Winterizing Re Tammy's Email

[techfan]

Just received an email from Tammy regarding low drain winterizing. The toilet valve has changed and needs a different winterizing process. Am I reading this correctly that we will now "have" to use the pink stuff in the system and simply draining the entire system will not work because of the toilet valve?? I need clarification from someone who has done this before since I'm going to be doing my first winterization in the next few months. Thanks.

[dave macrae]

I would recomend installing one of the kits to bypass the pump. It is a simple valve that goes inline between the pump and the tank, and has hose that you put into the jug of antifreeze and suck it straight out of the jug . with one of these you can winterize with 1 4L ( gallon ) of anitfreeze. With the pump on and drawing out of the jug you simply go to all the water outlets and turn on the tap untill the pink stuff comes out. You do have to remember to bypass the hot water tank prior to this or all the anti freeze will end up in te hot water tank. You must also drain the hot water tank and fresh water tank. First time may seem painful but once you have the hang of it , it will only take a few minutes to complete

[Dave Walter]

Originally Posted by dave macrae

I would recomend installing one of the kits to bypass the pump. It is a simple valve that goes inline between the pump and the tank, and has hose that you put into the jug of antifreeze and suck it straight out of the jug . with one of these you can winterize with 1 4L ( gallon ) of anitfreeze. With the pump on and drawing out of the jug you simply go to all the water outlets and turn on the tap untill the pink stuff comes out. You do have to remember to bypass the hot water tank prior to this or all the anti freeze will end up in te hot water tank. You must also drain the hot water tank and fresh water tank. First time may seem painful but once you have the hang of it , it will only take a few minutes to complete

Sounds interesting Dave. Do you have a link or pics that you could post?

[dave macrae]

I will take some this week end and try and post them when we get home. I believe all escape trailers have the water heater by pass installed from the factory. I know when I asked to have the pump bypass installed during the build I was kind of scoffed at by Reace so I just did it my self last fall.

[gbaglo]

I bypass the hot water tank ( see the Escape manual ). Then, I just use a hand pump ( like a bilge pump ). Connect one end to the city water inlet and place the other end in a jug of antifreeze. I pump and Old Bag turns taps on inside until the pink stuff comes out.
To empty the electric water pump in the trailer, you just turn it on for 10 seconds ( after you've drained the fresh and hot water tanks ).
I gather your water pump bypass isn't really a bypass, but allows you to pump anti-freeze from the jug rather than water from the fresh water tank?

[Jim Bennett]

I am curious about this toilet valve, and to whether you cannot get it to drain from the low drain point somehow. After many years of using the pink antifreeze, it sure is nice to not have to do that with my 19.

[PGDriver]

Here are some winterizing valve pics. Hope this helps.
With this valve you just drop the uptake tube in a gallon of antifreeze and run all the fixtures until they run pink and remember to run enough to also winterize the traps.

[gbaglo]

RV Travel TV » Escape Training Video

is where you will find Escape Training video from a few years ago. At the 19 minute, 24 seconds mark she discusses winterizing the trailer. This does not address current discussion of toilet valve.

[dave macrae]

Sorry Glen, I guess calling it a pump bypass may be a poor choice of wording. The kit I have is very similar to pictures two posts above. Really it bypasses the tank not the pump.

[Vermilye]

While I do use the "pink stuff" is the drains for the traps, for the last two years I have used air pressure (30 psi) to blow out the water lines rather than antifreeze. I use an adapter to attach the air hose to the water input, set the pressure to 30 psi, and open the faucets in order, working from the water input. The toilet is last (don't forget the outside shower if you have one.) After they are all open and no longer sputtering, I shut it down, wait 10 minutes, and do it again.

Makes it much easier to start up in the spring, or do multiple winterizing, something that can be necessary in our area.

[Bruce Wray]

I'm with Jon. Here's the protocol I use -- Trailer Winterization Using Compressed Air

It's on this site in "Files", under "Systems"

Bruce

[Jim Bennett]

Am I the only one that uses the low-point drain?

I do put the pink stuff in the traps. No blowing or pink stuff in the water lines. I did try blowing out after draining one time, and barely got a sputter, not enough to worry about. The only problem I ever had was a frozen toilet valve, and that was because I forgot to drain back when draining it in the fall.

[FMLNM]

This will be our first winter...we planned to use the low point drain and put pink stuff in the p traps. Figure we'll take advantage of the easy method....

[Mountain Mike]

No Jim, you're not the only one to use the low point drain. I've done it twice now, without any problems. I follow the instructions in the Escape manual and it has worked just fine.

[hillary]

I don't think ours has a low point drain? It's a 2005. This will be our first time winterizing. What do other people with older Escapes do differently?

[gbaglo]

Go here:

http://www.escapeforum.org/forums/f1...ailer-400.html

Covers various methods.

[cpaharley2008]

here is the kit Camco 36543 RV Pump Converter Winterizing Kit : Amazon.com : Automotive

[techfan]

I started this thread looking for ideas on what has changed about the toilet valve. Why the warning and what is the potential consequence? Any ideas on this? Not to say that the discussion and hints haven't been great as usual for this learned group!

[gbaglo]

How about copy and paste Tammy's email? That might help figure it out.

[cpaharley2008]

I believe that the toilet valve is positioned where it will hold water that remains after you winterize the unit via the low point drains, just like the outside hookup has a pressure relief valve. I also recall a couple of members having their toilets leak the following spring as a result.
Thus as a precautionary measure these new instructions.
I'm having a cut off valve installed on my toilet in the event of an issue as well as the winterizing pump modification that will pump antifreeze throughout the system. Another option is a little heater in your bathroom over the winter.