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Old 10-08-2018, 04:31 PM   #1
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Pump Won't Prime to Winterize

I have always had a friend help me with winterizing my TT each year but today decided to try by myself. I have a somewhat better than general idea of the whole process but have never done it from start to finish myself. I watched a couple of videos on YouTube as a refresher and then talked to my friend on the phone. We went over my written list to be sure I wasn't missing any steps.

Long story short, the pump would not prime so I could not get the RV antifreeze pulled through the plumbing system. I tried turning the knob both ways on the bypass that should have allowed the pump to suck the antifreeze directly from the bottle but no luck. I turned all 3 handles going to the water heater to the opposite of what they were. The bypass handle in the middle is in line with the water lines now (pointing up/down).

My friend is going to come over and help me since I seem to be at an impasse but I am wondering if anyone has any thoughts or suggestions.

I have a 2015 Rockwood 2608 WS. I had no trouble until it was time to turn the pump on and then no prime.

Please keep the tone of any responses nice. I am a lone female RVer trying to learn to do some of the routine stuff on my TT myself. I'm not stupid but nor am I a mechanic or an RV whisperer (what we call my friend because he can fix pretty much everything on our RVs!).

Thank you!
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Old 10-08-2018, 04:42 PM   #2
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I have had the same problem before....
First, a lot of times, you have to open a faucet to get the pump to start drawing the antifreeze up, if you have a outdoor shower use that.

Secondly, I have had to pour antifreeze into the line using a paper cup, fill it with antifreeze, pour into hose until it is full, stick the hose back into the gallon bottle and turn the pump back on.

Good luck
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Old 10-08-2018, 05:06 PM   #3
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Try setting your jug or pail on a table or ladder rung about the same height as your afternoon port so you aren't lifting the column of fluid 4 ft
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Old 10-08-2018, 05:16 PM   #4
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Start with a full gallon sitting on the same level as the water pump. I am sure you have done this, but make sure you take the cap off the end of the antifreeze inlet hose. I have seen that forgotten. Open a cold water faucet. Sounds like your water heater bypass is correct. It may take 30 seconds to get a good prime.
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Old 10-08-2018, 05:18 PM   #5
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Make sure the tube going into the anti-freeze jug is straight and does not curl up inside...
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Old 10-08-2018, 05:25 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kittlecat View Post
I have always had a friend help me with winterizing my TT each year but today decided to try by myself. I have a somewhat better than general idea of the whole process but have never done it from start to finish myself. I watched a couple of videos on YouTube as a refresher and then talked to my friend on the phone. We went over my written list to be sure I wasn't missing any steps.

Long story short, the pump would not prime so I could not get the RV antifreeze pulled through the plumbing system. I tried turning the knob both ways on the bypass that should have allowed the pump to suck the antifreeze directly from the bottle but no luck. I turned all 3 handles going to the water heater to the opposite of what they were. The bypass handle in the middle is in line with the water lines now (pointing up/down).

My friend is going to come over and help me since I seem to be at an impasse but I am wondering if anyone has any thoughts or suggestions.

I have a 2015 Rockwood 2608 WS. I had no trouble until it was time to turn the pump on and then no prime.

Please keep the tone of any responses nice. I am a lone female RVer trying to learn to do some of the routine stuff on my TT myself. I'm not stupid but nor am I a mechanic or an RV whisperer (what we call my friend because he can fix pretty much everything on our RVs!).

Thank you!
I had the same problem last week when I winterized (first time I did it). What I found was that because my pump was already filled with water, I had to open up a faucet for the pump to be able pull the antifreeze in. Otherwise it is a closed system .
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Old 10-08-2018, 05:32 PM   #7
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basically, turning on any Faucet, the Shower, or the outside 'shower', will then PROMPT or TRIGGER the water pump to 'prime'.... it will not do it without a faucet on, because it doesn't 'know' you want any water, or in your case, 'antifreeze'... : )

and, since you want the pink stuff in all of your faucets and water lines, you have to open all of them anyway, but probably one at a time is best. When you see the pink stuff, close the faucet, and open another one, or the shower.
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Old 10-08-2018, 05:56 PM   #8
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I would think your missing turning a valve off somewhere, on my Rockwood I had the 3 water heater valves and 2 others, 1 was on the fresh water line between the pump and tank, my pump wouldn't prime until I closed that one, happened every year. Once you get to be a pro at it please come do mine, even if's it's only practice for you.
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Old 10-08-2018, 06:00 PM   #9
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Had the same issue this past weekend, lifted my gallon of antifreeze more level to the intake outside and it started pulling the antifreeze right away
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Old 10-09-2018, 02:44 PM   #10
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I agree with those telling you to lift the jug. I found that if its above the inlet it starts drawing immediately. I usually have my wife hold it on a ladder step.
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Old 10-09-2018, 03:06 PM   #11
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Did you shut off the valve from the pump to the fresh water tank?
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Old 10-09-2018, 03:39 PM   #12
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Prime the pump.

