Winterizing, no RV antifreeze from the shower wand?

Jay_and_Kat

Got out to the camper to winterize it, we were running the pump off the batteries.  Set the Nautilus handles to the "winterize" position, put our gallon of RV antifreeze on the ground with our suction hose in it (piece of solid garden hose, so it won't "collapse" from the suction.)  Once the suction started, turned on the outside faucet until it flowed pink, did the kitchen sink, did the toilet, did the bathroom sink.

The shower wand, however, was difficult.  Despite turning on the water and leaving it for a minute, NOTHING came out of the wand.  Some water did come out when I put the wand on the shower floor, presumably it was "gravity fed" from the hose, but that was it and no indications anything was going to be coming through.

Now, we did not use the shower at all this season, so my question is, should I play it safe, go back to the camper, put the remainder of the antifreeze back under the hook up and run that shower until it flows pink?  Or should we be OK?

I did, a few weeks ago, open the yellow drains under the bed (both of them) until the water stopped flowing, as well as the side drain behind the wheel, so I'm fairly confident the lines are as dry as they're going to get.

qhumberd

What we do is disconnect the shower head from the tubing, then run it until pink and allow it to drain into the shower pan. That way the antifreeze also goes to the shower trap (if yours has one).

Jay_and_Kat

@qhumberd I did pour some antifreeze straight into the shower pan drain to make sure that got flushed.  I even leave a partial bottle in the shower (closed up,) so if I go to check on the camper for some reason in the winter, if the toilet seems to be getting low due to some getting past the valve, I can pour some in to "top it off."

qhumberd

I did, a few weeks ago, open the yellow drains under the bed (both of them) until the water stopped flowing, as well as the side drain behind the wheel, so I'm fairly confident the lines are as dry as they're going to get.

@Jay_and_Kat just for clarity I needed to mention the Alde hot water tank. I do not have the Nautilus in my 2019 so there are two more yellow drains for that in my Alde compartment to drain that tank. Wondering if your winterize setting takes care of that? That is not one that would be recommended for antifreeze from what I recall. 

Jay_and_Kat

@qhumberd according to a schematic that was posted somewhere on these forums, with the Nautilus knobs in the "winterize" position, fluid gets pulled in through the pump, does not go to the fresh tank, and it bypasses the hot water tank.  One of the yellow drain valves is the "low point" for the hot water tank, so while there may be some residual water in the tank, it's probably a "skim" on the bottom.

So I'm also certain there's no antifreeze in the hot tank, but thank you for thinking of it!  I'd rather be reminded and not have to do anything, than not be reminded but I forgot to do something and have problems later!

qhumberd

Thanks, I looked further on the forum and found the Alde drains are hidden somewhat behind the Nautilus. And yes, I like to be 100% sure when winterizing so I don't have any expensive repairs come spring! I go over the list at least 3 times. The last plumbing I have never gotten a satisfactory answer about is the back tank flush plumbing. That check valve is inside the wall above the toilet and I have as a precaution used low pressure air to flush any trapped water out. We have had a couple of members report leaks in the valve/circuit, but no one has confirmed it being damaged by freezing.

NorthIsUp

If the pink stuff isn't coming through the showerhead, is it possible that the showerhead switch is in the closed position? 

manyman297

@qhumberd I’ve wondered about the black tank flush as well. I’ve never blown it out and I know when I disconnect a hose from it a bunch of water always flows back out of the connection so I assume it’s “self-draining” to an extent…but like you said, there’s a check valve and I don’t know what’s after that check valve in terms of water being trapped. I probably should just pull out the compressor and blow it out real quick?

qhumberd

manyman297 said:

@qhumberd I’ve wondered about the black tank flush as well. I’ve never blown it out and I know when I disconnect a hose from it a bunch of water always flows back out of the connection so I assume it’s “self-draining” to an extent…but like you said, there’s a check valve and I don’t know what’s after that check valve in terms of water being trapped. I probably should just pull out the compressor and blow it out real quick?

Since I have the air out anyway I have decided to blow that line as well. Doesn't take that long compared to thinking about water trapped in the valve freezing and breaking.

tabiphile

Considering the very low cost of another jug of antifreeze, why wouldn't you simply run another jug through and run the shower until the pink stuff is flowing? That seems like a far more "safe" option than hoping that the faucets or pipes are dry enough. Whatever you have left over can be saved for next time you winterize. 

Jay_and_Kat

@NorthIsUp I'm not sure what showerhead switch you're talking about?  All we have is the knob on the wall to control the temp and how much water is coming through?

@tabiphile what I noticed today when trying again is, with the pump on and the shower turned on for full cold (or hot,) the level of antifreeze in the jug doesn't go down, or if it is, it's so little as to be imperceptible.  I did check that the pump should've been working by re-opening the sink faucet and I did get antifreeze out.  I did lift the bed over the Nautilus compartment to verify, and the pump was running (I could feel it when I put my hand on it,) but I couldn't see any indication of fluid going through nor was there any sign of a leak back there.  

What I'm thinking now maybe, is that the section of water hose I use to put in the antifreeze jug is that is might have a permanent "partial crimp" in it, so I bought a new length of hose to cut down to use and I'll be going back out AGAIN (LoL) to try to get the shower flushed.  Probably also I'll bring a marker and mark the level in the jug, then test by opening the bath sink faucet for a minute to verify the level goes down.

Worst case will be bringing the camper back to the house, hooking up our compressor to the inlet and seeing if we can run air through the showerhead...

One last thought / question on this, which I suspect the answer is going to be "no," but I'll ask anyways.
If the camper is slightly nose-high, would that impact getting the antifreeze to the shower?  As I said, I expect not, as it was fine going to all the other fixtures, but better to be sure.

Jay_and_Kat

So an update on this, following my third trip to try to get the shower wand winterized...

/insert Homer Simpson saying "sometimes I'm not too bright"  

Winterizing works better if you give the pump time to actually start to fill the lines and suction out from the antifreeze jug...

Yeah, I didn't wait LONG enough for the pump to run.  Went back today, new suction hose, set everything up, took of the end of the shower wand so it was just the hose from the wall laying on the shower pan, still nothing.  Opened a sink, and uh-oh, nothing?  Checked the bottle, didn't appear to have gone down at all, went back in the camper, lets try a different faucet same thing?  Went back out to check the bottle and noticed that:

1. The fluid level DID look like it was starting to go down
2. The pump sound had changed from a sort-of quiet "chugging" to what I normally hear when the pump kicks on, a more "solid" sounding "chug"

Went back in, turned on the shower wand again and a moment later out flows pink for both cold and hot.  Re-ran both sinks, same thing.

Needless to say, I'm MUCH happier now.

Thank you everyone for your suggestions, because I was starting to worry that somehow the pump was fried after doing the initial round!