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Chuck Barber · 11-03-2015, 01:19 PM

I am trying to winterize my AS. Where is the fresh water tank on this unit? 25' Flying Cloud Rear Bedroom. I can hear the water pump running in front of the shower and the inlet from the outside is on the curbside at the same place but I'll be damned if I can figure out how to get to it and the water pump to disconnect it for the winter.

dkottum · 11-03-2015, 02:16 PM

We have this same model.

The water tank is inside the big black plastic cover with metal straps holding it up, located right between the axles. The water tank drain is a plastic valve visible on the street side of the water tank. Nearby are two brass valves, one each for cold and hot water lines. I drain them all and leave the valves open until spring so water does not drain into them, freeze, expand and break them.

The water pump is behind a door that looks like only a panel, but is hinged and latched; it just has no handle. It is located directly below the tall closet, the closet next to the shower. Open the closet door, take a wide screwdriver, and pry the panel below the door open carefully not to mark the wood. It is hinged and swings to the side. As you see, a furnace vent is in the center of this panel and there is flexible furnace ducting attached to the back of it. Inside is the water pump and other plumbing, as well as a view down into the "basement".

OTRA15 · 11-03-2015, 02:27 PM

Doesn't your owner's manual cover this?

dkottum · 11-03-2015, 02:36 PM

My 2012 Owners Manual does not cover the 25' Rear Bed/Front Dinette model at all, it's first year of production. Perhaps later editions?

OTRA15 · 11-03-2015, 02:41 PM

Do pages 22 et seq. here help?

http://www.airstream.com/wp-content/...Cloud_2015.pdf

RDale · 11-03-2015, 06:42 PM

I just winterized my 2015 25'FB for the first time and found it difficult to get to the water pump. I don't know if the '13 is exactly the same. The hinged panel below the closet door gets you to the pump but the inlet and outlet hoses are hard to get to. In my model there is a cabinet under the Fridge. I removed the back panel in this cabinet and it was easy to reach the hoses. We generally camp during the winter and winterize multiple times, so I just left the panel out.

Dale

dkottum · 11-03-2015, 07:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OTRA15

Do pages 22 et seq. here help?

http://www.airstream.com/wp-content/...Cloud_2015.pdf

No, it still does not mention the 25RB in the section showing locations of components. Not too hard to figure out once you locate the secret door for the water pump.

OTRA15 · 11-04-2015, 05:18 AM

Hmmm, not sure about that. I believe that the rear bed 25' is now referred to by AS as simply the Flying Cloud 25'. In the drop down box menu, please check the floor plan for "Flying Cloud 25" here:

2016 Airstream Flying Cloud Floorplans & Specs | Airstream

Isn't this the same rear bed you just referred to as 25RB, and is what the OP has?

Note that the other 25' choices in the drop down menu add FB, Twin, and FB Twin as other choices, but no RB as such specifically.

Moving on to the manual I linked [new link below], on p. 24/116 of the PDF showing waste systems, isn't the top left diagram for the 25 rear bed unit? The bath and galley seem to be in the right places IMO.

Ditto for the floor plan at the bottom of p. 30 for the "25 Flying Cloud" showing a rear queen bed and the rear twin option.

Similarly at the bottom left of p. 84, the pump location is described as:

"The 25 ft., 27 ft., and 30 ft. water pump location is under the roadside wardrobe. The bottom cabinet panel is held on with a pressure catch and pulls off for access."

Isn't this the same location as what you described in Post No. 2 here?

"The water pump is behind a door that looks like only a panel, but is hinged and latched; it just has no handle. It is located directly below the tall closet, the closet next to the shower. Open the closet door, take a wide screwdriver, and pry the panel below the door open carefully not to mark the wood. It is hinged and swings to the side. As you see, a furnace vent is in the center of this panel and there is flexible furnace ducting attached to the back of it. Inside is the water pump and other plumbing, as well as a view down into the "basement"."

Maybe everyone could look at the actual pages in the manual again, as spec'd above, and clear up the "Rear Bedroom" terminology? Or have I gone down the wrong road on this?

Thanks.

http://www.airstream.com/wp-content/...Cloud_2015.pdf

OTRA15 · 11-04-2015, 05:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chuck Barber

I am trying to winterize my AS. Where is the fresh water tank on this unit? 25' Flying Cloud Rear Bedroom. I can hear the water pump running in front of the shower and the inlet from the outside is on the curbside at the same place but I'll be damned if I can figure out how to get to it and the water pump to disconnect it for the winter.

