Water The basics Getting the water in There are basically two ways to get the water into your RV… by connecting a hose to the city water inlet, or by filling your fresh water holding tank. Use a hose that is safe to use for drinking water. If you connect to the city water inlet, always use a pressure regulator. If you fill the fresh water holding tank, make sure the drain valve (if there is one) is closed. If the tank has a vent tube or valve, the tank will fill faster if the vent is opened. If the water chugs, glugs or spits back at you when filling the tank, either the tank does not have a vent, the vent is plugged or the vent is shut off. Turn the water faucet down a bit and let the tank fill at its own slow pace. Using the water City water If you are hooked up to the campground water supply, it’s pretty simple. Just turn on the faucets. At first, the water may sputter a bit due to air inside the lines, so let the water run until all the air has been purged from the lines. Don’t forget to do the hot water faucets as well, especially if you drained the tank after your last outing. Holding tank If you are not hooked up to a fresh water supply, then you will need to use the water from your fresh water holding tank. If you know you are going someplace where you will need to do this, it might be best to prime the water lines (as above) before you leave home. That way, you won’t be using any of the water from the holding tank. Fill the fresh water holding tank to the desired level. Go inside the RV and turn on the water pump. It will run until it thinks the lines have been primed, but there could be some air in the lines as well. Open the faucet that is closest to the water pump until the air has been purged from the lines. (If you didn't prime the lines before leaving home, you may want to prime them now.) Once this is done, the pump should stop running and not run again until you open a faucet. If you hear the pump running when there isn’t a faucet open, you may have a leak somewhere, or the hot water tank pressure relief valve may have opened a bit. Check it out to make sure everything is okay. Remember, your water supply is limited to the amount of water in the holding tank, so make sure you do your best to conserve water whenever possible. When the holding tank is running dry, the pump may speed up, or the flow of water may slow down or stop. Turn off the power to the pump at this point. Speaking of power, the water pump draws its power from the batteries. If you do not have electrical hookups, you will also need to conserve battery power. Turn off the water pump and anything else that will draw power from the batteries when they are not needed. Hot water Unlike the water heater in your house, the one in your RV needs to be handled differently. Before lighting the gas pilot or turning on the electrical portion, MAKE SURE the tank is filled with water! Check that any bypass valves used for winterizing are in the correct position and have allowed the tank to fill with water. If the hot water is too hot or not hot enough, look for the instructions for your water heater that should have come with your RV for how to adjust the water temperature. You may see some water dripping from the hot water tank access panel on the outside of the RV. This is not uncommon and is caused by the pressure relief valve opening slightly to relieve the pressure caused by the expanding water inside the tank. Where does it go? All the water that goes down a drain goes into a holding tank. Flushing the toilet should go into what is called the “black” water tank. All the sinks and shower should drain into what is called the “gray” water tank. RV’s use the same style of plumbing that is used in a home. “P-traps" are used to keep odors from coming back through the pipes from the holding tank. During storage, or extremely hot conditions, the P-traps could dry up and allow odors back into the RV. Use a good air-tight seal on all drains to help keep odors under control. The toilet usually dumps directly into the black tank, so there is no P-trap to keep odors out, but the valve for the toilet usually does a good job of keeping the odors out. During storage, or extremely hot conditions, make sure to keep plenty of water in the toilet bowl to help keep the seal moist and odors out. When winterizing, use the special RV anti-freeze in the P-traps and toilet bowl. In many RV’s, the fresh, gray and black tanks are different sizes. Usually, the fresh water tank is the largest followed by the gray then the black. When this is the case, you may find yourself filling up the gray tank faster than expected. At these times, it would help if you could utilize the black tank for gray (sink) water. One of the easiest ways to do this is by placing a small tub in the sink. When it becomes full enough, carry it to the bathroom and pour it down the toilet. Sooner or later, the gray and black holding tanks will become full and you will need to dump them. The right tank Is the toilet really the only thing that drains into the black tank? Most of the time, yes, but sometimes, no. Sometimes the manufacturers