Winterized "ARE YOU SURE ? " - Montana Owners Club

Mudchief · 11-09-2006, 01:57 AM

Yesterday was nice so I decided to do it. I blew all the lines out with air. Put the blue hose in the jug of pink stuff and turned on the pump. Open up everything until it turned pink. The by-pass was turned to by-pass and the water tank had been drained. Then I decided to see what was behind the white panel of the docking station. As you can see not everything has the pink stuff in it. The bottom line is the tank black water flush. It goes up the wall to the shower head and I assume it comes back down to the black tank so it would be self draining. If I had not used air what would happen to the lines that don't have pink stuff in them? My next project is to find out where those line go to and why they did not get any pink stuff.

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richfaa · 11-09-2006, 02:11 AM

They may well have got pink stuff through them but if they are self draining then they drained. I noted that in our 3400 and on close examination saw signs that pink stuff had indeed been through there.

Emmel · 11-09-2006, 02:48 AM

Mudchief, my advice would be to blow out the black tank flush also. When I use my flush, water seems to come back out the connection after I remove the hose. This tells me there is still water in that line and when you blow out the city water line it does not blow the flush line out. When you blow out the flush line it just drains into the black tank. If nothing else, better to be safe than sorry next spring.

Mudchief · 11-09-2006, 03:23 AM

Emmel, I did that as well as switching the valve like I would be filling the fresh water tank and blowing air that direction. As you can see in the left side of the picture there is a lot of lines with nothing in them. I have never used the pink stuff on any of my other units. However this one has the dishwasher and the washer/dry. So I wanted to insure I got stuff into them and the lines going to them. I don't think all of those lines are self draining lines. My concern is if someone did not use air would there be water in those lines that would freeze.

Parrothead · 11-09-2006, 06:18 AM

Oh, I'm so thankful we don't have to do this. Sounds complicated and a lot of work. Yeah, for warm winters. Saturday is the 26th anniversary of my return to Calif. from Upstate New York. I feel for all of you where it freezes and you get that white stuff.
Happy trails........................

VanMan · 11-09-2006, 06:40 AM

hmmmm - perhaps you could disconnect a line, blow air through it and see where it comes out ?? You may have to turn something on while applying the air (like in the case of a shower). Maybe open everything up that's not flowing pink and then try it.

Mudchief · 11-12-2006, 07:05 AM

Today I checked out the lines and found that there are 2 lines that are not protected. One goes from the docking station to the bottom of the hot water heater. The other one goes from the docking station to the fresh water tank. These lines do not drain good and hold water therefore they will freeze and if they break it would be costly to repair. You would have to drop the belly pan to do this. I am on my way to get the stuff to solve this. I will post pictures when I get it done.

Ozzie · 11-12-2006, 11:59 AM

I was looking underneath our rig this weekend and found another low point drain I didn't know was there...gees - only 3 years I've winterized this rig...oops...and I'm too late as it's full of ice already.

VanMan · 11-13-2006, 01:37 AM

Ozzie - where's the 3rd one? My 305FKS only has 2 that I know of (+ the fresh water drain), but then it's a 2000 model.

Ozzie · 11-13-2006, 10:26 AM

We have a rear kitchen in ours. Check the link in my sig.
That third low point drain is hiding in the back by the kitchen. I would've never seen it, but I was down there digging around for a repair to a jack I need to do.

hazmic · 11-13-2006, 12:07 PM

Are all the lines that you see being used? I have a 3475 and when we ordered it we did not get the outside shower. They stilled piped it so I had about 6foot of unused tubing. I removed it and went back to the tees and capped them off. If I had not seen that the lines would have water in them and possibly froze when it gets cold in Iowa. We need to put the antifreeze in till we get to Texas for the winter

Hemlockusa · 11-14-2006, 12:59 AM

I guess this old man is missing something..... If you drain the hot water tank for winter I leave mine open then. I then hook the compressor up to the outside and have DW inside opening each and every faucet up one at a time as I give the main line shots of air, until each and every faucet is flushing air that includes the flush system of the toilet. If all the lines are flushed with air WHY INJECT THE PINK STUFF???????????????????????? Help me I must be missing something. John

Mudchief · 11-14-2006, 02:02 AM

John, some people don't have a air compressor. I blew mine out with air, but because I have a dishwasher and washer/dryer I needed to get the pink stuff into the pump on both of them. That is when I saw that some lines do not get protected. So for those that use only the pink stuff and have a unit with the new docking station they need to know about those 2 lines. Now that I have done that, I turned the water valves off going to the dishwasher and washer/dryer. Now when I use it this winter no water will get into them. Then when I come home I will just blow everything out like you stated above.

VanMan · 11-14-2006, 02:03 AM

What I've always read was use the pink stuff OR blow 'em out - both are not necessary. Some antifreeze is still needed in the "p" traps though.

Hemlockusa · 11-14-2006, 07:33 AM

OK Dennis - Now, I understand, thought I was missing something and I sure don't want to freeze something up. Looks like your putting the MONTY to bed so no more trips through Topeka.
"""""""""""DISHWASHER""""""""""""" """""""""PAPER PLATES"""""""""" HO HO HO

Safe Travels John

Mudchief · 11-14-2006, 08:49 AM

I'm not going to let freezing weather stop me. I have to test the zero rating they have on this baby.

hazmic · 11-14-2006, 09:00 AM

When you blow out with air thats fine BUT you don't get antifreeze into the pump. The air usually comes into the system AFTER the pump. I blow mine out and then pump antifreeze into the system. If you buy it now it's cheaper after a freeze and I buy 6 or more gallons and use it up over 3-4 years. I just bought some for 2 bucks a gallon. Before it gets cold ,the antifreeze is 4-5+ a gallon. Antifreeze into the pump seems very important to me. The tubing will expand a little but the pump won't.

Mudchief · 11-17-2006, 02:20 AM

Below is a picture of the pump that I used to get the stuff into the 2 lines that were not protected. Thanks to Land Bertram who PM me with the pump he used. It is a drill pump you purchase at Lowes for about 6 dollars some tubing and connectors. I have $10.50 in building this. Hook one end into the City water hook up and the other end into the jug of pink stuff. Next turn the hot water by-pass valve to off and with a high speed drill pump the pink stuff until it flows into the hot water tank. Then turn the valve back to by-pass and next turn the valve that says fill tank to the fill tank position, then pump the pink stuff until it flows out the drain on your fresh water holding tank. Now everything is protected. It took about 1/3 of a bottle to do this.

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dscott · 10-14-2007, 03:44 PM

I'am doing mine tommorrow,Thanks for all the info.

Mudchief · 10-14-2007, 04:11 PM

Thanks for getting this re-posted. I don't know what happen when I tried to do it.

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