On my TT, '05 Surveyor, I don't drain the water tank before I turn the by-pass valve to the AF pick up hose. That way all the pump has to pick up is the 2ft. of hose from the AF jug. When done I open the low point drain for the water tank.
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Old 10-09-2018, 10:08 PM   #13
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Thank you everyone for your suggestions! I'm going to try this whole winterizing thing again. From the suggestions I've read, I think the following may have been part of the problem:

I had the jug of antifreeze sitting on the ground and the inlet on the side of the TT is at about shoulder height on me (I'm 5'6").

I'm going to set the jug on the bumper of the camper, which will put it at the same height as the pump and try that.

If that doesn't work, I'll try pouring a some antifreeze into the hose as one person suggested. My hose does not appear to have any kinks or excessive curve to it so hopefully that's not the problem.

I did trying opening the faucets inside the camper, one at a time, but only succeeded in getting water and then air out. Hopefully raising the jug of antifreeze to the height of the pump will solve that problem.

The pump in my current TT is really, really quiet so it is very difficult to hear it at all (it is located underneath the bed so that can be a good thing) but I figured if it was running for several minutes and not priming, something was wrong and I didn't want to burn the pump up.

As far as valves, I moved all 5 (I think) of them to the opposite position of what they were in before. Besides that, if I still have trouble I'll take a pic of the lines/valves and see if I can figure out how to upload it for a visual for people.

I really appreciate all the suggestions. I have learned so much from this forum and am always talking about the forum to people in my life. The forum has truly been a useful tool for me where I can learn things from people with way more knowledge and experience than me but in a safe place where I don't feel like an idiot.

Thanks again and I'll keep you posted. May not be able to try the winterizing again tomorrow as I've got a sick pet who has to be put down and am trying to get through that first.
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Old 10-09-2018, 10:24 PM   #14
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I've had the same problem a couple of times. Holding the antifreeze bottle up high and tipping it so that the pump has to provide the minimum amount of suction got mine running.

Happy to see I'm not the only person who experiences this problem...
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Old 10-10-2018, 08:18 AM   #15
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Had similar problem when filling system in spring. Replaced pump, no difference. remove outlet fitting and start pump, holding container over outlet as water or antifreeze will immediately shoot out. reattach fittings, will work fine. Really have no clue what happened, this did fix issue, works like champ.
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Old 10-10-2018, 09:40 AM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kittlecat View Post
As far as valves, I moved all 5 (I think) of them to the opposite position of what they were in before. Besides that, if I still have trouble I'll take a pic of the lines/valves and see if I can figure out how to upload it for a visual for people.
First of all, yes please take a pic. I don't think you should have more than 3 valves to turn. I don't know where the other 2 would come in.

Secondly, posting pictures here is pretty simple. Here are some instructions if you need them.

http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...html#post49621
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Old 10-10-2018, 11:08 AM   #17
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One time I ran the pump dry and lost my prime. I saw a small filter with a screen going into pump. I understand un-screwed it an put water in, screwed back on and twisted upside down so that small amount of water would flow into pump. Turned on pump and water flowed.
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Old 10-10-2018, 11:22 AM   #18
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One time I ran the pump dry and lost my prime. I saw a small filter with a screen going into pump. I understand un-screwed it an put water in, screwed back on and twisted upside down so that small amount of water would flow into pump. Turned on pump and water flowed.
Screen won't work very good upside down...

Chances are the crud will go right through and into your water pump.
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Old 10-10-2018, 11:42 AM   #19
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I had the jug of antifreeze sitting on the ground and the inlet on the side of the TT is at about shoulder height on me (I'm 5'6").


This is most likely your issue.
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Old 10-10-2018, 11:45 AM   #20
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Screen won't work very good upside down...

Chances are the crud will go right through and into your water pump.
Not true.

The suction/strainer will work in ANY position.
The water comes in one port and then is filtered by the screen and back out the other port. There is no open connection between the two ports. Not even a bypass. Since the only path for the water to get from one port to the other is through the screen, no crud will get into the pump no matter what direction it is mounted.

The suction/strainer is "typically" mounted with the bowl downward simply to aid in removing the bowl without making such a mess.

Here's a video review of a newer ShurFlo pump.
The suction/strainer is mounted with the bowl up from the factory.

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