Forum Discussion

mikeak's avatar
mikeak
Explorer
May 13, 2016

Dewinterize/ water problem

I have owned my RV for 6 years and done the winterize / de winterize myself every year but am baffled by my current problem. Hoping someone can help

Model: Winnebago Access 31J (bunk bed model)

I set the valve by the pump to go straight so not towards siphon
I set the drain valve to off
I set the two lines under the sink to be parallel to the lines. Same direction (tried opposite as well
I set the water heater valve in-line

I turn the water pump on and have opened faucets.

Water pours out through drain valve by the back wheel.

Feels like I tried every combination of changing valve directions but nothing is working. All leads to draining water. Water heater is clearly not getting filled up and only tiny bit of water comes out through faucets but a ton is running down the pavement outside....

Any ideas????
Class C
  • dbro60's avatar
    dbro60
    Explorer
    May 19, 2016
    cbshoestring wrote:
    grampscamper wrote:
    mikeak wrote:


    Water pours out through drain valve by the back wheel.


    Is there any chance this is a low point water drain that needs to be closed?


    OK...once I did hook up, go inside to open faucets, remove air from lines, pressurize system, turn on water heater. It was taking forever to get the air out of the lines...wife says: "there is a bunch of water leaking under the trailer". I run outside wondering what line busted......YEAP.......both drains wide open :S

    OP... My low point drain once got stuck open. The valve was closed (for me it is under my bed near the tank), but water still poured out. I had to go under the trailer and stick a tiny screw driver up into the drain hose. I think that plastic little valve was twisting, not allowing the rubber bushing to seat firmly. Poking at it allowed it to "un-twist" and seat correctly.



    I just did the same thing :)
  • gkainz's avatar
    gkainz
    Explorer
    May 13, 2016
    sort of a rule of thumb I remember on the valves is the handle points in the direction of the flow ... well, not necessarily the flow direction, but the pipe that is going to flow. Or maybe easier to visualize if you think of the handle crossing the pipe you want to block.

    Edit - this time engaging brain before engaging fingers ... what I was trying to say is "put the handle in-line with the pipe you want to flow, and it will be crossways across the pipe you want to block".
  • mikeak's avatar
    mikeak
    Explorer
    May 13, 2016
    Thanks for the comments. I went to bed last night without having it fixed. Once the kids were asleep (i.e. Not needing supervision or asking for things) my brain was able to think back to all prior years and then I got up and tested a few things that solved it.

    It is the weirdest thing but the two lines in the bathrooms needs the valves to go in opposite directions from eachother. I don't get it as they are both in-line but one is aimed towards back and other one forward. If they get shifted water goes out the drain tank.

    There is NOTHING in the manual about it

    And yes marking it on there and writing it in the book. Should be a 10 min process took all evening and lots of frustrations.
  • cbshoestring's avatar
    cbshoestring
    Explorer II
    May 13, 2016
    grampscamper wrote:
    mikeak wrote:


    Water pours out through drain valve by the back wheel.


    Is there any chance this is a low point water drain that needs to be closed?


    OK...once I did hook up, go inside to open faucets, remove air from lines, pressurize system, turn on water heater. It was taking forever to get the air out of the lines...wife says: "there is a bunch of water leaking under the trailer". I run outside wondering what line busted......YEAP.......both drains wide open :S

    OP... My low point drain once got stuck open. The valve was closed (for me it is under my bed near the tank), but water still poured out. I had to go under the trailer and stick a tiny screw driver up into the drain hose. I think that plastic little valve was twisting, not allowing the rubber bushing to seat firmly. Poking at it allowed it to "un-twist" and seat correctly.
  • KristinU's avatar
    KristinU
    Explorer
    May 13, 2016
    I don't have a solution suggestion, but once you do get everything figured out, take a sharpie and draw arrows for the correct valve directions. We went through the monkeying around last year and DH said "I'm never wasting that kind of time again" and just wrote on the flooring near the valves - ours are under the kitchen drawers, so you never see it.
  • schlep1967's avatar
    schlep1967
    Nomad
    May 13, 2016
    You could be making the same mistake I did this year. I hooked the hose up to the "fresh water" fill. In the case of my trailer that is the on board water tank. I really wanted to hook up to the "city water" which pressurizes the lines right away. Only took me about 20 times crawling in and out of the basement to figure out what I had wrong.

    Or I could be making another mistake and just told the whole world about my blunder for no reason.
  • grampscamper's avatar
    grampscamper
    Explorer
    May 13, 2016
    mikeak wrote:


    Water pours out through drain valve by the back wheel.


    Is there any chance this is a low point water drain that needs to be closed?

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