Winterizing Observations

A year ago we had the Roadtrek winterized at the dealer service center and we watched and participated as the service technician taught us how to winterize the Roadtrek. The article that I wrote after that, details everything that we were taught and puts winterizing the Roadtrek into step by step instructions that anyone should be able to follow. This year Meryl and I winterized the Roadtrek ourselves.

I printed out my instructions from this site and had that with us the whole time so that we would follow the procedure just as we had been shown. While we were doing this ourselves this year, I took some photos and when we were done I made some observations about the process that I will share with you here.

First - the process that I have uses both compressed air and antifreeze to winterize the Roadtrek. This dual process seems to cause some comment from those who just use compressed air and no antifreeze and those who just use antifreeze and no compressed air. The dual process is just a double protection. Many find that this is not necessary and that one or the other is fine. I would suggest that if you were to choose one over the other, choose using antifreeze alone. AND - if you do not own a compressor, and many do not, don't go out and purchase one just for this. All you need to do is skip the step about blowing out the lines with compressed air and move right to adding the antifreeze into the lines.

We started by draining the fresh water tanks. Our Roadtrek has two fresh water tanks - an interior tank and an exterior tank. Your Roadtrek may only have an exterior tank. Only the 190 and 210 models have two tanks. To drain the tanks we removed the drain cap that is located under the driver's door under the van. Our drain has a simple screw off cap. Some Roadtreks have an actual valve under there to turn. To speed up the draining we turned on the water pump and ran water out of the outside shower faucet. At the same time I wanted to drain as much of the water in the hot water tank that I could before opening that tank to drain it. To do this, we just opened the hot water knob on the outside shower and that will let out most of the water from the hot water tank. When the LED monitor lights inside showed empty for both fresh water tanks we were done. We did let the water continue to drip from the under the van drain the whole time we were working on winterizing. In this way just about every drop would come out.

Observation - when the fresh water tanks are empty the water pump does not shut off. This gave me some concern until I realized what was happening. Just shut off the water pump switch on the wall.

We next dumped the waste tanks - both the black tank and the grey tank. They were not full. There was just over a gallon of water that I keep in the black tank at all times to prevent the tank from drying out and also very little in the grey tank. We have a Roadtrek with the built in macerator and used that, dumping the tanks as normal. Because we have no dump connection at our house, we used a bucket and only filled the bucket so that it was easy to carry and could be emptied right into the toilet in the house.

Because we were running the macerator and the water pump and would be running the water pump throughout the process, I decided to plug the shore power line into our house using a 30 amp to 15 amp adapter. In this way I had unlimited power and did not have to rely upon the coach batteries. The coach batteries would be fine alone.

Draining and dumping all of the tanks took longer than the actual winterizing process. The next step and now, we are into the winterizing steps was to be sure the hot water tank was empty. I removed the cover on the hot water tank that is outside the Roadtrek. The little ring at the top in the middle just turns and the cover comes right off by gently pulling on the ring. Then stand back and open the pressure release valve that is on the top in the middle. Just pull the little metal handle gently up and water will come shooting out. Only do this when there is cold water inside the hot water tank or you will be burned.

 

Once there is no more water coming out take a socket wrench with a 1 1/16" socket and an extender arm because what you must remove is set into the opening and open the nut that you see in the bottom of this photo.This socket size is not easy to find. I was able to get a deep well socket in this size at Lowes. I was later able to find one that was a standard depth socket and the shorter socket works much better as it grabs the hex head much more securely. If you only can get the deep well socket, you may not need the extender arm to reach with the socket wrench. Turn the hex head counter-clockwise and as it comes out, water will come pouring out the hole. What you are doing here is removing the anode rod. Check the rod now to see if it must be replaced. If it has eroded (it is supposed to) down to the diameter of a pencil it should be replaced. Once all of the water has poured out, you can replace the anode rod. Use some Teflon pipe tape on the threads.

Please note at this point that it is impossible to end up with completely dry tanks. There will be a layer of water remaining in all of the tanks but this is NOT A PROBLEM. What you are concerned about when winterizing is that water will freeze and expand in small spaces such as pipes and valves. If it does in those confined and small places the expansion can cause damage. The tanks are large and open. A small amount of water freezing on the bottom of the tanks should not cause any harm.

OK - you are now ready to move inside and continue with the instructions from my first article. Next, we bypassed the hot water tank. My hot water tank is located in the first cabinet under the bed next to the refrigerator. Other model Roadtreks may be different as to locations. Below are two photos of the hot water tank valves placed into BY-PASS POSITIONS:

Front View - See the three valves!

