Drain down for winter

[Lanerboy]

Now this may or may not be of interest regards a winter drain down as i am talking about our static caravan but could be usefull for a MH.
We needed to drain our static down for winter as will not be going again now till March, site wanted £75 to drain it down so thought i would do it myself. Disconnected the mains water supply and opened all the taps, some water came out but not loads.
Spoke to maintenance guy and he said they connect a compressor to the pipe and blow through all the excess water. Well i dont have a compressor to hand so had to improvise, so bought a bike inner tube cut in in half and tied a knott in one end. Taped the other end to the kitchen tap then blew up the innertube with my bike pump until i dare not go any more. Then opened the kitchen tap whilst one other tap in bathroom was open and loads of water forced out the lines.
Repeated for all taps and the shower and got over 1 ltr of warer out the pipes that was stuck in there.
So a very cheap way of forcing the water out the pipes just thought i would share incase you need to do proper drain down over winter and want to be sure you have got it all out.

 

[Badknee]

If you have a “wet” central heating system that needs protecting too. We have a caravan and I flushed the system and added an antifreeze and inhibitors to protect down to -17c. Blowing the fresh water system is standard practice and don’t forget to flush the loo and disconnect the shower flexible hose too. ?

 

[Lanerboy]

Yes flushed both toilets then added lots of salt to the water left in the toilet to stop it freezing, some people said put anti freeze in the toilet but i didn't like the idea of flushing that into the water course in March so used lots of dishwasher salt instead.
The central heating system has anti freeze in it so will be fine.
Removed shower hose too

 

[Glandwr]

After replacing two taps I ALWAYS leave taps open. The 12 volts system has to be turned off too to say straining pump if microswitch activated

 

[Kannon Fodda]

Be careful with any compressed air that pressure isn’t too high so you could risk damage to a seal somewhere especially if you forgot to fully open a pipe loop

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[Lanerboy]

Be careful with any compressed air that pressure isn’t too high so you could risk damage to a seal somewhere especially if you forgot to fully open a pipe loop

Yes i agree that is one reason i used the bike innertube as no danger of too much pressure but the sudden surge of air from the inflated innertube once the tap is opened is enough to clear the pipes of any water trapped anywhere

 

[tonyidle]

Yes i agree that is one reason i used the bike innertube as no danger of too much pressure but the sudden surge of air from the inflated innertube once the tap is opened is enough to clear the pipes of any water trapped anywhere

28psi is normal mains water pressure. Plumbing fittings are safe over 200psi for water, 100psi for air. I only know this because I used plumbing kit to pipe my workshop for air.

 

[Euro330]

Now this may or may not be of interest regards a winter drain down as i am talking about our static caravan but could be usefull for a MH.
We needed to drain our static down for winter as will not be going again now till March, site wanted £75 to drain it down so thought i would do it myself. Disconnected the mains water supply and opened all the taps, some water came out but not loads.
Spoke to maintenance guy and he said they connect a compressor to the pipe and blow through all the excess water. Well i dont have a compressor to hand so had to improvise, so bought a bike inner tube cut in in half and tied a knott in one end. Taped the other end to the kitchen tap then blew up the innertube with my bike pump until i dare not go any more. Then opened the kitchen tap whilst one other tap in bathroom was open and loads of water forced out the lines.
Repeated for all taps and the shower and got over 1 ltr of warer out the pipes that was stuck in there.
So a very cheap way of forcing the water out the pipes just thought i would share incase you need to do proper drain down over winter and want to be sure you have got it all out.

Fair play. I like trying to overcome problems myself with a bit of ingenuity. I like that 10/10