get lazy (or cheap) and drain the shower or bathroom sink into the black tank because it is easier. Some manufacturers will go a step above and have a separate gray tank for the kitchen and one for the bathroom. A simple test can tell you exactly where the water is draining to. You’ll want to be at a campground where you have sewer hookups. You’ll also need one of those clear sewer hose elbows. First dump and rinse the tanks like you normally would and close the drain valves. Next, mix up a gallon of water with something that will add some color to it, like Kool-Aid. Red and green might make good colors for this test. Pour about half a gallon down one drain at a time. Each time, going outside and opening a drain valve to see (here is why you need the clear elbow) which tank it is coming from. If things aren’t draining into the right tank, it’s not that big of a deal. It just means you’ll need to watch your water usage and keep an eye on your tank monitor panel a little more closely. Things NOT to put down the drains Common sense should apply here, but just for a reminder, NO... * Food scraps. Most kitchen sinks have some sort of strainer/plug for them. Use it! * Grease or oil from cooking. And definitely not the automotive kind! * Caustic cleaners or solvents. You probably don’t need these in your RV anyway. * Flammable liquids. * And for the toilet, all of the above plus no feminine hygiene products, paper towels or anything you didn’t eat or drink first. Weight Keep in mind that water weighs roughly 8.25 pounds per gallon. Carrying around all that extra weight could have an effect on how your rig handles. It is probably more critical for travel trailers due to the possible location of all of the tanks and how they could affect tongue weight. Many trailer manufacturers do not keep this in mind when designing the trailer, so it is left up to the buyer. Most trailers that I have seen have their fresh water holding tank relatively close to the kitchen area. Another clue to their location could be where the fresh water tank fill is located. Black tanks are almost always directly under the toilet. And the gray tanks can be almost anywhere. One way to find out for sure is to look underneath the trailer. But if the manufacturer has covered things up underneath, you’ll have to use one of the other methods. So how does tank location affect tongue weight? Simple. If a tank is located forward of the trailer axles, a portion of its weight will end up as tongue weight. This could overload the tow vehicle or cause handling problems from too much weight on the rear axle and not enough weight on the front axle. Tanks located to the rear of the axles will lighten the tongue weight. This could lead to trailer sway. Sanitizing Before using the fresh water tank for the first time in a new RV, and before the first outing of the year, it is recommended that you sanitize the fresh water system. It is a relatively simple process... 1. If you have any in-line water filters built-in to the water lines inside the RV, you will either want to remove them or, hopefully, they have a shut-off valve in the water line before entering the filter. 2. Turn off the water heater and let it cool. 3. Add up the capacity of your entire fresh water system…that includes the holding tank and the water heater. Multiply the result by 0.13 to determine the number of ounces of unscented bleach you will need. For example, say you have a 40 gallon holding tank and a 6 gallon hot water tank for a total of 46 gallons. Multiplied by 0.13 equals 5.98 ounces of bleach needed. (It’s okay to round up a bit, but not too much.) 4. Fill the fresh water holding tank to about 1/3 full. 5. Mix the bleach with water in a one gallon container and pour it into the fresh water holding tank. (This prevents straight bleach from contacting anything.) 6. Fill the fresh water holding tank completely. 7. Turn on the on-board water pump. You do not want to be connected to the city water supply. 8. Turn on one faucet at a time and let the water run until you can smell the bleach solution, then turn it off. Do this for each hot and cold water faucet. Don’t forget the outside shower and the toilet. 9. Turn off the water pump. 10. Top off the fresh water holding tank and let everything sit for at least 4 hours. 11. Drain the hot water tank and put the plug back in. 12. Drain the fresh water holding tank. 13. Fill and drain the fresh water holding tank at least twice to rinse out the bleach solution. 