Low point drain valves

[Gringo]

lying in the snow up in Colorado last week trying to winterize our 27FB for the first time, I was unable to figure out the two drains that are under the pan, for the lowest point of the water lines. Neither one of them would turn by hand. One of the seemed to be loose on some kind of spline. I thought i would try tightening that phillips screw, and it broke off and I now have the lever, with a short stub with an o-ring as a separate piece.

does anyone know what the part number or name of this thing would be? I want to buy one to take with me when I go back to the trailer in the spring.

And what's the secret to turning them? do they turn half a turn? round and round? Do they pull outwards or something?

I ended up getting all the water out that I could, and then put three gallons of the pink stuff in the freshwater tank and pumped it through all the faucets and showers. And drained the water heater. I am assuming that the pink stuff will mix with whatever water was left that I couldn't get out through those valves I couldn't open.

[SteveH]

If your low point drain valves are like mine, they are like the petcocks on a radiator. They take several turns to open completely.

[Gringo]

Well, that makes sense, but these seem to have a couple stops at 90 deg. on the lever. Wouldn't turn at all by hand. So mine were probably frozen.

[murreywalker]

Originally Posted by Gringo

lying in the snow up in Colorado last week trying to winterize our 27FB for the first time, I was unable to figure out the two drains that are under the pan, for the lowest point of the water lines. Neither one of them would turn by hand. One of the seemed to be loose on some kind of spline. I thought i would try tightening that phillips screw, and it broke off and I now have the lever, with a short stub with an o-ring as a separate piece.

does anyone know what the part number or name of this thing would be? I want to buy one to take with me when I go back to the trailer in the spring.

And what's the secret to turning them? do they turn half a turn? round and round? Do they pull outwards or something?

I ended up getting all the water out that I could, and then put three gallons of the pink stuff in the freshwater tank and pumped it through all the faucets and showers. And drained the water heater. I am assuming that the pink stuff will mix with whatever water was left that I couldn't get out through those valves I couldn't open.

Your low point drains; one for hot and the other for cold are mini gate valves. A 90 degree turn will open and close them. I believe turning them counter clockwise will open.

With a unit as new as yours, I would think warranty would cover the broken handle.

If you saw pink antifreeze coming out of all outlets, your pipes should be fine; make sure you've done the same with the hand held devices/sprayers, and your water filter.

By the way the filter will remove the pink coloring from the antifreeze, and you'll probably want to take that filter out of service, except for winterizing.

In the spring, you'll have to do a pretty extensive job of cleaning out the fresh water tank, or you'll be enjoying a bit of sweetness in that water source.

Next time, have someone at the dealership show you how to winterize by using just the intake of your water pump.

Good luck!

[Gringo]

Thanks for the reassurance. I was actually hoping to just use the intake on the pump to replace all the left over water with the antifreeze, but couldn't find a connector to fit that thread on the pump.

We don't much care if there is a little antifreeze left in a few corners. It'll be hugely diluted, and we don't drink that water anyhow. Just for washing.

I'll run the broken valve by the local AS dealer there in Longmont when I get back. But I can see that with antifreeze it's not critical to anything. I didn't even know the trailer HAS a water filter. I've been using an external one.