Perhaps someone who has winterized their Sportsmen could enlighten those of us who have never done it before. This will be my first winter and I would like some tips if anyone has any to offer. I have heard of using the pink rv antifreeze and draining my water heater but I am not sure of the procedure to do so. Any comments would be appreciated. Thankyou
Winterizing is a very big deal. KZ did not put in a winterizing system in our RV's.
1. You definitely need to drain your hot water tank. There in a large drain plug that you have to take out and drain. Also, soak it in vinegar overnight to clean it before your reinsert it.
2. You also need to replace all the water in all of your lines with the antifreeze that you spoke of. It is a special antifreeze especially made for RV's and is not harmful to us.
Now, go to your RV dealer or go on line and get two bypass kits. One for your hot water heater and one to put in line. The first one will bypass your hot water heater, so that you don't need to fill up six gallons of antifreeze in it. Just leave it empty over the winter.
The second one will allow you to suck antifreeze from the antifreeze container and fill all of your hot/cold water lines. Just turn on your electric pump, insert the tubing into your antifreeze container and open up you water lines. First ones closest to you like your kitchen sink then your shower, then your toilet. Keep the faucets open till you see the pink solution coming through, then go the next faucit, etc till you have completed all lines in your RV.
When you buy the kits, the directions are pretty clear and it isn't hard to do. However, your dealer will be glad to do it for you. (for a fee, of course).
Those of us who live in the area of the country where it freezes, this is manditory. If your lines freeze with water in them, they will break and we just don't want to go there.
I hope that this helps.
Jack
2010 Sportsmen 16BH * 2011 Ford F-150 XLT Super Crew *ECO BOOST Engine* Reese Weight Distribution Hitch * Anti Sway Bars
Post edited 3:46 am – October 6, 2010 by Retroactive
The owner's manual that came with ours shows two different methods to winterize:
Method #1 is the procedure Jack described above.
Method #2 is to open all faucets and drains then attach an air hose from an air compressor to the city water fill and blow all the water out of the system (Takes about 3-minutes they say). Then pour a cup of anti-freeze into each p-trap. I haven't tried either method yet so can't comment on which is best.
Mark
2011 Sportsmen Classic 14RB; Dodge Dakota 3.7L V6; "…Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take but by the moments that take our breath away…"
Post edited 5:50 am – October 24, 2010 by smilinjohn
Yesterday, drained water lines best I could, using the on-board water pump. Poured 1-1/2 gal. of the magic pink liquid into fresh water tank. I then turned on water pump, vacating the rest of the water from both the sink and toilet, in turn, until nothing but the pink anti-freeze flowed out. I poured about a quart into the sink's P-trap and the balance into toilet bowl, after first flushing contents into black tank. Then emptied both black and grey tanks, closed tank valves and replaced outlet cap to keep out the critters.
I removed the deep-cycle battery and case. Will keep battery charged over winter.
Aired-up the tires to 50 psi.
Towed TT to county Fair Grounds for storage. Will retrieve in spring.
Discovered water leakage problem from rear of toilet, on same level (plane) as flush handle. Warranty expired on Oct. 7, 2010. Will report on this new problem next spring. Sure have been lucky, as TT has presented very few problems, thus far.
John
2010 Sportsmen Classic 14RK; 2005 Ford F-150, 5.4L V8; "…..it is always advisable to perceive clearly our ignorance." Charles Darwin
Well I had a heck of a time trying to winterize my 14RK…I had gone to CW and got the water heater bypass valve kit but they didnt have the kit for the pump…so the manager sold me a pump noise reducer kit said it would work just as well….anyways went home and looked at the fittings that went from the water heater to hot and cold lines…apparently KZ used some sort of clamp on the tubing ends that I could not figure out how to get off..they werent worm hose clamps, they had used these strange hose clamps on both water heater lines and water pump lines…so the valves I had bought I couldnt use, since i had no idea how to remove the hose clamps… I rigged up a bypass using some reducer galvanized pipe fittings and a piece of plumging tubing that has the screw on ends…it worked to bypass the heater..for the fresh water pump/tank I just poured in the antifreeze in the potable water tank and started the pump till antinfreeze came out the sink.toilet and shower, then poured some in my traps and black and grey tanks just to be sure…hope I did it right…we shall see this spring…I was really surprized to see that the tubing KZ used for the plumbing was so stiff and non flexable..even if i didnt have the problem with the hose clamps I still couldnt have used the shut off valves I got at CW because the hoses werent flexible anough to accomodate them.
