364TS Winterizing Fridge and Washer/Dryer

[Walte1fr]

Well we had a minor issue with the fridge due to not completely blowing the lines out.
How does everyone winterize their fridge since there are like 15ft of water lines controlled by solenoids?
On that note. How does everyone winterize their splendide washer and dryer?
Just want to be prepared for next season since I had water freeze in the fridge solenoid and that didn’t end up well when we hooked up water this year.

[CHICKDOE]

i'll tell you what i do to the refrigerator. i do not have a washer so can't comment on that. our refrigerator has an internal water filter. i take it out and put it a 'dummy filter'. i had to buy this and it is just a filter canister without any filter material in it. buy you need it installed to allow water to flow through the refrigerator. i then winterize all my plumbing lines sucking in antifreeze. i go to the refrigerator and put a bowl under the in door water dispenser and just let water flow into it until it is dispensing antifreeze. i'm concerned about the ice maker as i don't know how to force water through it. some will say run a couple of cycles of ice after you have the antifreeze in the refrigerator line but we do not have electrical power at our storage location to do this. so far no problems. removing the antifreeze is basically the reverse sequence. last step is to remove the dummy filter and reinstall the regular filter. also, we get freezing weather but not real low or for real long.

[Walte1fr]

Awesome thanks. I don’t like using the antifreeze. I’ve just blown my air out so maybe that’ll still work. Where do you get the dummy filter?

[CHICKDOE]

it depends on the make of the refrigerator. go the the manufacturers web site and look up your model. some have dummy filters, other have bypass plugs. basically they are designed to let the refrigerator still circulate water through them without requiring a filter element in the refrigerator itself. the manufacturers say you can use this option if perhaps you already have a 'whole house' filtering system.

[Walte1fr]

Ahhh we do have a whole house filter also

[jhnstphn]

We have the same washer in our Georgetown, and we found out the hard way this year about winterizing. We didn't actually winterize the unit ourselves. It was actually in the shop for a number of other repairs, and we asked the shop to take care of the winterizing, since it was already there. They apparently forgot about the washer, which resulted in a broken pump. When I spoke to the manufacturer about getting a new pump, he explained that in the future we actually have to run a cycle (no clothes) with the antifreeze in the lines to ensure that the antifreeze gets into the pump. If there is water left in the pump and it freezes, that's pretty much the end of the pump, which is what happened to us. When de-winterizing, you have to run at least one cycle again (again no clothes), much like the refrigerator's ice machine, to rinse out the antifreeze.

Replacing the pump is generally not a big deal and doesn't require a lot of expertise, but in the case of our Georgetown, the unit is in a closet in the back bathroom, and there isn't enough room in the bathroom to remove the unit. The washer was wider than the bathroom door. We had to take it back to the dealer, who I think actually removed some of the door frame to get the unit out. It was a much bigger deal than Forest River might have imagined. Never a good plan to seal a large appliance in a closet with no way to get it out.

Hope that helps.

[Jack350]

Following... Have a new residential fridge with water and ice. Really concerned about winterizing this fall. Looking for any detailed tips. Thanks

[tbarb]

We have the Splendide washer and dryer. I Looked at the directions in the owners manual but I actually checked online under the model number and found a step by step instruction also. It was easy, as you start a wash cycle then stop it. Drain it and it will pull the antifreeze through the lines and the pump. It worked well because the day we pulled it out of the heated barn and headed down the road it was well below zero and stayed below freezing for the next two days. No issues.
The fact that I had forgotten to winterize the washer came in the middle of the night about a day before our departure. One of those wake up at 2:00AM deals and, Oh my Gosh. Just lucky or we would have had a mess.