DE-WINTERIZING AND SANITIZING THE FRESH WATER TANKS

When you are sure the cold weather has past and there will be no more freezing nights (or days), it is time to de-winterize your Roadtrek. We waited until the third week in April. Despite the warm days in the beginning of April - some way beyond normal, there were a few near freezing cold nights mixed in. We we had no reason not to wait, so we waited just to be sure.

The process of de-winterizing the Roadtrek is easy. You are just removing the anti-freeze that you put into the water lines and plumbing when you winterized as the cold weather is setting in. The special RV anti-freeze that you use to winterize is non-toxic, but that does not mean that you want to drink it. You want to remove every bit of that pink stuff from your plumbing.

We were given instructions about what to do from the gentleman at dealer service who taught us how to winterize the Roadtrek. I went online and looked at several videos and read several sets of instructions to see how these compared and they were similar. What we decided to do was combine some of the better sounding ideas into our process. The following is what we did.

DE-WINTERIZING:

1. Keep the Hot Water Tank BYPASS in BYPASS MODE to start.

2. Turn the Interior water tank valve to SUMMER MODE. This is a red handle valve located in the lower cabinet (under the front of the bed area) where the hot water heater and water pump are located. The handle should be parallel with the pipe that it is on when in SUMMER MODE. This allows water to flow from the rear interior tank into the front exterior tank. (THIS IS FOR ROADTREK 190s ONLY). Also turn the small black valve to the left of red handle so that it is in line with the pipe. This is the interior tank transfer valve. See the two valves below:

3. Fill the fresh water tanks with fresh potable (drinking) water using your drinking water hose(s) connected to your house outside hose spigot. If you have a Roadtrek 190, as we do, you have TWO fresh water tanks. One in the front and one in the back. One called the exterior tank (front). The other called the interior tank (rear).

4. With fresh water in the tanks, and still leaving the HOT WATER BYPASS IN BYPASS POSITION, turn on your Battery Disconnect Switch and your Water Pump Switch. (If your batteries are low, connect your Roadtrek to shore power using an exterior outlet at your house or turn on the generator. If you need to connect to 11o volt outside power, make this connection before you start doing anything with water.)

5. Turn on the cold water side of the sink. The water pump will rumble a bit, air will shoot out the faucet, and then water will flow. Pink water will be coming out. Allow this to run until the water is clear. Next turn the sink faucet handle to hot and allow the hot side (which will be cold) to flow with water. Again this will be pink. Allow this to run until you do not see pink and the water is clear. Shut off the sink.

6. Repeat Step Five with the shower. Open the drain plate in the floor, make sure the shower stopper is open and point the shower into the floor drain. Have a partner turn on the cold water handle of the shower. Again, pink will flow until clear water comes out. Do the same with the hot water handle. Shut off.

7. Flush the toilet. Pink will swirl around the bowl and clear water will start to flow.

8. If your Roadtrek is a model with a bathroom sink, repeat Step Five with the bathroom sink.

9. Repeat Step Five with the outside shower.

10. NOW - Turn your HOT WATER BYPASS VALVES so that they all are pointing toward the aisle. There are three valves. As you can just about see in this photo there is one at the top, one in the middle and one at the bottom. Yes the one in the middle is in a different position than the other two (the one on the pipe that goes up and down). It also needs to point to the aisle.

Now some are going to question why we waited until this step to set the hot water heater back into the system from bypass and the reason is this. The hot water heater tank fills with six gallons of water and at the start of this process there is antifreeze in the water pump and the lines leading around and into the hot water heater (if it is not in bypass). Why put that antifreeze into the hot water tank when you need to get it out. So, by leaving the hot water heater in bypass until NOW, you have cleared the antifreeze from those lines before the hot water heater. My next step may surprise some as well.

11. Turn off the WATER PUMP.

12. Take you fresh water hose and connect it to the Roadtrek City Water Intake connection on the outside of the Roadtrek in the rear side compartment. MAKE SURE YOU ATTACH A WATER PRESSURE REGULATOR TO THE HOSE BEFORE ATTACHING IT TO THE ROADTREK.

