Water pump issue when winterizing

GL243 · 10-07-2019, 08:43 PM

Tried to winterize our 2018 267BHSW today. Got 3 gal. of pink stuff, drained water heater, fresh water tank (via low point drain), opened both of the other low point drains at back of trailer near water heater (nothing came out so apparently all the water had already drained via the water heater and FW tank draining procedure). Flipped the bypass valve levers to bypass the WH, then flipped the lever on the water pump to switch to the tube that you put in the antifreeze bottle, put it in the 1st antifreeze bottle, turned on water pump, it sucked it down pretty quick, did the second bottle, same thing, started running faucets to get pink stuff flowing, but had to switch to 3rd bottle pretty quick. Pump never did "come up to pressure and stop", just kept running. Anyway, I used up 3 gallons of pink stuff and was not able to finish, didn't even get toilet or outside shower finished, nor vanity sink. Anyone know what I did wrong, or what has gone wrong, to cause the pump to not come up to pressure and stop? I don't recall having this issue last year (first time I winterized it myself).

RetiredOne · 10-07-2019, 08:49 PM

Three things that come to mind... either the bypass for the HW wasn't set in the correct position, and you just filled the WH with antifreeze....

or, did you leave the low point drains open by accident, and just pumped the antifreeze right back out of the rig?

Third, did you have the water control valves in the wrong position (country fill), and pumped the antifreeze into the water tank?

GL243 · 10-07-2019, 08:58 PM

Thanks for the reply. I think I had left the low point drains open at first, but then closed them, didn't notice any wet area under them, but I'll check for that when I give it another try tomorrow. I also had left the plug out of the water heater and didn't have antifreeze pouring out of it so I'm pretty sure the WH bypass valves are working correctly. I don't think this trailer has any water control valves other than what I've described, so I don't think that was the problem. Have not heard of "country fill" concept before?

Maybe I'll have a head-slapping moment tomorrow with it after getting another 3 gallons of pink stuff . . .

RetiredOne · 10-07-2019, 09:03 PM

Country fill is one of the setting on the water control panel, which lets you fill the onboard water tank by sucking water out of a bucket, using the pump, similar to winterizing, it just directs water to the tank, instead of the interior water lines.

Your rig might not have that setting, mine does. Do you have a manual water fill port instead?

Open your main tank drain and see if pink comes out.

GL243 · 10-07-2019, 09:24 PM

Thanks RetiredOne. I don't have a water control panel with this lower end trailer model. I just stick a hose into the fresh water tank fill nozzle when I want to fill the FW tank, or hook up to city water on the other side of the trailer when I'm at a site with hookups, and that bypasses the FW tank. I will check for pink in the FW tank, and also at the low point drains again, so thanks for that suggestion.

This is a bit weird, since I didn't have the same problem last year.

DonaandDon · 10-08-2019, 08:27 AM

Open the freshwater drain tank petcock was/is it empty? If it was empty and pink drains then this maybe the culprit. Either the freshwater pump discharge check valve is sticking and its leaking into the freshwater tank (pump won't stop running) or recheck your alignment. Have you been camping with city water supplied and not using your pump?

GL243 · 10-08-2019, 08:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DonaandDon

Open the freshwater drain tank petcock was/is it empty? If it was empty and pink drains then this maybe the culprit. Either the freshwater pump discharge check valve is sticking and its leaking into the freshwater tank (pump won't stop running) or recheck your alignment. Have you been camping with city water supplied and not using your pump?

Thanks, D&D. FW tank was empty when I started the pump going with the pink stuff as I had just let it drain out the lowpoint fw tank drain until it quit, but will definitely check it before starting my next attempt to see if pink ended up in there somehow. Have only camped dry with no hookups several times this year, latest just a week ago, and had no problems with the water pump. Can you clarify what you mean by checking alignment?

GL243 · 10-08-2019, 03:07 PM

Day 2 report -- got some more pink stuff, checked FW tank and no pink stuff in it so didn't inadvertently pump any into it. Checked WH bypass valves and they were in the correct bypass positions (see pic - sorry that it's sideways, can't seem to figure that out here), checked low point drain valves, they were in proper closed position (also shown in the pic, they're just below the WH bypass valves). So, here's something I did differently, on a whim. I put the WH drain plug back in. Then I put the water pump hose into first bottle of pink stuff, it sucked up a bit more than half and shut off, like it's supposed to work. I ran faucets and toilet, getting pink stuff to come out (had to switch to a second bottle). Did city water connection (pressing in the valve to get pink stuff coming out), outside shower, and then hand pumped some antifreeze into the Black Tank Flush connection to make sure there's no freezable water in that line.

So, it worked like it's supposed to. But then, on another whim, I decided to pull the plug again on the water heater just to check, assured in my mind that surely no antifreeze had somehow gotten past the bypass valves and into the water heater. Lo and behold, it was pressurized and had about a gallon or so of antifreeze in it.

So . . . only thing I can conclude is that at least one of the water heater bypass valves is faulty. Anyone else have any other possibilities for me?

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