Community Forums

PalazzoFL · 10-06-2013, 12:08 PM

How do we input antifreeze in the water system on a thor palazzo. I used the city input inlet with the valve at winternize to blow air in all the lines and it worked fine but i cannot find any antifreeze inlet to introduce antifreeze in the lines and there is no by pass around the water pump. So my question is : what is the best way to introduce antifreeze in the Thor Palazzo water lines?

gmadams · 10-06-2013, 02:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PalazzoFL

How do we input antifreeze in the water system on a thor palazzo. I used the city input inlet with the valve at winternize to blow air in all the lines and it worked fine but i cannot find any antifreeze inlet to introduce antifreeze in the lines and there is no by pass around the water pump. So my question is : what is the best way to introduce antifreeze in the Thor Palazzo water lines?

Get a short hose and hook it up to your water connection. The other end goes into the jug of antifreeze. Have the valve set to normal and turn on your water pump. It will suction the antifreeze out of the jug into your lines. Be sure and turn the knob to bypass the water heater. Cut off the water supply to the ice maker and make sure the line doesn't have water in it. Go to each faucet and keep it on until the pink stuff comes out and do the same for your outside shower. Do this for both hot and cold water knobs.

gmadams · 10-06-2013, 03:07 PM

BTW

If you are in Florida as I am assuming your user name would otherwise be something else, why are you wanting to winterize????

tcopeland · 10-06-2013, 03:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gmadams

Get a short hose and hook it up to your water connection. The other end goes into the jug of antifreeze. Have the valve set to normal and turn on your water pump. It will suction the antifreeze out of the jug into your lines. Be sure and turn the knob to bypass the water heater. Cut off the water supply to the ice maker and make sure the line doesn't have water in it. Go to each faucet and keep it on until the pink stuff comes out and do the same for your outside shower. Do this for both hot and cold water knobs.

Don't forget to remove the filter element.

TheArnolds · 10-06-2013, 03:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gmadams

Get a short hose and hook it up to your water connection. The other end goes into the jug of antifreeze. Have the valve set to normal and turn on your water pump. It will suction the antifreeze out of the jug into your lines. Be sure and turn the knob to bypass the water heater. Cut off the water supply to the ice maker and make sure the line doesn't have water in it. Go to each faucet and keep it on until the pink stuff comes out and do the same for your outside shower. Do this for both hot and cold water knobs.

Be careful with the ice maker to get all the water out or the valves behind frig will freeze and brake.

PalazzoFL · 10-06-2013, 09:15 PM

Thank you very much.

No I am not from Florida, FL are my initials!....More questions.....You said to put the knob on normal......so what is the purpose of the water inlet knob when we put it at winternize?..........there is a winternize valve for the water heater.....and there is a winternize valve on the water inlet....what is the purpose of the winternize position on the water inlet?

If we suck the antifreeze at the normal position....will it go to the fresh water tank?

The fresh water tank deos not see to get 100% empty because the drain valve is not flush with the bottom of the tank.....do you recommend to send antifreeze to the fresh water tank in order to mix it with the quater inch of water that stay in the bottom?

Dvillalo · 10-07-2013, 06:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheArnolds

Be careful with the ice maker to get all the water out or the valves behind frig will freeze and brake.

How do you get all the water out of the lines of the ice maker? Thanks

TheArnolds · 10-07-2013, 08:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dvillalo

How do you get all the water out of the lines of the ice maker? Thanks

Because the valves on the ice maker open and close during the ice making cycle it is difficult to blow air through the line to clear all the water. With this in mind during the winterization process, using the pink stuff, I let the ice maker run until I could detect pink stuff in the ice maker. Stuck my finger in the ice maker cube tray to confirm pink stuff was in the ice maker.

In the spring we let it run several ice making cycles with fresh water to clear the lines.

gmadams · 10-07-2013, 08:00 AM

You are correct. Set the knob to winterize. I was going on memory and that gets me in trouble every time....

I drove my rig while I was draining the tank and I didn't look to see if there was still water in the tank so I can't help you there. I didn't put any antifreeze in my fresh water tank.

On a 33.1 there is a panel below the stove. That is where the valvd is to turn off the water to the ice maker. You can disconnect the line and drain the water that way. On the other models I don't know where the cutoff is for the ice maker.

Dvillalo · 10-08-2013, 05:22 AM

Thanks to all for the ice maker line info.
David

RVRandy · 10-09-2013, 04:43 PM

Here is a step-by-step winterizing procedure for the Palazzo. If you don't have a washer and dryer just skip that step:

1) Drain your water heater by removing the plastic plug at the bottom (open outside access door to locate)

2) Locate your outside bays that have the city water connection, water filter, and low point water drains. On a 33.2 the water filter is behind the black panel of the storage area in front of the inverter bay on the passenger side. The rest of the water connections should be on the driver side bay in front of the water heater door.

