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DenverTransplant · 10-10-2017, 05:04 PM

Normally when I winterize I blow out the air lines with a compressor. Our ACE has a built in connection for an antifreeze bottle so this year I decided to try it.

It worked really well for the first few lines, then the pump decided not to be a pump. The pump would run, but would not suck up anything from the bottle. I didn't want to get into pump troubleshooting at the time, so I pulled out the air compressor and blew things out though the city water connection like I usually do.

All clear, so the next morning I decided to take a look at the pump. Pulled the suction strainer and found it to be full of white plastic chips. Same plastic as the fresh water tank, so I presume this is an artifact of Thor's "craftsmanship". When they drilled the holes for the water fill and supply lines they just left the chips in the tank. I wonder if I have a couple of plastic coupons still in the tank.

So after cleaning up the filter, I decided to test whether it was going to be a pump again. Hooked up an antifreeze bottle, and turned on the pump. This time no response - pump would not even run.

We were pressed for time to get the coach back to its storage location, and troubleshooting looked like it would take awhile. So we took it back to the storage lot and the problem got assigned to background processing.

Later that day (now the coach is 10 miles away), I realized the the likely problem is not the pump, but a result of the blow out. When I blew out the lines, I opened and closed every faucet, shower, toilet and outside shower, then shut down the compressor. I had the regulator set to 45 psig, so now I have 45 psig of air locked up in the lines. The pump was very happy and pressure switch was telling it not to run. At least I know that there aren't any leaks in the water system and that the check valves work.

So once our early October snow melts and temperatures get back to normal fall levels, I have to run back out to the coach and make sure. Sometimes things are working exactly as they were designed to do.