Winterizing your Minnie Towable

[WinnieMinnie]

Impatience and maybe a bit of stupidity...I might be able to find it - I thinks it's under the water heater. It's what I get for being in a hurry.

Another question, I have an outside TV mount- kind of a "V" looking thing. Any idea where to get the part that attaches to your TV?

[TDI-Minnie]

It's on the back of the TV already.
The same V bracket is mounted to the inside of the trailer and is currently holding up your TV.

[WinnieMinnie]

Originally Posted by TDI-Minnie

It's on the back of the TV already.
The same V bracket is mounted to the inside of the trailer and is currently holding up your TV.

I bought my Minnie used and the previous owner took the tv out...so I'm starting from scratch on the tv and mounts...

[TDI-Minnie]

Ahh, well that sucks. Maybe take the bracket off the wall inside and hit the electronics stores to find a match.

[Bigbird65]

You can find a lot of TV brackets here.

My suggestion is to contact Winnebago Towables at (574) 825-5250. Tell them the story on your missing TV bracket and ask them for a brand name, part number and source for a new one or see if they can sell you one. That way you will be getting the correct bracket. There are far to many of them to just be guessing which one to get. I have found Winnebago to be quite helpful.

[TDI-Minnie]

Hard to believe I originally posted this a year ago, already.
Well, about a week earlier on the calendar and it's time to do it again with temps dipping into the mid 20s this week. :(

[reactor7]

Thanks for the winterizing overview! I would appreciate any comments or suggestions on the following.I have a brand new Minnie 2201DS and we plan to take it from VA to MO and set it up next to my daughter’s home for about 2 weeks over XMAS and New Year’s.Per Winnebago’s Service dept., we had tank heaters installed on the grey and black tanks and purchased a heated water hose which we plan to connect to city water.The trailer is currently winterized with anti-freeze in the system.My plan when we arrive in MO is to drain the system, run a chlorine solution from the fresh water tank through the pump and then through all the faucets, flush again, etc. (as the manual recommends).We mainly want to use the water for cleaning and bathing. Then, we hook up to city water, fill the hot water heater (open cold and hot water valves to the heater), plug in tank heaters and heated hose per manufacturer’s instructions. Per Winnebago, the pump should be fine as long as we keep the furnace set to 55 degrees, but I think I should then drain whatever is left in the fresh water tank and pour some anti-freeze in for protection.Once we are ready to head out, I’ll dump the tanks at a nearby campground and then proceed with your winterizing steps.Thanks in advance for taking time to review this and comment!

[TDI-Minnie]

I would not get the fresh water tank involved at all. Just get there and run city water through all lines before filling the water heater.
How will you prevent the dump valves from freezing, especially driving to a campground? Just something to think about.

The idea of going to a campground to dump is a real hassle and they may charge you (if they are even open and allow it). My solution is to act like Cousin Eddie from Christmas Vacation! Not dumping into the storm drain, but most houses have a 4" sewer cleanout, which is exactly like a dump station. I use mine at home all the time. My hose does not reach, but I have a "honeywagon" to shuttle a load over. Works great and costs nothing but a little effort. The honey wagon is a great investment.

[TDI-Minnie]

bump

[TDI-Minnie]

Originally Posted by TDI-Minnie

Make sure to go outside and push in the pressure valve inside the city connection. This is the white, plastic thingy inside where you connect the hose. This will allow the pump to flow anti-freeze up the city connection hose.**the pink stuff will shoot out at you!

So, new learning for this part!
If you force the one-way valve open while the system is under full (pump) pressure, you can dislodge the o-ring in the valve and it will leak. You'll know this the next time you are camping off city water, because the pump will briefly kick on every few minutes to maintain pressure.
It's an easy fix, but I had to take the valve apart to get the o-ring back in place.

Solution: open a faucet to relieve pressure in the system. Then go outside and depress the one-way valve to purge the water.

[jumpmaster01]

I wanted to say than you for posting this, made it so easy. Happy winter.


Joel
2015 2201DS Minnie, Lime green
2015 Toyota Tundra Crewmax

[TDI-Minnie]

Glad it was helpful. The ease of this project allows us to spend a lot more time camping. It just takes a decent forecast and a little cabin fever for me to go camping for a weekend.

And if you don't use the showers or the outside kitchen, the job of rewinterizing can be that much quicker.

[jumpmaster01]

Originally Posted by TDI-Minnie

Glad it was helpful. The ease of this project allows us to spend a lot more time camping. It just takes a decent forecast and a little cabin fever for me to go camping for a weekend.