14. Fill the fresh water holding tank again, but don’t drain it this time. 15. Turn the water pump back on. This will cause the hot water tank to fill. 16. Turn on each faucet and let the water run for several minutes to completely flush out the bleach solution. Obviously this is going to use up quite a bit of water! The water that will run through the water lines inside the RV will end up in your gray water holding tank. If you are worried about the amount of water that may end up in your gray water tank, you may want to do this procedure at an RV park or somewhere with sewer hook-ups. Also, since you will be filling and draining your fresh water tank at least 3 times, this would mean a lot of water will be going onto the ground, some of which will smell like bleach. You may want to rig up some sort of hose from the fresh water tank drain to the sewer hook-up. If you're going to head for an RV park so you can use their hook-ups (like on your first trip out each spring), call ahead and ask where the campground's waste water goes, explaining why you are asking. If it goes into a city sewer system, you'll be okay. But if it goes into the campgrounds own septic system, this may not be a good thing for the campground. Too much bleach in a septic system can cause problems and may cause the system to shut down, leaving many of your fellow campers upset. If the waste water goes into a sewer system, do steps 1-10 at home before you leave. That way, as you travel, the water will be sloshing around just a bit in the holding tank, and you will probably be ready for step #11 (draining) when you arrive. There are other ways you could do this at home, if you are connected to a city sewer system. There are special end caps for the sewer drain on the RV that are designed to hook up to a regular water hose. Pick up an inexpensive water pump of some sort (Camping World has one for $35) so you can pump the water into the sewer system at your house. You'll have to get a little creative here with the hoses, pump and fittings, but it should not be too much of a problem. So, what do you do if you found this information too late and have used too much bleach? The information I have found suggests using either 1 quart of white vinegar or 1/2 cup of baking soad for every 15 gallons of water capacity. Use the same process as above for mixing the solution, getting into your fresh water tank and pumping it through the system. Hoses There are many types of hoses on the market, but as far as your RV water hose is concerned, you want to buy one that is safe to use for drinking water. That means that most green garden hoses are out! Hoses that are safe to use for a drinking water supply hose are usually white, or there could be something printed on a label that says it is safe to use for drinking water. There are typically two types of hoses, round and flat. Round hoses are like your typical garden hose…round. One disadvantage to the round hose is it can take up a lot of storage space. Here is one type of flat hose available at Camping World. A product that may help solve the problem of taking up too much storage space is the CordProXL (http://www.cordpro.com/). I haven’t tried this product, but it looks like it could work just fine. Originally designed for household extension cords, the new XL version seems to have many applications for RV use. Here are the round hoses I used to use. A flat hose usually comes on some sort of reel that takes up very little space. One disadvantage of the flat hose is that the hose must be unwound completely to use it. Here (http://www.campingworld.com/browse/products/index.cfm?deptID=&subOf=189&prod ID=1516) is one type of flat hose available at Camping World, and here (http://www.campingworld.com/browse/skus/index.cfm?deptID=&subOf=189&skunum= 6515) is another. The flat hoses are a bit more expensive than the round ones, but if storage space is at a premium, it may be worth the extra money for a flat hose. These are the hoses I use now. I have a 25' and a 50' flat hose plus two 4' hoses. My usual setup is to connect a 4' hose to the campground water faucet, then the water filter, the pressure regulator, then whatever length of hose I need to get to the city water inlet. It's usually the 25' hose, but I have been close enough on occasion to use another 4' hose. If the campground water faucet is close to the rear of the trailer, I obviously won't need 25' of hose to finish the job, but I will have to unreel the entire hose. In that case, I route the hose towards the front of the trailer and loop it back towards the rear underneath where the slide-out overhang is. This way, all of that excess hose is out of the way. I usually need to use the 50' hose to fill the fresh water holding tank. When hooking all of this up, I will turn the water on and let it run through each piece before connecting the next, just to give it a little bath to clean it out a bit. To connect the hose to the RV, I use this type. At a minimum, you should use at least a 90 degree elbow such as this one to reduce stress on the city water inlet connection. NEVER, EVER use your fresh water hose for anything else!!! Remember that the water that goes through that hose will be the water you could be drinking or cooking with. Pressure Regulators Let’s start with a few definitions. Water pressure – a measurement of how much pressure is behind the water pushing it through the pipes. This can be measured by a pressure gauge. Water flow – how much water is coming out of the hose, faucet or shower head. This can be measured by timing how long it takes to fill some sort of container, usually a one gallon bottle or jug. (Flow is usually expressed in terms of “gallons per minute”.) To some extent, the amount of water pressure