Winterizing

[m.hony]

not being silly or humerus...
I thought Lake Chicot was in Arkansas- just west of Lake Village-

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by m.hony

not being silly or humerus...
I thought Lake Chicot was in Arkansas- just west of Lake Village-

Yeah, well, I've been to Lake Claiborne twice this year, too, once in Alabama near Monroeville, and once in Louisiana near Ruston.

No reason why there can't be a Lake Chicot near Ville Platte in Louisiana and another near Lake Village in Arkansas.

[m.hony]

I guess so-
Like Chickasaw Lake or Choctaw Lake or Legion Lake or what have ya...
Or like Mississippi has 2 towns by the same name or there is a Greenwood or Greenville in every state...or Lodi or Bowling Green or whatever...

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by m.hony

Mississippi has 2 towns by the same name

Really? Which towns? I'm sure it doesn't bother the postal service since they would have different zip codes, but it must be confusing when looking up the place(s) on Google Earth.

[m.hony]

The first one that comes to mind is Bogue Chitto. There is one near Philadelphia, MS and one near Lucedale, MS- maybe the reason ZIP codes were invented?

[SteveSueMac]

Ok, so I went to the lot today to remove the batteries for winter storage at home and noticed this on the side of the trailer:













So it seems clear to me that water with antifreeze was coming out of the water heater on my drive home from the dealer (I parked it and haven't gone back to it until this morning).

That MAY explain why water and antifreeze was dripping from the point behind the propane tanks if it was running along the bottom trim and the nose is slightly down on the lot.

However, if that is the explanation, does this mean they didn't use the shutoff to prevent antifreeze from entering the hot water heater??? I looked in the bathroom and if the water line runs east to west,, the shutoff knob runs north to south. That means the shutoff is engaged doesn't it?

What do you all think?

Alumaholic is righter by the minute - I should have winterized myself before sending to the dealer for warranty service.

[SteveSueMac]

One other pic:

[ROBERT CROSS]

Are the by-pass valves open or closed?
Take a hose shoot some water into the open drain see if it comes back out a little pink....it shouldn't if they did it ryte.

Bob

[Jim Flower]

Hi SteveSueMac,
My water heater has a slightly different arrangement than the one Bob set out above. Mine has a check valve on the outlet side of the HWH that is supposed to prevent the antifreeze from flowing into the HWH when you are winterizing. Sometimes the plunger in the check valve sticks in the open position so antifreeze enters the heater. This, of course is not supposed to happen. You will know if your system has a check valve if it only has one gate valve to operate in order to bypass the heater. Mine stuck this year so I have antifreeze dribbling out just like you do. Apparently the fix is to tap the thing and it is supposed to fix itself. Right. The correct fix is to replace it. On my unit, this means taking apart the dinette seat, unscrewing the top of the seat, exposing the HWH and plumbing and then going at it with an assortment of tools. Some how, I'm not in the mood for this so I will do it when other stuff in there requires fixing. (And it will since I have been in there once already to repair a leak) my guess is that we have similar systems so this may be your problem as well. Jim

[SteveSueMac]

Thanks Bob and Jim. Much more to learn!

[panora2]

Bob: Your picture shows that the handle on the valve crosses the line like a gate valve, or creates a t-intersection. My valves look like that but actually screw into the valve seat like your house faucets. The handles may be facing any direction when closed or open, or worse yet, may be in the same position when both opened and closed.

Ron

[Silver Goose]

Some of us have 1/4 turn valves with oblong handles that essentially match the diagram. If you have round handles, then the chart showing the handle across the pipe means closed and the handle inline with the pipe means open.

[murreywalker]

For relatively current models, the instruction manual pretty much explains the positions to bypass the water heater.

[Hibby]

I recently posted this on another winterization thread:

If this link works, I have posted my winterization checklist:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/qab521s8nt...hecklists.docx

Note that it is included with my summarization checklist and my standard departure checklist. Who's anal? Please let me know if there's something that you see that I've missed?

This is only my second time doing a winterization, but it took less than 30 minutes once I have the right tools in hand to get the job done:
Compressor
Water inlet pressure fitting
3 gallons antifreeze
Silicone hose and adapter for t-valve
Crescent wrench to remove the water heater drain plug

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Originally Posted by Hibby

I recently posted this on another winterization thread:

If this link works, I have posted my winterization checklist:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/qab521s8nt...hecklists.docx

Note that it is included with my summarization checklist and my standard departure checklist. Who's anal? Please let me know if there's something that you see that I've missed?

