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Procedu Winterize / Sanitize

Yahoo Message Number: 3582
Well this was sure a good winter to winterize! But now we are off to Big Bend National Park after our minor break light delay! Our plan is to visit in January and we are sticking to that - and we are hoping that we will see the 70s during the day at Rio Grande Village . So I just thought I would write up my modified Winterize / Sanitize procedures while they are still fresh in my mind.  (This modified procedure owes a lot to advice I got from nchorselover - the good parts are his, the errors are all mine!)

Before you begin reading this remember I do not have an ice maker! I have a 2006 Jayco HD Seneca 34 SS (Diesel).

Winterize: This year I modified my winterizing to include using air pressure VS my old way of doing just RV Antifreeze. Please note that this air pressure flush procedure differs from the Jayco Manual. Step 0) Secure power to the hot water heater so that it does not get turned on by accident. Step 1) is to dump all the tanks. Step 2) open all low point drains. (It is very important to use the pressure relief valve on the hot water tank so that it will drain completely.) Open all faucets. Step 3) run the pump until it is dry. Step 4) Set the water selector to city water. Step 5) Attach an air pressure adaptor to the city water connection.  Set the pressure on your air compressor to 30 psi. An automatic locking chuck or an idle wife comes in handy here. Step 6) Move though each faucet and low point drain to make sure there is no water remaining. Step 7) Make sure you get the toilet and outside shower. If you do not intend to use the RV Antifreeze procedure below - make sure you leave all the faucets open, and do put RV Antifreeze in all the p traps and toilet. (See Step 6 Below)


Air pressure adaptor
  RV Antifreeze - I guess I am belt and suspenders kind of guy - So I like to leave antifreeze in the lines as well. So I used NON TOXIC RV antifreeze using the following procedure. Step 1) bypass the hot water heater, Step 2) I have been using a water filter at the source for a while now, so I have permanently removed the under sink water filter using the bypass hose. If you still use that water filter, then you want to temporarily bypass it now. Antifreeze does it no good! Step 3) Set the water intake switches to Antifreeze/Sanitize Lines. Step 4) Attach the intake hose to the city water connection. Step 5) Turn on the water pump and suck in antifreeze to fill each pipe and faucet. (Don't forget the outside shower and toilet). Step 6) Fill each P trap and the toilet with about a cup of antifreeze.
It takes me about 3 gallons of Non-Toxic RV antifreeze to make sure every line and p trap was filled. (A bit more since I silenced my pump!)

Sanitizing Tanks
The manual recommends Sanitizing after storage, and particularly mentions it after anti-freeze, so I thought I would document how it worked with the Seneca. Your system probably is different.

At this point I knew that the water heater was drained, tanks were empty, hot water heater off... so if you use this procedure in another situation please look at those things. First I opened all the low point drains and faucets to let go the antifreeze. Second I removed the bypass of the hot water heater.

 I have a 55 gallon fresh water tank. I understand from readings elsewhere that you want about ΒΌ cup per 15 gallons. I mixed about 1 cup of Clorox in three gallons of water. Set the valves in the utility center for "Sanitize Tank" and hooked up the same (rinsed) intake hose I used for the antifreeze to the "City Tank Fill" connector.



 "Sanitize Tank"
  Then I set the bucket on my wife's collapsible step stool and sucked that solution straight in with the pump. It was a little slow to begin with so I just temporarily opened one of the valves on the low point drains, and that seemed to do the trick for priming and the flow was fast (actually very fast) from then on.



 "Mmmm Chlorine"
At this point I hooked the water hose up to the "City Fill" connection and filled the tank up the rest of the way.



"City Tank Fill"
 The tank being full, I changed the mode to normal and turned on the pump. I started by making sure the hot water heater was filled (this takes a while) by running the hot water at the outside shower until water emerges. Then I ran each faucet & commode to make sure that the lines were clear of antifreeze, air, and all had the sanitizer fluid in them. Now you have time to do some other projects or get lunch.  This is also a good time to do a bit of inspection to make sure there are no leaks about. You are supposed to wait 3-4 hours and I have been known to let this sit overnight, but this time I got an early start. I am lucky as I have another project - the kitchen faucet is leaking again - oh the joy.
 
So in the afternoon I turned on the pump and ran the water out through all of the spigots until there was only air. This partially filled the Grey and Black water tanks. My intent is to let them slosh a bit as we get underway.
 
I opened all the low point drains again, and set the relief valve on the hot water heater to make sure that as much of the chlorine was out as possible. I made sure that the hot water heater was full again by running the outside shower on the hot spigot until water came out. I refilled the fresh water tank to 1/3 also to slosh on our first journey.   I like to run empty, but for the sake of cleanliness...
 
I intend one more flush and fill at our first camp (tonight), and unless I smell too much chlorine I will skip the Baking soda process some folks feel is necessary to purge the chlorine smell. (This was indeed the case)
 
Suggestions for improvement welcome.
  Kevin
Junction TX
30.50234N, 99.78031W
Roscoe Ventura - 2006 Jayco Seneca HD 34 SS (Diesel)
Toad - 2007 Jeep WranglerUnlimited

Re: Procedure: Winterize / Sanitize

Reply #1 –
Yahoo Message Number: 3583
I have a quick connect air fitting installed on the hose adapter. This allows hooking up to air hose directly. No help needed from anyone. Be sure to set pressure at 40 psi.
In our northern location it is important to not just run pump until dry but also run some pink antifreeze through it. More pumps have been ruined by a few drops water left in pump. Then freezing. Which causes parts inside pump to fail.
 

Re: Procedure: Winterize / Sanitize

Reply #2 –
Yahoo Message Number: 3584
One other thing to think about. I also attach the air fitting to the inlet on the tank flush system to get all the water out of those lones. I have a freind who had one of those lines burst from water left in the line one winter. This adds no more than a minute to the procedure.

Great write-up.

Sam