First Time Winterizing - Did I Miss Anything?

[oyarsa]

We finally took possession of our Bullet 247BHSWE! I made it home without hitting anything, unhitched it successfully, and things are going great. This morning I noticed a little bit of frost on everything. The dealer had asked if I wanted them to winterize it, but we plan on going out next weekend and I didn't expect it to get cold between now and then, so I said no. Luckily, the temperature last night barely if at all got below freezing (weather history says it was 36 degrees). However, tomorrow night is supposed to get down to 27. So, I frantically worked to get everything to winterize the trailer myself. Here's what I did...

First I searched all over town for a blow out plug. I had no luck until my last stop at Ace Hardware. They didn't have a blowout plug, but they had a hose adapter for an air compressor. I bought that and some antifreeze and headed home. Turns out I didn't have the right size socket for the water heater, or all the various couplers for the air compressor, and the hose adapter was a female plug. After enough trips to Ace Hardware that they knew me by name, I finally had all the pieces.

Step by step:

- First I relieved pressure to the hot water heater, then opened the drain plug for the hot water heater. The water was coming out, but in spurts. I realized I had closed the pressure valve and opened it up and drained the water heater.

-In the meantime, I opened the black water and the grey water valves. It hasn't been used and the dealer had released water from the tanks yesterday, but I went ahead anyway.

-Under the RV are two hoses. One is blue, and the other red. The blue I assume is the fresh water tank and low point drain? Is the red a drain for the hot water heater? I opened the blue and let it drain. Then I opened the red and let it drain, though there wasn't much at all.

-With these open, I turned on the water pump as suggested on one website I had read. Water drained from the blue hose for quite a while. Being nervous about burning out the water pump, I shut it off after about a minute despite water still coming out of the blue hose.

-I closed up both hoses, the grey and black tank, and the hot water heater.

-Inside the trailer I located the hot water bypass valve and closed it. It wasn't positioned where I thought it made sense as a bypass, but there was only one valve, so I'm sure it was it.

-I opened all of the faucets.

-I connected the air compressor (a 6 gallon pancake) via a 1/4" adapter to hose to 1/4" adapter, quick connect, hose adapter, male to male hose coupler, and the city inlet.

-I turned on the air compressor with the regulator all the way open and let it go till it shut off. Once it shut off, I opened the regulator until it got to 30 PSI. It started back up fairly quickly, but eventually the pressure began to dip below 30 PSI.

-I shut off all of the faucets except one and let the compressor catch up, then went around to the faucets one by one but always opening the next faucet before closing the first. The pressure kept up better, but still seemed to be struggling.

-Next I tried lowering the regulator to about 15 PSI and shutting all of the faucets to see what would happen. When I was confident it wouldn't exceed the 15 PSI, I opened the regulator again, but this time to 40 PSI. I went around one by one to each faucet, again. This time I closed one before opening the next and gave the compressor time to catch up. I did the sink, bathroom sink, toilet, hot and cold through the faucet in tub, hot and cold through the shower head, then the outside shower. At this point I felt fairly confident.

-I unhooked the compressor and closed all the faucets and poured 1 gallon of antifreeze total into the sink, bathroom sink, tub, and toilet (leaving some in the closed toilet to keep the seal from cracking).

-I once again emptied the grey and black tanks.

So how'd I do? One question I have is about the red hose. Another is about a buzzing/humming nose that started about 5-10 seconds after opening each faucet that seemed to come from the city water inlet and/or the couplers I used. Any idea what that might have been?

I've already thought that I should probably open at least one faucet and I need to make sure I closed the pressure relief valve. Anything else I should have done? Should I have ended with draining or blowing out the low point drain?

I'm concerned about the water pump. I'm not sure if I cleared it of water since water was still coming out of the low point drain. If I were to run it a bit now, where would that water go? I assume it would go to one of the faucets and I would then need to blow out the lines again? Should I take the time to find the pump, unhook it from the lines, and run it?

