Community Forums

JandMJulian · 11-12-2013, 12:38 PM

Ok, I'll admit to being a new Excel owner, but I am not new to RVing. This new Excel has got me stumped on the winterizing procedures. Water filter bypassed and filter element removed; check. Water heater drained; check. Low water points opened and drained; check. Now I compare winterizing procedures in the manual and our plumbing system doesn't resemble any photo in the manual. The only valves I can confidently identify are the shut off valve at the WC inlet and the valve for the anti-freeze suction tube. The other 2 valves I couldn't put a letter on. 2 gallons of anti-freeze sucked up and nothing comes out of the faucets and a trickle with a 3rd gallon. What gives? Oh, and finally, I am rechecking the manifold and see the fresh water drain pull handle and give it a tug, not expecting much. Out comes 20+ gallons of PINK WATER!! WTH! Would someone kindly set me straight on this because I clearly don't have a clue.

Joe and Marcia

GENECOP · 11-12-2013, 12:54 PM

There is a valve near the water pump that needs to be closed so the pump does not fill your holding tank....think about how the pump is normally set, clean path from fresh water tank, you need to bypass that ....Also dont forget to bypass your hot water heater....good luck.

JandMJulian · 11-12-2013, 07:19 PM

I sure don't know what that valve would be. There are 2 valves + the anti-freeze valve. 1 open the other closed no suction. 2nd open other closed suction and what appears to be into fresh tank. I've belly whopped about as far as I can into that compartment and don't see another valve other than the HW bypass. There is something I'm missing.

Joe & Marcia

bigmichael · 11-12-2013, 07:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JandMJulian

I sure don't know what that valve would be. There are 2 valves + the anti-freeze valve. 1 open the other closed no suction. 2nd open other closed suction and what appears to be into fresh tank. I've belly whopped about as far as I can into that compartment and don't see another valve other than the HW bypass. There is something I'm missing.

Joe & Marcia

Do what I did--piece of cake LOL. Call Ralph at PI in the morning and he will literally walk you through it. He basically directed my hands thru the telephone as I insisted I couldn't find the right valve.

JDT · 11-12-2013, 09:00 PM

The same thing happened to me last year. I went thru 6 gallons of the pink stuff before I got it right. I wrote down everything so hopefully I can follow my own instructions this year.

rockintom · 11-13-2013, 11:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JDT

The same thing happened to me last year. I went thru 6 gallons of the pink stuff before I got it right. I wrote down everything so hopefully I can follow my own instructions this year.

Hey Jim,

Take your notes and scan it in and post it here (pdf file works good here). Maybe someday I'll have to winterize my rig and need to know which valves to shut off and on. rockin'

JDT · 11-13-2013, 05:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rockintom

Hey Jim,

Take your notes and scan it in and post it here (pdf file works good here). Maybe someday I'll have to winterize my rig and need to know which valves to shut off and on. rockin'

Tom, I barely know how to use the on/off button on this computer but will figure out something, with the help of the best half. It really was a disaster and to add insult to injury when I tried to flush it out this spring I turned a valve the wrong way and flooded my bay storage. Winterizing will happen next week.

rockintom · 11-13-2013, 05:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JDT

It really was a disaster and to add insult to injury when I tried to flush it out this spring I turned a valve the wrong way and flooded my bay storage. Winterizing will happen next week.

Jim,
You gotta work hard to do that!!!! Do feel bad....we useta have a guy on here named Virg and he did stuff like that all the time!!!! He gave up though!

rockin'

JDT · 11-18-2013, 09:56 PM

Did my winterizing today and remembered why I had so much trouble last year. There are 3 shut off valves by the pump, one on the line that pulls water from the fresh water tank, one that is used for sanitizing the tank (at least that is wrote on the tape) and one that has the clear hose for sucking up the pink stuff. I got the first two confused last year and pumped a couple of gallons of pink stuff into the fresh water tank before I figured it out, which may be what happened to Joe.

I put a piece of masking tape on the two valves and labeled them so I would know which was which. Didn't touch the sanitizing line valve, which is closed, of course, and shut off the line to the fresh water tank. Opened the anti-freeze valve, stuck the hose in the bottle, and low and behold it worked. Went thru almost 4 gallons as I had to do the Splendide washer which took a quite a bit. Since we have the Samsung fridge I left the pump on and turned on the ice maker so I should have pink ice by morning.

I remember what happened last spring when I connected city water to flush the lines. I forgot to close the plastic fill line valve which allowed water to run thru it and soaked my bay storage floor. That won't happen again. I know most of you are pros at this but last year was the first time I had used the pink stuff in many years. I always just blew the lines out on the motorhomes but with the icemaker and washer this works best.

rockintom · 11-19-2013, 07:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JDT

Did my winterizing today and remembered why I had so much trouble last year. There are 3 shut off valves by the pump, one on the line that pulls water from the fresh water tank, one that is used for sanitizing the tank (at least that is wrote on the tape) and one that has the clear hose for sucking up the pink stuff. I got the first two confused last year and pumped a couple of gallons of pink stuff into the fresh water tank before I figured it out, which may be what happened to Joe.

I put a piece of masking tape on the two valves and labeled them so I would know which was which. Didn't touch the sanitizing line valve, which is closed, of course, and shut off the line to the fresh water tank. Opened the anti-freeze valve, stuck the hose in the bottle, and low and behold it worked. Went thru almost 4 gallons as I had to do the Splendide washer which took a quite a bit. Since we have the Samsung fridge I left the pump on and turned on the ice maker so I should have pink ice by morning.

I remember what happened last spring when I connected city water to flush the lines. I forgot to close the plastic fill line valve which allowed water to run thru it and soaked my bay storage floor. That won't happen again. I know most of you are pros at this but last year was the first time I had used the pink stuff in many years. I always just blew the lines out on the motorhomes but with the icemaker and washer this works best.

Jim, This sounds right and makes sense to me. Thanks for sharing. I don't think I'd told about not shutting off the clear plastic hose valve and flooding your basement........that's pretty bad right there.......but I know I've done things like that before myself!!!

rockin'

JandMJulian · 11-19-2013, 09:41 PM

JDT,
Your post solved our problem. Thank you. It seemed I had the valve open to feed the fresh water tank. Once I identified that line and located the tank to verify, I closed the valve and was able to properly winterize my unit.

Next up will be to see if I can sanitize the system without screwing it up in the spring!

Thanks for the help.

Joe and Marcia