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Old 10-06-2019, 10:00 PM   #1
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Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: Chateau 31W
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THOR #14057
Wintering for the first time - help,,,

Rig is in the signature.

Our new to us rig I dewinterized in April. No problem during the season of use. Did noticed low water pressure when on city water bit attributed to pressure at CG.

Ok on to winterizing.
Drained water heater and low drain points.
Blew out lines with all faucets open.
Closed all faucets.
4 gallons of RV antifreeze into fresh water holding tank.
Put valves into bypass under sink. I can only only find two valves, one on hot other cold. I turned them the opposite of what I had during season.
Turned on water pump to charge lines. It seemed to be running longer than needed.i went under sink and heard gurgling water,,,,crap Imgo outside and antifreeze is draining out of heater. Quick put drain plug in and turned off pump.
So now I’m scratching my head as what is going on. The dealer gave us a little cheat sheet list that they put together and there is a page showing generic water heater plumbing with normal use and bypass (winterized) it shows 3 valves and I can only find 2. Very tight quarters under sink. Thor owners manual shows a generic 3 valve system as well.

Not sure what to do now. I have dumped maybe a half gallon onto the driveway draining out of heater. Who knows how much is in the heater.

Thanks for any help.
JJ

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Old 10-06-2019, 10:51 PM   #2
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Look again, there are three. One cold in, one hot out, and one between the two on the tank.
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Old 10-06-2019, 11:02 PM   #3
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There should be one valve on the inlet side bottom of heater. One valve on the top, outlet side of heater and a valve between the two on the bypass. Picture the letter H turned on it’s side the bottom leg of the H is the inlet, the top of the H is the outlet and the center leg is the bypass. To winterize the valves on top and bottom legs must be closed to keep HWH empty and the center valve must be open to pump antifreeze through the rest of the system. Gotta be another valve there somewhere. Sounds like the inlet is still open.
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Old 10-06-2019, 11:32 PM   #4
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How about a picture of the bypass valves.
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Old 10-06-2019, 11:40 PM   #5
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There are two valve water heater bypass systems out there also. There is a link in the attached link that describes how the two valve system works.



NO (OR LUKEWARM) HOT WATER -Please read first - Forest River Forums
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Old 10-07-2019, 02:27 AM   #6
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Originally Posted by javelin View Post
How about a picture of the bypass valves.

Pretty tight quarters. I’ll see what I can provide.

Javelin post below might be similar to what I have 2valve.
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Old 10-07-2019, 04:52 PM   #7
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Update with pictures

Picture 1 - The red goes into the tank at the top. Note the red line to the left of the valve which goes down,
Picture 2 - cold blue going up with valve.
Picture 3 - remember that red line in pic 1 going down? It is inline with the blue line going up (on top of valve) kinda shows red on top of valve of blue line
Picture 4 - shows where the electric heating element going in tank.

Right now to me it looks like it should be in bypass.

Thanks
JJ
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Old 10-07-2019, 05:47 PM   #8
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It would benefit you to get the fresh water schematic from Thor showing you the layout of your fresh water cold and hot plumbing. From the description of the problems you had there are a couple of things you need to be aware of:

1. You don't need to put the antifreeze in the fresh water tank. When you de-winterize that's going to be a pain in the butt to get the antifreeze taste out of water coming from the fresh water tank.

2. So if I don't put antfreeze into the fresh water tank how do I get it into the lines to winterize. If you had the schematic you would see that somewhere between the cold water line coming out of the fresh water tank and the water pump intake connect there will be a T-connection to the winterization inlet. You take the cap off this winterization inlet and connect a plastic tube to the antifreeze bottle and when you'd run the pump with the fresh water tank empty, there would be a suction on the water line and it would them syphon the antifreeze out of the bottle and into the water lines.

3. There are 3 valves involved in winterizing the water lines. You would CLOSE the cold water line into the water heater and also the hot water outlet valve on the water heater. By closing these 2 valves, no water will flow into the water heater when you are winterizing. If you left them open you'd wide up filling the water heater with 6 gallons of antifreeze, or as you experienced by leaving the plug out of the water heater, dumping anti freeze on the ground from the water heater drain plug. The 3rd valve will be located in a "jumper" connection that connects the cold water line into the water heater with the hot water output line from the water heater. This "Jumper" connecting line with a valve in the center of it is going to be connected before the cold water valve into the water heater and just after the valve coming out of the hot water heater. In winterizing you open this jumper line valve so the water flows from the cold water line, through the jumper line, and into hot water line coming out of the hot water heater. So when the jumper valve is open and the intake and output valve for the water heater are closed the water bypasses the hot water heater. In normal operation the cold water inlet and hot water outlet valves on the water heater would be OPEN and the jumper valve would be closed so water would flow through the water heater. This jumper valve is commonly called the Hot Water Bypass Valve.
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Old 10-07-2019, 05:53 PM   #9
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Here is a winterizing picture story. You just to find where the valves are located on your model & floorplan.
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Old 10-07-2019, 07:20 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bevedfelker View Post
Here is a winterizing picture story. You just to find where the valves are located on your model & floorplan.
Thanks for your detailed response and diagram. Appreciate it.

