Rockwood mini lite 2104 questions

BLTOH · 10-23-2011, 06:10 AM

ok i just bought my travel trailer about a month ago. i am not new to camping but very new to owning my own. I am in process of winterizing and as i am looking at things i am confused as to what i am looking at. I have the by-pass for the water heater which i have switched. i also see a few other hoses with switches but i am not sure what they go to or if i need to do anything to them. before i realized what i did i have 4 gallons of anti freeze that i put in a non-pressurized outlet on the back side of the camper. the city outlet and the anti-freeze inlet or on the back backend which i saw after that fact of putting in the other spot.

so my questions are since i have 4 gallons in the other spot can i just turn the pump on and run that thru the system? also is there anyone out there that if i sent them a picture of what i have someone can explain to me what all the switches and such are? i wish the dealership or i had someone who i knew could just come walk me thru the entire process of winterizing my model and then in the spring preparing it for use. it would be so much eaiser. i have seen videos and such but i am still very confused by some of the process.

MtnGuy · 10-23-2011, 06:43 AM

I am not sure, but maybe you put the antifreeze in the fresh water tank ?? If that is so then you can cut the water pump on and antifreeze will flow through all lines as you open up faucets. The problem will be if you have any water in the fresh tank before adding the antifreeze. RV antifreeze is made to be used undiluted. Any water in the tank would dilute the antifreeze, and make it less effective, with a higher freezing point.

If you indeed put water in the fresh water tank and there was any water in the tank to start, then go on and run the water pump until the tank runs dry, then completely drain the water tank. Be sure to flush that thoroughly next spring to get the residual antifreeze out. Then follow up the diluted antifreeze lines with pure stuff. There may be a antifreeze siphon hose on the inlets side of your water pump.

capucine · 10-23-2011, 06:46 AM

We have a minilite 1809s 2011 that I just winterized yesterday. First I can help you with all the switches you see in your trailer. On the inside you have a switch that control the water pump when you are not on city water. This switch must be turned on if you want water from your fresh water tank. Another switch is for your water heater to turn it on. You leave this switch on after you use it. If your water heater fail to light the red light will come on. While we are still with your water heater you have another switch on the water heater itself if you decide to run it on electricity as well. This feature is a big plus because you save a lots of propane and almost never run out of hot water. You can leave this switch on together with the propane as long as you shut it off at the end. Leaving this switch on when there is no water in your heater will burn the 1440 watts element.For your winterizing you can do it a cheaper way that dumping the antifreeze in the fresh water tank and pump it through the pump. Open the access door near the water pump and disconnect the white hose that come from the water tank at the pump. Then get a adapter that will fit the pump inlet ( the same as your hose from the tank. Attach a piece of hose to this adapter you just bought and fit the hose to your bottle of antifreeze. After you have drained all the faucets and removed the big plug of your water heater including the 2 lowest drain hoses under the trailer just turn the by pass of yout water heater and start pumping the antifreeze on each faucets one at the time until you have antifreeze out of your faucets. For my part I use a compressor to blow all the line. It does a very good job and drain all the line very quickly. Please dont forget to drain the water filter bowl at the end if you do it with the compressor because the bowl will not drain completly with the compressor. At the end just pour antifreeze in each traps inclusing the tub. You have a nice trailer. I was interested on this model also but we decided on the 1809s because of the pull out. Send us a few pictures of your rig. Note that if you decide to do it with the compressor you dont need to turn any by pass valves. Just buy a adapter for your water entry and start pumping air through the whole system. If you have used your pump during the season you still have to do it with the first way but you just have to pump a little bit of antifreeze to fill the pump only . In all with the compressor you need aprx one gallon and a half. Good luck