I winterized my 16 BH the other day and used the same procedure my dad always used on his Tow-Low. I opened up the lower drains and let all the water drain out while I ran the pump to drain the tank. I then raised up the one corner of the water tank so the last bit of water would drain out. I shut off the pump and removed the filter and drained the water from its bowl, I left the bowl off the filter till spring. I made an adapter so I could hook my air line to the city water connection and began blowing the water out of the whole system. I started with the toilet as this was the longest run of water line and worked my way back to the kitchen sink. Dont forget to unhook the shower hose and drain that or it will freeze and break. After about 10 minutes of air blowing thru the lines, I was confident that all the water was out. I left all the faucets and lower drains open for the winter.I then poured some RV anti-freeze into the drains and toilet bowl, allowing some to get into the holding tanks so there would be no problems with those. I had looked into the by-pass thing but I too noticed the crimped hoses and hard lines and decieded that the air route was the best way to go for such a small water system. I will know in the spring if I did a good job or not !! Hope this helps , Mitch.
I had looked into the by-pass thing but I too noticed the crimped hoses and hard lines and decieded that the air route was the best way to go for such a small water system. I will know in the spring if I did a good job or not !! Hope this helps , Mitch.
Mitch,
Since you didn't do the by-pass thing, did you empty the hot water heater first or did you blow all 6 gallons through with the air compressor? Also does anyone know if we empty the hot water heater, are we supposed to take the anode rod out for the winter or is it okay to leave it in there?
I kept the rod in there and just drained the tank then bypassed it….I really didnt read anything on the net re winterizing that said take out the rod…hope it turns out ok…
I drained the hot water tank before blowing out the system. After the system was blown out, i removed the annode and blew out the system again with the drain open. I left the annode out and cleaned it with vinegar cause I read somewhere that you should do this. I'm on my second annode in less than a year because I left it in after I got the trailer and the annode kept doing its job and got almost entirely eaten up. Now I remove it every time and drain the tank ,I put a plastic plug in for the winter to keep THINGS out. So far so good !! Mitch.
This is the other half of the other post I just did on dewinterizing your rig for spring. Again like the other remember this is a borrowed post from our r-pod friends. Their rig's plumbing is similar to ours with the exception that theirs come with the bypass connections already installed by the manufacturer. Please utilize whatever part of this you can and for those of your more informed about these systems please clarify or specify specific changes which would be helpful to the KZ classic community. Hope this helps. I found it to be quite comprehensive and detailed.
Carol
How Do I Winterize My r-Pod ??? (please excuse the r-pod part, as this is borrowed information from R-pod Nation.)
posted by Outbound & TechnTrek
1) Open both low-point drains underneath the camper.
2) Attach a "blow-out plug" to the city water connection. This has an air inlet on one end like the valve stems on your tires, and threads to attach to the water connection. Apply LOW pressure air (less than 20 psi) for several seconds. Any RV dealer should have one of these plugs.
3) Remove the blow-out plug.
4) Outside, remove the plug on the hot water heater to check the anode rod and replace if necessary (about every two years). The water heater must be stored dry – do not try to fill it with antifreeze. Wait for the water to stop running out of the drains and plug hole.
5) Re-insert the plug and close both low-point drains.
6) Turn the bypass valves on the hot water heater. The valves are inside the trailer – mine are under the bed on the road side.
7) Inside the trailer, remove the access panel for the water pump. On the intake line for the water pump, you'll notice a valve and about 2 1/2' of tubing that's loose on one end. Flip the valve and put the loose end into your jug of RV antifreeze (DO NOT USE AUTO ANTIFREEZE). The pump will now draw from the jug of antifreeze instead of your fresh water tank.
Turn on the switch for the water pump.
9) Turn on the taps at the sink and in the shower. Let them run until the water is the colour of your antifreeze (pink).
10) Run the toilet until the water is pink.
11) Outside and underneath the trailer, open your freshwater tank's drain valve and allow it to empty.
12) Open the low-point drains, let them run until you see pink.
13) Pull the hose out of the antifreeze bottle just enough so it can't suck up any more antifreeze. Turn on the sink again for a second or two until the antifreeze is out of the intake line. This keeps the sticky antifreeze from running all over the floor when you pull the intake completely out of the bottle.
14) Close the valve near the water pump, stow the intake hose and close the access panel, turn off the power for the water pump.