I no there are those say to put the antifreeze in the fresh water. The Thor manual says this a way to do it. ‘Wet method’. We don’t travel with water in fresh tank and only drink bottled water and water from CG for cooking/coffee.

Anyways I can only locate 2valves. I’ll keep looking. One has to be the size of Atom ant to work in that area under sink.

Thanks.
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Old 10-07-2019, 09:34 PM   #11
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Found 3rd valve!

After poking around some more I found the cold water line and valve. I had to move some hose out of the way and there it was. I set the valves as in your photo the winterizing position. Turned on the water pump, waited a while, then started opening faucets and the pink was coming out. Did all faucets. Tomorrow I’m gonna pickup another gallon and pour some down all the drains to make sure I have enough in the traps. I do have some already in the toilet bowl.

I also did more poking around under the bed by the water pump and found the fresh water bypass valve and the t connection where I can hook up a hose to pump the antifreeze out of the container like someone mentioned. I’ll be using that method next time.

Thank you Ed and others.
JJ
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Old 10-07-2019, 10:16 PM   #12
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Don't forget ice maker if you have one,and outside shower .
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Old 10-07-2019, 10:47 PM   #13
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@wrapped,
Outside shower ☑️
No ice maker on our residential Whirlpool refer.

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Old 10-07-2019, 11:30 PM   #14
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I almost always forget the toto until the last minute. Push that pedal down to "flush" thru there.
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Old 10-07-2019, 11:47 PM   #15
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Just a comment regarding the use of pink plumbing antifreeze in the fresh water tank.


Each to his own, but in my ACE, after draining “hopefully all ?” water from my fresh tank I also add 1 to 2 gal of pink antifreeze into the fresh tank and open the bypass suction line on the low pressure side of the water pump, until I see that fresh tank pink antifreeze is flowing out via gravity. I then shut off the fresh water tank valve (which normally feeds the filter and low pressure side of the pump) to ensure that pink fills that feed line and valve space. I do not want to risk that any water that may remain in the fresh tank could make its way into the fresh water feed line and subsequently freeze. Repairing a freeze in that line would be very painful.
The remainder of the pink I install into my coach lines is drawn from the pink bottles as required via the suction line installed in the fresh tank side of the water filter and low pressure side of the pump. I do this so I can gauge how much pink is being used. I also installed an auxiliary water pump on/off switch at the water pump, so that I can control the pump suction from the pink bottles outside without having to go in/out of the coach to turn the pump on and off as required. I use this so that I can watch as the pink level drops in the bottles and to ensure the suction hose is always below the pink antifreeze level.
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Old 10-12-2019, 08:37 PM   #16
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I also drain my grey water tank after I have run the antifreeze through the faucets because the fresh water that was in the pee traps is going to be displaced by the antifreeze coming through the faucets and will sit in the grey water tank. Is this the proper way to do it.
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Old 10-12-2019, 09:21 PM   #17
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Originally Posted by dand View Post
I also drain my grey water tank after I have run the antifreeze through the faucets because the fresh water that was in the pee traps is going to be displaced by the antifreeze coming through the faucets and will sit in the grey water tank. Is this the proper way to do it.

I think that is a good idea, but to clarify, a little displaced P trap water sitting in a big tank is not the issue IMO (lots of room for freezing expansion), it is if that water comes down to the 1.5" grey tank blade valve and accumulates there......which can easily freeze and potentially crack the ABS pipe or blade valve body. My ACE 30.1 did that the second year I winterized because I used to close the grey blade valve over winter; now I drain grey after pouring pink into the traps and leave the grey blade valve open with a small tray under to catch any drips. Black tank blade valve remains closed since it is a much larger pipe and open shape in my coach. Trust me, taking freezing precautions can save yourself a lot of grief come Spring.
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Old 10-12-2019, 09:25 PM   #18
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One add on comment, I also pour straight pink into the p traps just to make sure they contain straight anti freeze.....I don't rely on pink coming through faucets to do that (unless you run enough straight pink through).
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