Winterizing
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Topic: Winterizing
Posted By: Idaklee
Subject: Winterizing
Date Posted: 29 Oct 2015 at 6:08pm
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I just spent $78 at my local RV service, to have my pod winterized. I asked if I could observe so I can perhaps do it myself next time. It took him about 10 minutes! I'm kind of sick to my stomach because he didn't do hardly anything in the list I got from this forum!!
In reading over it now, he didn't bother to unscrew either low point drain! Huh??? He also only used 1/2 gallon of the pink stuff. I'm sure there are many other short cuts ihe used but these are the two that are bothering me the most. What do you think I should do now?? Thanks, Marcia ------------- Marcia from MN 13 177 R Pod 06 Dodge Grand Caravan Max, Gracie & Greta |
Replies:
Posted By: codycountry
Date Posted: 29 Oct 2015 at 7:28pm
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Hi Marcia, To answer your question, drain both the low water drain lines. An empty line can't burst. Lots of people here are more qualified than I am, and I also own a 2013 177. It takes me a gallon and a half to run all the lines properly, could probably do it with a gallon if I was really professional, and it only takes me 10 minutes. You can crawl under the driver side wheel, in back of it, and drain both those low water drain lines. I'd sure do that if I were you. It's easy. I question the quality of this dealer. This web site should start a "Name that dealer" link for experiences just like this. Maybe the dealer blew it all out with air, added the pink stuff for the pump and drains. But the low water drains don't blow out unless they are open, and still might have pure water and freeze and burst. Good luck!
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Posted By: Idaklee
Date Posted: 29 Oct 2015 at 7:52pm
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Thank you and no! I asked him why he didnt blow out the lines and he said it wasn't necessary since the pink stuff was being used.
I'll get my son to unscrew those drains this weekend! ------------- Marcia from MN 13 177 R Pod 06 Dodge Grand Caravan Max, Gracie & Greta |
Posted By: techntrek
Date Posted: 29 Oct 2015 at 8:28pm
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codycountry - actually you are welcome to add a positive or negative review in the Dealer Review section. Idaklee - don't worry too much. Yes, blowing out with air first is optional, but you end up using more antifreeze if you do. As mentioned above, open up your low point drains and you'll be ok there. The dealer only using 1/2 gallon, especially on a slide-out model which has more pipe, is something to worry about BUT some of that is probably because he forgot to put some down the shower and sink drain traps. You can fix that by buying a gallon of it and pouring a cup down each drain. It doesn't account for all of the missing antifreeze, though. On my 171 I used a little under a gallon each time. I used maybe a gallon and a half on my 30-foot Salem. ------------- Doug ~ '10 171 (2009-2015) ~ 2008 Salem ~ http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=1723 - Pod instruction manual 
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Posted By: Tars Tarkas
Date Posted: 29 Oct 2015 at 10:29pm
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Well, at this point, if you open the low-point drains you'll drain the antifreeze. What you have in the lines now is probably antifreeze where you need it in the line and a mixture of water and antifreeze in the low water pipes, which is probably okay unless you live in Minnesota... might be okay even there. You didn't mention whether they drained the water heater! Antifreeze in the drains in essential too. TT ------------- 2010 176 FJ Cruiser |
Posted By: Idaklee
Date Posted: 30 Oct 2015 at 9:15am
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He did drain the water heater. First thing he did.
Ok. So, if I open the low point drains, I'll lose what little antifreeze is in there. What if I add antifreeze to all the drains in abundance afterwards? Will that make its way to the low points? I DO live in Minnesota and planned to leave the pod out in my driveway. ------------- Marcia from MN 13 177 R Pod 06 Dodge Grand Caravan Max, Gracie & Greta |
Posted By: codycountry
Date Posted: 30 Oct 2015 at 10:17am
The main point: All your lines need to either be full of air, or full of the pink stuff. The drain traps too. Open up your low water drains and empty them out, then no worries. They can't freeze if nothing is in there but air. 
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Posted By: techntrek
Date Posted: 30 Oct 2015 at 10:39am
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Cody is correct. The water lines need to be free of water. They do not need to be full of antifreeze - antifreeze just ensures you have displaced all of the water, which has happened once you see pink stuff come out of every faucet. Then you can drain the antifreeze, but most people just leave it in there all winter. No worries about opening up your low-point drains (which have nothing to do with the sink and shower drain). When you pour antifreeze into the drains you are displacing the water there, too. You could go through the trouble of removing the traps to pour out the water, but since you need to maintain the "airlock" created by the liquid in the trap, you need something in there to keep the gasses out of the pod, so it is antifreeze. ------------- Doug ~ '10 171 (2009-2015) ~ 2008 Salem ~ http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=1723 - Pod instruction manual
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Posted By: Tars Tarkas
Date Posted: 30 Oct 2015 at 11:17am
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I agree with Cody and Tech. The thing about antifreeze in the pipes instead of air, is that it can be very hard to get all of the water out of the pump with just air. The pump is probably the most fragile part of the whole water system, at least arguably, and it's almost certainly the most expensive part. A little bit of ice in the water pump can damage it. Having flushed the water out of your system with antifreeze, your pump should be okay if you now open the low point drains. Those drains are for the fresh water pipes that carry water from the water tank through the rest of the water system (to the faucets). To properly drain the water through the low-point drains, open them and then also turn on the faucets in the sink, shower, and hold the flush open on the toilet. That will let air get sucked back into the pipes and allow the water to fall out of the low-point drains. There is no connection between the faucets and the drains in your sink and shower, and toilet. (Don't forget to put some pink stuff in the toilet bowl.) And as Techntrek said, the low point drains are not part of the pod drainage system. They are fresh water. Used water comes out through the gray and black tank gate valves. Those tanks should also be drained for winter. You might be okay doing nothing else. The low-point drains are kind of like appendices. They are little pipes in the water system that go no where. If there is antifreeze in the pipes you won't have pure antifreeze in those short pipes, but you'll have some, mixed with water. It probably won't freeze but even if it does, the pipes are PEX, so they probably won't break. Some people never open the low water drains. In my opinion, it's too easy to open them and drain them, so it's simply cheap insurance to do so. More so the further north you are. (I knew you were in Minnesota.) I'm in Tennessee and I open the low water drains when I'm winterizing. TT ------------- 2010 176 FJ Cruiser |
Posted By: Idaklee
Date Posted: 30 Oct 2015 at 12:10pm
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Thank you so much to all of you! I so appreciate your help. I had an Aliner for years and never used the water because the winterization scared me. But now I have a bathroom, so I'm trying to deal with it.