Chuck, are you following this discussion, and could you please check the manual pages I just specified to confirm that this manual does (or does not) cover your rear bedroom unit?

Thanks,

Peter

Chuck Barber · 11-04-2015, 07:39 AM

Thank you all for your help. The manual does not address many issues for the 25' Rear Bedroom of either queen or twin configuration on the 2013 model year. In fact, it has about 1/2 as many pages as you referred to in the PDF file that a couple of you sent. (Thanks for that by the way) I did find it behind the "secret door" underneath the wardrobe and winterized the pump. I'm glad I don't have fat hands! Once again, the best help a guy can get is from this forum! It's like having a bunch of good friends leaning over you shoulder helping! Thanks again.

dkottum · 11-04-2015, 07:58 AM

Yes, they refer to our 25 Rear Bed model simply as a 25, I added the 25RB to be more specific. As Chuck says above, many items are still left out of the manual for this particular model, including the location of the water pump.

Not a big deal though, we have been able to find all we need in the trailer itself for doing the maintenance.

aftermath · 11-04-2015, 08:20 AM

Chuck, I hope you got all the answers you needed. This Forum is indeed a great tool.

When looking at the plumbing layout for the 25 I noticed that the lavatory sink drains into the black tank. The 25FB diagram doesn't show the tanks but it looks like it also drains into the black tank. I have always thought that the only thing linked to the black tank is the toilet. Learn something new every day.

I have never heard of anyone "disconnecting" the water pump when they winterize. People either run the pink stuff through it or blow it out with compressed air. Whoops, my mistake, you can't blow the pump out with air since the exterior FW port bypasses the pump. I blow the lines then run the pump dry, go back and blow the lines and run the pump a second time. When I blow the lines again the water has been taken care of. If I had to disconnect the pump I know that I would end up breaking something sooner or later.

dkottum · 11-04-2015, 08:56 AM

Our 20 also drained the bathroom sink into the black tank, I wonder if this is now universal on all models?

The gray tank tends to fill faster so it's a good idea, although if that was the reason one would wonder why they don't just make the gray tank larger and black tank smaller. Maybe it's just convenience of location and simplified plumbing.

glenrms · 11-04-2015, 11:24 AM

AS sent me a schematic for our '12 30' International and the bath sink does drain into the black tank. I just sold our '99 Winnebago MH and found out the hard way that the bath sink drained into the black tank also. I always leave the grey tank open when camping and the black tank closed. I thought it would be OK to let the bathroom sink trickle all night to keep lines from freezing. About 5am, I woke up to hearing water from the bathroom. The sink was overflowing! I also had to pee and guess what happened when I flushed the toilet. Yup, the sewer came right at me! I made a quick trip outside to open the black water drain valve. I won't do that again.

Wayne&Sam · 11-04-2015, 12:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aftermath

I have never heard of anyone "disconnecting" the water pump when they winterize.

I always do. I blow out the lines and don't use antifreeze (except for the traps and a bit in the tanks). After everything is drained I put a towel around the pump, disconnect the in and out lines and run it for a few seconds. The towel soaks up most of the water. Then I hook the lines back up for storage.

OTRA15 · 11-04-2015, 02:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wayne&Sam

I always do. I blow out the lines and don't use antifreeze (except for the traps and a bit in the tanks). After everything is drained I put a towel around the pump, disconnect the in and out lines and run it for a few seconds. The towel soaks up most of the water. Then I hook the lines back up for storage.

Ditto -- plus, before hooking everything back up, I make sure the in-line water filter is clean and empty, and (by mouth) blow into the supply line coming from the tank to send any misc. water back into the tank (with its drain valve open).

NC Camper · 11-04-2015, 07:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dkottum

Our 20 also drained the bathroom sink into the black tank, I wonder if this is now universal on all models?

The gray tank tends to fill faster so it's a good idea, although if that was the reason one would wonder why they don't just make the gray tank larger and black tank smaller. Maybe it's just convenience of location and simplified plumbing.

FWIW, the nurse in me is VERY glad the sink drains into the black tank for sanitary reasons (since this is the model we are getting ready to order). All it would take is one person brushing their teeth to put body fluids in the grey tank if it didn't. EWW!!

(Sorry if this is TMI.

)