Winterizing RV house style Refrigerator Ice Maker

[snoopyf150]

I have a house style refrigerator in my 2017 FR Sierra Coach. Previous coaches had RV fridge with ice maker but believe it or not I did not utilize it. That said can someone give me suggestions on how to properly winterize the ice maker in my Sierra? Do I need to pull the fridge out to do it or just winterize through the fresh water inlet(blew lines down with compressed air) and used on board pump to flush lines with RV a/f as I've done with previous coaches. Thank you for any info you can provide me on this.

[AquaMan]

Do as you've done before, that's what I do. Drain and blow lines, then pump anti freeze through. Run water through door then leave pump on for a few hours until 2-3 cycles of ice have run through the ice maker. All is good! If your fridge has a filter that has to be in place for water to flow, they will usually remove he antifreeze coloring, mine did.


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[snoopyf150]

Thank you. Just a bit confused by your statement. You said drain n blow down lines and pump anti freeze thru system. I'm good with this. But then you said then run water thru the door and leave pump on for 2-3 hours. Doesn't the antifreeze work its way thru the ice maker when I pump it thru the coach water system? Did you mean run antifreeze thru ice maker for a while? I probably misunderstood your comment. Thanks

[ScottBrownstein]

You can do that or dump the ice and purge the water tap in the door and then leave the compressor connected overnight with the reefer on (this wI'll purge the reefer lInes as the icemaker cycles overnight). Then close the pop-up to the reefer and run rv antifreeze through anything else. Take the water filter out and bring it inside after you are done with the compressed air.

[CHICKDOE]

we store our rv at a storage lot that does not have power available. I do have a generator so I can get power to run the water pump and pump antifreeze through all the various lines. this would include through the refrigerator water dispenser in the door. the general advice is to run a couple of loads of ice until you get pink ice. but this assumes that the refrigerator is running and the freezer compartment is cold enough to make ice. to do that with the on-board generator would take many many hours to cool down the refrigerator and freezer and then run the ice cycles. even the suggestion to leave compressed air attached and have it blow out the water from the ice maker line requires that the refrigerator be working. does anybody have any idea how get the water out of the ice maker line without power to the refrigerator?

[Scheinin]

I am also new to this. But if you blow all the water out of your lines, why do you need antifreeze. I would think the little water droplets left in the line would do no damage if frozen. There would be plenty of room for them to expand without breaking anything. What am I missing?

[CHICKDOE]

i don'. t know how to blow the water out of the ice maker line. to blow it out you have to open the valve at the end of the line. the icemaker valve is not manual. it is controlled by as solenoid that allows water to flow once per ice cycle. so you cannot blow out the water from this line. the advice is to run a few ice cycles with antifreeze being supplied to the line in order to get antifreeze into it. my problem is that I do not have power to run the refrigerator for an extended time to complete these cycles.

[ScottBrownstein]

Well, that is an interesting problem. Obviously you already have the RV at the storage lot or you could just plug in and do any number of methods. If you have access to the back of the reefer you will generally find the valve and the 1/4 inch nylon hoses. First pump antifreeze into the lines and hopefully thought the water dispenser on the door...if you have one. Then, disconnect the line that runs from the valve, up the back of the reefer to the icemaker. It will drain by itself since there is nothing in the icemaker it actually connects to and is merely a column of pipe filled with water. With this done you should be fine since the water to the door filled the valve and feed pipes and draining the line up the back did the rest.

Some reefers come with instructions on how to cycle the icemaker manually, but I have never done it. I will tell you that one my icemakers (RV and cottage) there is less water in the feed line than it takes to fill the ice maker. 1 or 2 cycles is all it takes.

[Vince and Charlette]

Don't forget to remove the internal water filter if it has one. I have a Frigidaire Galaxy residential style refer in my 2015 GT. (It works with or without the filter.) While winterizing, I missed it last year and the filter froze and split open during the winter. When I turned it on in the spring, I partially flooded the camper.