Winterizing your 320 TaB plumbing

dhauf

@mmcneil72 Sure thing!  Yeah I leave mine open all winter it doesn't hurt and helps to dry out the tank.  In the spring I do the bleach flush of the water tank to disinfect it.  Never had any issues and I'm on my 5th season now.

Sharon_is_SAM

@mmcneil72 - those instructions were only for blowing out the plumbing, then topping off the vulnerable p traps and waste valves with antifreeze.  As long as your fresh tank is well drained, any small remnant of water that freezes won’t cause any damage.  If you wanted to add antifreeze throughout your plumbing lines, then you bypass the Alde, add it to the fresh water tank and turn on the pump while opening a single tap at a time to fill the lines.

mmcneil72

Biggest discovery today was hot and cold water drain valves.  Have a photo of camping valve setup we use for reference, will take another tomorrow of what I think is the winterized settings and post in here.  My one seriously experienced RV buddy was amazed at the Pex spaghetti under the sink - and he likes this kind of stuff!  Retired motorcycle mechanic so pretty handy.

immanence

@Sharon_is_SAM thanks for this guide again, which I just had to use because of a sudden cold snap. I tried the optional note from the 2017 manual of running the pump to empty out the lines and that seemed to work really well. The only thing that worried me is running the pump without full circulation of water as I was getting the last of the drops out. Could this potentially burn out a pump? I only had to run it for a few minutes, but it did really seem to help get water in the lines out.

I blew the lines out with air too of course.

Sharon_is_SAM

@immanence - I am not sure of which optional note you are referencing, but, I think running the pump for any long period risks overheating and premature failure.  I think running the pump for a couple minutes without water will not hurt.  After all, I think we all experience that when a pump does not prime right away.  

pthomas745

I'm going to guess the pump was run to get a little pressure in the system to help the water to drain? I know that works for me in my 2017.

The Shurflo pumps are pretty robust, and apparently can be run "dry".  They don't need water to cool, etc. 

There must be a limit, however. The only threads we have here is owners replacing diaphrams, check valves, etc. Here is one web page with some info.

https://blog.kleen-ritecorp.com/understanding-how-the-different-types-of-shurflo-pumps-work/