I've always blown out my system, and seen to it that the furnace keeps bay temps above freezing when the thermometer drops. But the guys have me concerned I should antifreeze everything instead, even though it may take 5 or 6 gallons to do it. I reckon a person can recover the antifreeze at the faucets next spring, for reuse. The hassle for me has always been the icemaker on our refrigerator. Even though it has a heater on the water valve outside, I never trusted it, and had a devil of a time cycling the icemaker while blowing air through from outside. I finally got the hang of it last year after deciphering Dometic's ambiguous instructions.
Pumping antifreeze through everything, including toilet, outside faucet, and icemaker should protect everything. A cup or two in the drum and cycled through the washer as per Splendide instructions should protect it and its trap also. Though I try not to let the temp fall below 40 inside; an unseen blown circuit breaker in the power supply or other problem such as a lengthy power outage could render the HydroHot furnace or other heat source inoperable when you think you're being protected, so winterize things anyway. Flushing antifreeze out of lines next spring may be a hassle as far as the icemaker goes - I've heard it can be hard to keep the taste out of the ice, but I would think manually cycling it several times should flush it clean.
Our problem is we may opt to hit the coast this winter, which means I'd have to dewinterize and rewinterize at home, maybe more than once. If the Coast Range is free of snow, we're outa here, and hope the hills are clear before any Drs. appointments dictate our return. Riding out a winter storm at Newport, Cape Blanco, Sunset Bay, Bandon or Winchester Bay is a blast - 30-60 mph winds swirling outside while you're snug in your Beaver... love it!