This is only my second time doing a winterization, but it took less than 30 minutes once I have the right tools in hand to get the job done:
Compressor
Water inlet pressure fitting
3 gallons antifreeze
Silicone hose and adapter for t-valve
Crescent wrench to remove the water heater drain plug

Hi, I couldn't get your link to work. I don't know how you can even get a Cresent wrench in there to remove your water heater plug. I would only use a six point, 3/8"s drive socket on that plastic drain plug.

[3 Dog Nite]

I have learned a useful tip for going on several winter outings. I drain water from lines by opening all faucets and line drain valves. open head valve, but do not drain water heater tank. Set tank to bypass. I do have the winterizing kit that ROBERT CROSS showed earlier. Close the drain valves and run water pump until the pink antifreeze runs out both faucets, shower and the head. You only need to let enough pink flow out to fill the drain trap. Next place a bucket under the drain valves outside. Open the drain valves and all faucets, shower and head. Then drain the water heater. I don't know how but some pink always finds it way into the heater. Now lines are either empty or have pink in the lower undrainable sections. I usually lose 1/3 of a gallon doing it this way. That is a lot cheaper than using 2 gallons every trip out. remember to strain and reuse the pink in the bucket that you drained.

Here's a link to a thread I started for having water hookups in the winter.
Ricky

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by 3 Dog Nite

I don't know how but some pink always finds it way into the heater.

The bypass is on the upstream side of the water heater, but if you fill the hot-water line through the bypass, you still get some back-flow from the hot-water line back into the water heater because there's not also a bypass on the downstream side, and no backflow preventer on the hot water line either.

[Hibby]

Darn the link! Here's a portion of what was in my file, but specific to the winterization:

Winterization Checklist
Before pressurizing:
1. LEVEL TRAILER
2. Empty all water from freshwater holding tank
3. Depressurize water heater (via pressure relief valve)
4. Empty all water from water heater (via drain plug)
5. Replace galley water filter with bypass tube

After pressurizing system:
1. Open, drain, & close both low point valves under dinette seat
2. Open & drain kitchen sink faucet
3. Open & drain bathroom sink faucet
4. Open & drain toilet
5. Open & drain interior showerhead
6. Open & drain exterior showerhead
7. Close water heater isolation valve (under dinette seat)

After depressurizing system:
1. Connect antifreeze intake tube to t-valve at water pump
2. Run galley sink faucet until one cup of anti-freeze had flowed to the drain trap
3. Run bathroom sink faucet until one cup of anti-freeze had flowed to the drain trap
4. Run toilet until one cup of anti-freeze had flowed to the drain trap
5. Run shower head until one cup of anti-freeze had flowed to the drain trap
6. Run exterior shower head until anti-freeze flows through it

Drain excess fluid from gray and blackwater holding tanks
Battery switch OFF
Remove detector batteries
Propane off

Summerization

1. OPEN water heater isolation valve
2. Fill freshwater holding tank partially
3. Run water pump and flush all lines, check for leaks (hot & cold)
4. Replace galley sink inline water filter (hot & cold)
5. Plug into city water and flush all lines, check for leaks.
6. Fill freshwater tank and add purogene.
7. Open propane valves and test water heater, furnace, refrigerator, stove top
8. Replace all detector batteries
9. Check air pressure on tires

[albert]

This is my FIRST time trying to flush the lines with pink winterizer fluid. BUT, the cold lines filled up fine and are holding the fluid, BUT the HOT water lines arent taking up any fluid. I tried opening the hot water valves in both faucets but no luck. Im wondering if... either the hot water tank is full of water and not accepting anymore fluid through it, but then it should push that water out the faucets, OR if there is a frozen line somewhere in the system that is preventing the fluid from traveling. It FROZE here the last three days and caught me off guard. its that west coast bitter freeze you have been hearing about... -5 to +10 for the past 4 days, YIKEAS! help if you have any ideas...
Also, I do NOT have a hot water tank bypass installed.

Thanks!

Originally Posted by murreywalker

Since I've not winterized our current trailer, I had a couple of questions for the Techs at Jackson Center.

And they basically said to save some effort and forget adding antifreeze to the PEX lines.

Essentially I was told that blowing the lines, draining the water heater, and adding antifreeze to the p traps, gray and black tanks (a cup or so in each) would be sufficient. Then turn the fresh water pump on for about 10 seconds to distribute what water was in it.

I'm thinking about doing what they've told me twice. ;-)

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Hi, I bought a pack (2) of spare water heater plastic plugs. I drilled and tapped one of them to install an automotive type petcock. Today I installed my winterizing kit. I tested the suction hose with a half gallon milk bottle and it worked pretty good. It looks like it will just barely work without adding a longer hose to it. I also bought a two wire connector and installed it on my water pump so I can just unplug it whenever I need to remove it like I did today.

Never know; I might need to use this some day.