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ronheb454's avatar
ronheb454
Explorer
Nov 01, 2014

Winterizing

I am new to RV's and have a new 2015 Thor Miramar 34.1. I was getting my RV ready for winter since the temperature is supposed to hit 30 degrees tonight. I have a bath and a half so I have two sets of grey and black holding tanks. All the holding tanks were emptied after camping last weekend. I by passed and emptied the water heater. I removed the water filter. I emptied the fresh water tank and ran the pump until no more water was coming out but about an inch remains in the bottom of the fresh water tank. Is that a problem. Should I remove the line going to the pump and make sure no water remains in the pump as well? I preferred to handle the fresh water with air so I applied about 55 psi with all facets open. Most had a little water come out except the rear master bath sink facet. No water came out but I couldn't hear any air either. Could that be a problem? Being new and never doing this before I am not sure. I poured some RV antifreeze down all sinks, shower and in both toilets. Any help or suggestions would be appreciated I just want to make sure I am doing this correctly, thanks much.
Class A
  • Gary_'s avatar
    Gary_
    Explorer II
    Nov 03, 2014
    Instead of opening all faucets at once I think you will get more water out of the lines by only opening one faucet at a time as more air volume will go through each line.
  • racer99's avatar
    racer99
    Explorer
    Nov 03, 2014
    2000 Fleetwood Flair/32'/v-10 motor/F-53 chassis
    I/we hook air to MH blow air out of each faucet,then connect hose to inlet of pump,put hose into rv antifreeze and run pump open each faucet till pink stuff comes out,don't forget outside shower,I run 4-5 gals through valves then pour 2 gal in fresh water tank,1/2 gal in the sinks & shower and pour a gal into toliet,then I turn pump on and run water till it comes out all valves.Maybe a little over kill but 10 gals cost less than 30 bucks and in 5 yrs never had a problem-If you have one pipe in the system freeze you will wish you ran the extra pink stuff through the system
  • TempatureContro's avatar
    TempatureContro
    Explorer
    Nov 03, 2014
    Also do not forget to blow out the outside shower, outside faucet and toilet sprayer IF you have these.
  • Coyote74's avatar
    Coyote74
    Explorer
    Nov 02, 2014
    Make sure when u blow it out u depress the toilet valve to. and drain any washer hook up valves.
  • ronheb454's avatar
    ronheb454
    Explorer
    Nov 02, 2014
    I only put antifreeze in the drains and did not run antifreeze through any of the fresh water lines. I only blew them out with air.

    I will go back through the procedure again closing all facets this time and start by opening the farthest one from the pump.

    As mentioned I will check the strainer on the inlet side of the pump.

    Thanks everyone for your advise. Hopefully I will get a chance tomorrow afternoon to check these out. I'll let you know, thanks much.
  • Lumpty's avatar
    Lumpty
    Explorer
    Nov 01, 2014
    Depending on your plumbing layout check the strainer on the inlet side of the water pump. The year I blew out the lines, all was well except that item still held some water at the bottom and ended up with a hairline crack due to maybe a thimble full of water that settled into the inlet, which in my RV is pointed down. They do disassemble easily so the screen can be cleaned, as well as any bit of water removed.
  • Dakota98's avatar
    Dakota98
    Explorer
    Nov 01, 2014
    Well, it seems you have enough air compressor volume, no question there. Volume is more important than pressure.

    Quote:

    "Should I remove the line going to the pump and make sure no water remains in the pump as well?"
    You can run the pump until dry, won't hurt it.

    "I preferred to handle the fresh water with air so I applied about 55 psi with all facets open."
    Actually, it's best to not open all at the same time. Go to the furthest point from the pump first & work backwards.

    "Most had a little water come out except the rear master bath sink facet. No water came out but I couldn't hear any air either. Could that be a problem?"
    That is strange, especially with that size of compressor. I would start over with the procedure mentioned above.

    PS: When using air, there is no need to mess with the water heater by-pass system. The very first step with air is to drain the tank & re-insert the plug & go on from there.

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