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[eo19]

I am new to the forum and previously asked advice on when I should de-winterize my 2000 coleman-utah that we recently purchased. I have never had to winterize any camper before. How do you do it? And is it difficult? Just curious because a local dealer told me it would be $75 to de-winterize. Thanks for the help.

[OC Campers]

Welcome to PUT Eric.  I am sorry but I am unable to answer your question since we don't have to winterize our campers here in California.  Enjoy your Utah, it is a great camper.

Jacqui

[wavery]

I'm a Californian also. I found this thread. It might be helpful for you to read through it. Seems like there are more than one method of winterizing:

http://www.arveeclub.com/showthread.php?t=56601&highlight=winterizing

[dthurk]

I would think many winterize their own campers.  Your procedure would depend on what you have in your camper.  There should be a winterization procedure in your manual, that might work as a starting point.  There may be more information there than you need, just weed out the extra stuff.  The link to the thread that wavery put up should help, too.  There are many different ways to do it, but it's generally not hard.  It may take a few hours, but in the end there are better ways of spending $75 than giving it to your dealer to winterize for you.

[kampinguru]

That would depend on whether or not you use or have a water system.  The pink RV antifreeze is used for the water system in your pop-up.  This does not taste the best but will not hurt you either.  It is used to protect the water heater(if equiped) and the water hoses from freezing.  You need to flush the system and the holding tank to get as much of this out as possible.  As I do not use the water system in my trailer, I do not worry about this at all.  The only other thing I do is remove anything that can freeze, remove all bedding and put about a dozen bounce fabric sheets spread around the trailer.  I park it in an unheated garage and bring it out in the spring.  If you park it ouside, gravel and concrete are best, but if you have to park on grass, put some wood under the tires to keep them out of the mud.  
Put everything back in and good to go.  The bounce sheets are there to make the trailer smell better when I open it up.  Don't forget to check the tire pressure.  If you

[dee106]

de-winterizing,(pop-ups and hybrids) is easy, all you need is a sewer, blue tank, or something else that can hold a lot of water! and water hose, you have to open all your water lines, if you have a hot water heater you have to flush it out , if it wasn't by passed, their is a knob on the front of the heater, open it,  but first hook up your hose to the water fill, then let the water run, in under the camper you will find two water lines under the heater, open and let the water run out, when the pink stop flowing, it safe, then you open the  lines under the sink, (or hook up grey water hose to blue tank, if you don't have a holding tank,)  turn on the faucet inside , and let it flow until the pink is gone.  if you have a clean water holding tank you, have to open the valve under the camper and let the pink stuff out, then fill the water tank up a couple of times and flush it.

[tlhdoc]

Winterizing and de-winterizing the trailer are both very simple to do and don't take much time.  
 
To de-winterize the trailer you need to remove any antifreeze from the water lines and put the water heater (if you have one) back in the water system.  If you have a water heater it should have been bypassed, so that no antifreeze enters the water heater.  You would have to use 6 gallons of antifreeze for a 6 gallon water heater (more if a bigger water heater) and the antifreeze is not good for the water heater.  You also need to sanitize the water system, so it is easiest to them at the same time.  Here is how you do it.  First drain as much of the antifreeze out of the water system as you can.  Open any valves in the water line and if there is antifreeze in the tank drain as much of the antifreeze out of the tank that you can.  If you have antifreeze in the fresh water tank keep adding  fresh water while draining all of the antifreeze that is in the tank.  Next you want to pump fresh water through all of your water lines to flush the antifreeze out of the water lines.  If you don't have antifreeze in the tank then you can just connect a hose to the city water inlet and flush the antifreeze that way.  After the antifreeze has been flushed from the water system you need to sanitize the system.  If you have a water heater you will need to reconnect it to the water system.  You will have either a permanent or a temporary bypass attached to the water lines by the water heater.  If it is a permanent bypass you will have one or two handles attached to the water heater along with a hose running between the handles.  Your water lines will attach to the fittings with the handles.  You will need to turn the handle(s) so that water flowing through the water lines goes into the water heater.  If you have a temporary bypass attached to the water lines, you will need to remove the bypass (a short hose that a fitting on each end that attaches to the water lines) and attach the water lines to the water heater.  Once the water heater is back in the water system you will need to mix 1/4 cup of regular bleach with one gallon of water.  Pour the bleach water into the water tank and then fill the water tank.  Once the tank is filled pump bleach water through all of the faucets (fill the water heater with the bleach water).  Let is sit with the bleach water in the lines for at least an hour and then flush the lines with fresh water.  Some people like to rinse with a vinegar solution to get the bleach taste of the the water system.  I have found that if you don't let the bleach water to sit more than an hour or tow you will not have a strong bleach taste in the water.  Some people also like to do a second fresh water rinse.  I hope this helps.  If I have confused you let me know.