Winterizing

I have one of those small compressors that you use to keep bike/cars tires inflated. There isn't anyway to regulate the air pressure. Has anyone used one of these to blow out their water system?  

Spend the $10 for 2-gallons of the pink stuff and in 30-minutes or less, you'll be done winterizing.   You won't have to wonder if you blew-out all the water or not either.

I've got a question for the group   ...

So I installed the little "L" valve at the input side of the water pump a while back. Works fine. A few days ago I hooked up an air compressor to the city water input and blew out the lines - - that worked fine.

Tonight and the next 3-4 nights are supposed to be in the teens so I decided to pull some antifreeze into the plumbing. I took off the brass cap on the "L" valve assembly, hooked up the metal cap with clear hose and dipped it into a bottle of RV antifreeze. Turned on the pump and 6-8 seconds later the gallon bottle was sucked dry. So   ...I repeated that process - - 4 times. Yeah, that's right    ...I ran sucked 4 gallons of antifreeze into the plumbing of my 177. All of the bypass valves were set correctly and none of the antifreeze went into the hot water tank. It would have leaked right out anyway (and I would have seen it) because I have the anode pulled and the hot water tank drained.

My question is    ...where did all that 4 gallons of antifreeze go and why, when I ran the pump again, don't I see any pink stuff coming out of the cold water side of the sink ? Seems like even if I added some water and diluted the antifreeze a little it would still have some color.

Anyway    ...in a couple days, once the artic express blows through Laramie, I am thinking about putting some water into one of the empty antifreeze bottles, hooking up the feed hose and running the pump again, just to see if the system "pressurizes" and I see pink stuff coming out of the cold water side at the sink or in the bathroom when I turn on the faucet. I am just amazed that the "plumbing" of the 177 has a 4 gallon capacity. Oh yeah    ...and I got on my knees and checked for leaks or anything running out of any visible hoses/tanks/low point drains on the underside.

Thanks in advance   ...

'Slogger

I have the same type plumbing provided by the factory.  I drained the first jug in a few seconds, and almost right away I had anti freeze coming out the sink faucet (hot and cold).  I shut them and opened the bathroom sink faucets and in a few seconds had pink flowing from them.  Last I opened the flush valve on the toilet and waited until pink came from that.  I had about an inch left in the second gallon.  I blew it oot first so the faucets ran pink as soon as anything came out.  I don't know where all the anti-freeze went in your pod.  I ran a bit down each trap including the shower trap to protect each of them, and still had a few ounces of the two gallons I bought left.

Originally posted by Keith-N-Dar I have the same type plumbing provided by the factory.  I drained the first jug in a few seconds, and almost right away I had anti freeze coming out the sink faucet (hot and cold).  I shut them and opened the bathroom sink faucets and in a few seconds had pink flowing from them.  Last I opened the flush valve on the toilet and waited until pink came from that.  I had about an inch left in the second gallon.  I blew it oot first so the faucets ran pink as soon as anything came out.  I don't know where all the anti-freeze went in your pod.  I ran a bit down each trap including the shower trap to protect each of them, and still had a few ounces of the two gallons I bought left.

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Just curious     ...how did you manage to get antifreeze to run out of your HOT water faucets ? Did you pull antifreeze into your hot water heater ? Seems like that's the only way there would be active flow on the hot water side of the house.

Thanks,

'Slogger