Thanks again! ------------- Marcia from MN 13 177 R Pod 06 Dodge Grand Caravan Max, Gracie & Greta |
Posted By: techntrek
Date Posted: 30 Oct 2015 at 4:52pm
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Truly not a big deal to do it yourself next year. The checklist is long, but most steps go quickly. It might take you an hour next year but the year after it will take 20 minutes. And only cost you the amount of two gallons of RV antifreeze. ------------- Doug ~ '10 171 (2009-2015) ~ 2008 Salem ~ http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=1723 - Pod instruction manual
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Posted By: Idaklee
Date Posted: 30 Oct 2015 at 11:27pm
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------------- Marcia from MN 13 177 R Pod 06 Dodge Grand Caravan Max, Gracie & Greta |
Posted By: furpod
Date Posted: 31 Oct 2015 at 10:07am
Yeah.. I read people paying as much as $200 to winterize at the dealer.. makes my head hurt. That's like $600 an hour to do something that needs no special tools or has any real hazards. ------------- |
Posted By: Idaklee
Date Posted: 31 Oct 2015 at 8:37pm
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I seem to have THREE low point drains! Two under and behind the wheel and one further back. The one further back had just water and lots of it. The two by the wheel....son quick put caps back on because he said that antifreeze was coming out of them!
You are all right, it doesn't seem that hard to do this. But its very confusing!! Happy Halloween by the way!! ------------- Marcia from MN 13 177 R Pod 06 Dodge Grand Caravan Max, Gracie & Greta |
Posted By: Tars Tarkas
Date Posted: 31 Oct 2015 at 11:27pm
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There are 3 drains. The one further back with all the water is the drain for your fresh water tank. If the dealership didn't drain that when they winterized your pod, they screwed up. It needs to be drained or you could end up with a 30 gallon block of ice that might crack the whole tank. That would be an expensive mess. The drain for the fresh water tank is just a drain. I guess you can call it a low-point drain, but low-point drains are really something else. I imagine in Minnesota low-point drains are more common in houses than they are down here. But even in Tennessee, in rental houses, or especially in resort houses that aren't used much, if at all, in the winter, the houses have to have the water turned off and all of the water drained from the pipes in the house (and the faucets left open) or when the water is turned on in the spring pipes will be broken and water will be all over the place. Resort homes usually have low-point drains. Same with your pod. The function of the low-point drains just behind the wheel is to drain all of the water out of the pipes in the pod. One drains the water from all of the cold water pipes and the other drains the water from the hot water pipes. Neither drains the 30 gallon fresh water tank or the water heater. Putting antifreeze in the water system during winterizing pushes the water out of the hot and cold water pipes (if it's done right) and replaces it with antifreeze. With antifreeze in the pipes, of course that's what's going to come out of them when you open the low-point drains. You probably don't need to replace what came out, as there is either still some antifreeze in the pipes or there is nothing but air, neither of which will freeze and break anything. It's really bad that there was still water in the fresh water tank though. If you turned on the water pump and pumped any water into the kitchen or bathroom, you do need to re-winterize the pod, and if it's not too much trouble to take it back to the dealer, you have a real good case for making them do it again at no charge. With what you've learned from this thread though, it would probably be less trouble for you to do it yourself than hook up and haul the pod any distance. The idea of winterizing the pod may seem intimidating, but as others have said, it's really very easy, and if you think about what's going on with the process, the concept is pretty simple too. TT ------------- 2010 176 FJ Cruiser |
Posted By: techntrek
Date Posted: 01 Nov 2015 at 7:22pm
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+1. If you got gallons out of the fresh water tank they didn't do their job. It is possible to get some water out even if it was done right - the drain is to one side of the tank and even a slight tilt to the pod when they drained it will leave some water on the bottom. Tilt it a different direction and you'll get a little more water out. ------------- Doug ~ '10 171 (2009-2015) ~ 2008 Salem ~ http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=1723 - Pod instruction manual
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Posted By: Idaklee
Date Posted: 02 Nov 2015 at 9:10am
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Then the RV guy didn't do the job right. I watched him carefully and he never touched any of the low point drains. Yes, gallons came out of the fresh water tank.
Since I never turned the pump back on after he was done putting the pink stuff in, I think I'm okay. I'll just put more pink stuff down the drains and the toilet. Thanks to all of you!!! ------------- Marcia from MN 13 177 R Pod 06 Dodge Grand Caravan Max, Gracie & Greta |