Pump won't draw up antifreeze??

[Lee F.]

I'm trying to winterize my new Montana and I cant get the pink antifreeze into the system. I've gone through the entire checklist and can't figure out what the problem is. The water heater is bypassed, the system has been drained and blown out. I hooked the short hose to the top inlet (Winterize), turned the switch to the Winterize on position, put the hose in the antifreeze bottle, turn the water pump on and it runs but doesn't draw in the antifreeze. I was using the water pump just prior to doing all this and it worked fine. Could it be that because I drained the tank and blew out the system first the pump lost its prime? I tried holding the antifreeze bottle higher than the connection but it didn't help. I'm stumped!!! Any ideas???

[WaltandLynne]

Make sure the connection of the hose to the inlet in the convenience center is tight. If it's sucking even a little bit of air it won't work.

Walt

[Carl n Susan]

Here is a link to another topic on winterizing. That topic has a link to a video from Keystone and yet another topic on the same subject. Hopefully this will help.

http://www.montanaowners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=41611

I would like to help but I have never winterized. We use out Montana all year long.

[c214dick]

Did you open a faucet?

[Lee F.]

I did check the hose connection and it was not leaking air that I could tell. I also tried with faucets both open and closed. I even tried moving the winterize switch back and forth between on and off while the pump was running. Since the tank is totally empty nothing happened either way. I thought about putting the antifreeze into the water tank but that is a problem also since there is only a connection for a pressurized hose. No way to just dump it in with a funnel.

[Sinterior]

If your fresh water inlet switch is in the fill water tank position the pump wont draw properly, or at all.
I found this out this summer when I sanitized the fresh water tank and system and forgot to turn the switch back to its normal position.

[hookman]

I pour some antifreeze down the hose and hold it higher then the inlet to prime the pump. This has worked for me when we winterize if we get a lot of snow. If we don't get snow I just use ceramic heater and go camping once a month.

[BB_TX]

Same as Walt mentioned. I could not get the antifreeze to flow. The connection seemed tight. I tried different faucets and the low point drains, nothing. I just happened to reach over and pushed on the hose connection and it started sucking antifreeze. Turned it loose and it stopped. I tightened it again as much as I possibly could and it worked fine then. Apparently it was sucking enough air that it could not get the fluid started.
My connection has a very thick rubber washer that does not leave many threads for the hose. I am going to see if I can find a thinner rubber washer before I winterize this year.

[Lee F.]

WOW! It's fixed. After reading BB TX's comments I removed the hose and took out the rubber washer with the screen on it. Underneath it there was a tiny piece of debris that looked like a plastic shaving. I removed it, reattached the hose and don't you know, it works fine. I feel really stupid. The very first response from WaltandLynne said to check the connection was tight and not sucking air. I had done that prior and thought it was OK. Should have checked it again. Oh well, live and learn.

Thanks everyone.

[BB_TX]

Don't feel stupid about that. Most of us have done things far worse than that.

[CORattler]

Truer words were never spoken! Glad you got it winterized and educated some of us to boot!

quote:Originally posted by BB_TX

Don't feel stupid about that. Most of us have done things far worse than that.