De Winterizing

[srandall]

We plan to take our first trip of the year this weekend and have to de winterize. We bought it in October so we have never gone through the process yet.

We know we have to flush the system and turn the by pass off to the water heater

Any other suggestions?

Thanks

[rogue]

Before turning the by pass off, you may want to check the hot water tank Anode, it might also be a good time to sanitize your fresh water tank, check battery water level, hydraulic level, Tire pressure.

[H. John Kohl]

Definitely make sure the Hot water electrical and propane switch is OFF until you have filled the hot water tank.
If you have anti freeze in your water lines leave the hot water by pass on and apply water until the lines are clear.
Then turn the by pass off and fill the hot water tank. I found the easiest way once the by pass is off and water pressure is there is to open the kitchen hot water faucet or any of them. Let the air flow out (could take 10 to 15 minutes) until you have water depending on the supply pressure.

Your brakes should be checked and axle bearings greased. (This is on older units.) You did not state the year of your Monty only that you got it in Oct.

Cheers,

[RKassl]

Is it a waste of money to have my wheel bearings repacked and breaks adjusted every Spring. We probably put less than 3000 miles per season.

What do you think?

[kmh3212]

I have to agree about repacking the bearings. I might adjust the brakes though.

[Waynem]

From the Army Corps Of Engineers:

"b. Bleeding, migration, syneresis. Bleeding is a condition when the liquid lubricant separates from the thickener. It is induced by high temperatures and also occurs during long storage periods. Migration is
a form of bleeding that occurs when oil in a grease migrates out of the thickener network under certain circumstances. For example, when grease is pumped though a pipe in a centralized lubrication system, it
may encounter a resistance to the flow and form a plug. The oil continues to flow, migrating out of the thickener network. As the oil separates from the grease, thickener concentration increases, and plugging gets worse. If two different greases are in contact, the oils may migrate from one grease to the other and change the structure of the grease. Therefore, it is unwise to mix two greases. Syneresis is a special form of bleeding caused by shrinking or rearrangement of the structure due to physical or chemical changes in the thickener."

My personal opinion is that if you store your trailer and do not have motion on the wheels, that after a period of time the grease degenerates as quoted above. What is the time frame? I don't know, but if you are mechanically inclined, you may want to repack the bearings. Remember to clean everything out unless you are positive that the grease is the same that is in there.

[srandall]

Sorry forget to put in our rig is a 2007 3075RL.

We just bought new anode and will replace.Was not sure how bad the anode was supposed to look.

Better safe than sorry I quess.

We have heard pro and cons on using bleach for sanatizing,any suggestions would be appreciated.

[rogue]

Here is what Keystone says Per Keystone Manual Chapter 7 Page 42.

Sanitizing the Fresh Water System
Keeping the fresh water system clean and free of any potential contaminations is a top priority. Sanitizing the system before initial use and thereafter annually, or whenever water remains unused for prolonged durations, is recommended. This will help keep the water system fresh and discourage harmful bacterial or viral growth. To sanitize your system, perform the following:
1. Drain the tank by opening the low point drain for the fresh water tank.
2. Prepare a chlorine bleach solution of ¼ cup to one gallon of water for every 15 gallons of tank capacity.
Example: Use 2 ¾ gallons of the solution for a 40-gallon tank. If using Ultra bleach concentrations, reduce bleach to 1/8 cup to one gallon of water.
3. Add solution to tank and fill with water. Open each faucet/fixture until a distinct chlorine odor is smelled. Close faucets and let stand 4 hours.
4. Drain system and flush with fresh water until chlorine odor and smell is gone. (If a water filter has been added, change it at this time).

Some people use Vinegar. Its your rig, you need to do what works for you.

[Icehouse]

We use bleach. Just did that this past Saturday. Moved from one campground to another and wanted to clean our fresh water tank. (Using well water with no info on the depth of the well). We had been buying water to drink. Left a couple of gallons in the tank, added the appropriate amount of bleach and drove. Got to the new campground, bled the lines, filled the tank through the filter and drained. Good to go.
I have also hear vinegar works. Never tried it.
T

[BB_TX]

I would get one of the water heater flush wands from CW or other RV parts dealer. We bought our 3075 last July and used it a total of 13 days before we had to put it up for the winter. De-winterized last week. I used the wand to flush the water heater and was amazed at how much crude came out of it. Left a white streak of cystal lookihg stuff all the way across a parking lot were I was parked.

[srandall]

Thanks for all the suggestions.

I think we are going to go ahead and use the bleach solution.

We also bought a new annode and the water heater wand to flush the hot water heater.

We were going to de winterize this week as we had our 1st reservations of the season this weekend but due to the weather here in SW Missouri our trip is off.

This morning sleat

Thanks

[Exnavydiver]

We have been on the road for 6 months, two weeks after we got the new rig. I have been reading all the postings since mid July and decided that even though I haven't had to do a winterize to the rig and we have used water from places from Ill. to Mo. to La.and across I-10, Ga, Va, NC,SC, you get the idea so I decided to flush the water heater and check the anode. Ours is about 8 inches long and 3/8 in diameter. it shows a fair amount at the base to the 1 inch area. The rest is just a little pocked. There was a fair amount of mineral trash inside the opening and I thought it would be a problem to remove but I tried just turning the water to the heater back on and as it filled I used the wand to blast it into solution with the water coming out the hole. That worked great. Re taped the threads and installed the anode. Damn, I didn't know how long it took to refill a 12 gallon heater. Every thing went as planned and the heater is back online and up to temp. I had to run the hot water in the kitchen for a few seconds as there was a small bit of mineral trash in the lines. That wand works great by BTW. I haven't treated the FW tank since we first loaded out so I guess we should do that sometime this next week. We have used the fresh water tank a lot this trip, especially during those sub freezing nights you get sometimes even in south Ga. I will eventually install some pump dampening hose loops soon too. It would be nice to get one of the variable speed pumps eventually too.