Winterizing

S

steven d. ferguson

New member
Aug 1, 1999
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We start to winterize in Minnesota right after the 4th of July or so.
That sounds like the Minnesota I left behind! 8 months of the worst
weather this side of the N. Pole & 4 months of highway repair.
Steve Ferguson
San Diego where it's 72 & perfect
 
Hi All,
Does anyone have a step-by-step on winterization of our coaches posted
anywhere? Since ol' man winter is raising his ugly noggin' here in the "Big
O", I will be doing mine this weekend. I have looked at the manual and it's
not exactly the best at documenting the finer points in this operation (boy,
that was nicely put, wasn't it?).
Looks to be a drain behind the drawers in the kitchen for that sink.
Another at the hot water tank and another down by the pump by the fresh
water tank. Naturally I'll drain the black water tank (btw, the new
macerator pump worked like a champ in FC... enough pressure that I could
almost use it as a garden hose! on second thought...).
I bought a case of anti-freeze from Chuck Kokesh and am ready to rock!
Thought before I'd empty any lines I would unhook the inlet hose to the pump
and stick it in a gallon of anti-freeze then goto each sink and open the
faucet (cold) till I see a strong pink color. My uncle did the hot side too
and it took 7 gallons total! Does the hot water drain valve drain the tank
well enough to not do this? I don't want all that pink goo in there come
springtime.
Then I'll open all the valves w/the pump off, drain all the lines and try
to blow them out with compressed air as best I can. No more than 40-50 psi I
suppose so as not to blow a line out. I'll add anti-freeze to the drains
(floor and sink p-traps) and toilet. Thought closing the drain valves will
keep the little critters out of the tanks/lines too.
My engine and trans is ready (just changed every fluid there). I'll replace
my batteries since I have good gel cells to do the house ones but haven't
gotten around to that yet. Any other thoughts, comments or suggestions on my
ramblings above would be greatly appreciated.

Nate '75GB (Don't really want to be walking in a winter wonderland!) Omaha
 
Step 1: open garage door.
Step 2: drive GMC inside.
Step 3: close garage door.
Step 4: open beer.

Any other questions call me :-)

John '76 Palm Beach in 70 degree Omaha.

>
> Hi All,
> Does anyone have a step-by-step on winterization of our coaches posted
> anywhere? Since ol' man winter is raising his ugly noggin' here in the "Big
> O", I will be doing mine this weekend. I have looked at the manual and it's
> not exactly the best at documenting the finer points in this operation (boy,
> that was nicely put, wasn't it?).
> Looks to be a drain behind the drawers in the kitchen for that sink.
> Another at the hot water tank and another down by the pump by the fresh
> water tank. Naturally I'll drain the black water tank (btw, the new
> macerator pump worked like a champ in FC... enough pressure that I could
> almost use it as a garden hose! on second thought...).
> I bought a case of anti-freeze from Chuck Kokesh and am ready to rock!
> Thought before I'd empty any lines I would unhook the inlet hose to the pump
> and stick it in a gallon of anti-freeze then goto each sink and open the
> faucet (cold) till I see a strong pink color. My uncle did the hot side too
> and it took 7 gallons total! Does the hot water drain valve drain the tank
> well enough to not do this? I don't want all that pink goo in there come
> springtime.
> Then I'll open all the valves w/the pump off, drain all the lines and try
> to blow them out with compressed air as best I can. No more than 40-50 psi I
> suppose so as not to blow a line out. I'll add anti-freeze to the drains
> (floor and sink p-traps) and toilet. Thought closing the drain valves will
> keep the little critters out of the tanks/lines too.
> My engine and trans is ready (just changed every fluid there). I'll replace
> my batteries since I have good gel cells to do the house ones but haven't
> gotten around to that yet. Any other thoughts, comments or suggestions on my
> ramblings above would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Nate '75GB (Don't really want to be walking in a winter wonderland!) Omaha
 
