Community Forums

dbircky · 10-13-2022, 03:50 PM

I don’t reuse the pink stuff. A 2.99 a gallon it’s only $20 I’d be saving versus trying to store and keep clean the used stuff. Just bought 3 cases today so I’m good for three years!

rgebbie · 10-18-2022, 04:43 PM

i have a 2020 cornerstone, i am not sure about the ice maker in the refrigerator, and should i leave the filters in the refrigerator and run the antifreeze through the ice maker too. then the main filte in the coach should be left in or just remove and let the canister fill up.
last year on my 2913 cornerstone i thought i got the antifreeze all the way through the referigerator and the valve for the icemaker behing the refrigerator froze and cracked. that was a chore to remove the refrigerator and replace the 80.00 valve. i don't want to experiance that again.
looking for thoughts on this
sorry for the long email

Cruzer · 10-18-2022, 06:42 PM

I remove the fridge filter. Not sure what your 2913 has

but some fridges you can just remove the filter and some require a bypass tube or plug and the antifreeze will just pass on through. I did crack a valve once on our Tiffin after winterizing. That's when I learned that here were two valve coils in the fridge. One handled the drinking water and the second covered the ice maker. Just running the water dispenser until it turned pink wasn't good enough. It didn't protect the ice maker. Now I leave the antifreeze in for an hour or two (water pump remains on) and wait until I see pink ice cubes in the tray. Then I begin my final blow-down process.

I don't let the pink antifreeze remain in the lines over winter. I blow the stuff out, which helps to out some in the sink traps anyway and lets me recover the antifreeze into a 5 gallon bucket via the outside shower hose, the low point drains and my Roadwave pressure washer. I can usually recover about 3 gallons, which can be used next year. It also minimizes the bad taste next spring and is easier on any o-ring seals. Anything that remains in the system will just slush.

FWIW - the pink antifreeze is available in two flavors - Ethylene Glycol and Propylene Glycol. The pink EG is considered GRAS so it's okay to use in fresh water systems but the PG is easier on o-ring seals and any brass fittings, whereas EG can weaken the rubber and pit the brass. The only downside to PS is that it does cost a couple bucks extra per gallon.

I also remove the whole house filter prior to winterizing and just let the canister fill up with antifreeze. The filter, especially a GAC filter, will restrict the flow once you push the antifreeze through it. I really don't want an old dirty filter in there over winter anyway.

777 Driver · 10-18-2022, 07:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rgebbie

i have a 2020 cornerstone, i am not sure about the ice maker in the refrigerator, and should i leave the filters in the refrigerator and run the antifreeze through the ice maker too. then the main filte in the coach should be left in or just remove and let the canister fill up.

Best to remove all the filters before pumping anti-freeze. The whole house filter can be bypassed by installing a plate like this:

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in the canister after removing the filter element. Available here: https://www.amazon.com/Watts-FP-WP10...6143102&sr=8-1 That will keep the empty cannister from filling up with antifreeze.

I'm not sure which refrigerator you have installed. Most have some sort of bypass plug that looks something like this:

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It should have come with the coach. Otherwise you'll have to track down the one for your specific refrigerator.

Take care,
Stu

777 Driver · 10-18-2022, 08:19 PM

H O L Y C O W ! ! ! !

I just looked at the cost of the whole house filter bypass plate - almost $23.

You can by a LOT of the pink fluid for $23. Skip the plate and fill the whole house cannister with pink fluid, that would be my suggestion.

Take care,
Stu

FreshAir · 10-19-2022, 10:39 AM

Stu, I tried the 2 plate by pass and it leaked thru the screw on threads when I tried to screw the filter cap back on. It took up to much distance and left me about one thread short of a tight fit. I just put the old filter back in.
Pat
I have another problem.I'll explain.

FreshAir · 10-19-2022, 11:06 AM

I winterized all of the MH but when I got to the Ice Maker I couldn't get the antifreeze to the ice maker tray. I tried the ice maker reset/test many many times. Not a drop. Tried the normal cool down and still no luck.
I had not used the MH for several months with ifridge turned off didn't check it before winterizing. I'm thinking it might be the ice maker solenoid or something associated. I had a spare ice maker and tried it. Same problem.

