Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×
 


Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
 
Old 10-26-2011, 04:12 PM   #1
Winnebago Camper
 
Bondad's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Denver Metro Area
Posts: 33
Winterizing Minnie - No HW Heater bypass

I had to winterize my Minnie last night due to a severe cold front coming in - supposed to be 16 degrees tonight. Our HWH is located under the sofa. I searched and searched but could not locate a bypass switch. I plan to order one but in the meantime, I had to winterize it. Moving as fast as I can, I pumped pink through all the lines hoping the HWH wouldn't chug up all the pink. It worked well and I only drained about 1/2 gallon from the HWH when I was done.

My question is, how bad is pink for the guts of the water heater and do I need to rinse it somehow this weekend (it's supposed to be in the 60's again). If so, do I just run a bunch of water through the whole system to clean the HWH? I hate to have to do this because then I have to re-winterize BUT I don't want to ruin the water heater.

Thoughts?
__________________
Traveling whenever possible with DW, 3 kids and "Tate" the mut dog. 1999 Minnie Winnie 3F430V
Bondad is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-26-2011, 04:35 PM   #2
Winnebago Camper
 
Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 10
Can't say for certain but I really doubt that the pink will hurt your heater. I believe the main purposes of the bypass is, as you suggest, to prevent having to use 5 or more gallons of the anti-freeze and secondly to make it easier to get antifreeze out of you lines when you de-winterize. You could call a rv dealer and ask.
__________________
Dave
2004 Newmar KSDP 3353
Surrey B.C.
srydve is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-26-2011, 04:55 PM   #3
Winnebago Owner
 
HD4Mark's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Marathon, Florida
Posts: 222
How much antifreeze did you pump through and was the tank drained? You would need to pump a lot to displace all the water and fill it. Assuming the HW tank is at least six gallon I would guess seven or more gallons of pink stuff if empty.

If it doesn't have a bypass, you can buy an aftermarket kit that will be worth the money and trouble to install.

We owned a boat that didn't have one but we could drain it then connect the in and out hoses with a piece of pipe to fill the rest of the lines with antifreeze.
__________________
Mark & Nancy
2004 Winnebago Vectra 40KD
Shep dog, R.I.P. Kenzie dog Toad 2015 Jeep Wrangler Willys Wheeler
HD4Mark is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-26-2011, 05:05 PM   #4
Winnebago Camper
 
Senior Chief's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Somewhere in the woods in Belfair, WA, WA
Posts: 21
The pink stuff certainly won't hurt your water heater, but it still would take at least 6 or 7 gallons to pump through the lines and fill the W/H. The water heater had to be FULL in order for your downstream hot water pipes to get any antifreeze in them.

What I'm saying is if you only drained 1/2 gallon out of the W/H, then you have hot water lines that never got any antifreeze in them

The W/H bypass is just so you can drain the W/H completely and still fill the water lines, saving gallons and gallons of expensive pink stuff.
__________________
Life rocks when your house rolls
Senior Chief
& the Cheese Queen


Senior Chief is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-27-2011, 12:12 PM   #5
Winnebago Camper
 
Bondad's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Denver Metro Area
Posts: 33
Quote:
Originally Posted by Senior Chief View Post
The pink stuff certainly won't hurt your water heater, but it still would take at least 6 or 7 gallons to pump through the lines and fill the W/H. The water heater had to be FULL in order for your downstream hot water pipes to get any antifreeze in them.

What I'm saying is if you only drained 1/2 gallon out of the W/H, then you have hot water lines that never got any antifreeze in them

The W/H bypass is just so you can drain the W/H completely and still fill the water lines, saving gallons and gallons of expensive pink stuff.
Oh crap! I hope it survived the night. It was VERY cold!
__________________
Traveling whenever possible with DW, 3 kids and "Tate" the mut dog. 1999 Minnie Winnie 3F430V
Bondad is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-27-2011, 12:53 PM   #6
Winnebago Master
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 962
A temperature of 16 degrees for 3 or 4 hours probably won't cause enough heat loss to freeze your hot water heater even if there was no antifreeze in the HWH ... 16 degrees for 24 hours would be different ... and remember that as long as there is fluid in your HWH you can turn it on for a little while to warm it up so that it will stand more heat loss ...

You can get a pretty good sense of how warm the water is in the HWH by feeling the pressure relief valve ...
skigramp is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-27-2011, 02:13 PM   #7
Winnebago Owner
 
Dave78Chief's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2009
Posts: 149
The optional method is to get a blow out connector for your city water supply connection. First you drain the system, including using the WH drain plug. Then reinstall the WH drain plug and use 30# air to blow out remaining water in the system. Disconnect air hose. Afterwards, you pour a cup of pink stuff into the kitchen and lavatory sinks to purge the P-traps of water. Place rest of gal of pink stuff in the fresh water tank. Now, go have a brew. Don't forget to dump grey/black tanks before doing all this.

Dave
__________________
Dave in Virginia
1978 Winnebago Chieftain
Dodge M400 - 440-3
Classic Winnebago Site: https://www.classicwinnebagos.com/forum/index.php
Dave78Chief is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
heater


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Winterizing your Minnie Towable TDI-Minnie Winnebago Travel Trailers 83 10-09-2021 12:34 PM
Winterizing with the winterizing system Ripperfarms General Maintenance and Repair 7 10-09-2012 06:54 PM
Water heater bypass during winterizing txdutt Plumbing | Systems and Fixtures 15 12-16-2010 12:12 PM

» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by

Disclaimer:

This website is not affiliated with or endorsed by Winnebago Industries or any of its affiliates. This is an independent, unofficial site.


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 12:32 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.