Any De-winterizing videos for the Cyclone?

[Porkchop]

Hi All!

Happy Spring!

It's time for us to get the RV ready and we are going to head out to the Train Museum in PA this weekend (we hope) and it's time to de-winterize the Cyclone. This is our first winter with the RV and being newbies, we decided to pay someone to winterize it (and it wasn't cheap) so we would like to try to de-winterize it ourselves.

Would anyone mind posting some links/tips/videos of how to do it? We are planning on heading to a camp site and doing it there.

I'll be honest. I'm nervous about doing anything. I'm not handy, but Martin is -- I just want to be prepared for what needs to be done. We will be doing a lot of organizing as well (since I think the hot water by pass is in the garage - we have a lot of STUFF in there haphazardly).

I hope to make it a rally this year and meet up with everyone again soon!

Thanks you in advance!

Irene

 

[danemayer]

Hi Irene,

During the winterizing process, the water heater gets drained and set to bypass mode. If the shop used RV antifreeze, they used a winterizing valve to suck it into the water lines.

You'll want to hook up to city water and run each of the inside faucets, and outside shower to flush the antifreeze out of the system. Some people try to catch the antifreeze for re-use, but if this is your first time, you might skip that part. Add some water to the fresh tank and with city water disconnected, run the pump to flush out any antifreeze that might have been introduced into water lines near the pump.

If you have a washing machine, run a rinse cycle followed by a drain cycle, several times.

If you have an icemaker and/or water dispenser, hopefully the servicer shut off the water valve rather than adding antifreeze to that line. If there's antifreeze in that line, it's more involved to flush it out. If it's clear, you need only turn the cutoff valve back on. If the refrigerator is in a slide out, the cutoff is likely to be behind the UDC/basement wall. If not in a slide, it's probably located near the refrigerator - maybe in a cabinet or drawer.

After the antifreeze is out of the system, you need to restore the water heater bypass, and the antifreeze/winterizing valves to their normal position. On most newer rigs, they're in the UDC and there's a label on the cargo door that explains the operation.

Once the valves are in the normal position, you can fill the water heater. This is important because if you turn on the electric side of the water heater with no water in it, you'll burn out the heating element very quickly. You might want to review our Water Heater Usage Guide that's in the manuals section of the forum.

If I've forgotten anything, hopefully someone will jump in to help.

 

[Porkchop]

Thank you!

No ice maker or washing machine. Hooking up to city water is the same as being at a campground correct? I don't have to "blow out" the lines?

We keep the RV at a storage facility right now... Until we move out of Hoboken!

 

[danemayer]

City water and campground faucet are the same. The water coming in will push the antifreeze out of the faucets.

 

[NWILSON]

You may want to check that all circuit breakers are on. Also, the battery shut-off may have been turned off.
Remember... it may take a bit for the propane lines to purge the air the first time you go to use your stove, 'fridge, furnace and water heater again.
Be sure to check tire pressures!

 

[Porkchop]

Thank you all! I'm going to google some videos of de-winterizing as well as reading up on it. I did some reading but visual instruction is so much better for me. We are going to head to Strausburg PA to the train museum for the 2 year old. Anyone in the area or suggest a campground?