# Winterizing 26rs In Alaska



## ALASKA PFLOCK (Jun 24, 2007)

This is our first year owning our 2005 Outback 26RS and we need info on how to winterize on our own. Is there anything that we should do different since we live in Alaska? Not that the northern tier and North east/west states don't get cold and snow. We do have the bypass on the water heater. Do you leave off the hot water heater plug all winter? I have read on other posts that it is possible to pump the RV antifreeze directly into the system using the water pump. Where is the water pump? Should we cover our TT our worry about how much snow builds up on top of our TT. Any and all info is welcome, reguardless of where you live in the USA. Thanks, yes we allready have snow on the mountains surrounding the Mat-Su valley in Alaska.


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## johnp (Mar 15, 2004)

Your water pump is behind the blank panel under the fridge. You can buy a winterizing kit to put on the input side of the pump to draw the antifreeze right from the bottle. Don't forget to do the outside shower and pour some down the drains to protect the traps.I shut off the breaker to the electric side of the water heater just in case it gets turned on when its empty remove the drain plug and leave the plug in about one turn and turn the bypass valve. I have never had to worry about the roof but I also don't live in Alaska.

Good Luck

John


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## muddy tires (Jun 22, 2007)

johnp2000 said:


> Your water pump is behind the blank panel under the fridge. You can buy a winterizing kit to put on the input side of the pump to draw the antifreeze right from the bottle. Don't forget to do the outside shower and pour some down the drains to protect the traps.I shut off the breaker to the electric side of the water heater just in case it gets turned on when its empty remove the drain plug and leave the plug in about one turn and turn the bypass valve. I have never had to worry about the roof but I also don't live in Alaska.
> 
> Good Luck
> 
> John


I do the same but pull the battery out and store inside rather than shutting the breaker. I store my trailer just west of Toronto Ontario. It got some snow on it last year but I didn't worry about it and it wintered just fine. Good luck.


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## mik0445 (Jun 5, 2006)

I just moved from AK, so I've made it through the winters without ours getting damaged. The guys at Simmons in Anchorage recommend that you blow all of the lines out with air. They say that about -20 rv antifreeze turns slushy, so the worry is that any lower it would freeze. Now for what I did. First drain all of the water, fresh tank, as well as your low point drains. The low point drains come out kind of slow, so I had someone inside the TT turn the water pump on to speed things up...just make sure you turn it off quickly after it runs out of water. I winterized without blowing out the lines, I just pumped the antifreeze through all of the lines, making sure that what came through was good and pink and the antifreeze wasn't going through the hot water heater. After doing all of the lines open your low point drains again and let pink flow through them as well. As far as the roof goes, did not remove any snow from the roof until it started melting this spring. If you park the tt on soft ground put long boards under the tires. It'll keep the tires from sinking during breakup. Also, another I figured out, is put a much larger platform under the tongue jack than normal, in case you have to move the tt with snow on the ground. By Feb or so there will be enough pack in front of the tt to raise your tv by 6-12 inches, making it a sob to hookup and move. Have fun and good luck, any more questions pm me. Also, make sure you remove your batteries completely and either put them in your garage or crawl space to keep them warm.


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## Peckster2 (Sep 10, 2007)

ALASKA PFLOCK said:


> This is our first year owning our 2005 Outback 26RS and we need info on how to winterize on our own. Is there anything that we should do different since we live in Alaska? Not that the northern tier and North east/west states don't get cold and snow. We do have the bypass on the water heater. Do you leave off the hot water heater plug all winter? I have read on other posts that it is possible to pump the RV antifreeze directly into the system using the water pump. Where is the water pump? Should we cover our TT our worry about how much snow builds up on top of our TT. Any and all info is welcome, reguardless of where you live in the USA. Thanks, yes we allready have snow on the mountains surrounding the Mat-Su valley in Alaska.


Hi,
I was wondering about the roof question myself as,though we are currently in Wrangell, we'll be in Ketchikan all winter at the Settler's Cove State Park. I was worried about leaving the trailer outside in the snow/rain. But everybody seems to be reporting it's ok to do that as long as the water is out of it. We have a 23KRS. Interestingly, I called Keystone and they could not give me any info on the roof's ability to handle snow. I did talk to a guy who lives in his 5th wheel (not an outback) all year in Ketchikan & he noted that the heat in the trailer tended to melt the snow on the roof. But since you won't be in it that won't be the case. He did say that if that starts, the melt can turn to ice if it gets real cold. I was thinking that if alot of dry snow built up maybe get up there w/a broom to lightly brush it off before it hardens.

I did have a small pop up when I lived in Reno and parked it too close to the side of the house roof. Some snow fell off the house and landed on snow already accumulated on the plastic sun roof. The weight put a dent in the sun roof but once the snow was gone & the sun hit it and it got warm it popped right back into shape.

