I drained the tank and closed the low point valves. I closed the water heater bypass valve and my RV has a tank bypass hose already installed. I put the bypass hose in the jug of antifreeze, closed all of the faucets, and started the pump.For some reason, it's not pumping any antifreeze. What am I doing wrong?

Is there a valve that enables the bypass hose and turns off the feed from the tank?

I think you haven't opened the valve by the water pump to allow the anti-freeze to run thru. You line from the fresh to the pump has a T, right..where you have the anti-freeze pick-up? There ought to be a small plastic valve that allows either fresh or from the anti-freeze pick-up line.Gary Haupt

Make sure you open the bypass valve at the pump to draw from the hose. You may also need to open a faucet or something. If the lines are still pressurized or filled with water the pump won't cycle until it senses the need. Open a line and the pump should kick in.

If you switched the bypass to the hose to the anti-freeze jug, you may just need to open a faucet to purge air, to start anti-freeze flow.Jerry

camp-n-family wrote:Make sure you open the bypass valve at the pump to draw from the hose. You may also need to open a faucet or something. If the lines are still pressurized or filled with water the pump won't cycle until it senses the need. Open a line and the pump should kick in.2X.. This!Turn the pump on, then turn a faucet on. The pump will then begin to pump the pink. If it does not pump the pink right away. Turn the faucet back off, turn the pump off, and do it again. Sometimes, the pump will turn on and nothing actually start pumping. When that happens, turn a faucet on, it will then begin pulling from the hose.

Stumped trying to winterize | Good Sam Community

17 Replies

RockyMt
Explorer II
Nov 28, 2016
I have to hold antifreeze up high in order for my pump to pull in the antifreeze.like about 2/3 feet higher than intake point.
kep5niner
Explorer
Nov 28, 2016
Just experienced a similar condition as the OP in winterizing - everything seemed hooked up correctly, valves thrown appropriately- but no AF flowing. Solution: pulled out the line that sucks from the AF bottle, and there was a kink in it. Problem solved.
Harvey51
Explorer
Nov 28, 2016
Same here. I have a meter long clear plastic tube on the bypass, fill it with pink stuff using an empty syrup container with a small squirter cap. Once it primes, slip the tube into the jug held well above the pump until it is working well.

Actually this year I didn't have to do that because I put a new membrane in the pump last spring. Now it primes itself right out of the jug.
Z-Peller
Explorer
Nov 21, 2016
When BIL winterizes his, he has to prime the pump and hose or it will not pump the anti-freeze. If the suction hose to the af is not primed the pump will run continuously but will not pump anything.

Once the suction line gets primed, then there is no issue.

YES THIS.....
it was standard procedure to prime every time on my old camper. Lifted hose up and used a small funnel to fill, bump pump switch a couple of times to get fluid into pump, then put hose into pink stuff jug and turn on pump.
bguy
Explorer
Nov 21, 2016
I recently had to prime the winterizing hose on my friend's trailer.
trailerbikecamp
Explorer
Nov 20, 2016
When BIL winterizes his, he has to prime the pump and hose or it will not pump the anti-freeze. If the suction hose to the af is not primed the pump will run continuously but will not pump anything.

Once the suction line gets primed, then there is no issue.
AJR
Explorer
Nov 20, 2016
I have two valves by the water pump. One shuts off flow from the water tank. The other allows the pump to pull from the antifreeze hose. I had never seen this setup before and at first was just pulling air from the water tank.
Dick_B
Explorer
Nov 20, 2016
Next time don't drain the Fresh Water tank until you have established a prime in the pump for the antifreeze.
Bumpyroad
Explorer
Nov 19, 2016
CMunrock wrote:

Do I need to test if it will pump water from the tank? We haven't used the pump for a long time, since we usually use campground water.

It wouldn't hurt to try it if you aren't sure the pump is actually working.
bumpy
brirene
Explorer
Nov 19, 2016
The gurgling is air being purged. It's what you want. Let it gurgle until af flows. Your pump should be pumping af while that's happening.