Top Down View

 In ByPass Position the top and bottom valves are turned to the side and the valve on the middle of the connecting pipe is turned to follow the direction of the pipe. This is confusing to many. That one is OPEN while the top and bottom valves are now CLOSED.

Your two fresh water tank Roadtrek should also be in SUMMER MODE which is well explained in this article. This is all that is necessary to put the Roadtrek's hot water tank into ByPass. The simple turn of three valves. Now, what this means is that water or air or anti-freeze will not enter the hot water tank any longer but "bypass" it and go straight through to the faucets and toilet.

NOTE: I HAVE BEEN ADVISED BY ROADTREK THAT USING COMPRESSED AIR TO WINTERIZE THE WATER SYSTEM IN A ROADTREK CAN CAUSE DAMAGE IN MULTIPLE WAYS AND IT SHOULD NOT BE DONE. I AM TAKING THAT ADVICE AND I RECOMMEND THAT YOU SKIP THE COMPRESSED AIR SECTION THAT FOLLOWS AND INSTEAD RUN THE LINES DRY WITH THE WATER PUMP - IN OTHER WORDS RUN THE WATER PUMP AND OPEN AND CLOSE EACH FAUCET AND FLUSH THE TOILET UNTIL NO WATER COMES OUT AND THEN PROCEED WITH PUTTING IN THE ANTI-FREEZE.

SKIP

My Compressor

Now, because I used the compressor to blow out the tanks, I went back outside to do that. I have an old tankless compressor from Sears that, sadly, is no longer available. It is great and easy to pick up and move around. There are many small compressors available IF you want one. I made an attachment to connect my compressor hose quick connect to a water hose inlet. It is comprised of a hose threaded fitting, a fitting to make one end of that smaller to fit a standard compressor quick connect fitting, and a standard quick connect air tool fitting. The plumbing parts came from Home Depot. The compressor quick connect tool fitting came from Harbor Freight for a dollar. After I made this I found this at Camping World.  It does exactly what I made and works the same way. For less than ten dollars it is worth the price to not make your own.

I attached my compressor hose adapter to a regular RV water pressure gauge and then attached that to a four foot fresh water hose just to make it easier to connect to the city water inlet on the outside of the Roadtrek. The other end, as you see in the photo above, is attached to the air compressor hose quick connect.

MAKE SURE THE COMPRESSOR PSI IS SET TO NO HIGHER THAN 40 PSI OR YOU WILL CAUSE DAMAGE TO YOUR ROADTREK.

I set my compressor to 30 PSI. The water pressure gauge that I put on the line was a safeguard as it will not allow more than 40-50 PSI of pressure to pass through to the Roadtrek. Don't turn on the compressor yet. Go inside the Roadtrek and take your shower hose and put it on the floor at the floor drain. Now, go back outside and turn on the air compressor. Come back in right away and follow the instructions to turn each faucet hot and cold and flush the toilet. You will see water shoot out first and then just air. Don't forget the outside shower!

OBSERVATION: It did take awhile for just air and not a mist of air and water to come out as we went from faucet to faucet.

OBSERVATION:  The shower head on the floor will shoot back when you turn the shower faucet on. Have your partner hold it in place. We wound up with water shooting all over the floor.

Once the air blew the remaining water out of the pipes, the faucets, and the toilet flush,

START HERE BUT RUN ALL OF THE WATER OUT OF THE LINES AS INDICATED IN RED ABOVE:

we were ready to start putting anti-freeze into the system. I have the waterline bypass kit installed in my Roadtrek on the supply side of the water pump as I detailed in my winterizing article (linked above). This makes it simple to just remove a brass cap, connect a hose, turn a valve to get antifreeze from the bottle of RV antifreeze into the water pump and pumped into the pipes and system. There is another easy way to do this and that is with a hand pump that is connected outside to the city water inlet. The pump connects to the city water intake and has a hose that goes into the bottle of RV antifreeze. You pump the pump and the antifreeze flows just as if the city water was connected. You do not use the water pump with this method - and the water pump will not get antifreeze in it.  This seems to me to be a drawback of this method. You could also just remove the pipe connection from the supply side of the water pump and connect to that a hose that can be placed into the RV antifreeze bottle. This would then work the same way as the waterline bypass kit. (But I feel that disconnecting and reconnecting the pipes like this each year can lead to potential problems - and the waterline bypass kit is much easier. Besides, while you have the pipe disconnected just install the waterline bypass kit.) The antifreeze is drawn out of the bottle, through the filter before the pump and into the pump and then into the pipes. Open the faucets one at a time and flush the toilet and all will fill with antifreeze. Have a second bottle of antifreeze near by. The bottle empties quickly and will only be sucked in as far down as the hose reaches into the bottle. Just put the almost empty bottle aside to use for the traps and waste tanks.