does determine the water flow, but only up to a certain point. Not enough pressure will result in not much water flow. Too much pressure could damage the water lines inside the RV. Although low water flow can make for an interesting shower, too much water pressure is more of a concern. Most water lines inside an RV are only rated up to 50-60 psi or less. (Check with your RV dealer or manufacturer to find out what yours is rated for.) Every RV’er should be equipped with some sort of water pressure regulator since you never know what the water pressure will be at the campground. There are two basic types. The inexpensive one, and, The better one. The inexpensive one The inexpensive one you can get at almost every RV parts supply and some Wal-mart’s. They cost about $10-$15, and are pre-set at about 40 psi. Although the inexpensive brass type does a good job of restricting the pressure, it also restricts the water flow a bit. Because they are somewhat cheap, they also don’t last as long as the better ones. The better one The better ones are available from most home improvement stores (like Home Depot or Lowes) or any good plumbing supply store. (Wilkins and Watts are a couple brand- names to look for.) This type of pressure regulator is an “entire household” type of pressure regulator and does a good job of restricting the pressure without restricting the flow. They require additional fittings for the specific application. To use this type of regulator, you would need a male hose fitting and a female hose fitting. Total cost with fittings will be $30-$40 depending on where you buy it. Another option for this type of water pressure regulator can be found here (http://www.doityourself.com/store/6764773.htm), ready to hook up to your hoses. Although these types of pressure regulators are often pre-set to 50 psi, I would suggest purchasing a separate pressure gauge ($10) to make sure, and to make adjustments when necessary. Below are some photos of the parts you will need. Prices are from Home Depot. Wilkins Pressure Regulator, $29.88 Watts fittings: PBGH1, $3.94 PB113, $2.49 A-665, $2.96 The final product, total cost $39.27 plus tax. ALWAYS use a pressure regulator, even when at home! You never know what the pressure coming from that faucet might be. For example, I didn't know that the water pressure coming from my outside water faucet at home was 90 psi until I was putting in a sprinkler system for my yard several years ago. Here is a link (http://damouth.home.comcast.net/RVStuff/PressReg.htm)to a similar web page. The interesting thing on this web page is the chart near the bottom that compares the different types of water pressure regulators this person used. It definitely shows that the household type of water pressure regulator has a better flow of water. Now I haven't done as much testing as this person did, but I did do some. I attached my hose to the house water faucet (which I already know has more than enough pressure). I screwed my old brass RV pressure regulator on the other end of the hose, screwed my pressure gauge on next and then screwed it into the city water inlet. With the water turned on, my water pressure gauge showed 40 psi just before entering the city water inlet. At the kitchen sink, I turned the faucet on full and let it run for 1 minute, then shut it off. I used a piece of tape to mark the water line. Then I went back outside and switched the brass RV regulator for the Wilkins regulator and calibrated it for the same 40 psi. Back inside, I drained the sink and repeated the test. This time, the water came to the top of the tape mark I had made previously. That’s a 1” difference in the kitchen sink. I’m sure there would be similar results in the shower, and I’m sure there would be an even greater difference if I bumped the pressure up to 45 or 50 psi, but I was just comparing the flow rate at the same pressure for the two regulators. Filters There are basically two types of water filters, sediment and contaminant. Sediment filters will filter out the little specs of sand, dirt, rust and other similar particles. From what i have seen, these are in the 3-5 micron filtration range. This type of filter usually does not restrict the water flow very much. Contaminant filters will filter out such things as arsenic, bacteria, lead, mercury and other contaminants. These types of filters have a 0.5-1 micron filtration range and may restrict water flow somewhat more than the sediment filters. Depending on the brand, either type of filter may also reduce the smell, taste or amount of any chlorine in the water. Some brands, such as many RV related brands, combine both functions into one filter. Neither type of these filters will purify the water! This would require special treatment, which I won’t get into here, but these types of filters will not make unsafe water safe to drink. At a minimum, I would suggest some sort of sediment filter to catch any dirt or sand that might find its way into your water hoses, or to catch any rust that might be in the water pipes from the campground or its water supplier. The contaminant filter is a bit different. If