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Old 11-15-2020, 03:17 PM   #1
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Winterized...Did I Miss Anything?

I winterized the coach today. What I did:
  • Used the levelers to tilt the coach to the left
  • Opened the fresh water drain
  • Dumped the black and grey tanks, including a thorough black tank flush
  • Disconnected the input line to the water pump
  • Attached a fitting and hose to the water pump and put the hose in a gallon of RV antifreeze (changing each time the gallon container ran low)
  • Turned on the pump and ran the outside shower until the I got what looked like full-strength antifreeze from both hot and cold taps
  • Did the same for each set of taps in the coach; kitchen, bathroom including toilet and sprayer, bedroom sink, and shower, then repeated the cycle on each set of taps to be sure
  • Set the Splendide WD on warm water and started a cycle, running it until the water level was about 2" above the bottom of the drum
  • Stopped the WD and changed it to the drain cycle to pump out the antifreeze, then shut it off
  • Unhooked the icemaker line from the refrigerator and ran the pump until I got anitfreeze out of the line
  • Activated the icemaker solenoid and blew out the line to the icemaker itself
  • Blotted up the water that was in the icemaker mold
  • Added antifreeze to every trap, pouring an additional half gallon into each of the black and grey systems
  • Ran out the fresh water fill hose from its reel and drained it
  • Removed the water filter, cleaned the housing, and reassembled (without the filter until next season)
  • Reconnected the pump and secured the fresh water drain and fill hose
  • Dumped what little was in the black and grey tanks.

I think this covers everything in the coach's OM, and the manuals for the AquaHot, WD, and refrigerator, but this is my first time winterizing this coach. So if anyone spots anything I should have done, and didn't, please let me know!

This took me about 2.5 hours. (I had the Winnie down to about 20 minutes, but that ain't happenin' for the Tiffin, with its AH, WD, and icemaker!) I used four gallons of RV antifreeze to feel reasonably sure I had pure antifreeze coming out of everything.
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Old 11-15-2020, 03:22 PM   #2
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If you have the black tank flush you need to blow that line out.
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Old 11-15-2020, 05:09 PM   #3
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Originally Posted by garykk View Post
If you have the black tank flush you need to blow that line out.
Will do. Thanks! (This one's not in the owner's manual, but at least it's easy and quick.)
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Old 11-15-2020, 08:05 PM   #4
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Will do. Thanks! (This one's not in the owner's manual, but at least it's easy and quick.)
The cheapy check valve that Tiffin uses is plastic and if it freezes and cracks, the next time you use the black tank flush you’ll have a flood
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Old 11-15-2020, 08:31 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by garykk View Post
The cheapy check valve that Tiffin uses is plastic and if it freezes and cracks, the next time you use the black tank flush you’ll have a flood
Interesting. On my 34PA, there is no check valve on the flush line, and what water doesn't make it to the sprayer just runs back out the hose. I thought it was designed that way so that there wouldn't be any residual water in the line to freeze, and also so you wouldn't have to pressurize the black tank as you use air to force the water out of the flush line sprayer. Because of the draining of the water from the flush line, I use a 7' section of hose between the water source at the dump station and the flush connector in the wet bay to allow the water to drain away from the wet bay and RV before I unhook the hose from the flush line connector. I think I like it better with no check valve in that line.
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Old 11-16-2020, 04:21 AM   #6
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Interesting. On my 34PA, there is no check valve on the flush line, and what water doesn't make it to the sprayer just runs back out the hose. I thought it was designed that way so that there wouldn't be any residual water in the line to freeze, and also so you wouldn't have to pressurize the black tank as you use air to force the water out of the flush line sprayer. Because of the draining of the water from the flush line, I use a 7' section of hose between the water source at the dump station and the flush connector in the wet bay to allow the water to drain away from the wet bay and RV before I unhook the hose from the flush line connector. I think I like it better with no check valve in that line.
The black tank is vented. You can't build up pressure in it. Same for the grey tank. If they weren't, you'd pull a vacuum in each tank when dumping. They would gurgle to admit air like an inverted water bottle or the tanks would collapse while you dumped.

I replaced the fresh water check valve this year. One reason I drained the fresh water fill hose was to make sure that valve was drained from both sides. If there's on like it inside the tank flush, it's worth blowing some air in there to be sure it's dry.
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Old 11-16-2020, 05:06 AM   #7
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Ours is not a Tiffin unfortunately but our manual says to gently push the city water hose connector in the middle pin to relieve pressure and drain the city water fill line.

When I do that a small bit of water squirts out. You might try it and see if you get pink or still a bit of water.
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Old 11-16-2020, 05:15 AM   #8
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If you have the black tank flush you need to blow that line out.


I hook up a hose to the black tank flush and fill it with antifreeze then blow it through the system with low pressure air. Repeat a couple of times.
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Old 11-16-2020, 06:11 AM   #9
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Do as Tiffin tells you. I have run this video and followed each step while processing our rig for winter the last two November’s. Easy peasy.

https://tiffinmotorhomes.com/videos/...your-motorhome

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Old 11-16-2020, 09:14 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike8253 View Post
Interesting. On my 34PA, there is no check valve on the flush line, and what water doesn't make it to the sprayer just runs back out the hose. I thought it was designed that way so that there wouldn't be any residual water in the line to freeze, and also so you wouldn't have to pressurize the black tank as you use air to force the water out of the flush line sprayer. Because of the draining of the water from the flush line, I use a 7' section of hose between the water source at the dump station and the flush connector in the wet bay to allow the water to drain away from the wet bay and RV before I unhook the hose from the flush line connector. I think I like it better with no check valve in that line.
If you have a black tank flush, you have a vacuum/ check valve, unless someone removed it. It’s clear plastic and usually found in the bathroom sink cabinet.
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Old 11-16-2020, 10:42 AM   #11
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If you have a black tank flush, you have a vacuum/ check valve, unless someone removed it. It’s clear plastic and usually found in the bathroom sink cabinet.
It's in storage now so I'll have to go look. But the way the water runs out of the hose, I'm sure there's nothing there that is performing that function. Been that way since the day I got it 4-years ago.
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Old 11-16-2020, 10:51 AM   #12
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To the OP , I didn't see bypass the hot water heater and drain; on the list in post number one , typing omission ?

I know my speed reading isn't perfect , but I did go through the list twice.

Or is your hot water part of the Aqua Hot system . I don't have Aqua Hot so I can't be sure.
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Old 11-16-2020, 01:06 PM   #13
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To the OP , I didn't see bypass the hot water heater and drain; on the list in post number one , typing omission ?

I know my speed reading isn't perfect , but I did go through the list twice.

Or is your hot water part of the Aqua Hot system . I don't have Aqua Hot so I can't be sure.
The AquaHot also provides domestic hot water, so we have no hot water heater.
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Old 11-16-2020, 01:16 PM   #14
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Do as Tiffin tells you. I have run this video and followed each step while processing our rig for winter the last two November’s. Easy peasy.

https://tiffinmotorhomes.com/videos/...your-motorhome

Great video. Unfortunately, the systems on our coach are completely different. For example, AquaHot says not to use compressed air to blow things out or Really Bad Things (read "expensive") will happen.
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