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3mtnlabbie's avatar
3mtnlabbie
Explorer
Nov 03, 2014

Ahhh! We need to winterize our pop-up - TOTAL NOVICE

So we purchased our 2012 Palomino Banshee B3 this past spring and are now facing that fall has reared her ugly face and we need to winterize THIS WEEK!

Of course our "manual" from Palomino is useless so this is what we understand we need to do:

1. Get antifreeze for our RV - DONE - have one gallon
2. Get the camper from our storage spot - doing tonight
3. Fully set up the camper
4. Drain the hot water heater from the outside - should this be fairly self explanatory?
5. Somehow hook up the gallon of antifreeze directly to our water pump - how do you do this?
6. Pump almost the entire gallon of antifreeze through the system...
7. Turn on the sink valves, shower valves, etc to make sure that antifreeze runs through them.
8. Put a small amount of antifreeze in the top of our cassette potty and then "flush" the potty to make sure that runs antifreeze too.

ADDED: 9. Run the outside shower faucet with AF also when the pump is on.
ADDED: we live in Colorado so the reality is we will have many nights at or below freezing temperatures. Our water tanks are fully drained and have been since September. Our sink folds down so I'm not sure how we can leave some antifreeze in that p-trap to protect it. There is a small chance we have some tubing to hook up to a bipass for the pump - I'll have to check.

What am I missing? My husband is going to have to do this all as I'm pregnant. We just need to get it done and of course nothing is self explanatory as one would hope.

Any tips? Guidance? Total novice going to take a hack at it...
Seeking Advice
  • opnspaces's avatar
    opnspaces
    Navigator II
    Nov 03, 2014
    For step 5 have your husband find the water pump. If you're lucky there will be a T in the line with an open line. If so you use that line to suck the antifreeze out if the gallon jug. If no T in the line then you'll have to buy an aftermarket kit to add the T.

    Agreed on #4 with 3mtnlabbie except I turn off the waterpump and open a hot faucet to bleed the pressure out of the system. Then you can leave the hot open and pull the drain plug from the water heater.
  • CloudDriver's avatar
    CloudDriver
    Explorer
    Nov 03, 2014
    3mtnlabbie wrote:
    So we purchased our 2012 Palomino Banshee B3 this past spring and are now facing that fall has reared her ugly face and we need to winterize THIS WEEK!

    Of course our "manual" from Palomino is useless so this is what we understand we need to do:

    1. Get antifreeze for our RV - DONE - have one gallon
    2. Get the camper from our storage spot - doing tonight
    3. Fully set up the camper
    4. Drain the hot water heater from the outside - should this be fairly self explanatory? Release any pressure in the water system by opening a faucet before removing drain plug from water heater. Re-install plug when done draining to keep bugs out over the winter.
    5. Drain fresh water tank. Somehow hook up the gallon of antifreeze directly to our water pump - how do you do this? If the camper didn't come with a winterizing connection on the suction of the pump, disconnect the suction line and run it into the antifreeze bottle. A longer tubing may be required.
    6. Pump almost the entire gallon of antifreeze through the system... Hopefully your unit came with a water heater bypass so the antifreeze doesn't just all go into the heater.
    7. Turn on the sink valves, shower valves, etc to make sure that antifreeze runs through them. Pour some antifreeze down the sink and shower drains to protect the P-traps.
    8. Put a small amount of antifreeze in the top of our cassette potty and then "flush" the potty to make sure that runs antifreeze too.

    What am I missing? My husband is going to have to do this all as I'm pregnant. We just need to get it done and of course nothing is self explanatory as one would hope.

    Any tips? Guidance? Total novice going to take a hack at it...
  • pugslyyy's avatar
    pugslyyy
    Explorer
    Nov 03, 2014
    That covers the liquids pretty well, but don't forget the electrical- you may want to take your battery(ies) out.

    What state do you live in? How rigorously you winterize depends a lot on how far north you are... because I'm in North Carolina I blow out all my lines and drain my tanks, but don't add antifreeze to the supply side.
  • Dakota98's avatar
    Dakota98
    Explorer
    Nov 03, 2014
    3mtnlabbie wrote:
    So we purchased our 2012 Palomino Banshee B3 this past spring and are now facing that fall has reared her ugly face and we need to winterize THIS WEEK!

    Of course our "manual" from Palomino is useless so this is what we understand we need to do:

    1. Get antifreeze for our RV - DONE - have one gallon
    2. Get the camper from our storage spot - doing tonight
    3. Fully set up the camper
    4. Drain the hot water heater from the outside - should this be fairly self explanatory?
    5. Somehow hook up the gallon of antifreeze directly to our water pump - how do you do this?
    6. Pump almost the entire gallon of antifreeze through the system...
    7. Turn on the sink valves, shower valves, etc to make sure that antifreeze runs through them.
    8. Put a small amount of antifreeze in the top of our cassette potty and then "flush" the potty to make sure that runs antifreeze too.

    What am I missing? My husband is going to have to do this all as I'm pregnant. We just need to get it done and of course nothing is self explanatory as one would hope.

    Any tips? Guidance? Total novice going to take a hack at it...


    #1 - You'll need another 1-2 gallons AF. (if HW tank has a by-pass)
    #4 - There is a pressure release on the tank, open it first. then pull the plug, drain & re-insert. Look for a by-pass on the hot water heater, if it doesn't have one. you'll need about 6- more gallons of AF
    #5 - There are aftermarket "kits" for this purpose, connect to the input side of the pump.
    #6 & 7 - Have the pump on while pulling AF from bottle, opening a faucet at the same time until you see AF coming out of each hot & cold
    #8 - After #6-7, Pour AF into each "p" trap & into the gray & black tank, if it has them.
    #9 - Don't forget the outside shower faucets if you have one !!!!

    Or use AIR, NO pump kit needed & don't have to worry about a HW tank By-pass & about 1-gallon AF total.

    :) You're done

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