you use the campground water supply for doing dishes or taking a shower, you probably don’t need a contaminant filter. If you use bottled water for drinking, cooking or brushing your teeth, you probably don’t need a contaminant filter. If you use the campground water supply for drinking, cooking or brushing your teeth, you may want to have a contaminant filter because…you may not know where the water is coming from (of course you can always ask). Some campgrounds get their water from a nearby city or town which is usually treated and safe to drink, while other campgrounds may get their water from a well, a lake or a river nearby and treat the water themselves. Regardless of where the water comes from, things can happen in the treatment process that could allow contaminants to pass through the system and get to your water faucet. (Ever hear on the news where a city or town is urging residents to boil their water because something went wrong?) However, it is more likely that problems will crop up in the water system of a campground that gets its water from a well, lake or river simply because they may not monitor it as well as a bigger city or town would, or something out of the ordinary gets into their water supply. Many of the newer RV's have a separate water spout on the kitchen sink that is connected to an in-line water filter, usually a contaminant filter, to be used for drinking water. If you have one of these water spouts in your RV, check out the filter, if there is one. This could cut down the need for a separate contaminant filter on the outside. If you use a separate sediment filter and a separate contaminant filter, put the sediment filter first in line. As with the water pressure regulators, some RV related water filters will reduce water flow. Check out the whole-household water filter systems available at home improvement stores (like Home Depot or Lowes), a good plumbing supply store or even Sears or Wal-mart. These filters or systems will cost a little less than the RV related brands, they should be easier to find replacement cartridges for while on the road and most will do just as good of a job as the RV related brands if not better. Because you will be attaching these to your water hose, don’t forget to get the extra fittings you will need to hook them up. Now, where do you put the water filter...before or after the pressure regulator? I would suggest putting the filter before the pressure regulator. That way there is more pressure to push the water through the filters and maintain a good flow of water through the rest of the system. I use a short 4' section of hose from the campground water faucet to the filters and straight to the pressure regulator, then I have the rest of the hose to get to the RV. Read the instructions carefully, paying particular attention as to how often you will need to change them and how to store them. (Since most household filters would be constantly “wet”, you may need to store them that way. Make sure you have a way to do this, such as a zip-lock baggie or hose end-cap to seal them off at the connections.) Okay, I'm not a water filter expert. These are just some of the things I have learned about water filters and water systems. Most major water filter manufacturers have websites you can check out to get more information than what might be on their packaging. Do some research on your own and make your own decision on what type of water filter system is best for your needs. Emergency Supply If you live in an area that is prone to natural disasters like tornadoes, hurricanes, floods or earthquakes, you probably have some sort of emergency supply kit with food, water and other emergency supplies you might need. (If you don’t, you should!) What if the campground or RV park you are at has their own mini disaster and the water supply is disrupted for some period of time? Maybe a construction project or accident cuts off the water supply for a day, or mayby there is some contamination problem and people are required to boil the water before using it. What will you use to wash your dishes or flush the toilet? Uh, what about the fresh water holding tank? Got any water in there just in case something happens at the campground? If not, maybe you should. You don’t necessarily have to fill up the fresh water holding tank all the way, but at least put some water in there. I used an empty milk jug to figure out how much water each kitchen sink would hold (about 4 gallons), how much the bathroom sink would hold (about ½ gallon) and how much the toilet bowl would hold (about 1 gallon). So now I can estimate how much water a meal of dishes uses or a flush of the toilet uses. If there was a water shortage or outage of some sort, we could always use paper plates, but there could still be pots and pans to clean. We might end up using 3-4 gallons to wash and rinse. Hand washing, toilet usage and a few other things during a day might use another 3-5 gallons. I’d probably head for the nearest store for some bottled water for drinking and cooking so we could use the holding tank for the other things. All totaled, we could end