Welcome Aboard!
Not familiar with your 174BH. But all campers fall into two categories, that affect how you winterize. Do you have an outside wet bay or you have a gravity fill port? Which one do you have?
I think TTs with the gravity fill port option is the easiest to winterize. You locate the pump, and there is a clear open ended tube. Take the valve(s) at this location and rotate them to the other position, now you can suck up antifreeze out of a jug.
If you have a wet bay. You need to remove and flip over the cone washer. The cone washer in this position presses on the check valve allowing the pump to draw the antifreeze into the system. You do need a short hose, and I recommend a small table next to the wet bay. Sometimes the pump can struggle if you have a high lift, a long hose, and/or a poor seal at the city water connection.
Bypass the water heater and drain it. Find your water pump and clean the inlet screen filter. Turn on the pump and go from faucet to faucet and run the antifreeze until it comes out, and then a little bit more. FYI, it can take about 1/2 gallon just to get the antifreeze to your first faucet.
Things you can do as optional steps;
- Blow out the lines first (I do this), I also cycle my bypass valves to ensure no water is trapped behind them
- After winterizing, I pour a couple drops of Mineral Oil down each drain and float a little in the toilet. This keeps the antifreeze from evaporating over the winter. ONLY use Mineral Oil. Any other oil will leave a gooey mess in the spring.
- Blow out the RV antifreeze from the lines. I do this too, it can get -40 where I have stored my TT. RV antifreeze needs to be 100% to have max protection, any water dramatically decreases the protection level. Blowing out the lines, just gives me piece of mind that there is room in the pipes for any expansion if I made an error, or if it gets crazy cold.
Common locations where people make errors
- Forgetting to drain the water heater
- Forgetting to winterize the outside shower
- Forgetting or not purging enough antifreeze through the Toilet valve.
- Not flipping the cone washer over, ether before or when complete
- Not bypassing the water heater (water heater fills with all your antifreeze)
I always buy an extra jug of antifreeze, just incase I forget something or not comfortable with how something went. I have one jug sitting on the shelf of the garage as all went smoothly last year.
If this is your first time, grab a water pitcher, (optional add a couple drops of food coloring), fill it with water, and do a test run, before using the antifreeze.
Good Luck, it really is not to hard to do.
Linear Mode
