Winterizing my 2016 Isata 3 this year and want to get it right!

[Barch]

Originally Posted by caswelld

Sorry, they don't call it a filter, it is a "strainer" in the operation manual diagram. The strainer is the white casing on the right. It just unscrews and contains a screen material.

I also thought 30-40 psi air would blow it out, but when I unscrewed the screen case, it had water in it. I even ran the pump for 30 seconds or so with the air attached & the strainer had water in it

I don't recall a strainer on other RV pumps, and maybe most of the time air will blow out the water, but it didn't on mine.

Pumping antifreeze into the system takes care of this

Thanks for the clarification. Now it all makes sense. BC says above that the strainer is optional. Did you add it?

[Barch]

Originally Posted by bclemens

Yes, that strainer is optional, but highly recommended to keep debris out of the pump. I seem to recall at a time, that if you used the strainer it increased the warranty period. Either from 90 days to one year or from one year to two years.

The mind is a terrible thing to...something or other.

Thanks for the information Brian. You mention that the strainer is optional. Does that mean that it is not installed by the factory or is an option that was installed by the factory? Specifically, can you tell me if the water pump in my 2019 ISATA 3 FW delivered in May has the strainer or not? Thanks as always .
Pat

[bclemens]

Yes, I should correct. It is optional for an OEM as the strainer does not come attached to the pump. We install the strainer in 100% of our units.

[Barch]

Originally Posted by bclemens

Yes, I should correct. It is optional for an OEM as the strainer does not come attached to the pump. We install the strainer in 100% of our units.

Thanks Brian. Your response and the observations by caswelld clarify the issue. If you want to winterize with air alone, you will need to remove/empty the water pump strainer after doing so. As FFred says the pump is not easily accessible to remove the strainer and the Pink antifreeze is a mess and hard to get out of the system in the Spring and I agree.
Maybe the best option would be to winterize with antifreeze and then with air following your generic Dynamax protocol draining all of the remaining antifreeze out the low point drains.

[Bill Davis]

Originally Posted by bclemens

This is what our guys do. They sort of hook it up, and go about their business. Aqua-Hot tells you to use antifreeze. I know some people prefer that...just passing on what our techs seem to prefer.

1. Open fresh water tank drain
2. Open all faucets to medium warm/cold
3. Apply air to white water hose 40 PSI
4. Alternate faucets cold-hot every 5 minutes
5. After 20 minutes, open hot & cold low point drains located in water bay, shut off faucets & continue to blow out lines for 5 minutes
6. Remove air, leave faucets cracked open and low point drains open.
7. Drain holding tanks and water heater (leave filter out on Truma)
8. remove ice maker line from back of refrigerator and drain.
9. Pour ½” gallon RV antifreeze down all drains and toilet
10 Winterization Complete

Something else you may want to add. On the kitchen faucet open and close the sprayer while blowing air through system. I saw some broken faucets last winter on the forum because of trapped water in the sprayer head. Can anyone confirm this?

[MichCamper]

I'm getting ready to winterize my 2018 REV 24TB. Reading the original post, I see that a filter is mentioned for the Truma system. My REV has the Truma Combi but I cannot find a filter on it. Nothing mentioned in my manual. Have I missed something (been one of those days)

[pgeraghty]

MichCamper - I don't know about the Truma Combi - I have the Truma AquaGO, the filter is cylinder shaped and you first open the Easy Drain Lever - the filter is right there, you simply pull it out.

[bclemens]

There is no filter on the combo.

[MichCamper]

Thank you both!

[JimParker256]

One comment about the OP's checklist... I don't have a "whole house" water filter, but in reading winterization instructions, I generally see the recommendation to remove the filter from the canister BEFORE running the pink anti-freeze through the system. I always assumed that's because the filter might clog from the "goop"...

[5picker]

Originally Posted by JimParker256

One comment about the OP's checklist... I don't have a "whole house" water filter, but in reading winterization instructions, I generally see the recommendation to remove the filter from the canister BEFORE running the pink anti-freeze through the system. I always assumed that's because the filter might clog from the "goop"...

Jim, I hate to derail this thread any further because we are in the Dynamax section and your profile shows a Wildcat 5th wheel and while you are asking about winterizing it is something a bit different than the OP intended.

But, no, the recommendation to remove the filter element isn't because of any 'goop'. R/V antifreeze doesn't have what I'd call 'goop' in it but it will saturate the element and make it very hard to flush the antifreeze out of it for reuse.