up using 5-10 gallons of water per day for our family of 4. So I’d probably put about 20 gallons of water in my tank, just for that unexpected emergency. Do your own calculations and see what you come up with. If you’re tight on weight limits (water weighs 8.25 pounds per gallon) and can’t carry the water with you as you travel, fill up the tank when you get there to the desired level and use it the last day you’re there. Quieting the water pump Does your water pump make a lot of noise when you open a faucet? One source of the noise could be how it is mounted or attached to the RV. There should be some rubber between the pump base and the RV. Another source of the noise could be the way the pump is connected to the rest of the internal plumbing. If you’re not a do-it-yourself handy person, take your RV to a service center and ask them to insert some flexible tubing to the water pump on both the inlet and outlet sides (if it isn’t already there). If you are a do-it-yourselfer, what you will need will vary slightly depending on how you want to do this. In my case I didn’t want to cut the existing plumbing lines (in case something went wrong with my little project). Here is my setup and what I did to quiet the noise. The water pump in my trailer is located under the kitchen sink, screwed to the floor. It already had the rubber underneath so nothing was needed there. The supply line from the fresh water holding tank (also right under the kitchen area and below the water pump) is about a 1” white flexible tubing, so nothing needed here. But the outlet side of the water pump was connected to the rigid plumbing, which is where the noise was coming from. With a visit to my local Home Depot, I picked up the parts I would need. I purchased a 20" braided water faucet line and a Watts 1/2" nipple (#A-835). I wrapped both ends of the brass nipple with teflon tape and screwed one end into the faucet line. Since the water pump was going to have to be relocated slightly, I unscrewed the pump from the floor and disconnected the outlet side. Then I wrapped the outlet nipple with some teflon tape and screwed the end of the faucet line without the nipple on it to the water pump, screwed the other end with the nipple to the existing trailer pipe fitting and screwed the pump back onto the floor. If your water pump has rigid pipe/tubing coming from the holding tank, you can do something similar with more flexible tubing and a few different fittings. Below are some photos of this project. BrassCraft braided faucet line, 20" Watts 1/2" nipple (#A-835 The finished project. Winterizing If you live in a climate where the temperatures stay above freezing, then you can skip this section. For the rest of us that live in climates where the temperatures drop below freezing during the winter, this is an important step for the survival of your RV’s water system. The basic goal is remove as much water from the plumbing system as possible. There are some things you should consider doing on your last trip out for the year: 1. Open all faucets, open the low point drains (if equipped) and don’t forget to step on the toilet flusher to get as much water out of the system. 2. Drain all the holding tanks and hot water heater tank. 3. Flush the gray and black tanks thoroughly. Do not use any toilet chemicals. Once you have as much water out of the system as possible, there are two ways you can protect the plumbing from any water that might still be in the lines. You can use an air compressor to blow the water out, or you can fill the water lines with a special RV anti- freeze that is non-toxic. Both methods have advantages and disadvantages. Air A source for the air is needed. Most gas stations have an air hose you could use, if you can get to it with your RV. You could also purchase your own air compressor. I had the small 2 gallon electric compressor shown below (about $90) before buying our trailer. It does a great job of filling up bicycle tires and car tires, but it just isn’t convenient for blowing out the water lines. I used it until I bought the larger 15 gallon tank compressor (about $180). The 2 gallon compressor would need to cycle several times before I felt that most of the water was out of the lines. This would take about an hour. But with the 15 gallon compressor, I turn it on, let if fill up the tank, wheel it to the trailer and let it blow! Now it takes about 15-20 minutes. If you use an air compressor, make sure it is an “oil-less” type. Otherwise you may end up with some funny tasting water that you may not be able to get rid of. A 2 gallon compressor. A 15 gallon compressor. To use air, you will need a special adapter for your city water inlet, like this one. Just screw it into your city water inlet. If you are using a source for the air that does not have an outlet pressure regulator that you can adjust (like at a gas station), this is where one of those cheaper water pressure regulators would come in handy. Screw the adapter into the regulator and then screw the regulator into the city water inlet. You don’t want to be filling up the water lines with air at a higher pressure