Help w/ winterizing, please!

Hello Everyone,

I'm a new (to me) Wildcat owner--2005 29RK--as well as a new 5vr owner. I "tried" to winterize today, but am having problems and would appreciate your advice.

Here's what I've done so far:

Drained FW and holding tanks (last week, actually)
Turned water heater bypass valve (it is now straight up and down)
Made sure all holding tanks were plugged
Poured 2 gallons RV antifreeze in FW tank
Turned on water pump (it is working)
Opened kitchen faucet, also tried bathroom faucet.

What happened--a little water, a little air, but no pink stuff, altho I think I'm getting the antifreeze odor. I'm also thinking my bypass valve was already in the correct position, and I turned if "off" and have filled my water heater with antifreeze....?

Thanks for your help! Love this forum.

Deanna

Hi Deanna and WELCOME to the forum.

You should never put anti-freeze into the FW tank. Its really hard to get the taste out. If possible, flush it NOW!!!

Get one of these:
http://www.amazon.com/Camco-36543-Pump-Converter-Winterizing/dp/B0006JJ588

It installed between the pump and the FW tank, at the pump.

After installing this, just put the hose end into your gallon jug of anti-freeze, then turn the valve into bypass, then turn the pump on.

This will allow you to go to each faucet and open it to let the anti-freeze fill each pipe with the stuff.

Also, NEVER put the antifreeze into the hot water heater either.

The HWH valve in my 06 29rlbs would be pointing up to be closed.

Thanks for your quick reply. I feel pretty stupid, but I read this in an RV maintenance book...is it really wrong?

I will flush the FW tank right now. Should I run fresh water through the lines as well??

Thanks again!!

YES, to get the rest of the antifreeze out of the lines.

Flush the tank first, then do the lines.

Don't feel stupid, you didn't know, thats all.

It would take gallons of antifreeze to get enough into the FW tank for the pump to suck it up and fill all the lines.

With the kit listed above, you can get away with 2 or 3 gallons.

Let us know as you go, we'll be here to assist.

Is there an icon for a red face....?

OK--I put several gallons of water in the tank, ran water thru the lines, and drained the tank. I'm going to do it a second time until there is no pink water at all.

And I've just ordered the kit you told me about, will get it Wednesday, and part of Turkey Day will be spent putting the antifreeze in the RIGHT way.

Another related question--there is pink water in the water filter. I assume I will need to hook the hose up to the city water connection (rather than thru the FW tank) to clear that? And...I haven't figured out how to get the tank part of the filter off to actually put in a filter. It looks like it should screw off, but if so, I am not strong enough to do this. Turn to the left? Could I use one of those tools that takes off oil filters?

Thanks again!

This is a link to the winterizing procedure: click here It is actually at the top of this maintenance section. Install the kit that Tom linked you to; it will make life a lot easier. The kit simply allows you to supply your system with anti-freeze directly out of the bottle instead of pulling fluid from your FW tank.

Don't worry too much about the anit-freeze in your FW tank. The taste will go away after a couple of flushes. In the spring, when you de-winterize, fill your FW tank and add an ounce or two of bleach. This will sanitize the tank and help get rid of the taste. The anti-freeze is non-toxic and won't hurt a thing; it just doesn't taste very good.

Let me know if you have any questions about the winterizing or de-winterizing procedure.

Look at this web site: Water filters for the Water filter wrench. The filter housing removes Counter Clockwise

Is there an icon for a red face....?

Thanks...I'll save that little red face for the future, as I'm sure I'll be needing it again....

Deanna

Deanna,
Yes, you will need to get the water/antifreeze combo out of the filter. Just remove it and drain it out. Be careful with the O ring at the top of the housing, some folks have dumped the water out, and the O ring falls out too. You'll need to put the O ring back on the top of the filter housing when you screw it back on.

Also notice that some of us have installed a bypass hose around the filter housing, as seen in this picture. It just saves from filling the filter housing up with antifreeze when winterizing.(ignore the red arrow, its for something else).

That's a great idea. Thanks for the picture!

Deanna

On mine, the same plastic wrench to take of the sewer line cover is the same one that takes off the water filter holder. The filter holder is very tight and hard to get off by hand. Don't seem like the proper thing to do but I am careful. The sewer line cover isn't to tight so I can get it off with my hand and I don't need the wrench. The plastic wrench came with the 5er when I bought it. I have seen the wrench for sale somewhere on the Internet. Hope that will help you out. I am from the boot-hill section of Ole Missouri. Please don't feel bad. We and I mean everyone has make a lot of mistakes with our 5ers. Some expensive and some not so expensive. Here in Florida I am not concerned with winterizing. Good luck and happy travelling. Ed

your camper should have come with a filter wrench , if not try contacting where you got it and see if they forgot to give it to you . I read somewhere once the filter got antifreeze on it you need to pitch it. Hope this helps

Thanks for your input, everyone!