We followed the procedures that are in my instructions and we got antifreeze into the entire system. It took one and a half gallons of antifreeze up to this step. I did not fill the two traps YET. First, I poured about a half gallon of anti-freeze down the sink into the grey tank and almost a gallon of antifreeze down into the black tank. We went outside and ran the macerator first opening the black handle and then opening the grey handle until we saw pink come from the macerator. It did spurt clear water before it turned to pink, so we saw that there was water still in the macerator or hose.  I could have dumped this back into the black tank down the toilet but decided not to.

OBSERVATION: When I stepped on the toilet flush valve to open the flap to pour antifreeze down into the toilet I saw the antifreeze that was sitting on the toilet line come out and flush down the drain. It occurred to me that perhaps I would have been better off pouring the gallon of antifreeze into the black tank BEFORE I ran the antifreeze into the toilet line. Last year the process was done exactly the same as the process here this year and there were no problems throughout the winter. Frankly, I am not sure if it makes any difference that there is or isn't antifreeze at the toilet supply hole on the top of the toilet fill. I may fill the tank before, as stated here, next year.

OK - lines filled with antifreeze, macerator filled with antifreeze. Now, it was time to pour a cup of antifreeze into each trap. There are two traps. In the 190, the traps are in the kitchen sink and in the floor in the shower drain. In models with the enclosed bathroom, there is the additional trap in the sink in the bathroom. This is simple. Take a measuring cup - you can see mine here on the right with the antifreeze already measured out - and put in one cup of antifreeze. Pour it into the middle of the drain slowly so that it goes down and sits in the trap. Do the same thing in the sink(s).  The pink you see here around the drain is what was left from the shower.

That finished the whole thing. Winterizing complete. After draining the tanks, it took less than an hour. We used three gallons and one cup of antifreeze. I had four gallons standing by. I would have only needed three gallons if I had remembered to hold one more cup out for the second trap. Before you leave your Roadtrek, turn off the battery switch. There is no reason for this to be on all winter. (I always turn the battery switch off when we are not using the Roadtrek.)

With the Roadtrek winterized you can still use it for winter trips. You just have no running water on board. You can carry bottled water and you can use toilet waste bags in the toilet or just flush the toilet with antifreeze. Just DO NOT allow water to go down any drain.

Don't forget that you still need to go into your Roadtrek all winter. You must run the generator under load (in the winter this means connect an electric heater to put the half load needed on the system) for two hours every month to keep it running properly.

Mount Vernon - Home of George Washington, Alexandria, Virginia

We left Williamsburg and headed back north.  We were stopping for the day at Mount Vernon, the home and "farm" of George Washington, located in Alexandria, Virginia. We would not be spending the night in a campground near here and, as a matter of fact, campgrounds in this area are few and far between.

As we headed north on I95, we decided that we would stop for lunch at a fast food restaurant. I had decided to wait until we got almost to the exit that we needed to take to make our way to Mount Vernon before we stopped for lunch. I should have stopped earlier, because as we came up to the last few exits before we needed to head east to Mount Vernon a sudden, severe storm came up. In a heavy rain storm in the Roadtrek you slow down, but keep up with vehicles in front of you to be able to follow their lights when visibility becomes reduced. This is exactly what happened and it was difficult to see what was ahead. As it got worse, we came upon the exit for Mount Vernon and we very cautiously and slowly got off the road. As with every other day of this trip the forecast was - you know it, if you have been reading along in this series of articles - scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms. This was far from a shower. It was a heavy downpour with strong winds. The road that I exited on was a mix of country road and commercial two lane highway. When we saw a safe place to turn off, I did and we just sat in the Roadtrek watching the rain come down pounding on the roof, hoping that it would let us and we could continue along. These storms seem to come and then go in Virginia and almost as sudden as it started it let up. We pulled back onto the road and headed straight for Mount Vernon. There would be no stopping for lunch. I just wanted to get there hoping that the rain would completely stop. And when we arrived, it did.

There is a lot of parking for Mount Vernon. We followed the signs along to what is designated as RV parking and this was in the last parking lot - and then there were only a few spaces that were sized for RVs. Other parking spaces, in this lot and the others is just slightly short for the Roadtrek, so we parked in one of the large RV spots. It happens that car drivers seem to feel that they need to park in these few RV spaces also. When we arrived there was one other RV and a number of cars in RV spaces. The photo on the right is when we were coming back to the Roadtrek at the end of the day and as you can see, this little car had to park in the "big boy's" space.

