Winterizing: two water lines no antifreeze! - Montana Owners Club

Montana_1235 · 11-23-2004, 03:53 AM

This past weekend I winterized the Montana. After running 10 gallons of RV antifreeze through the potable tank and through all the faucets I found two lines located under the bathroom sink that did not have antifreeze in them. There are 6 lines under the sink. 2 go to the bathroom sink, 2 go to the outside shower and the last two are the ones with no antifreeze in them and they run up the wall and stop with a weird thing that sits at the top of it. The two lines connect together near the top then about 1/2in. above that, on one line, is where the weird thing is. It almost looks like some sort of vent but how could they put a vent on a line with pressure on it?

Anyone know anything about this? I’m worried that the line has water in it and will freeze. I want to know if there is a way to bleed the lines and get antifreeze in them or is there air already in the lines and they will be ok.

I appreciate any information you can give.

Bill

kdeiss · 11-23-2004, 04:47 AM

That line is valve for your Black tank clean out you do not have to worry about that, If you are getting pink stuff out of all your faucets including out side shower and toilet you are ok. Remember to put some down your traps.
You did not have to add anti freeze to your fresh water tank their is a hose at your pump you just put into the bottle and pump. You just have to open a valve. see your manual

Glenn and Lorraine · 11-23-2004, 07:54 AM

Here we go again. How many times do I have to tell you folks about winterizing? The answer is-- You don't winterize. Do like I do...head for Florida. No winterizing down here.
Also no snow shoveling, no snow tires, no slipping on the ice, no windows to defrost, no heavy winter clothes.

Still_waters · 11-23-2004, 08:07 AM

Glenn....We all can't be that lucky

ken · 11-23-2004, 08:22 AM

Glenn.............
We have ours winterized right now but will be down there in Feb and March. See you then.
Ken and Velda Taylor
Dahlgren Va
2003 3655FL Montana./Ford f350 Diesel

sreigle · 11-23-2004, 08:39 AM

Bill n Pat, I agree with kdeiss about those two lines. When we had a stick home and winterized ours I never worried about those lines and never had a problem with them. Here's a couple more things in addition to what's been posted that you might want to look into.

One is to be sure to run the toilet flush to get antifreeze into the toilet bowl lines. If, after doing that, you don't see antifreeze sitting in the bowl, pour a little in there to keep the seals from drying out. The antifreeze will not evaporate.

Another is to go out to the city water hookup on the outside, remove the little screen and you should see a white pin on the one-way valve. Stand aside and push that pin so the water trapped in their shoots out. Otherwise it will freeze and **may** push the o-ring out of place. Then the one-way valve doesn't work. It's a real pain to get that o-ring back in place. Been there on this one. Twice. It took me two mistakes to figure out why it happened.

Also, it should take only two, at most three, gallons of antifreeze. I'd bet you didn't bypass the water heater and you now have a water heater full of antifreeze. That won't hurt anything, just a waste of your money. If you can find the water heater from inside the coach, there will be a valve on the inlet line at the bottom of the tank. I don't know where the water heater access is in your model. Some models have a liftup door in a kitchen counter. Others have an access panel that requires removing some screws. Our prior Montana, a 2880RL, had a louvered panel like that. You don't need to worry about it this winter since you've already winterized but next time it could save you a lot of antifreeze.

t1mrtork · 11-23-2004, 12:52 PM

Glenn
Could you ship enough of that warm weather up here to fill the montana for the winter? Its supposed to snow here tomorrow. Enjoy the warmth. I'll be dreaming of a day we can come down there and leave the pink stuff behind.

OntMont · 11-23-2004, 01:10 PM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by Glenn and Lorraine

Here we go again. How many times do I have to tell you folks about winterizing? The answer is-- You don't winterize. Do like I do...head for Florida. No winterizing down here.
Also no snow shoveling, no snow tires, no slipping on the ice, no windows to defrost, no heavy winter clothes.

Glenn,

Can't help thinking you are tempting fate with these posts. There has been a lot of weird weather latlely

I hope you don't end up eating your words!
John (in Gulf Shores, AL where it was 81 today, and there is a frost warning for tomorrow night!)

rames14 · 11-23-2004, 02:40 PM

Glenn -

Sorry to hear that you won't be able to enjoy the snow we have coming for Thanksgiving. We will have a nice white Thanksgiving while you're forced to deal with 80's and white sand. Poor Glenn and Lorraine.

Montana_1235 · 11-24-2004, 01:08 AM

Sreigle,

Thanks for the tip on the screen in the city water hook-up. I’ll do that this weekend.

As far as winterizing goes, the first thing I did was to take out the anode rod and open the relief valve so the hot water heater would drain. I opened the bypass valve so the antifreeze would bypass the HWH. I left the anode rod out while flushing the system just to make sure it wasn’t going into the HWH.

I first used 6 gallons of antifreeze and ran it through all the faucets and toilet. We have a Washer / Dryer that I had to winterize also. The only way to get the antifreeze through the lines was to run it through part of a cycle. I opened the drain and drained it into a bucket. In no time it dumped about three gallons, a lot faster than I had expected. I stopped the Washer and checked the lines going to it and the lines were pink. The washer had pink antifreeze in it as well so I know it went through the washer. After doing this, the pump kept running. The antifreeze I put in pumped out below the point of the pump picking up any antifreeze, probably due to the washer pumping it out so fast.

I used 5, more gallons, 4, in the potable tank and 1, used to pour down each drain. When I was finished I went back to check the lines. When I checked under the sink was when I found the two lines that were still clear not pink. There are actually 4 clear lines and 2 white lines in that cabinet. The two white lines go to the outside shower. They “T” off of the lines that go to the bath sink which had the antifreeze in it. The other two lines are still clear and turn up the back of the wall and stop just before the sink bowl. That is where I found the vent or what ever it is. The two lines connect with a “T” coupling just before the vent thing.

I will pull the screen and relieve the pressure on the city line like you suggested. I probably need to blow out the black tank flush line also.

Bill

kdeiss · 11-24-2004, 02:40 AM

I always blow my lines out first before pumping in anti freeze that way you do not have to deal with that check valve on the city water inlet. Just my way been doing it like that for years.

BillyRay · 11-24-2004, 03:32 AM

just a quick helping hint!! make sure when draining that city line connection...very important, make sure that there is NO PRESSURE on the water lines and your pump is off. otherwise it will blow out your oneway valve and o-ring...like I did this year!!!

sreigle · 11-24-2004, 02:45 PM

No doubt different washers are different in their winterizing method. The manual on ours says to pour about a pint (or was it a quart?) of antifreeze in the tub then run a 'spin and drain' cycle for 30 seconds. I did that and didn't have a problem. My dealer told me don't worry about the water lines to the washing machine when winterizing. I thought that odd and was nervous about it but didn't do anything with them and had no problem. You're probably wise, though, to play it safe.

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