I've taken it to our storage site which does not have power, so I'm hoping I did things sufficiently well.

Sorry for the long post from a newbie!

[hawkeye-08]

I might have missed it, but make sure to "flush" the toilet to get water out of the line and toilet valve.

[NanciL]

oyarsa wrote:
I was debating going back with antifreeze, but I don't like the idea of having to flush it all out in less than two weeks. May be better safe than sorry...

Suggestions of where the water pump may be hiding? It's annoying that all I got was a generic Keystones manual and not a model specific manual.

They love to hide them and make them difficult to get to.
Once you find it, if you are handy you might want to do some handy work and revise things so it is easier to get to.
On one of my trailers it was behind a panel. I removed it, added some hinges and a small knob.
On another, believe it or not it was under the sofa, so it took laying down to get to it.
And on our last one, it was under the kitchen sink and I had to remove a panel beside a drawer to get to it.
It sure would be nice if the designers of RV's owned one before they went to the drawing boards.

Jack L

[xteacher]

oyarsa wrote:
I was debating going back with antifreeze, but I don't like the idea of having to flush it all out in less than two weeks. May be better safe than sorry...

Suggestions of where the water pump may be hiding? It's annoying that all I got was a generic Keystones manual and not a model specific manual.

Maybe this link will be helpful. Arrow over to the video on how to winterize your Keystone RV.

Keystone Customer Service Videos

[LVJJJ]

usually you can hear the water pump chugging away. follow your ears.

[oyarsa]

I was debating going back with antifreeze, but I don't like the idea of having to flush it all out in less than two weeks. May be better safe than sorry...

Suggestions of where the water pump may be hiding? It's annoying that all I got was a generic Keystones manual and not a model specific manual.

[rbpru]

I stopped blowing out the line when i ruined the CG water hose check valve.
I bypass and drain the water heater, open the low point drain, open the valve and drain the fresh water tank all this with the faucets open.

I let the TT drain all night.

Then I plug the low point drains and pump anti freeze through the system. I add a half cup of antifreeze to each sink drain P trap. The antifreeze that drains into grey and black tank during the line flush, ends up in the residual tank water.

Good luck

[DutchmenSport]

Sounds like you did OK in the end, but some steps would have been easier if you would have followed this a simpler plan.

(assuming your black and grey tanks are are already clean)

1. Drain your fresh water tank. You should have a drain valve under the tank. If not pump all the water out via the sink, toilet, or shower. But it should have a drain valve on the tank.

2. Bypass the hot water tank

3. Drain the hot water tank by removing the drain plug-anode rod. Pull the pressure relief valve if you don't want it to bubble and surge as it drains. But not necessary, it will eventually empty.

4. Attach your air compressor to the blow out plug on your city water (garden hose) hook up.

5. (I usually do this with my wife, as my blow-out plug is like a car tire. I have to hold the air hose filler on the stem). Start the compressor, build it up to pressure and attach hose.

6. Second person inside the camper has a cell phone or a walkie talkie and as soon as you start the air, tell them to open one faucet (hot or cold only, but not both).

7. Second person responds back back it quits spitting water and air only. Then do the other side of the faucet, (hot or cold). When it spits noting but air, move to the next faucet, toilet, shower, sink, outside shower.

8. Once you do all the faucets, I like to go over them all a second time and more sure no water continues to spit. This is very quick normally.

9. Disconnect air compressor and now open all the faucets, hot and cold.

10. Now... go under the trailer and open the low point drains, hot and cold, and what little bit is there drain out. Put the caps back or and close them tight so you won't forget in the Spring. I removed them completely one year and forgot. First time we tried attaching water, it kept running out from under the trailer until I remembered .. OH DUH! Low point caps. Then I had to try to remember where I put them.

11. Pour some RV antifreeze down each drain to protect the P-traps.

12. Now, open the black and grey tank valves and let the remaining fluid drain. Leave them open a few hours so everything drains, including the antifreeze. It's now mixed with water in the tank and has no value anyway. Too diluted.

