winterizing questions

[Kasimar1]

I have a Rockwood Premier 2302 pop up. I plan on winterizing this weekend. Last year I paid a dealer to do it. This year I want to try and do it myself. I have a few questions though. In my camper there are two values near the water pump. I recall that the dealer opened the valves when they winterized it. Any idea what they do? Also, is there something I need to do to drain the water out of the lines where the city water feeds in? Lastly, the temperature is going to get into the 20s tonight. Am I going to be okay that I haven't winterized my camper yet?

[Netcomdude]

Just did mine this past week. I'm sure I got everything but we have different equipment. Start with the low point drains. Pull both caps.Let everything drain. Do you have a 6 gallon water heater. Mine is a Suburban. There is a 1 1/16 nut that is on the the face. Pull that to drain the water heater. There are great "You Tube" videos that other owners post on "how to" for your specific model. Just remember if you introduce RV antifreeze into the system, don't let it enter the water heater as it is corrosive to the inside of it. The valves typically are on the cold water input and hot water output to the water heater with a bypass valve in between. Close off the input and output. Open the bypass. Let me know if this helps.

[Kasimar1]

I'm not sure what you mean by "pull both caps". My camper has a hot water heater. I pulled the drain plug on it and let the hot water tank drain. There are two bypass valves on the back of the tank. One on the cold line and one on the hot line. I switched both of them on. I also switched both of the valves on that are under my sink and next to the water pump. Again, not sure what they do. I presume they drain water from somewhere, but am not sure what water it is draining. I also drained any water I had in my fresh water tank. I guess the next thing I need to do pull the input line to the water pump and attach the hose I have and put the other end into the bottle of RV antifreeze and turn on the water pump. I'd really would like to know what those two valves are under my sink and what they do. I suppose it doesn't matter if they are switched on or not to introduce antifreeze into the system.

[Netcomdude]

The caps I was referring too were the hot and cold water low point drains. Again we don't have the exact same camper but the mechanics are about the same. Drain tanks, drain water heater. Remove water filter cartridge if so equipped. Close off valves so anti freeze can't be introduced into the system. The bypass valve in mine allows the pump to suck anti freeze into the hot water side but not into the heater. Put low point caps back on. Suck anti freeze in with the pump. Open furthest faucets first till antifreeze runs pink from both hot and cold. Don't forget to do the same for a bathroom sink, shower, toilet and outside shower is you have these things. Don't forget to pour antifreeze down the drain traps. I put a gallon in the black tank and a gallon in the grey tank just for drill. Reply if you have further questions. I'll be glad to help. This is my 1st year but I'm confident I did it all correctly. I watched a lot of videos and ask a lot if questions. Good luck. Gordy.

[Netcomdude]

The "extra valves" might be to close the pump off from the fresh water tank and apply its input from the antifreeze input port. It only seems like a nightmare until you do it once. I had apprehension at first but I worked through it.

[Kasimar1]

I know this spring when I was de-winterizing things I noticed water was running out from under my camper when I had the city water hooked up. It stopped when I turned the two valves under my sink the other way. Is it possible they are bypasses for both the fresh water tank and city water lines? Do I turn them back to the way they were last winter before introducing the antifreeze into the system (as I have already done)? Also, I forgot to mention. My camper has a toilet / shower combo. On the cassette toilet there is a reservoir that holds water for cleaning the toilet bowl after each use. How do I drain that reservoir so I can put antifreeze into that?

I found this video on Youtube:

How To Winterize your Pop Up Camper from KEYSTONERVCENTER.COM - YouTube

The camper in the video is different from mine. My hot water tank only has two valves and it is not any where near my water pump. Also there is no button to press on the city water connection.

[Netcomdude]

I'm thinking these are the low point drains for the hot and cold water lines. If they were open, and they are what I think (low point drains) then water or anti-freeze would come out of them. Typically you close them after draining the water out so when anti freeze is pumped in it doesn't just run out

My low point hot and cold water drain pipes stick out of the bottom of the camper and have screw off caps on them. You may have valves under the sink and just bare pipes coming out of the bottom.

We looked at your camper when we were shopping but I didn't pay enough attention to the shower toilet combo to be much help here. Wish I could...... sorry.

[Kasimar1]

Okay, I'm still a little confused. I distinctly remember this spring having to close the valves when I was de-wintering my camper. When I did this no antifreeze drained out, but it did let fresh water in. I would presume I need to switch the values from the way they were during the summer because that is what the dealer did when they winterized it last year for me. Is this correct?

[TURBS]

Summer position.

[Netcomdude]

Originally Posted by f1100turbo

Summer position.

Thanks for the photo. What is pictured is the hat and cold cut off valves to shut off the water supply from entering the water heater. The one that connects across (in parallel with) the water heater is the bypass valve.

In the summer (normal camping mode) the bypass is CLOSED so water goes in and out of the heater.

During winter, the bypass is opened and the input and output valves are closed. This allows the introduction of anti freeze to get to the HOT water side of the plumbing without going through the heater.

[Netcomdude]

Summer = hot valve open, cold valve open, valve across water heater = closed

Winterization mode = hot valve closed, cold valve closed, valve across water heater= open

[BillyBass]

Use a air compressor. Hook it up to your city hook up then build pressure up to 20# no more then open up one value at a time then do that as many times it takes to get all the water out..When done take the screen out of the city hook up and press the value in back up bc you will get wet.Then run your antifreeze in

[Herk7769]

Originally Posted by Netcomdude

Just did mine this past week. I'm sure I got everything but we have different equipment. Start with the low point drains. Pull both caps.Let everything drain. Do you have a 6 gallon water heater. Mine is a Suburban. There is a 1 1/16 nut that is on the the face. Pull that to drain the water heater. There are great "You Tube" videos that other owners post on "how to" for your specific model. Just remember if you introduce RV antifreeze into the system, don't let it enter the water heater as it is corrosive to the inside of it. The valves typically are on the cold water input and hot water output to the water heater with a bypass valve in between. Close off the input and output. Open the bypass. Let me know if this helps.

FYI - Do not drain the hot water tank through the low point drains.
ALWAYS bypass before you drain the system to keep hot water tank "crud" out of your pipes.

[Netcomdude]

This is true. I had a lot of sediment in mine. Good point. Anode rod was about 1/3 gone. Only took it out about 6 or 7 times as I bought it new at the end of the season. Think it sat a year on the lot. I'm sure there is nothing in the plumbing as the low point drains are close to the water heater and lower than all the rest of the plumbing. I cleaned the water heater out with a plastic wand with the drains open. But, your right. I won't do that next year.

Too bad there's no exact step by step instructions for every make and model that is made

I've watched countless videos and I never knew that the cold (city water) inlet has a built in check valve that needs to be depressed after the silt screen was removed to get anti freeze up the 2 foot section of pipe from the outside hook up to where it connects to the pump. Ran into that tip last night watching yet another video and someone here said something about it too.

Guess I missed that, but will fix it today. Have an extra gallon of pink!

Thanks for the tip!