Winterizing 2002 LD September 30, 2018, 10:58:27 am Hi gang. I’m in the process of winterizing my 2002 LD.Question: Does my HWH have a bypass valve?I’ve heard some RVs do and don’t require additional antifreeze to fill the HWH.Thanks in advance?MarkNorthwoods of Minnesota
Re: Winterizing 2002 LD Reply #1 – September 30, 2018, 01:01:42 pm I’m on my cell phone and it’s slow typing. You’re correct on the water heater. Just drain the water heater and I leave the drain open (no drain plug). The remaining gallons of water will freeze but not cause any damage. Source is the LD owners manual and the water heater manual. It’s also a good time to flush the water heater and clean it out. LD does not have a bypass valve unless installed by an owner.
Re: Winterizing 2002 LD Reply #2 – September 30, 2018, 01:37:59 pm Mine does not. I don't believe the factory typically added a bypass valve. If you have a bypass it should be on the water lines (in and out) at water heater. On my mid bath I would have to remove the drawers under the closet to check. I am not sure where your water heater is located or what is around it. Perhaps a owner with a 30 or 31 can say.In years past I just blew out the lines then pump antifreeze through the filter basket and pump per the owners manuel. It takes an hour or so. Last year I got worried that may not work well because where I store and here at home is not at all level. Instead I filled the fresh water system after the filter basket with antifreeze. Not the freshwater tank. The filter basket, pump, water heater, hot and cold lines, toilet bowl, and goose necks for the shower. I remove the faucet aerator in the bath, shower head, and sink head while doing this and shook them out. Additionally after dumping the black and grey tanks I put a gallon or so of antifreeze in each the waste tanks so if there is any water remaining in there after dumping the pipes to the dump ports are protected. Note that RV antifreeze is not like car antifreeze. It does not mix with water. My theory for the tanks is that the specific gravity of the antifreeze will be greater than any ice that forms in the two tanks and the ice will flow to an area that is relatively open where it can do no harm. This way is a little more expensive but antifreeze doesn't cost that much and I don't get worried when we have cold snaps. Part of the reason for the change is my driveway as well as the RV storage have a significant slope. I was worried any water left in the lines could eventually pool together and break a line when it gets cold. We don't get cold like you do, but it is not uncommon for the MidAtlantic to have a week of low temps in the single digit range during Jan and Feb. If you have a good level area to work blowing out the lines as the manual describes then putting antifreeze in the pump and filter basket should be fine.John 1 Likes
Re: Winterizing 2002 LD Reply #3 – September 30, 2018, 02:00:31 pm My LD did not come with an owners manual.This is my system.1. Pump with a hose attachment. I’m assuming this hose was added by the previous owner for winterizing.2. Water heater showing on/off valve for hot and cold water.
Re: Winterizing 2002 LD Reply #4 – September 30, 2018, 05:07:15 pm Quote from: NADAZE! - September 30, 2018, 02:00:31 pmMy LD did not come with an owners manual.This is my system.1. Pump with a hose attachment. I’m assuming this hose was added by the previous owner for winterizing.2. Water heater showing on/off valve for hot and cold water.Looks to me like you have a bypass. I just bought a bypass kit for mine but I'll probably wait until next year to install it. Wasn't that big a deal to fill the water heater with antifreeze because I recovered 90% of it when I drained the tank. 2 Likes
Re: Winterizing 2002 LD Reply #5 – October 02, 2018, 01:51:15 pm Thanks for everyone’s help regarding winterizing my water pipes. All faucet are running pink.Mark
Re: Winterizing 2002 LD Reply #6 – November 21, 2018, 04:47:48 pm I have to chime in with some winterizing questions. I just came back to Sedona, AZ from a very nice trip to Ojai, CA and Jojoba Hills RV Resort in Aguanga, CA. In Jojoba Hills I got to know Gayle and Jim and their Lazy Daze and had a great time with them. My next trip will be probably in January when I plan to go to the Lazy Daze Quartzsite Campout.The temperatures here in Sedona until end of the year are usually 45-60 °F during the day and 35-20 °F for some hours during the night and the early morning. This morning we had 29 °F and I had the furnace running on its lowest setting for some time. For the next couple of days the temperatures will be similar. I guess emptying the fresh water tank and the water heater and having the furnace on will be good enough for the next days. Or maybe I put an electric space heater with a timer into the rig instead of using the furnace.However, in December I guess it's safer to winterize and since the water pump is already equipped with a pump converter adapter/valve I want to do this with RV antifreeze.So far, I guess, I'm thinking correctly. Right?What I don't know is whether I have a water heater bypass valve. I have read that I have to take out the drawers below the wardrobe in my mid-bath Lazy Daze to check on that - and I don't get the drawers out. Usually I would assume that I can take them out when I lift them a little but in my case that does not work on any of the drawers. Is there a trick to do this? Or am I anyway looking in the wrong place for the bypass valve?