3) Locate the 2 knobs that say "low point drains" and turn them – this should start draining water out of your water lines – close after all water is drained. Also locate the valve that says "Water Heater bypass" and turn it to the Bypass position.

4) Locate the fresh water storage tank drain valve (on the 33.2 this is to the left rear of the bay where all of the other water connections are)- open it and let the water drain- may take up to an hour- close when drained.

5) Take off the fresh water filter canister (on the 33.2 this is located behind the black plastic panel on the passenger side) and remove the cartridge – reinstall the canister empty-don't put the filter back in

6) Locate the city water connection port and hook up a short piece of hose – 3 feet should do – you can cut down a garden hose if you don’t have one available.

7) Locate the small black valve on the white panel and turn it to the "winterize/sanitize setting"

8) Insert the garden hose into a gallon of antifreeze. Note you could end up using 2 or more gallons of anti-freeze here depending on whether you have a washer/dryer, icemaker and how long you let each faucet run. You will also use 2 more gallons later in the process. I always buy at least 4. Anti-freeze is cheap compared to what you pay to fix freeze damage.

9) Turn on the water pump this should start to siphon antifreeze from the gallon into your water lines

10) Go inside the coach and open each faucet individually – do the cold side first then the hot – you should see pink antifreeze come out into the sink- when you see antifreeze flowing from the faucet turn it off and repeat for all of the other faucets including shower, bathroom, outside shower, toilet.

11) If you have a washer /dryer installed turn it to the wash cycle mode and turn it on, you should hear antifreeze start to pump into the unit- open the small tray at the top and check to see if there is pink in it. Once you see pink antifreeze run it through a drain cycle.

12) If you have an icemaker, dump any cubes out of the bucket and make sure the icemaker arm is in the down (or on) position. This could take an hour or so but keep checking the storage bucket until you see pink anti-freeze in the bucket. At that point you can lift the icemaker arm to the off position, turn off your water pump and disconnect the hose that you were using to suck in the anti-freeze.
13) Make sure your grey and black tanks have been dumped, then pour 1 gallon of anti-freeze down the toilet and another gallon evenly divided between the kitchen sink, bathroom sink and shower. This will ensure your P-trap and tank drain valves are protected too.

To answer the original question: In the "city water" position the valve bypasses your pump and storage tank and relies on city water pressure alone. In the "winterize position it bypasses the storage tank but uses your water pump to circulate the anti-freeze.

PalazzoFL · 10-10-2013, 08:48 PM

Thank you very much....this is great information....I have one last question

After emptying the fresh water tank there is still a quater inch of water at the bottom of the tank because the drain hole is not flush with the bottom of the tank.

Can we leave it this way and let this quater inch of water freeze with no harm to the tank side walls......or sould we introduce antifreeze to mix it with the still water in the bottom odf the tank. If we need to introduce antifreeze in the fresh water tank....what is the best way?

Thanks in advance for your great help.....FL

tcopeland · 10-10-2013, 09:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PalazzoFL

Thank you very much....this is great information....I have one last question After emptying the fresh water tank there is still a quater inch of water at the bottom of the tank because the drain hole is not flush with the bottom of the tank. Can we leave it this way and let this quater inch of water freeze with no harm to the tank side walls......or sould we introduce antifreeze to mix it with the still water in the bottom odf the tank. If we need to introduce antifreeze in the fresh water tank....what is the best way? Thanks in advance for your great help.....FL

Don't know of a way to get antifreeze into the fresh water tank.
I drain the tank and leave the tank drain valve open. Don't have a freezing problem.

RVRandy · 10-11-2013, 11:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tcopeland

Don't know of a way to get antifreeze into the fresh water tank.
I drain the tank and leave the tank drain valve open. Don't have a freezing problem.

3 ways to address it:

1-Get a hose fitting that screws onto the anti freeze jug so you can tilt the jug upside down and use gravity to feed the anti-freeze into the water storage tank. Just set the water control valve to "tank fill". A gallon would do the job. Of course then you have to flush the tank come spring to get rid of the pink stuff.

2-Lower your suspension and use the manual controls for your jacks. Lower the passenger side jacks only and this will tilt the coach towards the drivers side. That will drain most of the remaining water from your tank.

3-Or, just leave the valve open and don't worry about it. There is plenty of room for expansion when that water freezes so there should be no issue with anything breaking.

I've done it each way in the past and they all work.