And if you don't use the showers or the outside kitchen, the job of rewinterizing can be that much quicker.

Indeed. Give me warm weather!


Joel
2015 2201DS Minnie, Lime green
2015 Toyota Tundra Crewmax

[TDI-Minnie]

And don't forget to sanitize the fresh water tank with about 1/4 cup of bleach and a full load of water.

[TDI-Minnie]

l also make a point to clean the AC dust filter when I winterize. I usually do it a couple times a year, but just seems like a good time to do it when winterizing. I know I won't think about it in the Spring when I'm ready to head out camping. LOL

[MNWinnie72]

Resurrecting this excellent thread, originated by "TDI-Winnie". We are owners of a new Winnie Drop 1710, and just finished our first winterizing cycle per guidance in this thread, and an info sheet from dealer, and the Winnie Towables Manual.

All went very fine, per instructions, but we are not sure what the last (?) step should be ? The dealer info sheet and the Winnie manual says to OPEN the low point drain valves. The "TDI-Winnie" guidance in this thread, and also several YouTube videos, do not say to do this.

When we did open those low point drains a fair bit of our pink antifreeze started to leak out. So why would you end the winterizing process by opening those valves, triggering that antifreeze leakage, when you just went to all the trouble to get the pink stuff in, in the first place?

So to summarize the basic Q: should the low point drain valves be OPEN or CLOSED at the end of the winterization routine, and WHY ?

Big THANK YOU in advance for any guidance. Cheers from a newbie in Minnesota...

PS: OK, one more Q, after winterizing is it OK to actually drive with the fresh water tank drain valve open, or might the tank pick up nasty road debris thru the open little drain spout ? We just drove a bit with it open and it did continue to drain out a little water, from all the sloshing around, which is a good thing, but wondering about possible debris going in ? THANKS again very much.........

[bbbrr]

Hello and happy camping. My motto is you can never put too much antifreeze in it. We have had travel trailers and large cabin cruisers for years. I have seen penny pinchers milk the winterization with 1 or 2 jugs of antifreeze and brag about it, only to come back in the spring to major issues that could cost thousands.(especially in larger boats). I find it for around $2 a gallon or less at Menards and usually buy 5-6. at an approximate cost of $10. What i cannot get into the waterlines, goes in the drains and toilets. Do not listen to the "that is overkill" crew when it comes to a couple dollars insurance.

[Bigbird65]

My last post in this forum was in November 2014. I was really surprised when I got a notification that it was still going. Things have changed for me. We sold our 2101DS and moved up to a 2250DS. I used to winterize using the pink stuff in the lines. About 3 years ago I went to using compressed air in the lines instead of pink stuff.



Winterizing – Air compressor method – Minnie 2250DS
This is specific to our Minnie but applies to all Minnies, the only difference is the location of the items listed. I have included photos of these items.
Start by draining the 3 tanks. Open the low point drains. Open a water faucet. Turn on the water pump for about 20 seconds to run it dry. On the outside of the Minnie drain the water heater by removing the drain plug or opening the drain valve, see photo. Lift the lever on the relief valve to vent air into the tank. Drop the lever when draining the tank is finished. * Bypass the water heater, see photo. Put 35 psi air on the city water inlet and open each faucet in turn to blow out water until you only get air. Don’t forget the outside shower. Open the toilet valve to blow out the toilet. Blow out the black tank blow down line by moving the 35 psi supply to the blow down inlet.
The fresh water pump has a filter on the inlet of the pump. Make sure there is no water in the filter. If necessary unscrew the clear cup on the filter and empty it.
Leave the low point drains open until spring. Reinstall the water heater drain plug after it has been drained. Put some pink stuff (RV anti-freeze available at Wal-Mart) in the sink drains and lavatory drain and enough in the shower drain to get it to the gray tank discharge valve. Also put some pink stuff in the toilet and flush to get it into the black tank discharge valve. Leave a little pink stuff in the toilet. Next spring redo the heater bypass back to normal and close the low point drains.
* To gain access to the water heater valves, remove the panel below the oven. In two of the photos I have shown normal and bypassed valve positions.

[SarahW]

Originally Posted by Bigbird65

My last post in this forum was in November 2014. I was really surprised when I got a notification that it was still going.

Well you need to come back and post more often! Thank you for sharing that very helpful information.

[TDI-Minnie]

Seems silly to leave the low point drain open and have all the antifreeze on the ground.
But, I don't see any harm in doing it either.

Personally, I would not want my water system open to the outside air. Just another source of contamination.