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moisheh · 07-29-2010, 07:25 PM

We have been RV'ing for 41 years. I have always winterized my own units. Back in the days of a travel trailer or a 70's MH it was very easy. We have never had to prepare the Dynasty (2008) for winter as we are in warmer country when winter hits ( just above freezing). It appears that this year we may be stuck in cold country for a few weeks and I will have to tend to the water system. We have an Aqua Hot and I do not have a clue how to go about winterizing the whole system. Any help appreciated.

islandtees · 07-29-2010, 07:51 PM

I have a Dynasty also.Go to your owners manual,it will tell you how to do it.

smokeater75 · 09-21-2010, 07:49 AM

Hi, I'm pretty new to all this so I had to do alot of reading, to get all the do's and don'ts involved with winterizing. I'm not sure how cold it is where you are. Here in Winnipeg when my wife Susan and I leave for Palm Springs Ca. in Feb. it's usually around -34. Aside from the usual clear the tanks add anti-freeze, I also run synthetic oil in my 8.8 liter Cummins as well as the Onan generator. I have nitrogen in all my tires and I take the coach out every two weeks for a 100 mile run to get the oil,tranny and engine up to operating temperature. When we left this past winter at 7:00am the temp was -43. I was told by a dealer that if I had a new aqua-hot system that I could run it and not have to worry about the winterization. I don't know much about that system but apparently it can run on diesel or electricity. Good Luck Smokeater75

bullydogs1 · 09-21-2010, 09:37 AM

Moisheh

Here's a link to whole nine yards about it..A little long but it spells it out right.

Aqua-Hot Systems 101

Regards

Hopefully that person above me was talking in degrees Centigrade rather than Fahrenheit or I'd freeze just reading those temps.

D Barber · 09-21-2010, 09:38 AM

Moisheh, hope what follows helps a bit.
If you have lots of RV antifreeze you can just put about 8-9 gallons in the fresh water tank and the circulate thru the system. This is the easy way but takes a lot of effort to clear the antifreeze from the system when you want to use the RV.
Here is what I do. At my water storage tank I installed a bypass valve into the pump feed line. With this I am able to isolate the water tank from any antifreeze. After removing my water filters and closing I then turn on my water pump. The first line I drain is my low point hot water line. This will fill both water filters and then circulate antifreeze thru our AquaHot. After seeing pink from that drain I turn on the cold water low point drain and after seeing pink I now know that my manoblock is protected as well. I then go to the furthest water line I have which in my case is the bathroom taps(we don't have a washer/dryer) then open until pink, then toilet, ice maker, shower, other bath, kitchen sink, sink hot water and filtered water and last is the outside taps in the service bay.

I then drain both tanks(gray and black) as necessary. I then pour 2 cups of antifreeze into each drain ending up with at least a 1/2 gallon of antifreeze in each tank. I like to leave liquid in each tank as I like the idea of liquid to keep seals wet while stored. I also like to leave antifreeze in the lines for the same reason.

I always have 8 gallons on hand when I start in case I have any accidents but only use 5-6 gallons. I generally pour 5 gallons into a pail as then you don't have to change containers as often.
The above is pretty fresh in my mind as I just did it. Looking out the window as I type this it is snowing and cold. Just another month till we go south.

Don B Cochrane, Alberta

moisheh · 09-21-2010, 11:05 AM

I guess I was making muntains out of mole hills. The Dynasty is actually very easy to winterize due to the Plumbing manifold. I would never put AF in the water tank. Takes about a million gallons to flush out that bad taste. Monaco has a bypass with a suction hose. Put your jug of AF under that hose and it fills the system with AF. Here is what I have done so far. I blew out all the lines and faucets. Disconnected the ice maker line and sucked the water out of the line. I put AF in the toilet and flushed. Before I put anything in the water lines I have to remove the water filter cartridges. I also have to put some AF in the washer and run it on spin/drain. I have decided that next wek or sooner I will do the AF thing. If we leave in a few weeks I will still be able to flush the lines at home. If later I will flush them when we hit warm weather. Thanks for all the tips.

smokeater75 · 09-23-2010, 07:42 AM

just for the record -38 C &-38 F are the same.

Papa_Jim · 09-23-2010, 10:35 PM

Hi Smokeater, glad to hear from a fellow Manitoban! We're from Portage la Prairie, and I'll bet it gets colder here than there!

Our coach doesn't have AquaHot. 40,000BTU Propane Furnace, and the hopeless dash heater. We'll have to winterize the plumbing pretty soon.

We're also planning to fire it up and leave here in January or February and head south. I do wonder if the furnace and the dash air can provide enough heat if it's -40 outside.