Winterization 2016-17

[gbpack]

The blowout method worked well.  First I drained the entire system including the hot water heater and then bypassed that. I was surprised at how much additional water came out of the low level drains when I first turned the compressor on. Then I closed the low level drain petcocks and blew the system out again (which forced everything up towards the sink and shower and toilet). This method seemed to do a good job of blowing out the toilet flush valve, as well as the outdoor shower. Since the system was drained first, there really wasn't much that came out of the kitchen faucet or the shower head. Also made sure to take care of the water pump as suggested above. All I need to do now is pour some antifreeze down the sink, shower drain, and toilet. Overall, I am very pleased with how it went and I am optimistic that we won't have any problems with doing it this way (I guess we'll find out later!!). It will be nice not having to flush the system of pink antifreeze in the spring! Thanks for all of the help!

[mitch]

On my 13 QBB it only takes 1.5 gallons of anti-freeze to get everything flowing pink after draining the whole system.

[pygrydr]

OK-a first time for winterizing.  I drained the fresh water tank, then used the blow-out method with 40 pounds of air, blowing out the hot and cold water drains, then blowing the sink, shower, toilet and outdoor hose connection until just air.  And ran the pump and removed the water heater anode. Any need to change the bypass valve?

TIA

[david]

Just open the bypass valve for just a second and then close it. This drains the slug of water that may be trapped in the ball which can freeze and break it.

David

[drake]

If you're doing the blow out method, any need to take the water pump apart, or can you just run it with air pressure on?

[david]

If you are blowing out using the outside fresh water connection then nothing is blown through the fresh water pump. So after blowing you should disconnect the discharge of the pump, remove and drain the suction strainer and run the pump for a few seconds to let it blow any water out.

David

[drake]

Ah, that makes sense, thanks a lot David.

[pinstriper]

[quote timestamp="1479320604" author="@drake" source="/post/25841/thread"]If you're doing the blow out method, any need to take the water pump apart, or can you just run it with air pressure on?[/quote]If you have air pressure in the lines starting from the city water intake, running the pump is actually trying to push against that pressure. So...that doesn't help get air pushed through the pump.

What I found, after opening the tank drains and driving around for half an hour, is that doesn't fully drain the fresh storage tank. I blew air through the system then ran the pump - got air and gurgling at all the upper fixtures. But when removed the anode and ran the pump, she still threw another 5 gallons or so. I had already changed the anode and drained what was in the hot water tank itself, so this was all coming from the fresh tank via the pump.

I let that water drain fully, let the pump blow and gurgle at its intake for another 10 minutes, then dropped the front of the trailer using the tongue jack, got another 3-5 gallons out. That all complete, I turned off the pump and blew air through again, reinstalled the anode, got gurgling at every fixture, closed them off and opened the anode a third time, got nothing but air and some mist. Turned off the air pressure, opened the sink and shower, gave it 5 minutes for nothing to come out anywhere, then reinstalled the anode again.

Given the amount of fresh water that went down the sink and toilet, I'm gonna take a gallon of anti-freeze, fill the shower tap, then put half down the toilet and half down the sink in the hopes that my grey and back tanks don't freeze.