2011 Starcraft AR-1, 15RB, Tow with 2007 Mitsuibishi Outlander 6cyl 4WD
Now that winter is fast approaching … at least for those of us up north, I figured it would be a good idea to bring this topic forward again. When I first read this topic earlier this year, I have to admit it was all Greek to me. Since then I have read a lot, watched a lot of Youtube videos … some of which as pretty good … and talked to a few folks from various RV dealers.
The biggest issue for me … and I am guessing may others owners will be to install a hot water tank by-pass if there is none installed … and mine doesn't have one. (2011 Spree Escape E14RB). It seems like such a small thing for KZ to have installed yet they saw fit not to bother.
The other thing I have to do … and with two bad knees that won't be easy … is to confirm that there are low point drains under the trailer somewhere. I gather from the comments in other threads that there are?? Maybe someone can confirm that there are before I have to drag my sorry a$$ down on the ground and under this trailer. Heck … I'm going to need a crane to haul me back up again.
I was hoping to head south this year and not even have to bother with winterizing but circumstances make that impossible this year … but next year look out!!
Any further information and comments on this thread would be appreciated by many I'm sure.
Regards
Karsty
CURRENT: 2012 Winnebago ERA – FORMER: 2011 Toyota Sienna Limited – 2011 Spree Escape E14RBnn"If a hammer doesn't fix it … it must be an electrical problem."
Low point drains on the E14RB are pretty much underneath the fridge. Find the outside fridge vent, which is a bit aft of the hot water heater door, then look underneath at that point and they are about 20″ from the sidewall edge.
I just had the bright idea that maybe I could open the low point hot drain and open the water heater relief valve, and maybe the heater would drain. But no, I got a couple seconds of flow and that was it. I will have to pull the anode rod pretty soon and empty that thing.
If you open both the cold and hot water low point drains and then open the faucet (cold and hot) then the hot water heater will drain. The cold water inlet is on the bottom of the tank so the cold water drain needs to be open to drain the heater. You may still want to remove the anode for winterizing for the reasons mentioned in earlier posts.
What are the reasons again? I re-read the posts and still don't see the reasons for removing the anode out of an otherwise empty water heater. If there is no water in the heater, how can the anode be eaten up?
Got my bypass kit and pump pickup kit install not to long ago. I went to winterize for the year dont know if i did it right the first time. I drained the water heater then switched to bypass, when i went to add anti freeze it empyied 2 gallons right away. Found out it went into the water heater. Checked and rechecked the install and it was done right. went and got some more antifreeze, flushed out the water heater, filled it up and then turned the bypass on then i was able to get the freeze into all the lines. Is this the normal way to winterize, everything ive read said to empty water heater first. I did drain the heater afterwards and no pink came out so im asssuming it is ok now but well see this spring for sure.
2005 jeep grand cherokee 4.7 laredo with tow package towing a 2011 sportsman classic 16bh using a wdh and swaybar combo.
Post edited 3:06 pm – October 19, 2011 by Winterpegger
I was just reading the problems or confusion on winterizing your trailer.Well it goes to -40 to -50 C here so this what I do.
1- Drain the fresh water tank by pulling up on the small vave by the tank.
2- lift up on the relief vave lever to allow air into the tank so it can drain,then remove the anode.Replace anode after it has drained and flip rv lever back down.
3- Install bypass on the water heater lines to remove it from system.
4- remove cap on water filter on right side of pump. Loosen hose clamp ( the one with the screw driver slot) so that you can unscrew filter body. Install female fitting attached to hose to antifreeze bottle onto the male fitting from the pump . " you do not have to touch the crimped hose clamps!! "
5 with end of the hose in the antifeeze and all taps closed ,turn the pump on. It should run for a minute then shut off. If it does not shut off you have a line open.
6- Open the hot line furthest away (the tub and shower head. ) hold open untill you get a steady stream of antifreeze .Do the same for the toilet and kitcen sink.
7- do the same to the cold lines. Watch the leval of the antifreeze so you do not run out. If you are good at it you might only use one gallon.
Ps I empty all my holding tanks first.
Open any low point drains untill you see antifreeze
Remove all food and paper from trailer (mice )Make sure flap on power plug hole is shut tight.
Well if I forgot some thing let me know. Going to 0 Celcius tonight.
I also made a smal plywood cover for the aircondioner to keep the snow out.
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. Will report on this new problem next spring. Sure have been lucky, as TT has presented very few problems, thus far.
John
Turn on the switch for the water pump.
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