The water filter did not have a filter in it when I bought the WC, only a couple of months ago, so no problem with that. I haven't put a filter in b/c I couldn't get the unit open. Thanks to one of the responses, I can order a filter wrench, and will do just that.

It's a bummer to buy a 5vr in the fall and live in the Midwest! Am looking forward to planning warmer weather trips during the cold winter ahead, and will use this forum a LOT!

Deanna:
First relieve the water pressure on the fresh water system.
When I remove the Filter Housing I first losen the filter just enough with the filter wrench where I can remove by hand. Then I remove the wrench and I take a round gallon jug with the the top cut off then slide it up and around the filter housing. Then remove the housing by hand that way you catch any over flow of water into the basement area.

Tom:
What is that water line with the RED ARROW for.

I suspect the red arrow points to the check valve for the black tank flush. Many of us have removed the one that FR put in the wall and relocated it to the basement.

Mine

My filter wrench was stored under the queen bed.

Deanna,
Just a quick not on the winterizing kit that you ordered. I used the same one a couple weeks ago. When putting the "T" in make sure that it is facing the right direction or you won't have any suction. I put mine in backwards at first and it took a few minutes to figure it out.
Jim

Jim:
I will second that on putting the "T" on backwards.

Frank wrote:
Tom:
What is that water line with the RED ARROW for.

It IS a back flow preventer for the black tank flusher. I removed the original one that was up in the wall of the bedroom and put that in place. I also opened up the wall and made a shelf there.

[img]http://www.wildcatcamperforum.com/[/img]

I also have one of these:

http://www.campingworld.com/shopping/item/blow-out-plug/4410

If you put it onto the city water connector, then use a compressor to push air through, it empties out the filter housing. I use my little tire compressor and no water, no spill when taking off the housing.

Tom,

For your water filter bypass did you just use a water heater bypass kit or did you purchase components at a hardware store?

Thanks

KH

KH,

It IS the water heater bypass kit, but I did get a longer hose. I felt the one that was in the kit was a little too short.

I'm sure you could get the parts individually, but the kit was easier for me.

oldelmer1 wrote:KH,

It IS the water heater bypass kit, but I did get a longer hose. I felt the one that was in the kit was a little too short.

I'm sure you could get the parts individually, but the kit was easier for me.

Same here. Camco makes two kits; one has a longer hose. It worked for me.

Filter bypass



Black tank backflow preventer

Thanks guys. I now know what my next mod is going to be.

KH

Scott,

I was looking at my back flow preventer, just like your picture above, and on the end where the fitting goes inside the back flow preventer. Have you noticed how far that fitting goes inside.? I have a spare back flow valve and it almost seems to me that that plastic fitting goes in soooooo far, that it might be stopping the back flow preventer from closing.

Take a good look at yours and see shat you think.....

Wish I could report that the winterizing is finished, but...the kit didn't come in! I think it was delivered to my job address, and no one was there after noon on Wed. So...this is now a project for the weekend instead of turkey day. Good thing...temps are supposed to be below freezing next week (just at night, warms up a lot during the day).

Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone!

oldelmer1 wrote:Scott,

I was looking at my back flow preventer, just like your picture above, and on the end where the fitting goes inside the back flow preventer. Have you noticed how far that fitting goes inside.? I have a spare back flow valve and it almost seems to me that that plastic fitting goes in soooooo far, that it might be stopping the back flow preventer from closing.

Take a good look at yours and see shat you think.....

I'll take a look at it in a few days.

OK...I'm more than a little frustrated....

Installed the winterizing kit, no suction. Looked at the picture on the package, decided I needed to turn it (the T valve) around. Still no suction.

What now? Pump seems to be running fine. Now I'm wondering if I put it on the wrong side of the pump????

When I am facing the pump, the "long" part is closest to me (the valves are on the "far" end). So is the water flow from left to right or vice versa? I put the T valve on the left side, which is my left side............that's wrong, isn't it?

Well, if it's wrong, I don't think I have enough hose on the pump to work. What do you all think?

Deanna

I have a feeling I'm going to provide you all with laughs for a very long time.....

I finally installed the kit correctly...but neglected to put the canister back on the water filter before turning on the pump. You can imagine what happened. If you can't, I'll tell you--there is a gallon of RV antifreeze in the storage compartment carpet.

Tomorrow will be investing in one of those small wet/dry carpet cleaners...and another gallon of antifreeze (my 5th, so far).

Well...live and learn. Today I learned!