13. Turn on the water at your house outside faucet and send water through the hose and into the Roadtrek.

14. Go inside the Roadtrek and turn on the cold water faucet in the sink. Water will now flow from the city water line and not through the shut off water pump and will flow through our sink faucet into your sink. This is just to see that the water is connected outside correctly and water is flowing as it should be.

15. Move the sink handle to HOT. DO NOT TURN ON THE HOT WATER HEATER SWITCH THERE IS NO NEED. (We don't want hot water, we just want water flowing through the hot water tank now and into your faucets.) There will be a great burst of air that will come from the faucet. It will take a little while for the six gallon hot water tank to fill and water to start coming out with any force from the sink faucet with the handle on HOT. Be patient. It will come. And remember it will be cold water. Check to see if the water is pink. It may be. There may have been some antifreeze in the bypass pipes. It should very quickly run clear.

16. With the water still running through the city water connection - connected to your house - repeat Step Five above with the toilet, the inside shower, and the outside shower.

17. Shut off the water from your house and disconnect the hose from the city water line. You have finished de-winterizing the Roadtrek. Shut off your battery disconnect switch.

Yes, this is all there is to de-winterizing. BUT your fresh water tanks have been sitting for several months without water in them and mold and bacteria can form in the tanks during this time. What you need to do now is SANITIZE the fresh water tanks. And the procedure for this follows.


SANITIZING THE FRESH WATER TANK(S):

What you will need:

- Chlorine Bleach (Clorox or any equivalent)
- A Funnel (we made one up using a kitchen funnel and attached a piece of vinyl tube to the end that will easily get into the door fills for the fresh water tanks.
- A Measuring Cup

1. Open the driver's door water intake hole and place the end of the funnel into the hole.

2. Measure ONE HALF CUP of Bleach into the cup.

3. Pour the bleach into a gallon bottle and top off with water. Pour the water/bleach slowly into the funnel and down the hole. Do not let this splash on you or allow the end of the funnel to come out of the intake hole in the door. (This is why we made up the funnel with the tube. And because we are both relatively short, I stood on a step stool to make sure I was well above the opening to get the bleach in and straight down.

4. If you have a Roadtrek 190, as we have, repeat STEPS ONE, TWO, AND THREE at the back cargo door water intake. You have now added one half cup of bleach each to each of the two fresh water tanks.

5. Connect your fresh water hose to your house and top off (fill to the top) the two water tanks.

6. Just for a little mixing, I drove the Roadtrek down the driveway stopping quickly every few feet to shake up the water in the tanks and did the same driving back up the driveway. The Roadtrek bounced on its springs a few times and the water mixed in the tanks.

7. Turn on the water pump. Open each facet - sink - hot on, off then cold, inside shower - hot on, off then cold, flush the toilet, outside shower - hot on, off then cold. Allow all but the toilet to run until you smell bleach in the water coming out. It should be a very noticeable odor in the water. NO NEED TO TURN YOUR HOT WATER HEATER ON - WATER FLOWS INTO AND OUT OF THAT TANK ANYWAY. THE HOT WATER WILL JUST BE COLD.

8. LET THE BLEACH SIT IN THE TANKS FOR A FULL FOUR HOURS.

9. After four hours, drain your fresh water tank(s). To do this in my Roadtrek 190 P, we opened the low point drain valve on the front fresh water tank that is located right under the rear corner of the driver's door under the chassis. On our Roadtrek there is a little black cap that is unscrewed off. It looks like the cap to a shampoo bottle. Water will start running out as soon as you loosen the cap. I understand that on some older Roadtreks there is no cap but there is an actual valve to turn. We do one more thing to drain the tanks as the low point drain is slow. We turn on the battery disconnect switch, turn on the water pump, and turn on the outside shower. This will run water with force down onto the ground and empty the tanks. (With the outdoor shower and the tank drain open it took about 15 to 20 minutes to empty the tanks.) IF you decide to use the outside shower, as the water starts to slow down, go inside immediately and TURN OFF THE WATER PUMP. You do not want the water pump to ever run dry. Water will continue to flow out of the low point tank drain and a little will still flow out of the pipes through the outside shower. The water at the tank drain will come down to a drip and then stop. REPLACE THE DRAIN CAP. (You will get wet during Step 9! Also be aware this is water with bleach coming out - if it gets on your clothing it can take the color out so be prepared - and don't get splashed in the eyes!)

