Background: Up until this year, we had a Jayco pop-up. We never ran water through the camper, thus never bothered with winterizing.
However, now that we have a 2014 Roo 233S, we indulged in the luxury of running water.
This means my first adventure into winterizing.
After much reading of the manual and online in this forum, I bought 5 gallons of RV Antifreeze from Camper's Inn and launched upon the endeavor.
I felt I would add my wisdom from experience to the forum in the event other newbies have similar questions. Here are things that I learned along the way:
-There are TWO low point drains to open, one for hot and one for cold. My cold was tucked behind the running cover and not easily seen.
-Be sure to open all the valves (sink, shower) when the low point drains are open to ensure they drain fully (need to break the vaccuum!)
-Not normal, but the cap for my fresh water tank was missing.
-Very not normal, when I opened the door to access the water heater, a tank cap fell out from... somewhere. I think it was tucked into the running board near the low point drains. Providential, given I was short a cap.
-1 and 1/16" socket with extension and breaker bar to get the stubborn anode rod out of the tank.
-Unscrew the right-hand hinge on the access door to the water filter area. The door then swings open for you to do your work.
-Have a towel and bucket handy to dump the water from the water filter housing. Keep the towel on the floor under the housing location for extra drips.
-Use the plastic wrench that came with the camper (might be hidden in a Forest River velcro bag) to remove and reinstall the filter housing.
-Leave the access door open as this will give you a good view to the antifreeze as it runs through the filter housing.
-Best way to access the back of the water heater: lower the back of the couch, then lift the couch seat to get at the valves. Be sure to lower the leg on the back of the couch to support you as you are reaching into the valves.
-The shower valves turn inward to close. That is, the left-hand valve turns clockwise, and the right-hand valve turns counter-clockwise. If you have them turned the same direction, then one of them will be open.
-I chose to not use the antifreeze inlet this time. I poured the antifreeze into the fresh water tank to pump it through the lines. You'll want a funnel to get the antifreeze in.
-If you don't have a funnel, a turkey baster (with the rubber end removed) will serve as a reasonable funnel.
-Be sure to keep 1 or 2 gallons to pour directly into the grey/black tanks, as recommended by FR.
-After pumping through the lines, you'll want to backfill the city water inlet. You do this by carefully removing the screen on the inlet. There is a white peg. You push this in to backflow the antifreeze through the city inlet.
-The antifreeze will come out at HIGH PRESSURE. Do not stand in front of it, lest you get soaked with water and antifreeze. Do not look straight into the valve as you press in, as you will get a face full of antifreeze. AT HIGH PRESSURE. It didn't sting or burn... but it was not at all pleasant.
-Don't forget to put the screen back into the city water inlet.
-Don't forget the outside shower, both hot and cold valves.
-Don't forget to flush out the toilet.
-Don't forget to turn off the water pump.
That's pretty much my list of what I learned this year. Next year: using the antifreeze inlet.
-t