2010 BigHorn 3670RL Winterization Prcess

Thanks in advance for any help you can give me. I am in the process of trying to winterize our new BigHorn 3670RL but I am finding that the instructions in the book don't even begin to match the set-up we have in our trailer. The book talks about the three valves at the hot water tank, but our trailer has a bypass valve in the outside compartment. I looked online at the Heartland site but was only able to find the same instructions that are in my owners manual, which again, don't match our trailer. I found a set of winterization instructions on the inside of the compartment door that houses the valves, etc. These instructions seem to match the valve configuration that we have on our trailer. HOWEVER.....the instructions on the outside compartment door also say to drain the low point drains after draining the fresh water holding tank. I have looked everywhere under our trailer, but I am unable to find any low point drains. Winters up here in Maine will definitely freeeze our pipes if not winterized properly, so if you could direct me to the low point drains for our trailer, I would REALLY appreciate it.

Welcome to the forum. You will find some excellent info here.......such as help with winterization.
The newer rigs do not have low point drains.
So if the instructions on the door match your setup, follow that.
It's really pretty easy, bypass the water heater and flip the winterization lever, then suck a bunch of pink stuff through your plumbing by opening faucets one at a time.
Don't forget the toilet and outside shower. Drain and blow out the ice maker if you have one. And you will also want to blow some compressed air through the black tank flush.

Peace
Dave

Unless they've redesigned the 3670, your UDC should look similar to mine (sans the manifold/hoses). One lever says Winterize, the other says Bypass. Set them to those positions, stick the uptake tube (on the side between them) into a coolant bottle and turn on the water pump. Open faucets inside the trailer, one at a time to both hot and cold, until the pink stuff comes out. Don't forget the outside shower sprayer, along with the inside shower. If you have a washer/dryer, you'll need to winterize that per instructions, also. Basically, while pumping antifreeze, run a short cycle on the machine, or just pour a 1/4 cup in the machine and run it per the instructions in the W/D manual. So for that, at least, you'll need shore power or a generator to run the W/D.

The uptake tube is rather short, so make an extension from a length of old hose with the male end still on it. Then you can just set the bottle on the ground.

Something else you can do to clear water before adding the antifreeze is connect an airline fitting to the city water inlet. Use a compressor set to no more than 45 psi and blow the water from the lines, again by opening faucets. Then suck the antifreeze into the rig via the water pump. Don't forget to pour some down the drains and into the toilet tank to protect the traps and valves from any residual water that may remain in them.

You can use the air pressure in the spring to blow the antifreeze out, also, before running water through the lines to help clear them.

You will need to flush the washer/dryer hook-up even if you don't have a washer/dryer.

Remove the domed screen on the city water inlet and depress the one way valve to let some of the anti-freeze come out the inlet. The plastic valve is susceptible to freeze damage.

Thanks everyone for all your helpful advice. One question that comes to mind. We don't have a washer and dryer in our trailer. But we have the hook-ups for them. How do we go about winterizing the water pipes for the washer? I had planned on just hooking up a hose to each outlet and then running them until some pink a/f comes out. Will this be okay? Or is there a better way? Thanks again everyone for all your help. It still seems very strange to me not to have any low point drains on the lines. But it will make winterizing much easier than having to crawl around under the trailer to reach the drains as I had to do with our last trailer.

Boca_Shuffles said:

You will need to flush the washer/dryer hook-up even if you don't have a washer/dryer.
.

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Would you please explain that to me! We don't have a W/D and have opened no valves of any sorts to send water to the washer outlet. How can there be water in those lines? Forgive my ignorance!

SJH said:

Would you please explain that to me! We don't have a W/D and have opened no valves of any sorts to send water to the washer outlet. How can there be water in those lines? Forgive my ignorance!

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There are no shut off valve for the supply lines to the washer, so it is likely that even with no use the air in the line has been purged out and replaced with water.

It could be that on the newer units there are valves. I would just open the bibs at the washer hook-up and see if there is water pressure there or not.

to winterize just use a short hose into a bucket to catch the water and/or anti-freeze.

SJH said:

Would you please explain that to me! We don't have a W/D and have opened no valves of any sorts to send water to the washer outlet. How can there be water in those lines? Forgive my ignorance!

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Are you willing to take the chance that the dealer or someone never opened the valves and let a little water in the pipes??? How much can it take to get the antifreeze into the lines?? 10-12 oz of antifreeze? It's your call.

It would be safe to just open them and let some antifreeze get up to the valves. If you look in the basement, behind the walls, the cold water supply is t'eed to the toilet valve feed (on mine, at least). So there is a good chance that there is some water in the line from the tee to the W/D valve. Not sure where the hot water line is connected, but it's probably t'eed off another supply, too.

2010augusta said:

There are no shut off valve for the supply lines to the washer, so it is likely that even with no use the air in the line has been purged out and replaced with water. It could be that on the newer units there are valves. I would just open the bibs at the washer hook-up and see if there is water pressure there or not. to winterize just use a short hose into a bucket to catch the water and/or anti-freeze.

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Thanks Alan...this reply is helpful. I guess I need to take a more prudent look at the washer hoses in the bedroom. Up to now, I have pretty much ignored them!

What about the line between the fresh water tank and the pump?

RoadJunkie said:

What about the line between the fresh water tank and the pump?

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it should drain when you drain the fresh water tank. the drain is teed into the line between the tank and the pump.

Here are the steps for winterizing all Heartland Products: 1. Turn off and drain water in Sticks and Bricks house. 2. Stop newspapers 3. Make arrangements for mail forwarding 4. Pack fifth wheel 5. Hook-up fifth wheel 6. Lock all windows and doors on Sticks and Bricks house. 7. Head south, to either south Texas, Florida, or Arizona. 8. Arrive at campground in the south. 9. Set up 5er at the campground in the south 10. RELAX Think that about covers it. Happy and Safe Traveling.

About how much antifreeze can a RL3670 guzzle?

happy_camper said:

About how much antifreeze can a RL3670 guzzle?

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3-4 gallons with the Washer.

david_allen said:

Thanks in advance for any help you can give me. I am in the process of trying to winterize our new BigHorn 3670RL but I am finding that the instructions in the book don't even begin to match the set-up we have in our trailer. The book talks about the three valves at the hot water tank, but our trailer has a bypass valve in the outside compartment. I looked online at the Heartland site but was only able to find the same instructions that are in my owners manual, which again, don't match our trailer. I found a set of winterization instructions on the inside of the compartment door that houses the valves, etc. These instructions seem to match the valve configuration that we have on our trailer. HOWEVER.....the instructions on the outside compartment door also say to drain the low point drains after draining the fresh water holding tank. I have looked everywhere under our trailer, but I am unable to find any low point drains. Winters up here in Maine will definitely freeeze our pipes if not winterized properly, so if you could direct me to the low point drains for our trailer, I would REALLY appreciate it.

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I have a 2010 3600RE Bighorn and there were no low point drains underneath it either. I just turned the bypass valve and winterization valve and hooked up the hose to the antifreeze jug. Seemed to work fine. dspagrud
3600RE