Newbie w/winterizing questions

[rancocasrich]

Folks, My wife and I just bought our first mobile home as a vacation retreat. We are in Iowa and it gets pretty cold. Friends say we have to drain all the pipes for the winter which only lets us use MH from about March to November. I think I should be able to winterize well enough to be able to use our mobile home in the winter. Can I protect the pump, holding tank and lines in freezing weather? If yes, how? As a new guy to this science, I appreciate any help. (we have heat and A/C, new electric service, propane hot water) Thanks.

[Greg]

Hi & welcome to the family. Winterization is a tough question answer because "on paper" as long as you have heat working you really don't have to winterize, the key here is WORKING heat. Since you won't be there you will not know for sure if it is working or not. If you do leave the water on and it freezes & bursts then you will have MAJOR problems. If you feel lucky at the very least shut the main valve off. the pump & tank can be heat taped & insulated to prevent freezing and RV antifreeze poured into the traps to keep them from freezing.
I'm sure others will add their thoughts as well. Greg

[Yanita]

Hi,

Again welcome to the site!

Congrats on your purchase.

Make sure that your skirting and underbelly are tight. No hanging down belly material, insulation in place and that your skirting is secure.

Hope we can assist you in the future.

Yanita

Forgot to say, don't forget to flush your toilet/s and sponge out any remaining water. Pour 2 or 3 cups of RV antifreeze into the bowl and tank.

[mp183]

I'm using a wet vac to get the water out of the toilet.
I reverse the hose and use it as a blower to push the water
out of the sink and tub traps and fill those with antifreeze.
I have a shallow well pump and water expansion tank under the trailer. There is a valve by the pump to hookup a hose to it.
I ran a short piece of hose from that valve.
I open the various faucets and open the valve by the water pump.
Most of the water drains out. After most of the water drains out
I attach the wet vac to that hose and turn it on.
I close all the faucet valves and open them one at a time for about 30 seconds. This way there is maximum suction to pull out any water that might be in the lines.
Oh I forgot, the hot water heater gets drained first.
I use the wet vac on that also to get out the last of the hot water.
The trailer has an insulated permanent foundation.
There is an additional insulated enclosure around the pump and expansion tank. A heating duct runs through the enclosure for
the pump and the previous guy punched a hole in it so warm
air is always coming into the enclosure when the heat is on.
I also put in a ceramic heating element on an in-line thermostat
that is set to 42 degrees. The element is of the type that screws
into a light socket and is used to heat reptile tanks.
I intend to keep the heat on at about 50 degrees.
If the France fails the heating element will kick in an keep the
pump and tank from freezing.
It's impossible to drain all the water from the pump and the expansion tank, which is on its side.
But I hope that the power stays on.
Even if it does not it will take quite a while for the tank and pump to freeze. Since the tank is mostly drained and it has a diaphragm
it should not burst. The pump looks pretty sturdy and I hope
it holds. Crossing my fingers. Gets to 30 below zero quite often.
Oh yeah, make yourself a checkoff list so you don't forget anything.
Now did I put that antifreeze into the tub drain?