Note - with your Roadtrek water tanks set to SUMMER MODE (see above De-Winterizing #2 with photo), the rear fresh water tank flows into the front fresh water tank. You are emptying both tanks at the same time with this Step 9.

10. Check your monitor panel inside (Battery Disconnect ON). Press the TEST button and you should see Fresh 1 and Fresh 2 at the bottom EMPTY LED. (If you have only one tank as some Roadtreks do then you will see Fresh 1 empty.)

11. Fill your tank(s) with clean, drinking water again.

We had a problem at this point. The tanks and pipes were filled with air. We filled the front tank first and when we went to fill the rear tank, we could not get water to go in without immediately rushing back out at us. We tried several things and eventually got the water in the tank - what we tried - partially drained the front tank - opened the faucets to allow air out - moved the Summer Mode handle to Winter mode to isolate the rear tank - poured water in with a funnel. I cannot say what finally got what had to be a huge air bubble to clear, but the tank started filling with the hose in the opening and we got it filled.

11. You are going to repeat Step 7 again, but this time you are smelling for no bleach smell. Let the clean water flow for several minutes at each faucet - hot and cold separately - until you smell NO bleach. If you continue to smell bleach you are going to need to repeat Steps 10 and 11 again. We found the bleach smell to be hardly noticeable after several minutes and then not really noticeable at all. The hot side tended to continue to have the bleach smell longer.

13. Drain the tanks again repeating STEP 9.

14. At this point you are done. We decided to fill the fresh water tanks again in preparation for a trip that we were taking a week later.

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Notice that nowhere did I talk about emptying the grey or black waste tanks. There is antifreeze and water in them. This can be dumped the first time you dump or you might dump them now. If you do dump your waste tanks, pour a gallon of water down the toilet so that the black tank does not sit dry. As we wanted to start out our next trip with empty tanks, we did dump the grey and the black waste tanks using the built in macerator. A great deal of pink came out with the water. This was the antifreeze that we had put into the waste tanks to protect them when we winterized.

How long did this all take - de-winterizing and sanitizing? It took us the better part of three full afternoons. One reason is that this was our first time doing this. Another reason is that there are steps that require waiting. We wanted to start the sanitizing so that we could drain the tanks right at the four hours. (You probably could leave this overnight.) So we did the de-winterizing on day 1, the bleach went into the tanks and those tanks were drained and refilled with fresh water on day 2, and we did Step 10 above and onward on day 3. This will all go much quicker next year. For one thing we have all the steps down (right here). The other thing we encountered is that we are dealing with 60 plus year old outdoor plumbing connections at my house that leak. We spent some time during all this reducing the leaking to a minimum. We also spent time connecting enough white drinking water safe hoses together to reach the 85 feet to our Roadtrek on the driveway from the back of our house where the leaky water spigot is. Of course, each day we stopped those got disconnected, rolled up and put away. The bubble in the rear fresh water tank also took some time to do battle with. Hopefully, that was a one time thing - as it has never happened to us before (though we have never had the Roadtrek completely empty of fresh water before and needed to refill it right then). I do have some ideas about making the filling process of the fresh water tanks easier. I will be working on that and share with you all what I come up with.

