If you’re winterizing your rig, there are a couple of ways to got to pump RV antifreeze into the water lines. The first is to simply use a hand pump kit. The second and better method is to install a pump converter kit. Either choice will work just fine, but the latter has some long term benefits.
FIRST CHOICE – THE HAND PUMP
What is there to say about a hand pump kit?
Using one of these hand pumps is so easy, even I can do it.
You attach the pump’s outlet hose to your RV’s city water inlet.
The pump intake hose goes into a container of RV antifreeze.
Open the water lines inside your rig and start pumping. Focus on one faucet at a time, first the hot water side then the cold.
Pink antifreeze will begin to flow through the faucet.
When a couple of pints of pink stuff have passed through the faucet, you can move on to the next faucet.
Please folks, don’t forget the shower and porcelain throne.
Obviously, it helps to have a friend inside your RV to manage the faucet operation. It helps even more if you have a strong armed friend who will stand outside and do the pumping.
While there’s nothing wrong with using a simple hand pump, there’s more than one way to do this job. Yes, some genius invented a way to use your RV’s water pump.
SECOND CHOICE – THE WATER PUMP CONVERTER KIT
If you want to bring some automation into your winterizing process, Camco’s Pump Converter Winterizing Kit helps accomplish this task even more quickly. After installing this kit, you can use your RV water pump to do the pumping.
If you intend to winterize your rig on an annual basis, it makes sense to install the pump converter kit. It’s intended to be a permanent, one-time installation. If you go ahead and bite the bullet now, and you’ll enjoy many seasons of easy winterizing.
The complete converter kit includes brass valve, siphon hose, Teflon tape and pump adapters. It may sound complicated, but the whole apparatus can be installed with just an adjustable wrench.
Once installed, it works like the hand pump kit. You just turn on your RV water pump to ingest RV antifreeze into the system.
The main benefit of the pump converter kit is that you save yourself a lot of hand pumping. If you plan to winterize your rig every year, why not make the job as quick and easy as possible?
Of course, if you don’t mind a little old fashioned hand pumping then the hand pump kit may be for you.