I do not think you have to drain every line if you will put air pressure
through the system. Use the connector that is used to run pressurized water in
and pump it up with air, and then open each of the faucets one at a time to
remove all the water. Then put a small amount of anifreeze, maybe the special
one, as I don't use one in all the drains. Then in the spring, you can flush
them out. I made an adapter that I use to take out the water from the traps...
air again, just pushing out the water. Since we dont get too cold in NM I do
not do much more except drain the hot water tank, and the water tank and flush
the lines like I said.
Good luck
al

> Hi All,
> Does anyone have a step-by-step on winterization of our coaches posted
> anywhere? Since ol' man winter is raising his ugly noggin' here in the "Big
> O", I will be doing mine this weekend. I have looked at the manual and it's
> not exactly the best at documenting the finer points in this operation (boy,
> that was nicely put, wasn't it?).
> Looks to be a drain behind the drawers in the kitchen for that sink.
> Another at the hot water tank and another down by the pump by the fresh
> water tank. Naturally I'll drain the black water tank (btw, the new
> macerator pump worked like a champ in FC... enough pressure that I could
> almost use it as a garden hose! on second thought...).
> I bought a case of anti-freeze from Chuck Kokesh and am ready to rock!
> Thought before I'd empty any lines I would unhook the inlet hose to the pump
> and stick it in a gallon of anti-freeze then goto each sink and open the
> faucet (cold) till I see a strong pink color. My uncle did the hot side too
> and it took 7 gallons total! Does the hot water drain valve drain the tank
> well enough to not do this? I don't want all that pink goo in there come
> springtime.
> Then I'll open all the valves w/the pump off, drain all the lines and try
> to blow them out with compressed air as best I can. No more than 40-50 psi I
> suppose so as not to blow a line out. I'll add anti-freeze to the drains
> (floor and sink p-traps) and toilet. Thought closing the drain valves will
> keep the little critters out of the tanks/lines too.
> My engine and trans is ready (just changed every fluid there). I'll replace
> my batteries since I have good gel cells to do the house ones but haven't
> gotten around to that yet. Any other thoughts, comments or suggestions on my
> ramblings above would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Nate '75GB (Don't really want to be walking in a winter wonderland!) Omaha
 
I found that a particularly critical pipe is the one
going to the throne on side bath. I comes horizontal
from near the water heater across the wall and down to
near the floor. Makes low spot that is hard to clear
of water. (Hard to repair also.)

Bill
'74 Glacier

=====

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Bid and sell for free at http://auctions.yahoo.com
 
Hi, folks. I/m a new GMCer (1975 PB) in Colorado, and am faced
immediately with winterizing it (it has to "winter" outside). The
winterizing posts here and on GMC websites, along with the 3-way
winterizing valve PO installed at the pump, have made the process pretty
simple (thank you). One small glitch, however. Short section of water
line between water tank and pump remains unprotected (I pumped the tank
dry before winterizing, so this section of line may just have air in it,
but I don't want to take the chance. Looks like the only way to solve
the problem is to get some anifreeze into the water tank, and run the
pump briefly to fill that section of the line. But that creates another
problem. The water tank fill opening in the propane tank area is a good
18-24 inches from the actual tank opening, connected to the tank by a
flexible hose that forms a 180-degree arc between fill opening and
tank. It's also slightly inclined from the fill opening to the tank,
and I can't pour antifreeze uphill! Will a decent hand siphon pump (not
the cheap rubber bladder type - I tried it and it doesn't do the trick)
"force" the antifreeze through this flexible hose arrangement with
enough pressure to actually reach the tank, and not just run back out of
the filler opening? I've thought about a simple electric water pump,
too, but can't seem to locate a small, inexpensive one. Any thoughts?
I could move to Arizona, but I'm not yet retired! Thanks.