Foxwoods Resort Casino, Mashantucket, CT

On our recent up and back Roadtrek trip to Connecticut in one day, we went at night to Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut is near Ledyard, Connecticut. I am not a gambler. I would like to be but it is an extravagance that I really cannot afford. I have been known to drop some nickles in a slot machine or even a few quarters, but slot machines are not what they once were and now are video games that you put five and ten dollar bills into and push buttons to play credits. This takes the psychological factor away of the money actually leaving your fingers as you pull the handle - oh yes, there are no more handles - as you push the button. But I do like the atmosphere of a casino, particularly the tables and pressure and excitement of lots of money being risked, lost, and occasionally won. I get just as much entertainment walking through a casino floor and watching the play, as sitting down and worrying that when I leave, I will not have the payment that needs to be made that month on the Roadtrek. Meryl has never been a gambler. But we do go to casinos.

What I especially like at casinos are the buffet restaurants, and that was what we were doing at Foxwoods on this night. Before I tell you all about the casino, I want to tell you about this casino and your RV - Roadtrek, other Class B, Class C, or Class A - or travel trailer. Foxwoods has a parking lot for RVs - and you are permitted to stay overnight at the Foxwoods RV parking lot in your RV. I was very interested in seeing the RV parking.

We arrived having an idea where the RV parking lot should be as we have been to Foxwoods before and have driven past a lot that seemed to be it. But there are three parking areas at Foxwoods, each connected to the other by a road that runs along the front of the building, and we were not sure which one the RV parking was in. We drove into the middle entrance - three entrances from the road that the casino is located on - and did not see any outdoor lot, just an indoor parking garage. The height clearance in the three garages is not even close - no way the Roadtrek will fit in. We drove along next to the building to the last parking area. This is at the third entrance coming from north to south on Route 2 which is the access road to the casino. The entrance is called on the signs, Rainmaker Parking. The RV parking if you come into the Rainmaker entrance is on the left side about half way to the casino building. There is a large parking lot here for vehicles in general and at the far lower corner is the actual RV parking lot. It is nothing fancy. It is a paved parking lot with large spaces marked out. You are asked to park close to other RVs to allow spaces for others. There are no hookups. No electric, no water, no sewer and no dumping station.

This is what the lot looks like. As you can see there were not many RVs here and it did not change any later that night when we came out. In this lot you are about a five minute walk to the casino building. There is a shuttle bus that seems to run all night to take you to and from the lot to and from the Foxwoods building.

We actually parked in the lot across from the RV lot. It was almost empty. There was a truck camper parked in one of the spaces. I don't think there would have been any objection had we stayed there all night as the Roadtrek took up only one regular parking space - though I parked head in up against a curb with a grass apron and the front hung over the grass and the rear of the Roadtrek could then be completely in the space without sticking out. At the shuttle bus stop there was a large sign that said RVs must be registered with Security and directed you to the security desk in the Foxwoods building. We were not staying all night, and we did not register that we were there. The intent is that the security car that patrols the parking lots will keep an eye on your safety all night. Rather than take the shuttle bus we decided to walk up the path for the not very long walk. When we got to the building we were not seeing where to go in. Later we found that if you turn right at the building and walk to the middle of the side of the parking garage you will see a large entrance there that will take you to stairs that go right up to where the Hard Rock Cafe is inside the building. We did not see this when we arrived and turned left, went around the side of the building and found an entrance - which took us directly into the Poker Room. There was no problem - unless you are coming in with children as there is a sign at the door that says no one under 21 may enter. You will not have this problem at the entrance by the garage. While we are talking about the RV aspects of Foxwoods, I will skip to when we were leaving. It was about 11 pm - perhaps a little later. We walked to the lot and the Roadtrek. The photo above was taken at the end of the night. You can somewhat make out the RV specific lot in the distance with a few RVs still there. You can also see that we only have cars around us. We got into the Roadtrek and I wanted to see what digital television signals would come through the antenna on the Roadtrek and also if there was any wifi service to be found.