than what they can handle. If you are using an air compressor, you should be able to adjust the outlet pressure. Set it for 40 psi and you’re ready to go. If you cannot adjust the outlet pressure, get one of the cheaper water pressure regulators and screw the adapter into it and then screw the regulator into the city water inlet. It is possible that using air to blow the water out of the lines may not do as good of a job as you would like. And you may not find this out until spring or the next time you go to use your RV and discover a water leak from a cracked or broken pipe. And there are a few places, like the drains, where you will want to use the RV anti-freeze to protect them. In addition to, or instead of using air, you may want to consider using… RV anti-freeze RV anti-freeze is a special type of anti-freeze. It is not like the kind you put in your car’s radiator, so DO NOT USE automotive anti-freeze for this process!!! Unlike the automotive anti-freeze, RV anti-freeze is safe to drink in small quantities. If some of it were to remain in the lines after you had flushed it out for your next trip, it won’t hurt you. It may not taste real good, but it won’t hurt you. There are three ways to get the RV anti-freeze into the water system. The first method would be to pour the RV anti-freeze into the fresh water holding tank and use the water pump to pump it through the system. One major problem with this technique is that the supply line from the fresh water holding tank may not be in the best spot to pick up the RV anti-freeze that is in the tank. It could take several gallons to accomplish the task. And you will need to do a thorough rinsing of the tank before you use it for fresh water storage. Therefore, I don’t recommend this method. The second method is to use a hand pump specially designed for this task. One end of a hose connected to the hand pump goes into the bottle of RV anti-freeze while the end of another hose attaches to the city water inlet. Then it’s just a matter of pumping the RV anti-freeze into the RV water lines. But if you’re like me (lazy), this sounds like a lot of work. The last method is to install a special kit so you can use the water pump that is already in your RV to suck the RV anti-freeze out of the bottle and into your water lines. Since the RV anti-freeze isn’t cheap (usually $2-$3 a gallon), you don’t want to be filling up your hot water tank with the stuff (and you really don’t need to) if you can avoid it. And you can, by installing a hot water tank bypass kit. Even if you pay a service center to install it for you, the savings from not having to buy the extra 6-10 gallons to fill up the water heater will pay for the installation, eventually. The Procedure Whether you use air or RV anti-freeze, the process is basically the same. If you have a hot water tank bypass installed, make sure the valves are in the correct position. If you don’t have a bypass kit installed, you may want to consider installing one. Otherwise, you will need to fill the hot water tank with anti-freeze to get the anti- freeze through the hot water lines. If you have any in-line water filters, such as under the sink, either remove them or turn off the valve that is usually found in the supply line for the filter before pumping the RV anti-freeze through the lines. (If you are using air to blow out the lines, you won't have to worry about this step.) Go through the RV and open each faucet, one at a time, both hot and cold, for all sinks, showers and the toilet. * If using air, you’re looking for just air to be coming out of the faucet. Once it stops spitting water, you can close the faucet. * If using RV anti-freeze, you’re looking for it to come out of the faucet. That’s why it is usually pink in color (and often referred to as “the pink stuff”). Once you see it, let it continue to run for about 15 seconds to make sure it has completely filled up the line. Don’t forget about any outside plumbing fixtures you might have, like the outside shower. Once the anti-freeze has been run through all the lines, open at least one hot and one cold water faucet to relieve the pressure. Also pour about 1 cup of RV anti-freeze down each drain to help prevent the P-trap from freezing up. Somewhere along the way, pour an extra cup down a sink drain to make sure there is some in the gray water holding tank to keep the valve from freezing. And don’t forget about the toilet! Flush a cup or two down the toilet into the black tank to keep the valve from freezing, and then pour another cup into the bowl to cover up the seal and prevent it from freezing and drying out. If you use the RV anti-freeze, before you take your next trip, you will want to thoroughly flush the water system. You should sanitize the water system each spring, or if you are just taking a mid-winter trip somewhere, you may skip adding the bleach, but do a thorough flush of the system before using the water. Water – The Basics 5 Water – Sanitizing 7 Water – Hoses 11 Water – Pressure Regulators 16 Water – Filters 18 Water – Emergency Supply 19 Water – Quieting the water pump 21 Water – Winterizing 22