Community Forums

tomk52 · 09-29-2012, 06:38 PM

So, I'm winterizing my beast for the first time and I drained the water heater and left the drain plug open. I shut off the bypass valve and start pumping antifreeze into the system. I look at the back of the rig and I have antifreeze pouring out of the water heater. I check the valve and verify it's in the bypass position (I also tried it in the other position). Where am I going wrong? Do I need to replace the bypass valve?

"007" · 09-29-2012, 07:21 PM

You may need to close the other two valves also.
Set #1

Set #2

And here is one with single valve and more.

HabitatGuy · 09-29-2012, 07:26 PM

There are actually three valves in a bypass set up. One each on the inlet and outlet and one on the line in-between. Put the two valves on the in and out sides in the closed position and the one in the middle in the open position. If you leave either the in or out valve open, it will back feed and drain out of the open tank drain.

JimM68 · 09-29-2012, 07:37 PM

Both of my class a's only had a single valve.
Drain the water heater then put the plug back in.
Then open the bypass and continue winterizing.

Martind4 · 09-29-2012, 07:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tomk52

Do I need to replace the bypass valve?

Do you happen to have the electric solenoid bypass valve or is it a manual bypass?

If it's the electric solenoid, they have been known to fail from lack of use, they work best when exercised regularly. You might be able to take the electric valve apart, clean it and reassemble. Just be sure to mark the locations of the various lines to and from.

Good Luck.

tomk52 · 09-30-2012, 09:23 AM

My Winny uses a two valve system, one to bypass the water heater and one to allow the pump to suck the antifreeze out of the bottle. That's all it shows in the manual. It seems pretty straight forward. Must be the bypass valve is bad.

Clay L · 09-30-2012, 10:04 AM

If you have a single valve bypass system you will have at least one check valve on the output side. Either the bypass valve or the check valve could be bad.
Winnebago uses two check valves - input and output.
Below in a diagram I drew of my system.

Iron Horse · 10-01-2012, 07:22 AM

FWIW We have a 2007 Winnebago Journey 36G and have had it going on six years. It has the single valve bypass system. When we would winterize it I would drain the hot water tank first and followed the instructions and put the hot water heater on bypass only to have antifreeze go into the tank. Since then I leave the water in the hot water tank and drain it last. I open the hot water faucets until the pink comes out, so I know it's winterized. Works for me.
Iron Horse

tomk52 · 10-01-2012, 07:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Iron Horse

FWIW We have a 2007 Winnebago Journey 36G and have had it going on six years. It has the single valve bypass system. When we would winterize it I would drain the hot water tank first and followed the instructions and put the hot water heater on bypass only to have antifreeze go into the tank. Since then I leave the water in the hot water tank and drain it last. I open the hot water faucets until the pink comes out, so I know it's winterized. Works for me.
Iron Horse

Do you drain 10 gals of antifreeze out of the water heater?

Iron Horse · 10-01-2012, 08:20 AM

If the hot water tank is full of water and bypassed, antifreeze can't enter, therefore we run antifreeze through all the systems, hot water spigots, cold water spigots, toilet, washer dryer, outside shower etc. I use about two gallons of antifreeze. I then drain the hot water heater which only contains water. Been doin' this for at least five years.
Iron Horse

tomk52 · 10-01-2012, 12:27 PM

I guess that's the purpose of the check valves in Clay L's drawing. I'll give that a try. The procedure does say to drain the water tank after you pump antifreeze through the system, but what to they know?

Thanks guys..

JCM · 10-01-2012, 06:22 PM

I have the same one valve shutoff. It has a ball valve in the exit (hot water side of the tank). My ist one was blocked with salt from Mesa. I was told it couldn't be fixed so had it replaced. I was able to clean out the chunks of salt with mild muriatic acid - or CLR.
This year the replacement valve did the same thing but I only use RO water so I tried the bypass and ran water through it and tapped on the back of the valve with a hammer - bingo - it worked. I think that a small partice of salt or mineral stuck in the valve. Now I can presurize the antfreeze without any comming out of the Watertank drain. I believe it is a Surburban.
I wish I had the 3 shutoff system.

J-N-Lham · 07-11-2017, 03:25 PM

I see this is listed as an old post and is closed to more discussion. But I notice that some of the post are dated 2012 and the poster has a 2014 MH. Some comments are similar to my problem and would me nice to ask some questions. Just a little lost.
Thanks

GREGORYJ · 07-11-2017, 07:38 PM

I also had this happen on our single WH by pass valve system on our 08 Dolphin. There is a check valve in series with the pipe at the top of the water heater that has stuck open and needed replacing. This is the hot water line at the exit of water heater, so the check valve lets water exit the HW tank and not enter the tank when in the WH by pass mode. Just looking at it, it just looks like a plumbing fitting but it is a small plastic check valve. Ours was clogged by minerals in hard water. A new plastic 1/2" check valve was less than $10 but it is a bit hard reaching up to the top back side of the hot water tank thru the plumbing service compartment to remove and replace it. Here is what I used from a supplier here in Canada but probably a common item any where.
https://www.princessauto.com/en/deta...ve/A-p5770062e