Antifreeze

Ninety percent of all RV’s will need to be winterized during their lifetime. Fifty percent are winterized every year. One of the primary tasks to winterizing is replacing the water left in your plumbing system with RV antifreeze. If the water is left in your system and freezes it will expand in the pipes causing them to crack and split.

Before I get into the differences between RV antifreeze’s, let’s be sure you understand that engine antifreeze is very different than RV antifreeze. RV antifreeze is a non toxic liquid that is added to the plumbing system of your RV to replace the water. If you do a poor job of removing the RV antifreeze in the Spring the small amount left in the drinking water will not harm you. Antifreeze for your vehicle engine is very toxic and if used in your drinking water system can make you very sick and can cause death. Therefore, never use vehicle antifreeze in your plumbing system.

How does RV antifreeze keep pipes from breaking at -50 °F? Adding alcohol or Glycol to water only lowers the freezing point of the liquid to about plus 8 degrees Fahrenheit. So

why don’t the pipes crack and split when the temperature drops to below 8 °F? Even through the RV antifreeze will freeze in your pipes as the temperature drops below 8 °F, the magic is that the RV antifreeze doesn’t start expanding until -50 °F. So it’s normal to have solid RV antifreeze in the RV pipes and still be safe from pipes breaking. If you put RV antifreeze in your freezer at home, it will freeze, but unlike that can of soda it will not burst. So if you find some slush or frozen liquid in the toilet of your RV in the middle of winter, don’t be concerned that your antifreeze is not working.

All RV antifreeze are not the same.

The choice of RV antifreeze will make a difference between costly repairs of water pipes, gaskets and other sire effects. When your turn comes to add antifreeze to your system you will want to keep the following information in mind.

There are basically two types.

Type 1 Propylene Glycol based products like DowFrost Propylene Glycol is an alcohol of sorts and will protect your pipes to temperatures to – 50 F.

Here is the Dow Material Safety Data Sheet. One other thing to check is that the RV antifreeze you are using in virgin, that is does not contain and recycled products. Propylene Glycol is used to deice plane wings as they sit getting ready for take off during snow and icy conditions. The airport captures the run off and sends it back to the chemical plant which will process it back into usable deicer for the airport.

Type 2 Ethanol based RV antifreeze is not as common and usually cost much less than type 1. Ethanol based has some significant negatives. First of all, Ethanol is flammable.

The flash point is only 110 °F. This product needs to be kept away from open flames.

Another side effect is that there is a taste and odor left behind when you use Ethanol. This product should only be used with Quest or Pex plumbing lines. Also since this product is made out of alcohol, it will dry out rubber seals and gaskets. Check out the material data sheet for PEAK -50 F RV & Marine Antifreeze ethanol.

Recommendation Read the labels carefully and choose what most dealers and rv users recommend, a virgin Propylene Glycol based antifreeze.