first time winterizing my 5th wheel

[shug23]

I've owned my Mobile Suites 5th wheel for about 4 years and have run away from the winter until this year...SO now I need to winterize for the first time...Been watching the You tube videos and understand most of it....I want to clarify a few things that might be unique to my rig...On the input, I have one switch where the city water is coming in, which I can switch to 'winterize/sanitize...Here I am assuming that I dial it to that setting and this will prevent water/antifreeze from going into the fresh water tank...Is this correct ? Then I have another switch/dial which I can change from normal to 'bypass' which is for the water heater and again, I assume will prevent antifreeze from going into the water heater.....SO after I drain the water heater and open the drain plugs underneath the rig, I plan to dial both switches to the 'correct' position....Then, I plan to pour antifreeze via a funnel into the place which takes in the city water...I 'think' I keep pouring until I hear/see antifreeze coming out underneath the rig, and then I close those valves....I then turn on the water pump and go inside and run each faucet, shower, toilet until I see pink RV fluid coming out...…...Does this all seem correct ? I am not planning to blow the lines out with air as I do not carry a compressor. Thank you for any corrections or advise......As far as my batteries go, I have four 'golf' cart batteries...I am planning on taking all four inside a warm house and putting each of them on a trickle charge......I'll put tire covers on...I'm storing the rig on concrete, so Im not thinking I need to do anything special with the tires other than making sure pressure is good

[Dave_H_M]

I conjured up a chunk of hose to go from the outside shower outlet to the black tank flush.

[laknox]

shug23 wrote:
thanks everybody; I think I am in good shape to do this myself...But here is an additional (dumb?) question...The reason I am winterizing is because I bought a home in Oklahoma...I just found out my new home has a 50 Amp hook up already set up for an RV....Now I am wondering if I can somehow take advantage of this hook-up...i.e put a space heater in the RV and one in the basement of the RV after draining, ( I once had a TV screen crack in below freezing temperatures)....I stil want to remove the batteries to put them on trickle chargers inside my new home...does anyone know if , by removing the batteries, I will be able to use the RV outlets to plug in a heater....

Seems to me that an oil-filled heater inside and leaving the furnace fan on would take care of both. Either way, leave all the lower cabinet doors open to keep the cold from "pooling" there. I've read more than one story where someone's had their rig at 50, yet still froze under-sink pipes from the cold coming through the walls.

Lyle

[Veebyes]

I am about to winterise mine. Waiting for DW to finish need for water. We are on own tank. Drain hw by low point or anode removal. Switch to bypass so heater does not refill. Either use a 2 way valve on tank side of pump or disconnect & use a hose with connection to tank side of pump. Do the pink stuff suction thing each outlet hot & cold till pink flows. When all done turn the pump off at switch. Drain water tank at low point. This could take awhile if tank is fullish. Off you go to a dump & drain tanks completely. If like us the trailer will feel amazingly light on the way to storage with no liquids onboard.

[shug23]

thanks everybody; I think I am in good shape to do this myself...But here is an additional (dumb?) question...The reason I am winterizing is because I bought a home in Oklahoma...I just found out my new home has a 50 Amp hook up already set up for an RV....Now I am wondering if I can somehow take advantage of this hook-up...i.e put a space heater in the RV and one in the basement of the RV after draining, ( I once had a TV screen crack in below freezing temperatures)....I stil want to remove the batteries to put them on trickle chargers inside my new home...does anyone know if , by removing the batteries, I will be able to use the RV outlets to plug in a heater....

[garyp4951]

Thats good info, might need an extra gallon of AF.

[djousma]

No problem running af into the dishwasher. It's not just the water inlet, it's also the drain pump as well. Start a cycle, let run for 20 secs, cancel which starts drain. All done.

Same process with washer, just do both hot and cold sides.

[garyp4951]

On a dishwasher I would think you need to pull the bottom front panel, and remove the drain, and discharge connections. i don't know if I would run antifreeze through it to avoid this.
Maybe someone with an RV DW will respond.

