Wildwood 230bhxl 2017

[Jonp154]

Recently purchased Wildwood 230bhxl. Owners guide is very vague and pretty general. I'm unable to locate the water bypass valve to winterize, anyone know its location on this model or have other suggestions.

[contourcrazy]

My 2016 261bhxl did not have a bypass installed. I will be installing one this year when I winterize.

[Jonp154]

Wow...i assumed they all had them

[mulltrr]

My 2014 282 bhis did not come with a bypass added it myself.

[Jonp154]

Can you winterize the RV without a water bypass?

[contourcrazy]

I put three Galloons of RV antifreeze in fresh tank pressurized the lines with the pump and then flushed the heck outbid it come springtime. This year I am installing the bypass I was caught off guard with dropping temps and it was the lesser of the evils


2016 Wildwood 261 BHXL
2012 Ford F-150 XL 5.0L

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[Scotty]

Originally Posted by Jonp154

Can you winterize the RV without a water bypass?

You can, but if you don't have a bypass then you will end up filling the WH, which takes and additional 6 gallons, plus roughly 3 or 4 more gallons so pump can pick up from tank. Can pick up a bypass kit from most any RV store fairly cheap. https://www.amazon.com/Camco-35953-S.../dp/B000BQUJL8. Also recommend install a Pump Converter Winterizing Kit https://www.amazon.com/Camco-36543-P...ANVTSQH3E2KCR0. You won't be sorry.

[Jonp154]

Thank you for the advice. So if I understand you correctly. Without a bypass I would need about 9 gallons of antifreeze ?

[contourcrazy]

I was able to get by with about 3.5 gallons on my 2016 261BHXL. I even have the out door kitchen sink too.

[Sebourn]

Originally Posted by Jonp154

Recently purchased Wildwood 230bhxl. Owners guide is very vague and pretty general. I'm unable to locate the water bypass valve to winterize, anyone know its location on this model or have other suggestions.

We have the 2016 model and it has the water heater bypass located beneath the lower bunk at the rear of the of the trailer behind the water heater. Once the bunk matress is out, there are 4 screws holding the chipboard down over the rear half. Once that is removed, you can reach the valves but they are hard to reach. This was not explained to us during our walk thru and as a result, our first camping trip last Fall did not have hot water. Even after looking at it, the valve between the input and output was facing the rear of the trailer and I couldn't see it at all so did not realize it was open.
As for a Water Pump converter winterizing kit, we didn't have one. I have bought a kit but not gotten around to installing it yet. The pump is located below the Kitchen sink. Not a lot of pipe on the intake side so I haven't commited yet to the time to get down and try to install it.

[contourcrazy]

So I may have misunderstood the original post. I was assuming you meant the waterpump draw bypass. Our unit did not come with one of these from the factory. We did however have a waterheater bypass already installed. It is my understanding that you never want to run antifrezze through the water heater. When I winterized I did bypass the water heater. My apologies. This now makes sense to me that someone said it would take more than the 3 gallons of antifreeze. I should have realized this but I did not.