My biggest concern here is actually condensation since being in a rainforest it is so damp! I think we'll try & leave a dehumidfier in the trailer and keep the air moving. Up there where you are it will probably be alot drier. 
Dave


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## ALASKA PFLOCK (Jun 24, 2007)

mik0445 said:


> I just moved from AK, so I've made it through the winters without ours getting damaged. The guys at Simmons in Anchorage recommend that you blow all of the lines out with air. They say that about -20 rv antifreeze turns slushy, so the worry is that any lower it would freeze. Now for what I did. First drain all of the water, fresh tank, as well as your low point drains. The low point drains come out kind of slow, so I had someone inside the TT turn the water pump on to speed things up...just make sure you turn it off quickly after it runs out of water. I winterized without blowing out the lines, I just pumped the antifreeze through all of the lines, making sure that what came through was good and pink and the antifreeze wasn't going through the hot water heater. After doing all of the lines open your low point drains again and let pink flow through them as well. As far as the roof goes, did not remove any snow from the roof until it started melting this spring. If you park the tt on soft ground put long boards under the tires. It'll keep the tires from sinking during breakup. Also, another I figured out, is put a much larger platform under the tongue jack than normal, in case you have to move the tt with snow on the ground. By Feb or so there will be enough pack in front of the tt to raise your tv by 6-12 inches, making it a sob to hookup and move. Have fun and good luck, any more questions pm me. Also, make sure you remove your batteries completely and either put them in your garage or crawl space to keep them warm.


Thank you for your input and guidance. We don't have a means to blow out our lines, but we will do our best to drain out the lines before it gets too cold. Since Simmons RV is in Anchorage and we are in Palmer it is not convenient so we will be attempting to figure it our for ourselves. The person we bought it from lived in Kenai and he always did his own winterizing and covered it with a tarp. We de-winterrized after we purchased it in May. - What do you guys think about covering it with a tarp?


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## Eagleeyes (Aug 1, 2007)

you can pump RV anti-freeze from the freshwater tank if you need to. Fill it through the side and, after you've used the bypass on the water heater, use the pump as you would for freshwater until it comes out all of the spouts and the toilet. If you do it this way, you'll have to flush and sanitze the system in the spring however.

There are pretty detailed instructions in the owner's manual for this method AND for the air pressure method as well.

Bob


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## wolfwood (Sep 19, 2005)

You've gotten really good advice. One piece I'd add (as we approach only our 2nd winter) - winterizing is really no big deal. Sounds complicated but, once you've done it once, you'll know just how easy it really is. Heh! We set aside a full day for it last year...then took all of 2 hrs to winterize AND empty all remaining contents. fyi, we were actually warned _against _blowing the lines out, as its apparently relatively easy to burst them. So we park her on boards in our side yard, don't cover her (way to much intense wind!!), remove all "rodent chewables" from inside, plug her in, give her a good long drink of the pink stuff ... and dream of next summer. We do check on her regularly and sleep out there as much as we can [Christmas & New Years Eves are definates!!!]

btw, for most of (at least) the last several winters .... Alaska has been warmer than even southern NH


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## ALASKA PFLOCK (Jun 24, 2007)

wolfwood said:


> You've gotten really good advice. One piece I'd add (as we approach only our 2nd winter) - winterizing is really no big deal. Sounds complicated but, once you've done it once, you'll know just how easy it really is. Heh! We set aside a full day for it last year...then took all of 2 hrs to winterize AND empty all remaining contents. fyi, we were actually warned _against _blowing the lines out, as its apparently relatively easy to burst them. So we park her on boards in our side yard, don't cover her (way to much intense wind!!), remove all "rodent chewables" from inside, plug her in, give her a good long drink of the pink stuff ... and dream of next summer. We do check on her regularly and sleep out there as much as we can [Christmas & New Years Eves are definates!!!]
> 
> btw, for most of (at least) the last several winters .... Alaska has been warmer than even southern NH


Wolfwood- Thanks for all the sound advice. We got ours parked on 2x6's last weekend. Maybe all these great replys can help all those getting ready for winter here in Alaska and those in the cold states of the lower 48.


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## ALASKA PFLOCK (Jun 24, 2007)

mik0445 said:


> I just moved from AK, so I've made it through the winters without ours getting damaged. The guys at Simmons in Anchorage recommend that you blow all of the lines out with air. They say that about -20 rv antifreeze turns slushy, so the worry is that any lower it would freeze. Now for what I did. First drain all of the water, fresh tank, as well as your low point drains. The low point drains come out kind of slow, so I had someone inside the TT turn the water pump on to speed things up...just make sure you turn it off quickly after it runs out of water. I winterized without blowing out the lines, I just pumped the antifreeze through all of the lines, making sure that what came through was good and pink and the antifreeze wasn't going through the hot water heater. After doing all of the lines open your low point drains again and let pink flow through them as well. As far as the roof goes, did not remove any snow from the roof until it started melting this spring. If you park the tt on soft ground put long boards under the tires. It'll keep the tires from sinking during breakup. Also, another I figured out, is put a much larger platform under the tongue jack than normal, in case you have to move the tt with snow on the ground. By Feb or so there will be enough pack in front of the tt to raise your tv by 6-12 inches, making it a sob to hookup and move. Have fun and good luck, any more questions pm me. Also, make sure you remove your batteries completely and either put them in your garage or crawl space to keep them warm.


mik0445- Thanks for the info. Parked the TT on long boards, large platform under jack, and pumped the "pink stuff" directly through the water pump inlet. Is there any concern with leaving the propane tanks attached or should I remove them for winter? They are shut off like normal and if I leave them on the TT should I unhook the lines and cap the tanks? Is it ok to leave the stabilizer jacks down all winter? Will the snow pile-up arround them be an issue? One more question, did you just retire from the Air Force?


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