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First-time dewinterizing quesions

GoodSpot
GoodSpot Member Posts: 3
in Heating/Plumbing & Winterizing
2024 Tab 400
Looking at online dewinterization, it looks easy. But first-timer always finds some way to create an issue.
1) Pull valves to ensure empty tanks, close both valves
2) Open valves for fresh/cold/hot drains and close once any excess drains
3) Put Nautilus into Sanitize mode, use pump to siphon 5gal water w2.5 cup bleach into fresh water tank, turn off pump
4) Put Nautilus into Dry Camp mode and turn on pump to pressurize system
Here's where I found a problem, both bypass valves under the bed were open (up) and water came out of drain instead of pressurizing. If I close these, won't I be putting santization water into the Alde hot water tank? If so, how many gallons of sanitization water is needed? How long/how many gallons will I need to flush the Alde hot water tank?

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Comments

  • pthomas745
    pthomas745 Administrator, Moderator Posts: 4,527
    What "online dewinterization" were you looking at?  Something that closely resembles your Tab?  "Pull Valves" meaning which valves?
    "Open Valves" for the low point drains (hot, cold, fresh) are good.  Nautilus owners seem to overlook the Famous Yellow Flapper valves, which you called the "bypass valves".  They are out of sight, out of mind, and the NuCamp videos seem to have forgot them also. Checking them should be part of your process to winterize or dewinterize.  Some winterizers leave them open to remind themselves the system has been winterized.    The cold water low point drain will take out a considerable amount from the Alde tank, also. 

    For number 3: the "2.5" cups of bleach is..a lot. In one of the NuCamp videos from a couple of years ago, they said "1/2 cup per gallon of water".  Which made owners add waaaay too much bleach into the fresh tank.  It should read "1/2 cup into a gallon of water.....and then add that gallon of water into a full tank" .  For the 320, and the 11 gallon fresh water tank, the usual amount is 1/4 cup for the entire full tank.
    So, you should use 1/2 cup of bleach to your gallon of water, and add that to a full fresh water tank.  Much more than 1/2 cup will require quite a lot of flushing the system to get the bleach smell out.

    You are on the right track.  This thread from a couple of years ago has one owners discussion of this process.  In the thread, there is a link to a de-winterizing thread here in this group that also describes this process.
    And, a discussion of that video that this group spotted the day it came out, and the wrong amount of bleach.  NuCamp has never fixed it.

    2017 Outback
    Towed by 2014 Touareg TDi
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  • ScottG
    ScottG Administrator Posts: 5,655
    I'll add that bleach should not be run through the Alde HW tank as, supposedly, it can be corrosive to stainless steel. 

    That said, don't panic if you got some in there. Just rinse it out with everything else and all will be well. Don't ask me how I know...  ;-)
    2015 T@B Max S (320)
    2015 Nissan Frontier SV V6 4x4
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  • Jay_and_Kat
    Jay_and_Kat Member Posts: 284
    @pthomas745 I just followed your link and...
    That's my post!  :blush:

    So reviewing the post (hey, the last time we de-winterized was about 13-14 months ago!) we primarily sanitize the fresh tank, but not the water lines or hot water tank.  Once the sanitize solution has "sat" in the fresh tank long enough, we flush it out with fresh water, THEN switch to "City Water" and start running fresh through all the lines.  We've got a dedicate 1 gallon former milk jug to mix up our sanitizing solution, as well.

    Last year this seemed to work OK, we were using the water in the tank to fill our filter pitcher (Epic Nano,) and neither of us got sick or anything from the water from the pitcher.
    ----------------------------------------------------------
    Jay and Kat
    Tow vehicle:  2022 Jeep Gladiator Sport S + tow package
    Camper:  2022 T@B 400 Boondock w/Norcold 3-way fridge
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  • pthomas745
    pthomas745 Administrator, Moderator Posts: 4,527
    It was a nice summary, with other links and discussions!
    2017 Outback
    Towed by 2014 Touareg TDi
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  • Hammick
    Hammick Member Posts: 80
    ScottG said:
    I'll add that bleach should not be run through the Alde HW tank as, supposedly, it can be corrosive to stainless steel. 

    That said, don't panic if you got some in there. Just rinse it out with everything else and all will be well. Don't ask me how I know...  ;-)
    Just bought a '23 TAB and need to sanitize the fresh water system.  How is it possible to sanitize the hot water lines without getting bleach into the Alde tank.  Does the sanitize setting on the Nautilus unit bypass the Alde?
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  • pthomas745
    pthomas745 Administrator, Moderator Posts: 4,527
    edited March 2024
    @Hammick Look closely at your Nautilus manual, the page with the explanation of the colored valves. The Red Handle describes allowing water into the trailer but "without going through the hot water heater". 
    One of the issues with the Nautilus is that it is not "Tab Specific".  We have used the "bypass" phrase for 8 years now, so these Nautilus instructions can be confusing.  But, it works!

    2017 Outback
    Towed by 2014 Touareg TDi
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  • tabranger
    tabranger Member Posts: 16
    Thanks for this thread, as well as all the info here! I’m getting ready to take the family for 2 weeks to southern Utah in our ‘24 400!
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  • bjn2
    bjn2 Member Posts: 123
    The general advice from credible RV websites is to sanitize at 1/4 cup bleach (regular bleach, not the "no-splash" type) to 16 gallons of water. Scaling that up to our 320's 19 gallon tank means siphoning an initial concentrate with 1/3 cup bleach. I mixed the bleach with 2.5 gallons of water in a clean 5 gallon bucket for siphoning. Nucamp's video for our trailer failed to mention filling the tank, which I did using the power fill workflow, and letting the full dilution in the tank sit for five hours (also from credible sites).
    Utah-based
    2023 T@B 320 S Boondock
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