Any suggestions? Dam Samsung

thanks,Pat

2cyber71 · 10-19-2022, 11:26 AM

I did a video for everyone to watch on how to winterize a motorhome with Aquahot, dishwasher, washer, and residential fridge with water & ice.
Here it is
https://youtu.be/F7t7w6LPcnQ

Cruzer · 10-19-2022, 01:11 PM

Is the small blue petcock in the wet bay that supplies water to the fridge and sink dispenser open? Is the in-line filter either installed or is the bypass tube in place? Is the ice maker "on" and not switched off in the control panel? Lastly, is the water pump on and supply line ready to draw antifreeze?

Other than that I used to just wait until there were pink ice cubes present in the bin when we still had a Samsung in our 2016.

777 Driver · 10-19-2022, 02:46 PM

So, here's my stellar moment during a winterizing attempt.

I had pretty much finished pumping the pink fluid through everything else and had the refrigerator remaining as the last item. I couldn't locate the bypass plug for the refrigerator water filter, so, I left the filter in place. I grabbed a cup and triggered the water dispenser on the refrigerator door. I ran a cup full and disposed of it. Then, another...and another...and another...waiting to see some pink in the cup so I'd know that the task had been completed. After the third, or fourth (certainly NOT the fifth cup) with no pink showing, I started wondering how much water there could be in that 1/4" diameter plastic tube (doing the mental math - 3.14159 X 1/4"^2 X approximate tube length; convert cu.in. to cups) that fed the refrigerator. Eventually (I'm NOT telling how many cups full of clear fluid I drew from the water dispenser), it dawned on me that MAYBE the still in place water filter could be filtering out the PINK.

Doh!!!

A very small taste test confirmed that that the "water" had a very distinctive GRAS taste.

The moral of the story is that if you're pumping the pink fluid through any filter left in place, it's possible that the filter may be capturing all the pink from the fluid.

Take care,
Stu

P.S. Even though it's GRAS, it doesn't taste very good.

LETMGROW · 10-19-2022, 03:24 PM

I'd replace that filter before I started making ice cubes again. They would never freeze!

FreshAir · 10-19-2022, 03:48 PM

Stu, I got a good chuckle from your post.The other day I used the same formula for volume except I used apx length of 4..
When I did my water dispenser I got apx.7 or 8 glasses clear before pink. I read somewhere that there may be a small tank to cool it?
I did get a couple of slushy pink cubes in the ice maker earlier today. Whoopi!!

Pat

FreshAir · 10-19-2022, 03:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cruzer

Is the small blue petcock in the wet bay that supplies water to the fridge and sink dispenser open? Is the in-line filter either installed or is the bypass tube in place? Is the ice maker "on" and not switched off in the control panel? Lastly, is the water pump on and supply line ready to draw antifreeze?

Other than that I used to just wait until there were pink ice cubes present in the bin when we still had a Samsung in our 2016.

Cruzer, I don't have a blue petcock. I can say yes to the rest. I used about 10 gals. made a couple mistakes.

Thanks

777 Driver · 10-19-2022, 04:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FreshAir

Stu, I got a good chuckle from your post.The other day I used the same formula for volume except I used apx length of 4..
When I did my water dispenser I got apx.7 or 8 glasses clear before pink. I read somewhere that there may be a small tank to cool it?
I did get a couple of slushy pink cubes in the ice maker earlier today. Whoopi!!

Pat

Yeah, Pat, if only I'd had my K&E hanging from my belt, I would have been able to do that calculation.

Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, I may even have been able to do that with one hand while holding a cup in the water dispenser.

I've been told that there's a loop of unknown (to me) length somewhere hidden inside the refrigerator compartment that the water flows through on its way to the dispenser in the door.

No slushy cubes allowed to pollute my spirits!

Take care,
Stu