This was not our first visit to Mount Vernon. We have been there many times, but never before with the Roadtrek. Several years ago, there were some additions built at Mount Vernon and now in addition to Washington's house, the outbuildings, his tomb, and his farm, there is a wonderful education center and also a museum. You can spend a lot of time here and we spent a full afternoon which was not enough time to see everything. We did not go down to the farm which sits along the water of the Potomac River and we did not spend time with someone who works at Mount Vernon who portrays an exceptional Martha Washington who happens to be a friend. We did stop for a few minutes to see her while she was doing her portrayal. Plan to spend a full day. In fact, if this is a first time visit, I recommend two days. You can purchase a ticket good for a full year for just a little more than a single day ticket and you will be able to come back whenever you want. The year the new education center/museum complex opened we spent two full days at Mount Vernon and still did not go to the two locations off the main property - Washington's mill and Washington's distillery.

Let me tell you about what you will see when you go to Mount Vernon. There is no photography allowed inside the house or the museum. Photography is permitted anywhere outside and also in the education center. When you purchase your ticket you will be give a time to get on line to see the mansion. First stop in the Introductory Center to watch the film about George Washington. Then walk out to the house and the property. Arrive at the line before the  time on your ticket. How long a line you will encounter will depend on the time of year and the day of the week. We had very little wait on this Sunday at the end of August. By this time the rain had stopped, though everyone was clutching umbrellas. The line takes you into an outbuilding to the left of the mansion where you will be shown a short video of how the house progressed in its construction from a single story small house to what it is as you see it today. There is a tour guide there who will answer any questions about the house's construction. As the line in front of you progresses into the house, and the presentation in the outbuilding concludes you move along to the door that you see above on the left side of the house. This is where you will enter the house and the first room that you will come into is the formal dining room. The house is restored and decorated exactly as it was when George Washington lived in it. The formal dining room that you enter is also the room that Washington was laid out in when he died.

Washington lived in this house with his wife, Martha, and Martha's two children from her first marriage - Patsy and Jackie. Patsy died of an epileptic attack in Washington's arms here at Mount Vernon. Jackie died of disease at the Battle of Yorktown, but he was married and had children of his own. Two of these children came to live with George and Martha while two others went to live with their mother and other grandparents in Philadelphia. Washington raised Martha's children and grandchildren as his own.

As you exit the dining room you are actually going through a back door outside to the veranda where you will have a short wait to re-enter the house through the river side of the house's main door, shown here in the center of the photo. You are now entering the main hall entrance to the house.Here you will see most of the rooms on the first floor, looking from the hall into the rooms through their open doors. You cannot enter any of these rooms. There are only three rooms in the house that you actually walk through. Ahead to the left is the stairway to the second floor. There will be a tour guide in the hall explaining what you are looking at and answering questions. Before you go "above stairs" be sure to see the large brass key that hangs on the left wall in the hall between the two rooms. This is the key to the Bastille in Paris sent to Washington by Lafayette, following the French Revolution.

When you are ready to move on, you go up the stairs and you will see all of the bedrooms on the second floor. Some were used by guests. Some were used by family. There is a tour guide on the stair landing to talk about what you are seeing. When you walk through the open bedroom ahead on the left you are approaching the most private part of the house - George and Martha's bedchamber. Another tour guide meets on in this narrow hallway. The bedroom door is on the right at the far end of the hall. The furniture that you see is all original and the room is as it was the day that George Washington died. The bed that you see is the bed that Washington died in. He died from a swollen throat that cut off his breathing. There were three doctors in attendance that night. The youngest suggested a new procedure that he had read about - one that today we would call a tracheotomy. The other two physicians thought that idea was barbaric and refused to allow it to be done. The two continued to bleed Washington - and accepted procedure of the time. That young doctor's suggested procedure would have saved Washington's life. When Washington died the clock on the mantel was stopped by Washington's "personal" physician and friend. The clock remains as it was on that night. Martha closed the room and never slept in it again. There are special tours at extra cost that will take you up to the room that Martha moved into after Washington's death. This small, pleasant room is below the cupola in the attic. The room had been open with regular house tours during Christmas. Now that they are offering this special tour with an additional ticket, I am not certain that they are including that room during the Christmas season any longer.

After you have seen Washington's bedchamber, you go back down on a narrow stairway to the first floor. You will walk through a narrow hall to Washington's office. Of course, another tour guide is there to tell you about the room and all of Washington's personal belongings that are in it. This leads you to the end of the house tour and you exit out to a portico that will take you to the kitchen building.

