Another winterize question....
So my trailer has an "inlet" on the side that says anti-freeze inlet. There are 3 (shutoff/diversion) valves. 1 to the tank (I believe) 1 on the red water heater line and one on the blue water heater...
Forum Discussion
Not sure exactly how yours is set up, but the "method" is the same for all of them.
Before doing anything, turn off your on-board fresh water pump.
1st, you bypass the water heater. (Normally, you shut it off first and drain it, then by-psss it so no anti-freeze goes into the tank.
2nd, you attach a hose for the RV antifreeze. It sounds like yours has a separate inlet, so you do not have to remove the pipe going directly into the water pump.
3rd, considering it sounds like yours has a separate valve, another one of those valves will flip the inlet for the water pump from the fresh water tank to the RV anti-freeze hose. Or run a completely separate line directly to the inlet to the water pump that goes into the anti-freeze container. This accomplishes the same thing. It turns off the hose going to the fresh water tank and the pump cannot pump any more water (or air) from the fresh tank, but it will now pump from the anti-freeze inlet.
4th, you insert the other end of that hose into the container holding the RV anti-freeze.
5th, you turn on the water pump. Your system should still be filled with water. This way you don't loose your water line prime. A lot of folks drain and blow out lines first. They drain the low points and get as much water out of the system first. But I have found doing so, runs the risk of loosing the water pump's prime and then its more difficult getting the water pump to start sucking (the anti-freeze) again.
6th, the pump may run for just a second or two, just like it does when it pumps from the fresh water tank and the lines are all pressurized again, except the water heater is now bypassed. (step 1 above). And you will see the (pink stuff) RV anti-freeze has started to suck up into the hose, into that inlet.
7th, now that the lines are all pressurized again, go around to each water faucet, toilet, outside shower, and low point drain. Turn on the cold (or hot) faucets first on all spigots until all "pink stuff" and no diluted water starts flowing. Then do the same with the opposite. Do all hot or all cold before doing the other.
8th, as a precaution, I usually go around a second time and let a little more (pink stuff) flow on both hot and cold.
So, it sounds like you have 3 valves:
One flips the water pump inlet from the fresh water tank to the RV anti-freeze line and back again. One by-passes the water heater. If you DO NOT have a gravity fill port, the 3rd valve is for flipping the incoming garden hose from running the water from the garden hose all the time, or flipping it fills the fresh water tank, which has nothing to do with winterizing, except you want the fresh water tank empty, as well as the water heater.
Hope this helps.
Before doing anything, turn off your on-board fresh water pump.
1st, you bypass the water heater. (Normally, you shut it off first and drain it, then by-psss it so no anti-freeze goes into the tank.
2nd, you attach a hose for the RV antifreeze. It sounds like yours has a separate inlet, so you do not have to remove the pipe going directly into the water pump.
3rd, considering it sounds like yours has a separate valve, another one of those valves will flip the inlet for the water pump from the fresh water tank to the RV anti-freeze hose. Or run a completely separate line directly to the inlet to the water pump that goes into the anti-freeze container. This accomplishes the same thing. It turns off the hose going to the fresh water tank and the pump cannot pump any more water (or air) from the fresh tank, but it will now pump from the anti-freeze inlet.
4th, you insert the other end of that hose into the container holding the RV anti-freeze.
5th, you turn on the water pump. Your system should still be filled with water. This way you don't loose your water line prime. A lot of folks drain and blow out lines first. They drain the low points and get as much water out of the system first. But I have found doing so, runs the risk of loosing the water pump's prime and then its more difficult getting the water pump to start sucking (the anti-freeze) again.
6th, the pump may run for just a second or two, just like it does when it pumps from the fresh water tank and the lines are all pressurized again, except the water heater is now bypassed. (step 1 above). And you will see the (pink stuff) RV anti-freeze has started to suck up into the hose, into that inlet.
7th, now that the lines are all pressurized again, go around to each water faucet, toilet, outside shower, and low point drain. Turn on the cold (or hot) faucets first on all spigots until all "pink stuff" and no diluted water starts flowing. Then do the same with the opposite. Do all hot or all cold before doing the other.
8th, as a precaution, I usually go around a second time and let a little more (pink stuff) flow on both hot and cold.
So, it sounds like you have 3 valves:
One flips the water pump inlet from the fresh water tank to the RV anti-freeze line and back again. One by-passes the water heater. If you DO NOT have a gravity fill port, the 3rd valve is for flipping the incoming garden hose from running the water from the garden hose all the time, or flipping it fills the fresh water tank, which has nothing to do with winterizing, except you want the fresh water tank empty, as well as the water heater.
Hope this helps.
