Low Point Drains for 2014 Sunseeker 3170DS

[mhopkins]

A few months ago we bought a 2014 Sunseeker 3170DS. It’s time to winterize and this will (obviously) be my first time with this unit. I am looking for ALL the low point drains and the fresh water drain. I find two BLUE low point drains behind the passenger side rear tire (and behind the exhaust pipe); one with a cap and one without a cap. I cannot find a RED low point drain. Can anyone help me decipher what I have found (and what I may not yet have found)? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[GMax]

I had a 2014 2300. The low point drains were located just like yours, except the cap was on the red line. If you don't find the red line, it may be the capped blue line. Just my opinion.

[Garrette]

There is only one low point drain on the 2014 3170. The low point drain is the one with the cap. The other line is for the fresh water tank drain. The fresh water tank valve is a quarter turn valve. If you reach behind the panel, to the right of the filter, you will feel it. A bit difficult to turn but manageable. Use your left hand.
To drain water heater, pull the anode.
To drain, open all spigots and drain via low point drain. Be advised, it will not drain all of the water. You will need to use the air blowout method or antifreeze to insure you have winterized.

I use blowout method. Try not to exceed 30psi. Your toilet can be a bit of a pain to blow out. Just keep cycling the foot valve to get the water out. Remember your outside shower. Easy to forget. I remove the hose and blow out. Water filter should be removed and the canister put back before the blowout. After you are satisfied that all is good, remove the water filter canister and just leave it in the bay. Water in the threads can freeze and crack your water filter canister.

I pour the RV pink antifreeze in all drains. I drain the black and grey tanks and add a generous bit of antifreeze to protect the drain valves, or simply leave the valves open.

[mhopkins]

Originally Posted by Garrette

There is only one low point drain on the 2014 3170. The low point drain is the one with the cap. The other line is for the fresh water tank drain. The fresh water tank valve is a quarter turn valve. If you reach behind the panel, to the right of the filter, you will feel it. A bit difficult to turn but manageable. Use your left hand.
To drain water heater, pull the anode.
To drain, open all spigots and drain via low point drain. Be advised, it will not drain all of the water. You will need to use the air blowout method or antifreeze to insure you have winterized.

I use blowout method. Try not to exceed 30psi. Your toilet can be a bit of a pain to blow out. Just keep cycling the foot valve to get the water out. Remember your outside shower. Easy to forget. I remove the hose and blow out. Water filter should be removed and the canister put back before the blowout. After you are satisfied that all is good, remove the water filter canister and just leave it in the bay. Water in the threads can freeze and crack your water filter canister.

I pour the RV pink antifreeze in all drains. I drain the black and grey tanks and add a generous bit of antifreeze to protect the drain valves, or simply leave the valves open.

I did my winterization after looking at a good variety of blogs and videos (the post above is the most helpful/concise, IMHO). I used the (1) drain, (2) blowout, and (3) antifreeze-in-lines method. Seemed a bit like overkill. If antifreeze in the lines, then why blowout? If blowout, why antifreeze in the lines (of course antifreeze in p-traps/toilet)?

[GL1800Rider]

"To drain water heater, pull the anode"

The instruction above is for the Suburban water heater which is no longer used. The Atwood does not utilize an anode rod. Just remove the plastic plug at the lower left and let it drain

[Garrette]

You are correct. I would consider them to be 2 methods. I only use the antifreeze in the drains and a bit in the grey and black tanks. The antifreeze does not evaporate as readily and just gives me a trap seal from the tank smells getting into the coach. A little antifreeze in the toilet, covering the ball and seal will help the seal stay playable.
On my water heater, I remove the anode, rinse out the tank and leave the anode out till spring.
If you opt for the antifreeze method, I do not think blowing out the water first is necessary. All you are doing is replacing water with antifreeze. On our 2014 3170's, we do not have a suction point in front of the water pump to draw antifreeze into the system. New RV's have this nice feature. Without it, we need to pour antifreeze into our fresh water tank and than pump it around. I am not willing to do this and have not added a tee, valve and suction line to do this.
Which method is best? I do not know but, one thing is for sure, you have winterized, that's for sure. I will take overkill protection from freeze ups anyway.
FYI, the Dometic toilets have a freeze plug to tell service that the toilet was frozen. Buddy of mine froze his TT and tried to get it all repaired under factory warranty but was denied due to the toilets freeze out plug.

[mhopkins]

Originally Posted by Garrette

You are correct. I would consider them to be 2 methods. I only use the antifreeze in the drains and a bit in the grey and black tanks. The antifreeze does not evaporate as readily and just gives me a trap seal from the tank smells getting into the coach. A little antifreeze in the toilet, covering the ball and seal will help the seal stay playable.
On my water heater, I remove the anode, rinse out the tank and leave the anode out till spring.
If you opt for the antifreeze method, I do not think blowing out the water first is necessary. All you are doing is replacing water with antifreeze. On our 2014 3170's, we do not have a suction point in front of the water pump to draw antifreeze into the system. New RV's have this nice feature. Without it, we need to pour antifreeze into our fresh water tank and than pump it around. I am not willing to do this and have not added a tee, valve and suction line to do this.
Which method is best? I do not know but, one thing is for sure, you have winterized, that's for sure. I will take overkill protection from freeze ups anyway.
FYI, the Dometic toilets have a freeze plug to tell service that the toilet was frozen. Buddy of mine froze his TT and tried to get it all repaired under factory warranty but was denied due to the toilets freeze out plug.

