Another winterize question....

[campermama]

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 line.

I do not know how to use this anti-freeze inlet. Do I turn all the valves, drain water heater, put anti-freeze in the inlet and run the pump? Then also pour some down the drains as usual?


Thanks!!

I looked for videos but couldn't find anything using the inlet.

[Mickeyfan0805]

campermama wrote:

whiteeye42 wrote:
you buy a hose and cut it so you a a section of hose with the correct fitting to hook up to your trailer then place the cut end into the jug of antifreeze and turn your pump on and it should suck it up as long as you have the valves in the right position

And then does it pump it through your system from there? So you turn on faucets inside and let it come through? Thx!

Yes - that is correct.

[campermama]

whiteeye42 wrote:
you buy a hose and cut it so you a a section of hose with the correct fitting to hook up to your trailer then place the cut end into the jug of antifreeze and turn your pump on and it should suck it up as long as you have the valves in the right position

And then does it pump it through your system from there? So you turn on faucets inside and let it come through? Thx!

[whiteeye42]

you buy a hose and cut it so you a a section of hose with the correct fitting to hook up to your trailer then place the cut end into the jug of antifreeze and turn your pump on and it should suck it up as long as you have the valves in the right position

[campermama]

Anybody? I have no idea how you are supposed to get the anti freeze into the inlet that has a standard hose fitting connection.

[campermama]

DutchmenSport wow great instructions! Thank you! But as MitchF150 mentioned above....the anti freeze inlet is a standard hose fitting connection, so what pumps the anti freeze into it?

[MitchF150]

My new TT has an outside RV Antifreeze connection at the rear where the city water and black tank flush connection points are.

I have no idea how it works! It's just a standard hose fitting connection, so what pumps the AF into it??

I have zero access to the HW tank except for the outside cover. I know where it is and I can see it, by opening a drawer, but there is no access to it and from what I can see, I don't see any bi-pass valves on the lines anyway.

Subject didn't come up on the walk thru with it.. I saw it, but didn't ask any questions on it.. Oh well...

All that being said, I've never used RV AF anyway, so not really going to worry too much about it, but of course, that is no help for you...

I'll be blowing out the lines here in a week or so as that's what works for me.

Good luck!

Mitch

[DutchmenSport]

FYI, The first time you try winterizing with a new RV, I suggest you have 3 gallons of the Pink Stuff available. More than likely, the first time you do it, you will find it takes only slightly over a gallon. The first time I winterized my current 41 foot 5er, I did the entire process with about 1 and 1/4 gallon. I purchased 7.5 gallons! I didn't know what to expect. The second time I winterized, because we went to South Carolina over Christmas last year and winterized when returning home, it took less than 1 gallon. I still have several gallons left from my original first purchase. I should be good for at least another 5 years!

Another tip! Under your sinks, remove the P-trap and dump it out rather than pouring a bunch of antifreeze down the drain. I do this on both the kitchen and the bathroom sink. Unfortunately, I cannot reach under the shower anywhere. But in my previous trailer, I could.

[DutchmenSport]

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.

[campermama]

Ok so when the pump draws from the anti freeze inlet it pumps it through the trailer wherever I open the faucet right? Sounds logical.

[Mickeyfan0805]

campermama wrote:
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 line.

I do not know how to use this anti-freeze inlet. Do I turn all the valves, drain water heater, put anti-freeze in the inlet and run the pump? Then also pour some down the drains as usual?


Thanks!!

I looked for videos but couldn't find anything using the inlet.

Without looking at the valves, it's hard to know for sure. What you describe, however, sounds more like your hot water bypass than the antifreeze line. My HWH has 3 valves as you describe - 1 cuts off the inlet to the tank, the other cuts off the output. The third open the bypass line.

My antifreeze valve is in a completely different area, right near the water pump. It is a simple two-way valve that selects whether the pump is drawing from the tank or the antifreeze inlet.