[Super_Dave]

One end of hose in bottle and other end to city or water intake fitting.

[laknox]

shug23 wrote:
Sugar Dave....where is the other end of the vinyl hose attached to ? the city water input ?

To anyone…..how do I winterize a dishwasher ?

If your rig is like most others, you should be able to simply suck the anti-freeze directly from the bottle using the pump and a short hose. (You can do the same thing, with the correct valve setting, to suck water into your fresh tank from a spare jug or bladder when boondocking.)

Lyle

[cavie]

Youtube is your friend MANY video for you to watch.

[DutchmenSport]

Here's what I think is going on and how to handle it.

Drain your water heater.
Flip the valve Normal / Bypass to Bypass. This will bypass the water heater.

It sounds like you have a gravity fill port for filling the fresh water tank. Do not put the antifreeze in the fresh water tank. You will have a very, very hard time flushing it out when you are ready to use it again.

It sounds like you have a hose connection to attach a garden hose to the water system. When the garden hose is turned on, your water pump is turned off. And the water runs through your camper via the pressure from the water source.

If you flip the valve to Winterize/sanatize, you will need to attach a different hose. The hose should have the normal garden hose threaded attachment, but the other end should be cut so it can be stuck into the gallon size RV anti freeze.

You now turn on the water pump and it will begin to run, sucking the antifreeze up until the system pressurizes. The pump will shut off. You now go around to each faucet one at a time, hot and then cold and turn them on until clear water turns all pink. Then go to the next faucet.

If the pink stuff is pouring out low point drains, then the low point drain valves are open. Close them, or nothing will ever make it to the rest of the water system.

If pink stuff begins pouring out the bottom of your fresh water tank, then the in-line check valve between the fresh water tank and the pump is failing allowing pink stuff to feed backwards into the fresh water tank.

If you have access to the water pump itself, you might check to see if there is a separate valve there too. One direction would be for the fresh water tank, to suck water up, the other direction would be for the other "in" line that would suck water from the garden hose connection. (my best guess is, there is another valve there that needs to be flipped.)

The bottom line is, I really don't know how your system is designed, I'm only guessing how it might work if you have only 2 valves to flip.

My previous camper had a by-pass valve right at the water heater, and I added the valve to flip right at the water pump to switch from pumping from the fresh water tank or the hose that gets stuck in the antifreeze jug.

My current 5er has a valve for bypass (water heater), and inlet for winterizing (the pump sucks it up there), and another switch to fill the fresh water tank or run "normal" via the garden hose. If running "normal" via the garden hose, the water pump needed to be turned off.

So... bypass, connect hose and insert into antifreeze jug, turn on water pump. Turn on each faucet, one at a time. Try that, see what happens.

[shug23]

Sugar Dave....where is the other end of the vinyl hose attached to ? the city water input ?

To anyone…..how do I winterize a dishwasher ?

[RobWNY]

If you have a Black Tank Flush connection, get some anti-freeze in there too. There's a Anti-Siphon Vacuum Breaker/check valve, usually plastic and situated under the bathroom vanity that will likely still have some water in it as well as the Pex pipe that it's attached to. They sell hand pumps to winterize this part but I just take a piece of garden hose and screw it on to the flush connector and then use a funnel to pour anti-freeze through the hose and into that area. Lift the hose above the connector until it flows in and that should be good. Also, don't forget about the washer/Dryer plumbing if your rig is equipped for them.

[Super_Dave]

Get a piece of vinyl hose and a male garden hose fitting. With the end of the hose in the bottle of RV anti freeze, turn on the water pump and open a faucet. When pink starts to come out, shut it and move on to the next fixture. Remember to do outside shower and wash machine hose bibb if you have one. Have someone outside to help you switch bottles, mine usually takes 2 gallons. Pour the little bit left in the bottles into the drain traps in sinks and shower.