De-winterizing for the first time

[Brianc43]

I bought my Thor Chateau sport 24T around the holidays, and the gentleman i bought it from had it all winterized already. He walked me through it, but damned if i can remember a bit of it as there was SO much to take in. This is my first rig.

It has the pink stuff in the lines. It appears to have been strategically placed up to certain points with the shutoffs. I'm nervous about draining/flushing it incorrectly, getting it backwards and rolling into the holding tank and the water heater, and anything else that i'm ignorant to knowing where it shouldn't go or what settings the shutoffs are positioned in.

We have 0 plans to consume the water, ever, from the tanks/lines. Showers even will be a rarity. I don't think i even need the hot water heater. it's mostly for flushing the toilet for us. we'll bring bottled water with us for our boondocking trips (99% of our use will be off-grid) and we will have a lake/ocean and/or portable showers on site to use to 'clean' ourselves.

I looked through my manuals, and nothing is of real value. I reached out to Thor and they don't have a copy of my coach manual anymore because it's too old (2004/5).

Does anyone have 'general' advice? I recognize that every plumbing setup is likely different, and i don't know what i have offhand ( i didn't take pictures of it last time i was inside). All i really know is that it's under my master bed platform with the tank and water heater there and a bunch of valves.

I'd like to understand the winter/storage setting of the valves vs the summer/in use positioning of the valves, at a high level. And the correct order of operations in which to open them.

 

[16ACE27]

Did you look in the RESOURCES area?

Winterizing your Motor Coach

www.thorforums.com

Besides that video there are other Thor videos on winterizing/dewinterizing.

Not to mention the dozens (hundreds?) of other YouTube University videos on the subject.

And, of course, write-ups all over the InterWeb on the subject at the whim of a Google search.

You may strike gold here and someone with the same floor plan and vintage RV will chime in with specific instructions; but while holding your breath for that to happen, review the materials presented, explore your RV and identify the valves of interest, and ask questions here as they arise in your training.

 

[ghnl]

The main thing is to avoid getting the pink stuff into the water heater. I don't think it will hurt anything, it'd just take a lot longer to flush it out. (the main reason to bypass the water heater is to avoid wasting gallons of the antifreeze filling it up - just open the drain and leave it empty).

Basically the water heater will have a method to 'bypass' it. Valves to turn so water (or antifreeze) does not go in or out. Then, after flushing the antifreeze out of all the pipes, the drain plug is re-installed and the valves are turned to allow water to go in & out. If you can post a picture of the water heater bypass valves we'd be better able to tell you how to un-bypass it. Other than that, it's just running water (either from the city water source or by putting water into the fresh water tank & running the pump) until all traces of pink are gone. The antifreeze will not hurt the holding tanks.

 

[rudyhehn]

Hello BR, yes it can be intimidating when you first get going in your new rig. The pink antifreeze is not toxic in small amounts so don't worry if you leave a few drops behind. The advice about looking up the method on You Tube or similar platforms is perfect. Somewhere on the outside of your rig near your water intake there will be an access door that allows you to see the drain valves. Open them up and drain everything out. Your hot water heater will be in a separate area. Drain it too since the previous owner may have winterized it. It has a drain valve on the bottom usually a white nylon plug. Restore the plug. Then hook up to city water. Turn your main water valve to "city water" or similar language and run all of your faucets, shower and toilet. Also ice maker if you use one. There should be a valve in the same area that says hot water heater bypass. Turn that off then run a hot water tap in the RV and the hot water tank will fill. THat should do it.