fresh water tank. I’ve drained it as fully as I can, but it isn’t clear whether or not I should close the drain valve before putting in the antifreeze. Maybe a silly question; I just wasn’t sure. 

[jd1923]

2 hours ago, Clip18 said:

I apologize. I think I asked this first in the wrong forum. Pasting again here. I’m following the Oliver Winterization video step by step. All pretty straightforward. I’m at the step of pumping antifreeze into the fresh water tank. I’ve drained it as fully as I can, but it isn’t clear whether or not I should close the drain valve before putting in the antifreeze. Maybe a silly question; I just wasn’t sure. 

Others will chime in who use RV antifreeze. I don't as I prefer to blow the lines dry enough with compressed air at 40 PSI. I have a thread on doing that (search for "antifreeze" if interested).

If you use antifreeze, you certainly do not need it in the freshwater tank. You would really have to rinse it several times start of next season to get rid of it. A little water in the bottom of the tank will freeze, and with several cubic feet of air space above it for expansion, there's no physical problem. Water expansion when freezing only affects plumbing full of water between the turns and joints. When plumbing freezes with trace amounts of water within it will not damage the pipes and certainly not tanks.

To answer your question directly: If adding antifreeze to the freshwater tank you would want to see a little pink liquid leak out of the drain, to be sure it made its way into the drain plumbing, and then close it.

Edited September 22 by jd1923
Added last paragraph

[topgun2]

Leave the fresh tank drain valve open.

There is no need to put anti-freeze in the fresh tank.  However, if you do get some in there either on purpose or in error make sure that you rinse that tank VERY well before using it again.  The anti-freeze itself is not harmful to humans but I sure would not want to drink any of it.😝

Bill

[Mike and Carol]

Where do you live?  Will you have hard freezes?  I agree with no antifreeze in the fresh tank if you’ve drained it or mostly drained it.  Mike

[jd1923]

On 9/22/2024 at 3:42 PM, topgun2 said:

Leave the fresh tank drain valve open.

Do you mean while in storage? (or if using antifreeze, just to get some in the drain plumbing and valve) We want NO bugs camping in the FWT!

[topgun2]

1 minute ago, jd1923 said:

Do you mean while in storage? (or if using antifreeze, just to get some in the drain plumbing and valve) We want NO bugs camping in the FWT!

Oliver recommends leaving the fresh water tank drain open while in storage.

I do not follow that advice given that my Ollie is stored over the winter in a non-paved storage lot.  I close the drain valve after I've made sure that the tank is as empty as I can get it.

I do not use nor would I recommend using antifreeze in the fresh water tank while the Ollie is in storage (or any other time for that matter).  Assuming that RV antifreeze would be used by anyone, this should not cause "problems" in that even if that antifreeze were to be ingested it would not harm you.  But, there is really no need to have antifreeze in the fresh tank given that there is the "overflow" tube plus the overall size of the tank that would be able to handle any "expansion" of the water due to freezing.  Therefore, why waste the money putting antifreeze in that tank in the first place? 

When I winterize my Ollie I do not empty either the black or the grey tanks after I've winterized the plumbing - of course I've emptied all three tanks and the water heater prior to starting the winterization process.  This means that there will be a small amount of antifreeze left in both the grey and black tanks over the winter due to small amount that I pour into each of the sinks and the shower drain.  I also pour about two cups of antifreeze into the toilet (and then I cover the rim of the toilet with plastic wrap to help prevent evaporation) in order to help keep the toilet seal from drying out.  I've also used the water heater by-pass valve in order to close off the water heater so that antifreeze doesn't get in that that tank.

Bill

[Patriot]

We park our Oliver at our home under cover in a steel building. I choose to leave the fresh water tank valve open so that IF there is any water or moisture in the tank around or in the valve it does not freeze with the valve in the closed position. A freeze would cause the with water in the valve it to expand, and possibly crack can and fail. We don’t get really long extended hard freezes where we live in Western NC, so it’s not a huge deal. This has worked fine for the last 4 years. As far as any residual RV antifreeze in the fresh water tank or system, a good system flush is what I do after de-winterizing. We do not drink water from our fresh tank. As far as the toilet seal, add a little Vaseline to the seal in the toilet and it will be fine. Please post up your Olivers year and Hull #. It will make it much easier to help you with future questions.

Welcome and Happy Travels!

[MobileJoy]

On 9/22/2024 at 6:42 PM, topgun2 said:

There is no need to put anti-freeze in the fresh tank.  However, if you do get some in there either on purpose or in error make sure that you rinse that tank VERY well before using it again.

Oliver's winterization video shows hand-pumping (four strokes) antifreeze into the fresh water line (LEII). How does one avoid putting this antifreeze into the fresh water tank?

Because of this, I ultimately flush the fresh water tank at least 3 times before filling it.

15 hours ago, Patriot said:

I choose to leave the fresh water tank valve open so that IF there is any water or moisture in the tank around or in the valve it does not freeze with the valve in the closed position. A freeze would cause the with water in the valve it to expand, and possibly crack can and fail.

Thanks for this tip. I will do this from now on.

 

[topgun2]

18 minutes ago, MobileJoy said:

Oliver's winterization video shows hand-pumping (four strokes) antifreeze into the fresh water line (LEII). How does one avoid putting this antifreeze into the fresh water tank?

Yes - this is done in order to make sure that the "back flow prevention valve" is protected from freezing.  However, my comments were meant to indicate that one does not have to "fill" the tank with antifreeze.  As you imply - this "protection" of the valve will place a small amount of antifreeze in the fresh water tank.  Of course this is easily removed by doing the simple fresh tank sanitizing prior to the next usage of the Oliver.

Bill