You may now tour the grounds. Look into any of the outbuildings. There are guided walking tours of the property that are included in your ticket with themes like Plantation Life and The Gardens. Once outside the paths become slightly steep. You go down hill to the Farm and half way down you can stop to see Washington's tombs - the original and the one where he and Martha rest now which is a more ceremonial tomb that Washington was moved to several years after he was placed in the "old" family tomb. Every day there are ceremonies held at the tomb and two veterans in the crowd are selected to come up, enter the tomb, and lay a wreath at Washington's feet.

Do not miss the Farm. You can take a shuttle bus down to the river or walk on either of two trails. It is all downhill, so you may want to take the shuttle bus back up when you are ready. At the Farm you will see Washington's round threshing barn and its unique use is demonstrated with running horses several times a day. When you come back up to the level of the mansion, be sure to see all of the outbuildings. There are stables, paid workers housing, indentured servants and slaves housing, 18th Century maintenance buildings, and a manure pit. There is also a building in which you can meet Mrs. Washington (the friend I mentioned above) and she is a delight. She is the perfect Martha and she loves it when children come in to speak with her. She will talk about herself, Mr. Washington, her children, her grandchildren and will answer questions - but keep in mind that she knows nothing about anything that occurred after the 18th Century. She is Mrs. Washington and remains so.

Laundry

Overseer's Quarters

Stables

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a special walking tour being offered now at Mount Vernon. It is not cheap, but if you are a fan of the movie, "National Treasure II", you will be taken to all of the sites that were filmed in the movie including the "secret chamber". Call ahead to find out when this tour is given if you are interested. 

When you finish seeing the property, head back to the Visitor's Center. There is a lot more to see. Start with the Education Center. Here you will learn about Washington's life thorough state of the art interpretation exhibits. You first learn about Washington's boyhood with a brief film shown across the top of a wall in which the young boy grows to a young man as he moves along the wall. You next come into what looks like a scientific laboratory where you will see how a remarkable recreation was made. There are portraits of Washington as an older man. There is a bust of Washington as an older man done by Houdon that is said to be an exact likeness down to size. Scientists have taken that bust and the life and death masks that were made of Washington and created three dimensional figures of what Washington most likely looked like as a young man, when he was General Washington in the Revolutionary War, and when he was inaugurated as the first President. There are no known contemporary images of Washington as a young man. As you walk out of the laboratory you walk into a forest and encounter Washington - young man and surveyor.

Continue through the Education Center and learn about Washington the man. When you get to the Revolutionary War years there is a must see - in fact, we often go into this more than once. But I will keep you guessing for a few moments to share with you Washington, the general.

Across from Washington is a theater with continuous showings. Go in for a very unusual experience. You will see three battles of the Revolution shown to you on two screens but with effects that will shake you in your seat when cannons roar and real snow that falls down on you as you are shown the soldier's winter at Valley Forge. This is terrific.

After the theater, see the exhibit about George Washington, Spy Master and also the artifacts from the Revolution.  As you move along now you will see Washington, the civilian and Washington, the farmer. You will also see Washington's false teeth - and no, they are not made out of wood. They are made from human teeth, rhinoceros teeth, and ivory all fit not very comfortably into a metal frame with springs to open and close them. You move from here to Washington, the President.

At the end of the exhibit area is Washington's death and you will see a replica of his coffin, some actual pieces of the casket, and learn about the funeral. With this you enter a hall out of the Education Center with another theater. This is a brief film in the round that shows Washington's legacy on America.

I should add that if you have children with you, there is a children's exploration room in the Education Center that will let the kids put on 18th Century clothing and experience the life of children in the 18th Century. It is located after the Revolutionary War section.

As you exit the Education Center you come to the Museum. Here you will see Houdon's bust and a cute film about the observations of his granddaughter when it was made. You will also see original Mount Vernon furnishings and furniture up close and items belonging to George and Martha. The Museum also has temporary exhibits that change.

When you have completed the Museum, walk along the long hallway that takes you to the Visitors Center that has two large gift shops and also a food court. If you recall, all the way back at the beginning of this article we arrived without having stopped for lunch. We wound up eating in the food court and paying over $7 each for a basic hamburger. The food court is not inexpensive. A soda was  $3.

Mount Vernon is open 365 days a year. Hours do change according to season and you can check out every detail about visiting Mount Vernon on their website. I highly recommend that you visit Mount Vernon if you are visiting Maryland, Virginia, or Washington, D.C. I have to say that since the Education Center opened it made the visit very much more than just touring a house.

Washington played the Lottery