Where is the pump strainer on a 2010 Winn Era 170X?

[starrigger]

I'm going to be winterizing my new-to-me Era for the first time in the coming weeks, and have been reading up on the procedures. I just bought a Viair compressor for blowing out the lines. But I'm puzzling over the instructions in the Era manual to remove, clean, and empty the pump strainer. The manual says absolutely nothing about where the pump is located. It sounds like it's in the wall behind the toilet. There's a little storage compartment in that wall above the toilet. I suppose I could unscrew that and take it out to look, but I hesitate to do that blindly, in case there are waterproofing seals that I might mess up.

Can someone someone help me locate this thing, please?

[be happy]

I could be way off on this, however. The strainer is attached to the pump via a clear plastic cap. The cap may be about 1" in height. Not sure why you have to do that to winterize. To find the pump turn it on and follow the noise it makes. Most likely its easy to get to rather than hard.

From your post, if I read correctly you are planning to blow the lines out. May I make a suggestion. Your signature you have Boston if it gets cold there I would really lean toward using the RV antifreeze method.

[Morich]

Good drawings to know about for plumbing here:
https://www.winnebago.com/Files/File...170x_plumb.pdf

About 7 pages down into the set is this drawing which shows the pump location and I have marked the small strainer. Click this snip for better view or go direct?
I tend to like to leave this strainer turned bottom up but many seeem to feel more "comfortable" with the plumbing turned so it hangs upright rather than upside down. I feel it more likely to drain if bottom up and never take it off to do the winter thing!

The way the "panel" is marked, I might guess there is a panel down and behind the stool to remove?? Can't really tell where the walls are on this style drawing!

Note: This plastic is thin, not to crush it with a wrench, etc. and vinegar makes a good soak if it looks like it is filled with hard water deposits?

When in really cold area, I used to put the pink in and then blow it out and save the pink for adding to the drains and holding tanks! Just tight enough to squeek but I liked to do double as blowing may leave enough to fill and crack a small elbow if it gets just right?

Good luck!

[starrigger]

Well, I tried to follow the sound, and that's what led me to believe that the pump is in the wall behind the toilet. That diagram suggests that the storage compartment indeed has to come out to gain access. (Thanks for the marked-up clip. I actually had downloaded that pdf, and was left scratching my head, because it's so hard to read!)

I've been reading a lot online about winterizing, and there seems to be agreement that the strainer bowl should be emptied to prevent cracking. (Also, the manual says to clean the strainer once a year, though with a filter on the water inlet line, one hopes there's nothing to strain out.)

Re blowing out vs pink stuff, I also read a lot on the pros and cons, and what led me to the blow-out method was mainly not wanting to buy gallons and gallons of glycol, and then dump it out in the driveway every spring, and from there into the storm sewer. Yes, I know it's supposed to be nontoxic and all, but it's bad for animals and it can't be good for the environment. (The nearest dumping station to me is a 45-minute drive.) I know I have to use some of it--I just bought 4 gallons--but I'd like to minimize the use if I can. It generally doesn't get super-cold in Boston, and lots of folks online have reported good results with the blowout method even in cold areas. That was my thinking, anyway. Glad to hear other suggestions.

[creativepart]

All you need to find is the water pump... and the strainer is right there on the inlet side of the pump.

Here's a photo of a pump and the strainer is circled:

[Morich]

The thing wil the need for a filter is partly "just because" but it also has some value when we think of the things like mold that may grow in the fresh water holding tank. We may do a bleach soak to kil the stuff but then it is still going to hold a small amount of water in the bottom while we may store it for several months. So we get a dark damp area and what is likely to form on the walls and sides is some form of mold or mildew, etc. which we may kill when we do the bleach soak but the remains are still left in the tank and eventually get into the pump if we don't work on keeping it out plus there is almost always some small bits of sand, rust and debris in water, so we just don't want all that going through the pump to tear it up. The small RV pumps are largely just a rubber diaphragm where a bit of samd could do real damage.

The picture above is an example of what I DON'T want in my filter as it is shown hanging down. What that does for me is gives a spot where any small amount of water left in the pump or lines may move along to find the low spot and stay there in a tiny, fragile plastic thing that is really super easy to split. I favor simply turning the piping enough so the filter is turned bottom up so that bit of water is not likely to stay in the fragile parts!

I agree with the idea of using as little of the pink as practical but it really doesn't take very much if done in the right order.

I first drain the water heater and blow as much out as I can, then bypass the heater and fill only the lines with pink, before going back with air to blow the pink through the lines to a faucet inside where I run the pink coming out back into the jug it came in to store for the next time!

My thoughts are like this. The water is sure to collect and freeze, so that it may casue me lots of grief.
If I blow the lines out, I may get by but I know that it doesn't get the lines totally clear and there may be a half teaspoon here and a half teasoon there which may collect in some low spot as I drive after doing the blowout. That can also cause me lots of grief.

If I blow all the water out that I can, then add pink and blow it again, the remaining water is then totally mixed with pink and unlikely to freeze even if it does collect in some tiny elbow, etc.

It all takes less than an hour to do it totally and I hate replacing plumbing, so I'm good with a little extra time/effort to sleep better all winter!

On the location, Winnebago drawings do a pretty good job of showing actual location of the parts, so this is what I see.
When they same " panel water pump" that is different than many, also it loks like clamps hold the pump to that panel!
See where it says washer plastic? I would think that is the line to your stool and the pump is just above that line and behind the panel! I might guess that the panel has a foam gasket, held on the wall with four screws and when the panel is loose, the lines let the pump lean forward for access.
Not as handy as some in compartments but those sometimes need a small child to get into work on them!

[starrigger]

I found the pump. It's behind the ventilation grill on the wood-panel wall behind the passenger seat. The pump is actually mounted to the inner wall, directly behind the toilet.

(I started by taking out the 14 screws holding the storage compartment on the shower wall above the toilet, only to discover that the storage unit was caulked into place. I didn't want to mess with that, so I kept looking.)

Interestingly, the strainer on mine is already in the "upright" position--i.e., on top of the pipe rather than hanging from it. Don't know if it was made that way or altered by a previous owner.

Thanks for the detailed info on how you do a hybrid procedure. I might give that a try, when the time comes.