13. Your Onboard water pump. If it has a screen filter on it, take it off and empty the water. (If blowing only ... I remove the pex hose from the inlet and outlet side, turn the pump on for a few seconds and let it spit any water that may be in it. And I leave it that way a few hours, so the inside will dry and then put it back together so I won't forget in the Spring.

This sounds like a lot of steps, but it's really not.

Now, if you decide to "pump the pink" instead of blow, I think it's much simpler.

1. Turn all faucets off.
2. Drain fresh water tank.
3. By-pass the water heater.
4. Drain the water heater.
5. Attach hose to water pump, or if you have the kit already installed, flip the valve at the water pump.
6. Stick hose in gallon jug.
7. Turn on water pump and let it pressurize the water lines until the pump turns off.
8. Then open each faucet, hot and cold, one at a time until "pink" stuff flows and no water.
9. When done, put put back in normal position.
10. Open low point drains. A bit of water will run, but soon replaced by pink. It doesn't need to run via the pump. Gravity is fine.
11. Drain black and grey tank. Contents will be mixed with water and pink-stuff and have no freeze value anyway.

12. You probably do not need to any pink stuff to the drains as they are already filled with pink-stuff, if you let the faucets run for a couple seconds with "Pink stuff".

Done.

One more thing... IT DOES NOT HURT THE ONBOARD WATER PUMP IF IT RUNS and run and runs. (even if there is no water in the fresh water tank). This will not hurt them. You can run them for hours and even days (empty) and it won't hurt them at all. (I know, been there, done that ... and there was lots of discussion on this a few weeks ago on a previous forum thread).

[SparkDr]

If you have one, don’t forget to winterize the outside shower.....like I did...twice...on 2 different TT’s...

[troubledwaters]

Find the pump, put antifreeze by pass kit on it, and pump antifreeze into the lines. That way you don't have to take your compressor and an inverter back to the lot or take your TT back home (but you do need a battery in it to run the pump). Besides that it's a good way to ensure your pump doesn't have any water in it to freeze.

[NanciL]

To me it is a complete waste of time to blow the system out and then use pink stuff too.
All I ever have done in twenty years and three trailers is use the antifreeze.
Drain the water heater, open the low point drains, and open all the faucets.
When no more water comes out, close all the faucets, close the low point drains and by pass the water heater.
Using the on board water pump and a separate tube connected to the intake of the water pump and the other end in a gallon of pink stuff, turn on the pump. Then one by one open each faucet until pink stuff flows out and then close it. Make sure to do the shower, and also flush the toilet until you see pink stuff.
After that put a spoon full of pink into the city water connection (it protects the check valve.)
The whole process takes about 20 minutes.

The fresh water tank has it's own drain valve, and all you do to it is drain it.
The black water tank and gray water tank just need to be drained.
We always leave chemicals with a gallon or do of water in the black water tank when we are done.

Jack L

[oyarsa]

You believe that would suffice? I will in any case, but I would think I'd need to blow out the lines, too...

[newman_fulltime]

as i said leave faucets open and lines

[oyarsa]

Apparently it wasn't thorough enough. Somehow I had it in my head that the fresh water tank drained out of the low point drain. I went to the storage spot and turned on the water pump. Water was coming out of the low point drain as well as a trickle from the tub faucet. Found the fresh water tank drain and drained it, but now I have water back in the lines. Guess I have to either get a big inverter to be able to blow out the lines at the storage spot or hook the thing up, bring it here, take it back and park it. Wouldn't be so bad if I didn't need my wife to help park and if I didn't have to work till 9 tomorrow...

[Durb]

Pretty thorough, better than I did my first time. How about - Washer, dish washer, separate sink sprayer, ice maker or built in water filter? I take the fittings off my pump to drain it. 18 degrees already? Wow.

[newman_fulltime]

just leave the faucets and low point drains open and if it freezes no pressure will build up