Tom
 
> When I get back from a trip in the fall or winter it takes less than a gallon
> of antifreeze and about 15 minutes to winterize this way. When I want to use
> the motorhome again I fill the water tank and open faucets and run water from
> the water tank in the same manner until the water runs clear.
>
> Emery Stora
> 77 Kingsley
> Santa Fe, NM

Emery,
You make it sound so easy!

I got all that stuff you mentioned (water heater bypass and the kit to
allow me to suck the antifreeze out of the jug). I drained the hot water
heater and the water tank. I blew out all the lines with an air compressor
and then filled them with RV anti freeze as directed.

The hard part for me was not the winterizing. It was the opposite! When
Spring finally arrived this year I found that it took a very long time to get
the pink stuff out of the water lines. I probably filled my water tank 5 times
before the water started to run clear. I also ended up buying some stuff
from the local RV supply to help clear the lines of the pink stuff.

After this experience I decided that once the motorhome was winterized
I would not unwinterize it until the Spring as it is simply too much of a
hassle to do more then once a year. What did I do wrong?

Richard Waters
'76 PB (winterizing pending until 3 more trips are completed), Troy, MI
 
All this talk of winterizing reminds me it is time to hit the road......
Quartsite, slab city, death valley, this is the time to go, cool, clear
days and nights, no heating problems, no air cond.

LETS GOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

Sorry could not contain my self.
gene

>

>
>up too hard. The sun usually comes out and melts it away within a day or
>two. But its still cloudy right now.
>
>Emery Stora
>77 Kingsley
>Santa Fe, NM
>
Genef -- 77PB/ore/ca
GMC MOTORHOME INFORMATION
mr.erf
http://www.california.com/~eagle/
 
Emery,
That's probably what I did. I opened the bypass (or the bypass was
already open from the previous winterizing).

Next time I need the unit after winterizing, I'm also going to follow
Arch's advice. I'm going next door to my neighbor and connect my
holding tank drain to his dump station. I'll also connect a hose to
the city water connection on the GMC and let the faucets run for a
while. That should do it in short order I would imagine.

Richard

> I suspect that you opened the bypass on the hot water before clearing the
> lines of antifreeze. If you do that you'll put some pink antifreeze into the
> hot water tank and it will probably take 20 gallons of water to clear it up.
> It will be pushed ahead of the water in small lines but in a 6 gallon tank it
> will mix.
>
 
Emery,
I just winterized my coach according to your instructions. It only
took 15 minutes and about 7/8 of a jug of RV antifreeze. Last year
it took a couple of jugs and since I didn't know what I was doing,
about an hour of time.

My concern now is the water line between the fresh water tank and
the pump. Is that drained when the water tank drain is opened?

My water tank drain is located in the propane tank compartment.
Last year I put some antifreeze in the water tank to make sure that
the line to the pump was protected. That may have been part of my
problem when I unwinterized last Spring.

Also there is a short length of pipe between the hot water heater
and the bypass valve. I wondered about that freezing so I opened
the bypass valve when I finished so that any water there would mix
with the antifreeze.

I have a trip planned in 2 weeks and so I will find out real soon how
long it takes to get the pink stuff out of the system. I'm going to use
Arch's approach to get it out.

I hope this all works because I want to continue to use the GMC until
the snow starts flying. When that happens I'm not going to drive it any
more because I'm concerned about the salt on the roads and my frame.
The PO claimed he never drove it in the Winter and the frame looks like
it. No rust at all and I want to keep it that way.

Richard Waters '76 PB, Troy, MI
 
Arch,
You're right I am probably working too hard on this. Last year
I blew all the lines out with air from the city water connection
before I pumped them full of antifreeze. I also put a small amount
of antifreeze in the water tank. In addition I still had my recirculating
toilet and had to pump that full of antifreeze.

I had no idea that it would be such a hassle to get the pink stuff out in
the Spring. I said never again!

This year is is going better. Thanks to the good advice that you and
Emery have given me.