BLTOH · 10-23-2011, 07:26 AM

Yes it went into the fresh water tank. and there may have been water in the tank but not totally sure. i know there was in the water heater but not sure on the tank. I did not put any water in it myself but i think the dealership may have. the dealership didnt do much of a job of explaining all the in and outs of some of this stuff as i found a cap that goes to the bottom of the fresh water tank in a bag inside the camper yesterday. there also alot of other caps in there so i am alsmot afraid of storing it this winter. it is going in an inside storage so hoping that works for my benefit.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mtnguy

I am not sure, but maybe you put the antifreeze in the fresh water tank ?? If that is so then you can cut the water pump on and antifreeze will flow through all lines as you open up faucets. The problem will be if you have any water in the fresh tank before adding the antifreeze. RV antifreeze is made to be used undiluted. Any water in the tank would dilute the antifreeze, and make it less effective, with a higher freezing point.

If you indeed put water in the fresh water tank and there was any water in the tank to start, then go on and run the water pump until the tank runs dry, then completely drain the water tank. Be sure to flush that thoroughly next spring to get the residual antifreeze out. Then follow up the diluted antifreeze lines with pure stuff. There may be a antifreeze siphon hose on the inlets side of your water pump.

BLTOH · 10-23-2011, 07:32 AM

ok that helps me alot to know i should be able to just run the pump to pump thru. i do not have an air compressor so i have to do all this without. i will take some pictures today when i go to put it in storage today. how many gallons will i need in the fresh water tank to get it thru the system? i have 4 there now and also how long should i wait before i should see something coming thru? it might be that i am not waiting long enough? my intentions was to do the shorter way i just dummied up and figured i might as well finsh it this way and then next year will go for the other way.live and learn type of ordeal this round.

Quote:

Originally Posted by capucine

We have a minilite 1809s 2011 that I just winterized yesterday. First I can help you with all the switches you see in your trailer. On the inside you have a switch that control the water pump when you are not on city water. This switch must be turned on if you want water from your fresh water tank. Another switch is for your water heater to turn it on. You leave this switch on after you use it. If your water heater fail to light the red light will come on. While we are still with your water heater you have another switch on the water heater itself if you decide to run it on electricity as well. This feature is a big plus because you save a lots of propane and almost never run out of hot water. You can leave this switch on together with the propane as long as you shut it off at the end. Leaving this switch on when there is no water in your heater will burn the 1440 watts element.For your winterizing you can do it a cheaper way that dumping the antifreeze in the fresh water tank and pump it through the pump. Open the access door near the water pump and disconnect the white hose that come from the water tank at the pump. Then get a adapter that will fit the pump inlet ( the same as your hose from the tank. Attach a piece of hose to this adapter you just bought and fit the hose to your bottle of antifreeze. After you have drained all the faucets and removed the big plug of your water heater including the 2 lowest drain hoses under the trailer just turn the by pass of yout water heater and start pumping the antifreeze on each faucets one at the time until you have antifreeze out of your faucets. For my part I use a compressor to blow all the line. It does a very good job and drain all the line very quickly. Please dont forget to drain the water filter bowl at the end if you do it with the compressor because the bowl will not drain completly with the compressor. At the end just pour antifreeze in each traps inclusing the tub. You have a nice trailer. I was interested on this model also but we decided on the 1809s because of the pull out. Send us a few pictures of your rig. Note that if you decide to do it with the compressor you dont need to turn any by pass valves. Just buy a adapter for your water entry and start pumping air through the whole system. If you have used your pump during the season you still have to do it with the first way but you just have to pump a little bit of antifreeze to fill the pump only . In all with the compressor you need aprx one gallon and a half. Good luck

BLTOH · 10-26-2011, 01:20 PM

ok i have some pictures..the two of the inside where the water pump is you can see a valve at each end of the blue pipes. anyone know what these are to? i know they are not my by-pass to my water heater as those are up further and i didnt take a picture of those.. i think the one hose may go to the anti-freeze inlet area and the bottom one i am not sure where it goes.. also the little cup thingy on the bottom of the pump does that need emptied ?

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