Winterizing water pump lesson learned

[paulmac]

We purchased a 27ft flagstaff late last year was able to get out once with before we put it away for the winter. My wife and I used the "wet" method of winterizing. That is we add about 5 gallons of antifreeze to the fresh water tank, turn on the pump and pump the water out until we get antifreeze out of all the faucets, shower, toilet etc. We have a heater bypass kit and drain the heater. All went well last year.

This year we followed the same steps, but when we turned on the water pump, nothing. You could hear the pump, but nothing was moving. I called a friend of mine who also has had a camper for quite a few years to see if he had any ideas. He suggested putting in the kit to just pull antifreeze out of the antifreeze bottles. So we purchased the kit, and put that in and tried it. Again, pump was running but barley pulling any antifreeze out of the bottle. Like before, we had already drained the heater and bypassed it and removed the water filter. In trouble shooting the issue we found a small clear cup on the water pump that we removed, and we found a metal screen filter in there (who knew?) that was completly plugged with sediment and dirt. Once we cleaned that and put it back in, water flowed as expected again.

I point all this out in case someone else out there faces a similar issue, check the metal screen filter on the pump it might be plugged.

[Witch Doctor]

Originally Posted by paulmac

We purchased a 27ft flagstaff late last year was able to get out once with before we put it away for the winter. My wife and I used the "wet" method of winterizing. That is we add about 5 gallons of antifreeze to the fresh water tank, turn on the pump and pump the water out until we get antifreeze out of all the faucets, shower, toilet etc. We have a heater bypass kit and drain the heater. All went well last year.

This year we followed the same steps, but when we turned on the water pump, nothing. You could hear the pump, but nothing was moving. I called a friend of mine who also has had a camper for quite a few years to see if he had any ideas. He suggested putting in the kit to just pull antifreeze out of the antifreeze bottles. So we purchased the kit, and put that in and tried it. Again, pump was running but barley pulling any antifreeze out of the bottle. Like before, we had already drained the heater and bypassed it and removed the water filter. In trouble shooting the issue we found a small clear cup on the water pump that we removed, and we found a metal screen filter in there (who knew?) that was completly plugged with sediment and dirt. Once we cleaned that and put it back in, water flowed as expected again.

I point all this out in case someone else out there faces a similar issue, check the metal screen filter on the pump it might be plugged.

Thanks for that advice, I owned a boat for 5 years that I traveled half way around the world on,( sail boat of course) over 15000 blue water miles I replaced 3 pumps if I remember right and never new that there was a screen in any of my pumps shur-flo only. just thought they quit on me. I plan to use the same system thanks.......