We have a cottage that I am able to winterize in less then an hour
that has 2 1/2 baths, dishwasher and clothes washer. We can
pop in there and get it unwinterized in less then 10 minutes. It was a
shock to find the GMC last year was more complicated then the cottage
to do on both ends. I think this year will be different.

Richard

> In a message dated 10/19/99 5:01:07 PM Central Daylight Time,

> > How do you winterize the city water line?
>
> Richard
>
> If you check the city water inlet there is a check valve right at the hook
> up point. If you just depress that check valve while you are pumping
> the pink stuff into the lines you can get some of it to run down the side
> of your coach. Or in my case where I do it alone I run some to the kitchen
> sink and turn off the faucet. Let the pump come to a halt then go outside
> and depress the check valve and let it run until it runs pink. You are
> working at this much to hard. :>)

I'll try that tomorrow.

>
>
> Take Care
> Arch
 
Thanks Emery for all the good information.
Richard

> the pump. Is that drained when the water tank drain is opened?>>
>
> Yes, this will drain when your water tank drain is opened.
>
> >
>
> That should not be necessary.
>
>
 
IIRC my tank outlet seems to be in the front. Therefore there is about
4'
of water line ahead of the pump. There is a "T" in the line between the
tank
outlet and the water pump that seems to be connected to the drain.
Hopefully,
the drain will allow the line to drain the water that's between the tank
and the pump. I have the antifreeze valve located between the "T" and
the pump.
Richard

>
> you dont have to worry about it >>
>
> I agree with this. My valve is 4" from the tank outlet.
>
> Emery
 
Arch,
I am sorry to say that I tried your technique a few minutes
ago and was unsuccessful. The pump never stopped and I was
unable to get the pink stuff or anything else to come out of the
city water connection. I made sure to press in the check valve
button, but now joy. It runs out of all the other places just fine.
Is this what you do with the GMC?

Emery makes it sound like I need not worry about that water line.
Richard

> In a message dated 10/19/99 5:01:07 PM Central Daylight Time,

> > How do you winterize the city water line?
>
> Richard
>
> If you check the city water inlet there is a check valve right at the hook
> up point. If you just depress that check valve while you are pumping
> the pink stuff into the lines you can get some of it to run down the side
> of your coach. Or in my case where I do it alone I run some to the kitchen
> sink and turn off the faucet. Let the pump come to a halt then go outside
> and depress the check valve and let it run until it runs pink. You are
> working at this much to hard. :>)
>
> Take Care
> Arch
 
Arch,
Wow this is almost in real time. I just sent the message a few minutes
ago and already an answer. I guess a fair number of us are sitting in front
of our computers tonight waiting for stuff to happen. I know I am.

Yes that's all pretty basic stuff. The pump should stop if connected to the
jug and all the faucets are closed but it doesn't. Something must still be
open.

I'll try it again tomorrow during the day when I can see. I'll let you know
what happens.
Richard
- ---

> In a message dated 10/19/99 10:26:42 PM Central Daylight Time,

> > The pump never stopped and I was
> > unable to get the pink stuff or anything else to come out of the
> > city water connection.
>
> Richard
>
> The secrete here is that the pump did not stop running. Hook pump to
> pink stuff. Turn on pump---it should stop if all openings are closed. Turn
> on kitchen cold water faucet-----wait for pink. Turn off faucet. Pump
> should stop soon. Then press check valve----pump should run and so
> should pink stuff.
>
> Take Care
> Arch
 
Yes that's all pretty basic stuff. The pump should stop if connected to
the
jug and all the faucets are closed but it doesn't. Something must still
be
open.

I had the same problem, not winterizing but instead trying to get
decent pressure. It turned out that before storing the coach for 5
years someone had opened up the drain valve in the water tank
compartment & the pump just kept bleeding back into the FW tank. This
gave me fits the first time I hooked up to city water. The tank kept
filling & running out the overflow/vent after a while. You're right
Arch, something must still be open.
Steve Ferguson
San Diego
 
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