Winterizing the water system

[Cirrus]

I know that it's a little early to be thinking about putting the rig away for the season, but I thought that I'd ask now so as to be prepared for the ritual in a couple of months.
My last 3 TT's had low point water system drains under the rig, and were generally located either front to back or side to side. It was fairly simple to remove the fittings and drain all of the hot and cold water from the water lines.
My 2007 Sundance 2800RLS doesn't have any drain points that I can find, and of course the whole underbelly is sealed. Are there any drain points??? or what is the procedure to remove all the water from the lines.
My manual doesn't seem to address this procedure.

 

[Cirrus]

Anybody....?

 

[cdbMidland]

Don't get frustrated. Probably all of the Sundance owners are out enjoying one of the last great weekends of the summer before school starts. I'm sure you will get an answer.

 

[sailorand]

Cirrus
This could be a great subject to discuss at the BC Rally Sept 14 to 16 In Manning Park at the Coldsprings campground

 

[Cirrus]

I would love to, but I just received my Sept. schedule, and I won't have the time off. Sorry.........but being in London or Beijing isn't so bad either! (airline pilot)
I was just in Manning and did some hiking. Did the Skyline 1 Trail. Very nice, and I was only sore for about two days after the event. Coldstream still has a boil water advisory! Fill your water tanks at the Septic station which is about 2 km's past Coldstream.
Enjoy and I wish that I could be there!!!

 

[Sundance_kid]

Would like to help, but we never quit camping out here......I thought winterizing was loading up the chainsaw!!!!

 

[sJv]

I also have a 2800RLS and haven't figured out how to winterize yet. I'm hoping I'll be able to figure it out when the time comes. There are some drains poking thru the underbelly of mine. There's a hot and cold water drain by the entry steps, and a drain near the water heater. Even though I think this one is colored red, someone mentioned it's actually the fresh water tank drain, as it is in the vicinity of the fresh water tank (it looks to me like the tanks are arrange black, grey, grey, fresh from back to front). There are hot water heater bypass valves that are accessible by removing the panel under the entertainment area. I looked in there to be sure!

Maybe next weekend I'll play around with the drains and see if I can figure out what they are connected to...

-steve

 

[Cirrus]

sJv
Thanks for the reply. My 2007 2800RLS only has one drain under the RV, and that is for the fresh water tank drain. Strange thing is my water tank is up near the front, but my water drain is near the back. The only way that I can figure some of this out appears to be that I'll have to peal some of the belly wrap back to look inside.

 

[SmokeyBare]

Cirrus,

I believe Heartland had stopped putting in Low point drains... I may be wrong... but I followed a thread about one post that had a continue freeze problem on the low point drain... freezing upward where the tee connection was located.

When getting ready to winterize... you could always go the old stand by... attaching a " Blow out Plug " to the city water connection... using a air compressor... leaving the valves open inside... and blowing out the water in the lines.

I can't speak for your RV... but our Bighorn 3400-RL has a coil of hose connected to the fresh water system. This hose is located behind the docking station... reached through a round inspection plate. This hose is used to pull RV Antifreeze solution into the water system... by using the on board water pump.

Simple enough in this case to stuff the hose in a full jug of RV Antifreeze... turn on the pump... and each the kitchen and the bathroom and the shower faucets until the pink solution flows freely. Before I started the winterizing I would drain the Hot Water Tank by pulling the drain plug... and I would switch the valves in the rear of the tank that would by-passed the Hot Water Tank... using the By-Pass Valves behind the Hot Water Tank prevents water from entering the tank yet still allows the Antifreeze solution to flow through all the hot water lines.

The fresh water tank should have already been drained... using the water pump again... forcing all the water out... till it's drained. I have never used any Antifreeze solution in the Fresh Water Tank.

If the RV has a Ice Maker... that too needs to be drained... so no water is in the valve or the feed line to the Ice Box. The Outside Showers need also to be protected by the RV Antifreeze... as well as any plumbing drain traps... allowing a small amount to flow into each empty holding tank.

Basicly... where ever there is water... it should be drained completely... and where ever there is a risk of water laying in the lines... there should be antifreeze solution to protect those lines. Leaving the hot water plug out... ensures that there will be no water inside the metal tank that could risk a freeze up.

Good Luck !

 

[Cirrus]

Smokeybare,
Thanks. I think that is what I'll do. It just seems strange that very cheap travel trailers allow you to drain you fresh water lines completely...and then winterize. Our trailers can't drain their lines- so I guess that is what I'll do. I have the by-pass line, which I will use...and then put the pink stuff in.

 

[jimtoo]

Or!!!!! Another option to winterizing,,,, move to South Texas. Just think of the money and time you could save by not buying that old antifreeze and having to put it in the lines, and then you don't use your unit till next summer. And you got to flush everything out and if you don't get it all out, YUCK!

Just a thought.

 

[HOSS]

Living in the south here in Alabama, would it be worth doing all the winterizing I have read about here in the forum. Our winters are not as long and harsh as some of the northern states. Our BH 3670rl stays parked in a barn out of the elements even though it is not an insulated barn. Would it be a benefit or a waste of time going through the routene. Any info on this would be helpful, thanks.

 

[truknutt]

Hoss,

It might depend where in Alabama you live; my niece lives in Cherokee County (Gaylesville) and has had ice in the mornings there & the Outlaws live in Northern Georgia (Chattooga County) and it gets cold enough to freeze water in their old house.

Dave

 

[HOSS]

We live in northern Alabama (Morgan County), we to have had ice at times here. I guess I will do the winterizing just to be on the safe side. DW said just as sure as we didn't do it we would have the worst winter on record. lol. Better safe than sorry, right?

 

[Cirrus]

Well, I put her away for the seaon. It was fairly easy to winterize the water system. First I blew out the lines, and then put 2 gallons of antifreeze into the empty hot and cold lines. It didn't take more than 1/2 an hour to do it. I sure got alot of crap out of the hot water tank when I drained it for the first time.

 

[Flying Dutchman]

Ditto with post from cirrus. I just winterized our Sundance yesterday mostly as a trial since we hope to squeeze in another outing next month. The whole process was simple. I drained the tanks (3 underbelly drains), blew out the lines with compressed air, bypassed the heater and put in just under 2 gallons of anti-freeze into the hot and cold water lines, then finally pulled the plug on the heater. (very little crud, but then our unit was just built 4 weeks ago). And then we did have our first frost that evening!

 

[ptillett]

FD, I need to do our 2900MK tonight! 20's the next few nights.

I might hit you up with some questions if I can't figure it out. Our first RV, so I am all new to this.

Thanks.