I was told there is (1) a city water check valve and (2) a toilet check valve that needs to be blown out. So, … (1) I located the city water check valve behind the filter screen no problem. No way to blow it out since my compressor needs to be connected to the city water inlet, so I just pressed it. Any more that I should do? and … (2) I was unable to locate a toilet check valve. Is this the freeze plug you mention? Or should I look further? Thanks for any counsel!

[rockfordroo]

Originally Posted by mhopkins

I did my winterization after looking at a good variety of blogs and videos (the post above is the most helpful/concise, IMHO). I used the (1) drain, (2) blowout, and (3) antifreeze-in-lines method. Seemed a bit like overkill. If antifreeze in the lines, then why blowout? If blowout, why antifreeze in the lines (of course antifreeze in p-traps/toilet)?

If you don't blow out first, you will be diluting the antifreeze and therefore expect to use a bit more in order to flush out the water. Not much contention here.

If you only blow out and don't use antifreeze, SOME people claim you will freeze (i.e., damage) something if you get a "hard freeze." This subject causes a bone of contention, similar to gas vs diesel. I live in northern Illinois and we usually get -10 to -20 deg F (-23 to -28 deg C) for 2-3 weeks in the winter; I'd call that a "hard freeze." I've been doing it for over 5 years. Never had a problem. You DO need to make sure you do a good job of blowing out the water. If you're not confident that you have, go with the antifreeze.

[Hoglou]

Beating the dead horse, but if you loose the cap you are out of the water business. We replaced ours with valves.

[MNtraveler]

I'm sorry, but surely there is a hot water line low point drain. Just draining the water heater does not drain the hot water lines.



Can someone tell OP where the hot water low point drain is on this model?



(Someone did mention that it may be the "other" blue tube but that seems unlikely that someone would have changed it from red to blue that that "other" blue line may be the fresh water tank drain which may have a valve not a cap.)

[MNtraveler]

Originally Posted by rockfordroo

If you don't blow out first, you will be diluting the antifreeze and therefore expect to use a bit more in order to flush out the water. Not much contention here.

If you only blow out and don't use antifreeze, SOME people claim you will freeze (i.e., damage) something if you get a "hard freeze." This subject causes a bone of contention, similar to gas vs diesel. I live in northern Illinois and we usually get -10 to -20 deg F (-23 to -28 deg C) for 2-3 weeks in the winter; I'd call that a "hard freeze." I've been doing it for over 5 years. Never had a problem. You DO need to make sure you do a good job of blowing out the water. If you're not confident that you have, go with the antifreeze.

The debates on this are nearly endless. Even if you do a decent job blowing out the lines, you cannot get out all the water. Water sticks in low spots, junctions, faucets, check valves, etc. A few drops in the wrong place can crack a fixture. For 3-4 gallons of antifreeze ($12) and an extra 5-10 minutes of work, you can do it right.

It all depends on where you live and what your risk tolerance is. Remember if you screw it up, you are to blame and you will either pay to fix the broken line/fixture or you will do that work yourself. It's a free country, so you can certainly go your own way on this.

[mhopkins]

Originally Posted by MNtraveler

I'm sorry, but surely there is a hot water line low point drain. Just draining the water heater does not drain the hot water lines.

Can someone tell OP where the hot water low point drain is on this model?

(Someone did mention that it may be the "other" blue tube but that seems unlikely that someone would have changed it from red to blue that that "other" blue line may be the fresh water tank drain which may have a valve not a cap.)

I find two BLUE low point drains behind the passenger side rear tire (and behind the exhaust pipe); one with a cap and one without a cap. The low point drain is the one with the cap. The other line is for the fresh water tank drain (quarter-turn valve located out of sight in a compartment above). I cannot find a RED low point drain. I drained the water heater, bypassed it, and the pumped antifreeze through all the lines, both cold and hot. Hope I have everything covered.

[Garrette]

Originally Posted by mhopkins

I was told there is (1) a city water check valve and (2) a toilet check valve that needs to be blown out. So, … (1) I located the city water check valve behind the filter screen no problem. No way to blow it out since my compressor needs to be connected to the city water inlet, so I just pressed it. Any more that I should do? and … (2) I was unable to locate a toilet check valve. Is this the freeze plug you mention? Or should I look further? Thanks for any counsel!

Appolize for the late response. Work travel. I do not know of a toilet check valve.
To drain the check valve, unscrew both sides of the water pump. Gravity should drain them.
You can get a blowout plug to connect to city water inlet and with a quick connector, to the air compressor.
[ATTACH]

[Awilson]

Originally Posted by mhopkins

I did my winterization after looking at a good variety of blogs and videos (the post above is the most helpful/concise, IMHO). I used the (1) drain, (2) blowout, and (3) antifreeze-in-lines method. Seemed a bit like overkill. If antifreeze in the lines, then why blowout? If blowout, why antifreeze in the lines (of course antifreeze in p-traps/toilet)?

I know this is a couple years old but the reasoning to blow it out and use antifreeze is this. I used the blowout only method on my Airstream a few years ago. Spent an hour with the compressor hooked up and going from sink to shower to kitchen etc. multiple times as I had been cautioned to ‘really blow them out good’. De-winterized it the next spring and had all the fun of cleaning up a huge water leak in the back under the stool where the line went over to the tub/shower. Pulled the stool, the floor covering and the floor in order gain access to that line that had a low spot in it where the small amount of water left in the lines consolidated. My last time of only blowing out the lines. Lesson learned. Mind you that was back in the days when Airstream used copper instead of pex like they use today. Just my experience.