Hi All!
Well, I thought I'd let you know how the winterizing went. I finally read the instructions that came with my Safari (go figure!
) which indicated the lines should be blown out with compressed air and then RV antifreeze poured into the drain traps.
To me, that isn't sufficient as residual water can settle at low points in the system and still freeze potentially causing damage. Also, leaving the lines empty leaves the possiblity of mould forming. Instead, I drained the water tank and open all valves including the low point drains and let the system gravity drain, then close the low point drains, connect a custom hose attachment I made (pic) to the intake side of the water pump and charge the whole system with RV antifreeze by turning on each faucet.
There's no need to blow the system out and there's no chance of any water settling and potentially freezing.
The attachment I made to introduce RV antifreeze into the system consists of a copper elbow with 1/2" ID screw cap that attaches directly to the water pump intake (filter side). To that I press fitted a 3 foot section of 3/8" ID low pressure vinyl tubing (with the help of a heat gun -- no pipe clamp requried). Now all I have to do is unscrew the intake from the water pump and screw on the attachment, insert the hose into the jug of RV antifreeze and turn the pump on.
I had to do this because my Safari didn't come with a "T" valve, and there's little room in the water pump compartment to install one.
BTW I tried to use the alternate HTH drain but nothing happened, so I just unscrewed the tank plug and opened the bypass valves.
I think everything worked well, but I'll know for certain next spring!
Thanks again for the comments and suggestions!
Gary
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