Winterizing a 2015 320S

Pekoe1111 · October 2019

I am winterizing my camper and cannot

I am winterizing my camper and cannot find a picture online that looks like mine attached here. Can anyone shed some light on which are the drain valves? Thanks!

ScottG · October 2019

Is yours a real early 2015? It doesn't look quite like mine (built in Dec 2014).

I see what appears to be your hot water drain--it's the quarter-turn valve just below dead center of the photo.

Right below that the yellow flap thingy is your system pressure relief valve, which also doubles as your Alde HW tank drain.

What I don't see is a cold water drain--maybe the Alde drain serves the same purpose on yours.

I also don't see an Alde bypass loop and associated valves.

I'm wondering if yours was a real early build and some additional plumbing was added mid-model year. It was common (particularly back then) for PV/nuCamp to make changes on the fly.

Horigan · October 2019

On my 2016 all I ever did was:

- Drain the main water tank

- Run the pump dry through all the faucets, hot and cold, including the outside shower

- Open up the outside shower head and shake the water out

- Lift up the yellow over-pressure relief lever in your picture to drain the hot water tank

- Drive around a bit with everything open to let all the water drain out

I didn't have what appears to be a hot water line drain, red in your picture, so I would open that up before the drive around.

TabberJohn · October 2019

Concor with @ScottG --
Yellow flap to drain the Alde.
Hot water drain below dead center.
No Alde bypass loop with cold water drain but there appears to be a shut-off valve for the cold water feed in the lower left.
Are there any valves in the wheel well compartment?

ScottG · October 2019

This is what my valve configuration looks like. Photo is straight out of the official T@B winterizing manual. The Alde would be to the left of the photo. The cold and hot lines exiting the top of the photo lead to and from the Alde respectively, with the yellow flapper valve located on the cold line.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021717/uploads/editor/2y/khqz2nxbptqc.jpeg

ScottG · October 2019

TabberJohn said:

...
No Alde bypass loop with cold water drain but there appears to be a shut-off valve for the cold water feed in the lower left.
...

I noted that too. I suspect it is a valve to disconnect the CW supply to the Alde.

Sharon_is_SAM · October 2019

Here is a discussion from @breakaway who does not have the Alde bypass. You may find this helpful. Plumbing looks the same.

https://tab-rv.vanillacommunity.com/discussion/400/winterizing-a-2014-t-b-with-alde/p2

Pekoe1111 · October 2019

Thank you all! I suspect mine may be a late 2014 if that matters. I also did not see an obvious cold water drain. I’ll take a look at @breakaway's thread and look in the wheelwell tomorrow.

ChanW · October 2019

The 'dead center' white tee-handle hot water drain is the same as ours. You lift it up about a quarter inch to get it draining. There's another for the cold on ours, but it looks like the yellow valve is your cold drain.

Sometimes it's sticky - I had to pull ours apart to lube the o-ring on it before it would pop down easily again (there's a tiny, easy-to-lose clip on the side of the stem. It comes off, then you can lift the stem out of the valve to lube it).

ScottG · October 2019

ChanW said:

The 'dead center' white tee-handle hot water drain is the same as ours. You lift it up about a quarter inch to get it draining. There's another for the cold on ours, but it looks like the yellow valve is your cold drain.
...

Ahhh. I thought that valve looked a little peculiar in the photo--not a quarter turn valve as I stated above, but a tee-handle. Thanks for the clarification!

Pekoe1111 · November 2019

Ok, i am doing this now and getting no glycol-looking fluid or any volume other than a few drips from the drains under the trailer, other than than gray and black water drains.

This is what I have done:

1. Opened gray and black water drains.
2. Opened the fresh water tank drain.
3. Turned on the pump and run the kitchen sink, bathroom sink, and flushed toilet until the blow air (but I still hear water gurgling in the system).
4. Opened the hot water “T” valve and cold water yellow flapper valve.

All I’m getting is a few drops in a bucket under these drains in the rear.

My next step was to use the blowout valve with a 12v tire air compressor to clear out lines one at a time.

Is there a reason I’m not getting the gallons of water or glycol coming out of the drain?

thanks!

Sharon_is_SAM · November 2019

You don’t want to drain glycol from the Alde unless you are exchanging the glycol or replacing a part.

When winterizing you drain water from the Alde water tank which is like a sleeve that wraps around the Alde glycol heater tank.

Here is a PDF that should help.

https://us.v-cdn.net/5021717/uploads/editor/6r/eust2xvs5t11.pdf

ScottG · November 2019

It may be that you have just run most of the water out with the pump. However, I've found that draining from the Alde/yellow flapper valve sometimes won't start unless the system is under pressure. It's always the first drain I open because I want to make sure the Alde is really empty lest it becomes a giant Popsicle mold over winter.

You likely depressurized the system when you ran the pump dry. To be certain you get everything out, I suggest refilling and repressurizing the entire system (city water is easiest for this if you have it available), and then opening the yellow valve first and make sure something is coming out. To facilitate draining, make sure you open the sink faucets as well. You can then open the HW drain.

After you have drained whatever you can by gravity, close everything up and proceed with your compressor--pressurizing the system and blowing out each drain and faucet individually. You'll be surprised at how much more will come out when you do this!

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