I turned on the battery disconnect switch - a miss-named switch that actually connects and turns on the battery power - and then pushed the inverter switch to have 110 volt power in the Roadtrek. Meryl cranked up the antenna while I unsecured the television and got the remote out of the cabinet. I turned on the TV and with the antenna in its start position, I set the TV to scan for channels. After several minutes only two channels were found. We spent about fifteen minutes turning the antenna, scanning for channels, and then repeating the process. With the antenna directed east we picked up 20 digital channels. There was a good assortment of entertainment channels but none of the big three networks. For a one night stay these were good enough, if we come back and want to stay overnight. We closed all of this down, cranked down the antenna - with a small bit of excitement when inside it seemed that the antenna should have been fully down and when I looked outside it was still half up. Oh boy - you can't drive with it up for so many reasons. I went back in and saw that the direction adjustment wheel was not in the correct position to lower the antenna. I cranked up it to full height, turned the arrow to face exactly where it has to be to lower the antenna and cranked it down. I went outside hoping it was down - and it was.

Before we left I wanted to find out about a wifi signal. I have a small tablet that I brought with us and I turned that on. There was no wifi signal to be found. I assumed that since there is a large hotel in the building that there would be a wifi signal that might reach into the parking lot. It does not - then again, I don't know if there is any signal even in the common areas of the building. And I have been in some casinos where even cell phone service was blocked. We did not try the laptop which we did have with us. That has a stronger wifi antenna than the tablet but most likely there would be no wifi found on the laptop either.

While we were inside the Roadtrek doing all of this the shuttle bus passed us maybe ten times making its rounds. There is good as there is someone passing by regularly to see that all is well.

So let me tell you about Foxwoods. The complex is made up of three buildings all connected to each other. At one end is the MGM Grand at Foxwoods - an MGM casino and hotel. This is connected to a middle and the original building of Foxwoods that is called the Grand Pequot Tower. This large complex is connected to the Great Cedar Hotel and Rainmaker Casino. There are more than four casinos including various casino rooms attached to each. There is a non-smoking casino but be aware that there is smoking allowed in many areas of this complex including common areas. The fourth casino is on an upper floor and is for "high rollers".

There are several entertainment venues in the complex. There is a bandstand in the middle of the rainmaker area that is open for all to enjoy and this starts to get rocking at about 9:00 pm or so. There is a theater for concerts. There is a comedy club. On one of the upper floors there is a bowling alley that is open to all. There are many restaurants and restaurant stands. My favorite restaurant here - and the one we came here for - is the Festival Buffet which during the week is $18.95 and on Friday and Saturdays is $19.95. These are all you can eat, all inclusive meals from soup to dessert and includes unlimited soft drink beverages, tea, and coffee. The menu selections change. On Friday and Saturday nights there is an extensive seafood section added with snow crab legs. (No lobster - not for this price up here in lobster country.) There is really a large assortment of things to eat on every night.

There is a game arcade for children complete with a tree house. There is also a little New England street set up with building facades that are actually shops. There is an assortment of nice but very expensive shops. There is a Rolex store here as well. That is across from the diamonds sold at the jewelry shop. There is also an Apple store next to the MGM Grand casino floor. I guess they would like you to transfer your winnings into gifts to bring home.

If you are a gambler, you will find every game you would like to play. I mentioned the poker room and Texas Holdem was being dealt on a room full of tables. There is black jack, roulette, baccarat, and craps - among other table games. There are huge rooms full of slot machines. No one under 21 is allowed in any casino room.

Foxwoods is owned and operated by the Native American tribe, the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe. In the complex there is a small exhibit room about the tribe and their history. On the grounds of the complex there is a separate building that houses a large museum about the tribe. Admission is charged to visit the muesuem. I have not been to it, myself, but I am told by an historian who has been in it that it is quite good. On some return trip - especially now with the Roadtrek and the ability to stay here overnight in it - we will visit the museum and I will tell you if my friend was right.

If you are visiting Connecticut and want a place to stay for the night, you can come to Foxwoods, park in the RV lot, enjoy the complex, eat in one of the restaurants, and stay in your RV all night. I do not know how crowded this gets in the summer. This was the beginning of April. It may be that there is no place to stay - but your Roadtrek will fit in a regular space and if you park as we did, you probably will not have any problem getting a spot to stay in. If you leave the next day and come back again at night, I don't think there would be any objection. They want you inside gambling or spending money - and this is how they enable you in your RV to do that.