Winterizing yourself...... - Page 2 - Montana Owners Club

snowbunny · 10-17-2004, 03:28 AM

After the hassles I had last year with winterizing I replaced the check valve on the water heater and blew out the lines before starting. Started adding antifreeze and after a gallon it seemed to be going OK except that the small piece of hose between the bypass valve and the botton of the hot water tank was pink so I figured the valve was set in the wrong position. Turned the valve and antifreeze rushed into the water heater and out the anode hole. Switched the bypass valve again and started the second gallon. Noticed the bypass valve was letting a bit of antifreeze past but as I am 50 miles from a place to buy another I thought I'd continue and hope for the best. The second gallon wasn't feeding. It wouldn't get suction. Checked all the connections near the pump and finally it started sucking (don't ask me why!) After three gallons managed to get bright pink to all the taps everywhere and to the low point drains too but not on the Hot side. I think the check valve may be either backwards or defective (again!) although the arrow on it points to out from the tank which I am sure it should.

I think next year I will blow the lines at 50 psi for an hour and hook a shop vac to the fresh water intake and blow it out too and to he*l with the antifreeze. This is a pain!

Glass Guy · 10-17-2004, 04:17 AM

One more thing that I did not see don't forget to flush the toilet until you see the anti-freeze, it don't take a lot for the flush valve to freeze and crack. Did that a couple of years ago with the old trailer when I used to blow the lines out and forgot to pull the lever to flush the toilet, I did remember in the spring when I turned on the pump and filled the bathroom floor with water. See we can learn from our mistakes. Roman

sreigle · 10-17-2004, 05:25 AM

Jim, I suspect you're correct that something's not right. Getting antifreeze throughout the system should be pretty much a piece of cake. I never noticed whether a little got past the bypass valve in ours. The water heater is a long ways from the pump in ours.

8.1al · 10-17-2004, 07:18 AM

For some good information on winterizing your rv try www.rverscorner.com

vickster · 10-18-2004, 05:19 AM

What a great question Mel! Thanks for asking it and thanks for all the helpful responses. Hubby sure appreciated information as he winterized our Monty. Took him about two hours (first time) and happy to hear time should be drastically reduced during the next exercise! Really liked Glenn's way of winterizing! My kind of guy!!

However, carrying this one step further ....... when we leave for warmer climes in January, we are assuming that you don't de-winterize until we reach areas without threats of freezing. So, is it safe to extend slides while we are packing up Monty in freezing Wisconsin weather? Also, when traveling down the road is it safe to leave the furnace running?

So do any northerner's have any words of wisdom when heading southwest in the midst of north winters???? Thanks.

Glenn and Lorraine · 10-18-2004, 05:36 AM

Vickster, Thanks for the compliment, I think.

From a true notherner here is a guaranteed way to travel south without the fear of freezing lines.........

Head south before the freezing temps arrive.

Worked for me. I had zero problems with freezing lines.

And what do you mean "southwest"?? You want to be heading southeast to get to Florida and our first ever FloridaMOC Rally.

Montana_621 · 10-18-2004, 05:49 AM

You are welcome, we did ours this past weekend and I think it went well, I sure hope so!!! LOL

You can extend the slides and use the unit in the winter as you would in the summer just don't use the water until you flush out the system of anti-freeze. Yes, I would wait until you are in a consistantly warm area before doing the flushing of the system. And yes, you can keep the furnace running while on the road, just set it at the lowest temp to keep it from freezing the lines.....

Also, while on the road if you have to use the toilet in the rig, I would just keep a little anti-freeze in the bathroom and a jug of water to help flush. Pour a little of the water in to help flush and then a little anti-freeze to keep the liquid from freezing.

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by vickster

However, carrying this one step further ....... when we leave for warmer climes in January, we are assuming that you don't de-winterize until we reach areas without threats of freezing. So, is it safe to extend slides while we are packing up Monty in freezing Wisconsin weather? Also, when traveling down the road is it safe to leave the furnace running?

