Winterizing Splendide W/D

[Andy Clark]

Spent the day doing my first winterizing on our '95 Patriot. I used the compressed air method and believe I was able to clear all the lines with the exception of the Icemaker feed and the water lines to the Washer/Dryer. The Icemaker I cleared by disconnecting the water line at the solenoid in the base of the unit and blowing air backwards so that it drained out at the disconnected Icemaker filter in the water pump bay.
The W/D, though, has me stumped. It looks to me like I cannot clear the water lines with air unless the W/D is running. Is this the accepted procedure? Put it on a short wash cycle perhaps? I also heard somewhere that a couple of pints of the pink stuff in the drum during this short cycle is appropriate.

Anyone have a favorite method they'd like to share?
Thanks
Andy

[David T. Richelderfer]

I had my coach blown out with air... then made a phone call... then took it back to have pink stuff pumped in.  When the fellow did the blow out procedure on the washer he put the temperature dial on cold water and started the washer so that it would ask for water.  He let the air blow on that setting for several minutes.  He then set the temperature dial on hot water and, again, let it blow for several minutes. Doing this should have evacuated the water from the cold and hot water lines.  When I subsequently went back to have pink stuff pumped in we neglected to push pink stuff through the washer on both temperature settings with the washer asking for water.  When I got home and made yet another phone call I was told to pour about 1/2 gallon of pink stuff directly into the washer drum and run the washer on the spin cycle so that the pump is activated and will pump out the liquid from the drum.  I was told that one common problem with winterizing is the washer pump holds enough water to freeze-break.  Thus, pumping a portion of that 1/2 gallon of pink stuff through the pump solves that problem.

And YES, this is my first winterizing procedure for this recent Beaver purchase - bought it in Aug 2012.  Although I have owned a Bluebird Wanderlodge - an older one - for 25 years and have used pink stuff in it every year. But the Bluebird has no ice maker now (it used to) and no washer/dryer (it never had it/them).  Winterizing the Beaver seems like an easier procedure, but winterizing the Bluebird is much more of a pain.  I think next year the Beaver winterization procedure should be a snap... because I now know what to do and where to do it.

This coming Spring will show me what I forgot, I suppose.  lol

[Sean Donohue]

Well the Pink stuff is the recommended method for the Beaver as I have read. I Have posted my preference for the Low Point Drain and Blown Air methods but have read the counters to my prefernce. My desire to not use the pink stuff is a lack of trust that it is not harmful... Me and my parinoid mind. That said, the weather in the area is also one of the things I consider. Will the temp get below 20 degrees for more than a day or two? If not I tend to not worry too much except for the Aquahot system that can not be blown out with air. I think it is a really poor design for $7000 system. The coils are on the horizontal plane so they do not drain, vertcal would have been better as would using stainless tubes instead of copper, but that is my opinion. The inability to clear the lines of water requires additional prep. I remove the panel and manually pump pink fluid into the Aquahot via the In and out lines. But you also have to prep another item, on the pump is a clear plastic cap that houses a screen that will also crack... Had it happen to me... unless you remove it and dump the water... It is a lot of extra effort considering that you can just pump pink stuff in via the pump...

There as also been a tongue in cheek discussion about using Whiskey or Bourbon to winterize with instead of the pink stuff.... The plus and minus is that in the spring, clearing the lines though the low point drain directly into a glass and drinking will result in a sever hangover the next day.

[David T. Richelderfer]

The advice given to me was to not screw around with blowing out these expensive, high-end coaches.  Things are too expensive to repair and/or replace... and pink stuff is sooooooo cheap.

[Sean Donohue]

@ David, it is cheap and easy.

@ Andy, You are pretty far north... Don't you get cold snaps?

[Gerald Farris]

Andy,
Since your 1995 Patriot does not have an AquaHot system, you do not have to worry about that, however did you drain your propane water heater?

The easiest way to drain your washer is to blow air through the lines while it is filling as mentioned above. You can remove the lines at the back of the machine, through the removable panel above the machine, and blow the line from that direction, but that will not flush the water valves in the machine. Always add the pink stuff to the drum and pump some of it out to protect the pump.

The safest way to winterize one of these coaches is to go south to avoid freezing weather, but the next best thing is to pump the pink stuff through all the lines, Blowing the lines out with air is a distant third place.

Gerald

[Andy Clark]

Thanks, guys.
The W/D blow-out was a little tricky (there's TWO, count 'em TWO sets (H&C) of water lines going into the back of the W/D). Had to peer down the cubby hole in back of the unit to see the other 2, but loosening the fittings allowed air and some water to leak out, so I think it's done.
Pink stuff run in the drum and in all P-traps, and I'm finished.
Thanks again for all the help.
Andy

[Robert Mathis]

I agree with Gerald. We stay South during the cold times, keep the heat pumps set to 50 and keep the aqua hot turned on. I hate cold weather unless I'm somewhere in a deer stand or hunting Elk in the snow.