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Mikesr's avatar
Mikesr
Explorer
Nov 17, 2017

Yet another winterized question

Ok this is my first wintering question in a long time and it’s kind of something I’ve never ran across in my past 3 TT’s I’ve winterized.
2017 Keystone Outback Super Lite 325BH. Has a Suburban HWH with the single valve for bypass. Got that figured out and worked good, no water in HWH and bypass on. I blew out the lines with small compressor using a blow out plug and the pressure reducer valve. All went well and got out probably 90 percent of the water including low point drains.
Here’s the question/problem. The TT has one of the new single city water/fresh water tank fill valves with the 2 position handle to choose which method. I had the valve in the city water position to do the blow out. After blowing it out and closing all faucets and low point drains I went onto adding pink antifreeze via the pickup tube located at the pump. Turned that valve toward the pickup tube position turned placed tube to bottom of pickup tube jug with the pump on and nothing picked up. So just to check I switched that same valve toward the fresh water pickup side and the gallon jug went empty but nothing at any faucets even the closest ones to the pump. I’m assuming the pink stuff went to the fresh water tank. I was in the process of also gravity draining the fresh waster tank but can’t see how that would have caused the pump not to pickup pick stuff.
Does anyone know if that single inlet valve for city water or tank fill needs to be in tank fill position in order to use the pickup tube ?
I know a long question and I plagued myself yesterday and rechecked myself several times to correct the problem. We just brought the TT back from our fall seasonal site and I got frustrated as the weather was turning from rain to snow pellets and just left it that way figuring I’d work on in fresh some morning.
Thanks for any suggestions or if you have experienced this same problem.

6 Replies

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  • _1nobby's avatar
    _1nobby
    Explorer
    Nov 17, 2017
    rbpru wrote:
    When I blew the water line I used about 20 psi, it ruined the city water check valve.



    As I found out the hard way....those check valves are pretty fragile.

    With the system pressurized....I pressed in that check valve to back flush anti-freeze.

    That screwed it up, too.:)
  • rbpru's avatar
    rbpru
    Explorer II
    Nov 17, 2017
    When I blew the water line I used about 20 psi, at least that's what the gauge said, it ruined the city water check valve.

    Since then I just uncouple the pump intake at the screen and connect a clear plastic 1/2 inch hose. I put the hose into a gallon of antifreeze and turn on each faucet starting with the lowest.

    My TT takes about 2 gallons of antifreeze. I pump another gallon or so to make sure the "P" traps are full. The excess goes into the black and gray tanks.

    Sprayer fittings from the TSC store match my pump connections.

    It take about twenty minutes to winterize. I leave the drain plug out of the bypassed water heater.
  • ScottG's avatar
    ScottG
    Nomad
    Nov 17, 2017
    Muddydogs wrote:
    Stop using the antifreeze and just blow them out, problem solved. In 20 years and 40 trailers under my care I never had a problem with just blowing the lines out. If your going to use antifreeze then why even blow the lines, just pump antifreeze until the water comes out pink.


    X2.
    No more foaming water all summer long very time I turn on the faucet. No more having to flush and flush and...
    Then there's the time I had AF turn into some kind of gelatin all through out my system. What a mess.
    Blowing out is simple, cheap and effective.

    YMMV.
    Scott
  • jamesu's avatar
    jamesu
    Explorer
    Nov 17, 2017
    Muddydogs wrote:
    Stop using the antifreeze and just blow them out, problem solved. In 20 years and 40 trailers under my care I never had a problem with just blowing the lines out. If your going to use antifreeze then why even blow the lines, just pump antifreeze until the water comes out pink.




    ...and I do just the opposite. In 16 years of winterizing my TT’s I have never blown out the lines.

    I turn the valve under the sink to isolate the hot water heater from the rest of the system and empty it. I then pump the pink antifreeze through all the faucets (including the outside shower) until each discharge turns pink...this also takes care of the “P” traps. I do this by myself. Takes 1 - 1.5 gal of anti-freeze and less than an hour of my time. Never had a problem in the spring with cracked pipes.

    In the spring I run my faucets until clear, turn the valve to bring the HWH back in line, and I’m dewinterized.
  • Muddydogs's avatar
    Muddydogs
    Explorer
    Nov 17, 2017
    Stop using the antifreeze and just blow them out, problem solved. In 20 years and 40 trailers under my care I never had a problem with just blowing the lines out. If your going to use antifreeze then why even blow the lines, just pump antifreeze until the water comes out pink.
  • pulsar's avatar
    pulsar
    Explorer
    Nov 17, 2017
    Mikesr wrote:

    Does anyone know if that single inlet valve for city water or tank fill needs to be in tank fill position in order to use the pickup tube ?


    The valve should be in the Normal position, not the tank fill position. When blowing out the lines, one would start with that valve in the fill tank position to blow out that line. Then, change the position back to normal to blow out the other lines. (If you have a black tank flush system, don't forget to blow out that line also.)

    Since you are using a hose at the water pump to suction up the antifreeze, I assume you have the EZ winterizing system. The valve there determines whether or not the pump's suction is to the fresh water tank or to the winterizing hose. If it is pulling antifreeze out of the antifreeze bottle, that is the winterizing position for your pump.

    When suction up the antifreeze, you need a faucet open. Yes, for us, that's a two person job, one handling the antifreeze and one handling the faucets. (And the problem is made unnecessarily harder by not having an on/off switch for the pump near the pump.)

    Your owner's manual will tell you to have all of the cold water faucets open and close them as the "pink stuff" starts to flow. Then repeat for the hot water faucets.

    In our situation, I handle the antifreeze; Sarah handles the faucets and pump switch. She open the cold water side of the kitchen sink and turns on the pump. When the antifreeze appears, she switches to the hot water side. When antifreeze jug is three quarters empty, I knock on the side of the RV and she turns off the pump. We continue through all of the faucets, toilet, toilet since, and outside shower.

    Tom

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