So do any northerner's have any words of wisdom when heading southwest in the midst of north winters???? Thanks.

snowbunny · 10-18-2004, 02:57 PM

Thanks Steve, I agree that something is wrong. It may be that the bypass valve isn't turning completely off. I'll have to replace it next spring. I am sure the check valve is working now because there is no pink at the top end of the hot water tank.The bypass on mine is right next to the hot water tank under the sink and a long way from the pump. It also bothers me that the pump is sometimes losing prime. Anyway, it will all be there in the spring to fix. Now I'll go and light a fire and look at all my photos from the rally.

By the way, did the photo I took of you and Vickie standing on the roof of your Montana to take our group photo make it to the collection? You certainly shouldn't be left out of the group photo!

vickster · 10-19-2004, 08:19 AM

Glenn - you are just soooooooo cute! I totally agree that your idea of preventing freezing lines is to travel south before any freezing sets in. Sure would save a lot of time with all this winterizing and de-winterizing stuff. Besides, all those birds flying south over my roof top, as I type this, can't be wrong!!

As much as I would like to go "southeast" for a change, and participate in your first ever Florida rally, we are committed to "southwest" this year. In addition the temptation to attend the big RV show would be just too great. I don't think my darling Ronald could withstand another one of my "fever" episodes. Got a bad case of "fever" while in Indiana looking at all the really neat Monty's. Think I better stay away from any and all RV shows for awhile. (Need to soften him up a bit more first or have some "woman" talk with Diana and pick up some good tips on how she has managed to convince Colin to upgrade three times within the year!)

Mel - thanks for the little bathroom trick!

sreigle · 10-19-2004, 04:15 PM

Snowbunny, I gave your pictures to HamRad who has the 'master list' of pictures. I also copied them into my collection. FredG also has a copy that you gave them. I don't know if Ken Wiseman had them or not.

Vickster, we left Kansas City (Independence, MO) on 12/29 this past year. We were living in the Montana so had maybe half a tank of fresh water onboard along with water in the lines and some in the grey and black tanks. We headed south just ahead of an ice/snowstorm but had subfreezing weathers 24hrs per day for the first couple of days on the road. We turned the furnace on with thermostat at 45 degrees, the lowest setting. I was thinking if it got that cold in the coach this would keep a little heat in the tank area. I have no idea how much the furnace ran, if at all, but we had no problems with freezing while on the road.
It probably could freeze but since it worked for us this past winter we'll do the same thing when we leave the KC area again after Christmas this year.

vickster · 11-04-2004, 03:07 PM

A great big thank you to NJ Hillbilly in your 10/11 response to this thread regarding "removing the washer/screeen from the city water connection.......". Ronald went out today to double check his winterizing and would you believe the city connection was loaded with CLEAR water and not the pink antifreeze stuff. Ronald did what ever to correct this situation. This is something we would not have thought of on our own. We both want to say thank you for mentioning this important step and saving us from a potential problem that could have been caused by our freezing temps here in Wisconsin.

foggyb · 11-05-2004, 12:44 AM

Hi Being up here in Maine, we are very familiar with what we think is the fool proof winterizing method. After bypasing and draining the hot water heater, We blow the system out then use a 5 gal bucket with a sump pump (house hold submersible) and fill it with pink. We attach it to the city water inlet and pump thru out the whole rig. After that a small amount thru the internal pump and we are done. 20 minutes tops. We do hundreds of boats and rvs each year and have never had a problem. Oops never should have said that. Hope it dosen't bite us. Dan

NJ Hillbilly · 11-05-2004, 04:52 AM

The nice thing now is that Keystone has added the draw line to the water pump so an auxilliary is not totally necesary but You have addressed a easily overlooked problem. I pushed the pin last year and got all the water out and my city water check valve still leaked in the Spring.

Vickster, No problem, that's what we are here for.

John

RVingUSA · 09-10-2017, 07:48 PM

We have a 2011 3400RL and think we need to change the bypass valve but are not exactly sure where it is. Can anyone help with that?

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