Yes, another winterize post

Joe · November 2015

I read the Powerpoint slide deck, read the posts, called the dealer, winterized my trailer and I'm still wondering if I've done this right.

I don't have an air compressor, so I opened all the valves to drain everything. Right there I have my first issue. Only about two cups of water came out of the Alde water heater. That seems strange. Seems like it should have been 1 - 2 gallons.

With all valves open, I ran the water pump to get as much water out of the system as possible. Drain. Next, I set the valves to "winter" mode as shown in the slide deck and put two gallons of pink stuff in the fresh water tank. Then I ran the outdoor shower and the inside faucet until pink stuff came out everywhere.

The dealer said this was the right thing to do, even though I don't have an air compressor. He also said not to worry about putting pink stuff in the city water connection as the pink stuff will back up to the valve.

Three questions:

1) Why only two cups of water draining out of the Alde hot water heater? (I was on a level surface)

2) Why do I need to use the air compressor if I"m going to turn around and put pink stuff in?

3) Am I just being paranoid or have I missed something?

Thanks,
~ Joe

Verna · November 2015

I'll answer part of your question. You don't need the traditional air compressor. You can use a 12V compressor used to blow up flat tires, or even a hand powered bike tire pump. I used the 1:V version to blow out my ones. I didn't keep track of how much came out.

Nomad · November 2015

What sequence did you do... Open drains and once drained then faucets with both hot/cold valves open with the pump on?
Wild guess - Thinking maybe there's a vacume if the faucets aren't open so more didn't come out the Alde. Would think it'd be drained if you pumped with bot hot/cold faucets open though.

Joe · November 2015

PXLated: Yes, I opened the valves and faucets and then ran the pump until everything seemed dry. I had the same thought -- there is a vacuum somewhere that is keeping the Alde water heater from completely draining. This has me so worried I'm planning to buy a air compressor and more pink stuff tomorrow and I'll start the entire process over.

Verna: Thanks for the pump recommendations. I don't have any of the pumps you suggested, but it does give me some ideas.

Boo: Thanks for the encouragement and I'm glad to know I'm not the only one going through this.

~ Joe

Nomad · November 2015

Didn't mean to scare ya - it might explain why not much came out of the Alde. If you ran the pump and opened both the hot & cold faucets till nothing came out I'd bet you're ok and that ran the hot water tank dry also.
But blowing the lines - since it doesn't take much of a compressor - is always a good thing. I just use a small tire inflator/compressor I keep in the truck for low tires. Hooks up to the battery with battery clips.

ChanW · November 2015

Joe, when you say "two cups came out of the Alde", where did it come out? Under the Tab? Or out of a faucet? It's not clear to me from what you've said.

I'll open the drain valve on each of the hot and cold lines, the little pull handle valves are in the Alde compartment under the bench seat in an 'S' 2014 model. Then I'll open the sink faucets to let air into the lines while the water drains out the bottom.

It'll take quite a while, especially with no air compressor pushing the water out, maybe 15 minutes.

Joe · November 2015

> when you say "two cups came out of the Alde", where did it come out? Under the Tab? Or out of a faucet?

Came out under the trailer after opening the drain valves near the Alde.

I'm hoping Pxlated is right -- that the hot water heater was drained when I opened the faucets and ran the pump. In any case, today I'll get a small compressor pump and start the process again.

Thanks for all the responses. You guys are great.

~ Joe

Michigan_Mike · November 2015

Drop the tongue of the trailer down to the ground as low as you can get it too, so that gravity takes the water to the front and out the front of the trailer.

NCT@BS · November 2015

I assume you opened the yellow pressure relief on the Alde and not just the hot water drain. Just mentioning since I didn't do that first time around.

ChanW · November 2015

Mike, that's the opposite of how it would work with my Tab. On our 2014 'S', the drain valves are located toward the rear of the whole system, so it really doesn't make sense to drop the tongue to drain it.

I keep it as level as I can, because some pipes are pitched one way and some the other. Then I'll finally pitch the Tab a bit fore and then a bit aft, to get the last little drops of water out of the pipes.

Am I missing something? Do others' drain toward the front?

Michigan_Mike said:

Drop the tongue of the trailer down to the ground as low as you can get it too, so that gravity takes the water to the front and out the front of the trailer.

Nomad · November 2015

On my 2015 it'd be low to the right for the main fresh water tank.

Allie · December 2015

The model is a 2015 CS-S. I reviewed the PDF on how to winterize a 2015 T@B, but am unsure if I did it correctly. I only opened the drain valves in the rear hatch, faucets and drained the water, used a compressor to blow out the pipes, closed the drain valves in the hatch, poured 3 gals. of antifreeze into the fresh water tank, turned on the pump, ran faucets, shower and flushed toilet until pink came thru. I did not turn any other valves for winterization because I don't understand what/why they are used, plus I will be using the trailer in January. Did I screw things up too badly?

Tabaz · December 2015

Winterizing in Phoenix Arizona:

Allie · December 2015

What a terrific sense of humor. I laughed so hard tears almost ran down my legs.

Joe · December 2015

Update: I did the whole winterization process again using the "blow out method", but this time with two changes. First, I opened the yellow valve, which isn't in the images in the slide deck. It is, however in the Alde instructions. Second, I attached an air compressor. This seemed to solve my vacuum problem as about two gallons of water came out of the Alde. I put about two cups of pink stuff in the sink drain trap and called it a day.

Allie: Reading your post it sounds like you did the right thing with respect to the "flood the system with pink stuff method", but hey, what do I know? Hopefully a more authoritative source will chime in.

ChanW · December 2015

Allie, if you plan on using the Alde while the Tab is winterized, you'll need to drain the antifreeze out of the Alde hot water jacket before firing it up.

On the newer Tabs, there's an isolation or bypass circuit for the plumbing that bypasses the Alde. It allows you to leave air in the Alde while winterizing the remaining pipes with antifreeze. Alde recommends that you not run the Alde boiler with antifreeze in the hot water jacket.

I don't have the bypass on mine, so I have to blow everything out of all the lines, and use air and no antifreeze. But the procedure has been explained here in the forum someplace. Do a search for "bypass".

Yes, another winterize post

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