winterizing

ddj

Member
I have been winterizing my 5th wheel and wondering if it is necessary to put antifreeze in the hot water heater and fresh water tank.

Also, do the lines in the docking center need to be solid pink with antifreeze? Some show only half full of antifreeze. The antifreeze does come thru "pink" in all the faucets and toilets if that's an indicator.

I did drain the water heater and fresh water tank.

Please advise so I can best prepare for an upcoming winter in Minnesota.

Darrel

 

jbeletti

Well-known member
Hi Darrel,

I think I will create a Winterizing sub-forum under the Heartland General area and put these posts there later.

When I winterized my unit last year, I too noticed that a few of the clear PEX lines coming off the water manifold were not solid pink. Yet it seemed that I was getting pink liquid from the fixtures. With the exception of my failure to winterize the ice maker, nothing froze or broke.

All I have read say to "not" put antifreeze in the water heater tank. Before winterizing, I turned both bypass valves to ensure the water heater was out of the loop. Then I pulled the anode rod to drain and flush the tank. Open a hot water tap before pulling the anode rod or electric heating element or you'll get a good spraying!

Also prior to winterizing, I power drained the fresh water tank and I did "not" add any antifreeze to the tank afterwards. Doubt it would hurt to do it though.

When winterizing using the antifreeze pickup tube, the water pump is used in the process so it inherently gets winterized.

Good luck.

Jim
 

DougLynne

retired Alberta Chapter Leaders
Jim has covered most everything I think. We just attended a winterizing demo at our dealership and one thin I learned that I have never done over the years is to take out the screen, if there is one, on the city fresh water intake and depress the valve until pink antifreeze can be seen. Make sure you turn the pump off and depressure the system before depressing the valve.

They also mentioned that they never put antifreeze in the fresh water tank as it is difficult to get the odor/taste out in the spring.

My 2 cents worth.///Doug
 

jpmorgan37

Well-known member
Darryl, we winterized in northern Minnesota for four years before we started heading south in the winter. Here was my procedure that served us well:
Drain the fresh water tank
Drain the hot water heater
Remove all screens and areators from faucets and open faucets
Don't forget the shower
Remove screen from city water supply
Install air adaptor to city water supply
Pressurize water system with about 30 psi pressure until all faucets are blowing clear.
Close faucets
Flush the toilet and open spray valve until clear.
Remove air chuck
Open bypass valves on hot water heater (and I left the hot water drain out and would flush it good in the spring)
Inject antifreeze into system until it flowed pink out of each faucet and shower and toilet spray.
Pour about a pint into a 25 foot garden hose, connect to city water inlet and blow into city water inlet. This gets all lines prior to the pump.

Using this procedure, I never had a problem at 35 below zero.

John
 

ddj

Member
thanks

Thanks Jim,Doug andJohn for all the help with the winterizing my 5th wheel. The heartland form sure is nice to have! Darrel
Jim Beletti said:
Hi Darrel,

I think I will create a Winterizing sub-forum under the Heartland General area and put these posts there later.

When I winterized my unit last year, I too noticed that a few of the clear PEX lines coming off the water manifold were not solid pink. Yet it seemed that I was getting pink liquid from the fixtures. With the exception of my failure to winterize the ice maker, nothing froze or broke.

All I have read say to "not" put antifreeze in the water heater tank. Before winterizing, I turned both bypass valves to ensure the water heater was out of the loop. Then I pulled the anode rod to drain and flush the tank. Open a hot water tap before pulling the anode rod or electric heating element or you'll get a good spraying!

Also prior to winterizing, I power drained the fresh water tank and I did "not" add any antifreeze to the tank afterwards. Doubt it would hurt to do it though.

When winterizing using the antifreeze pickup tube, the water pump is used in the process so it inherently gets winterized.

Good luck.

Jim
 

phranc

Well-known member
Ditto " Open a hot water tap before pulling the anode rod or electric heating element or you'll get a good spraying!
No need to ask how I know that !!
All in all I do the same as JP does..
 

jpmorgan37

Well-known member
I don't have one. Ordered my Grand Canyon without it because we wanted the extra freezer room. Sorry that I left it out for those of you that have the ice maker.
J.P.
 

jpmorgan37

Well-known member
I've known a few people that have removed them. I don't have any idea what kind of a job it would be, but if you called Dometic, they could probably tell you. Then sell it on e-bay. I bet you could get you money out of it.
 

Bob120

Member
Winterizing Fresh Water Intake

As has been suggested here and on many other sites, I removed the little screen from the fresh water intake, and depress the white valve until pink came out. After doing this I turned the pump on to extract the remaining pink anti-freeze from the bottle and it shot out the fresh water intake. Does this little valve close when it is hooked back up to fresh water source or is there a method to close it? It appears to have a spring system.
 
J

Jim_1899

Guest
I just got back from the storage center after running into a problem siphoning the anti freeze. It sucked it out of the gallon and pumped it out on ground out a hose which i believe is one of the drains on the fresh water tank. Besides the three values on the water heater, there are two more, one to the siphon hose, and the other to another hoze. Has anyone else had this happen and do you have a solution for me. Thanks, Jim Leach
 
J

Jim_1899

Guest
With the help from my Dealer, Coleman Country Campers in Heartland IL the mystery is solved. The valves in the docking station had to be changed back from drain to normal. My new Champion 3500 100 lbs generator came in yesterday too so I will be set up for winter bow hunting in N Missouri. It started on the 1st pull. Some things seem easy others get tough and you need help, that's what I like about this forum and a good dealer.
 
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ChopperBill

Well-known member
Sorry I didn't see this earlier. Had the same problem. Cant have the valves turned to drain AND the valve that goes from the fresh tank to the pump has to be shut off or all you will suck is air. Be nice if there was a DECENT owners manual for these things!
 

DougLynne

retired Alberta Chapter Leaders
I winterized ours the other day and ran into some of the same issues. I have a question, I can't figure out how to get antifreeze through theses valves in the docking station. They have clear pipe and no pink appears, any ideas? Do we have to worry about freezing or do they drain some how? Doug
 

phranc

Well-known member
Jim 1899 ,, That valve the goes to a hose that disapears seems to be a shut off for the fresh water tank .. You would turn that valve to off and turn on the siphon anti freeze pickup hose..That way the demand pump will draw from the pickup hose and not the fresh tank... As well as configuring the hot water bypass valves..
Went smoother for me this year,as I had a chance to review last years mistakes and trial and errors...
 

jbeletti

Well-known member
PK,

Where will you be wintering primarily. This will help others help you.

Speaking from little experience, I can tell you that if you are in weather below 32F, that you'll want to turn on your tank heaters and continue to use your furnace. Okay to use other heaters in addition, but with the furnace off, the underbelly and UDC area get no heat.

Also, if below 32F, I would for sure winterize the 2 outside spray ports. On the hot and cold manifolds, shut off all water zones except the 2 spray ports. On mine, the door side port has hot and cold and the UDC port is cold only. Pump antifreeze into those 3 lines until it come out the connected and open spray head, then turn each of thoze zones off and all the others on.

Oh and while there is a heating wire around the water solenoid for the ice maker as well as a wire going up the outside of the line, I would not trust it. If you have an ice maker, consider winterizing it and shutting off the valve behind the UDC area.

Smarter people here will weigh in on this for you.

Jim
 
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