Re: Winterizing 2002 LD Reply #7 – November 21, 2018, 05:29:28 pm Hi Nick. If 20 degrees is the lowest temperature you expect at night, that's not what most people would call a 'hard freeze'. If you will be living in the motorhome, and have access to electric power, then a small box heater is all you need, and you won't need to winterize anything. If it were mine, I would put two 3-way valves instead of the 'T' under the sink, where the outside showers hoses attach to the plumbing. You could shut off the water going to that shower. You probably aren't going to use it anyway. I would drain the water out of that for the winter. I'd also keep a gallon of pink (non toxic, protection down to -40) anti-freeze, in the bathroom, and pour just a little in the trap each time you use the shower. I feel that that trap isn't very well protected from the cold. The anti-freeze that ends up in the gray tank may help it not ice-up. Not an issue if you have hookups. To remove the drawers....The only time you pull up is to release the notch, just as it is initially opened. After that you can pull the drawer out as far as it will easily go, about half way. Then you need to pull harder, as others have mentioned, to get it all the way out of the ball bearing slide. You can repeatedly push it in easily until it stops then pull out hard. each time it will come out a little more, until it finally comes out all the way. When replacing it, just line up the center rail. You will need to push it in hard, to get it to resume it's original location on the slide. You won't need to bypass the water heater, that's just a convenience to save about 5 gallons of anti-freeze. If you are living in it, with the water heater on, it will be freeze proof. Winterizing is for when the motorhome is stored in below freezing weather, for long periods of time, with no one in it. RonB
Re: Winterizing 2002 LD Reply #8 – November 21, 2018, 08:19:52 pm Ron, thanks. I do not live in my RV (yet). It will be parked and unoccupied in my driveway probably until January. I don't expect less than 20 degrees for the rest of the year but it will certainly be quite often below 32 degrees in the early morning hours. I have put a space heater in there for now and can monitor the temperature inside the RV from my house. That should be good enough for the next couple of days. However, I'm not sure whether its is safe enough all the time until mid January.I "found" the water heater. There are two valves attached to it (see photo). Is one of them the bypass valve? One more question: I have a petcock drain valve on the water heater. Is this thing supposed to open when I turn the "wings?" Should that be possible by hand? I tried to turn it clockwise and anti-clockwise and nothing moved.
Re: Winterizing 2002 LD Reply #9 – November 21, 2018, 11:01:03 pm That looks like a bypass to me. Turning the valve 90 degrees should bypass the water heater. If not, you will know by the pink stuff running out of the water heater drain.I open the water heater drain each fall by placing the blade of a large flathead screwdriver on the petcock wing and gently but firmly tapping on top of the screwdriver with my palm or a rubber mallet. Once loose, it turns easily by hand. Just make sure to get the direction right.Rich‘03 MB in NC
Re: Winterizing 2002 LD Reply #10 – November 22, 2018, 12:05:22 am Quote from: RonB - November 21, 2018, 05:29:28 pm I'd also keep a gallon of pink (non toxic, protection down to -40) anti-freeze, in the bathroom, and pour just a little in the trap each time you use the shower. I feel that that trap isn't very well protected from the cold. The anti-freeze that ends up in the gray tank may help it not ice-up. Not an issue if you have hookups.If it drops much below freezing the shower drain trap can freeze, it isn't inside the coach, the plumbing hangs below the floor.The good news is the heat from a hot shower will usually melt the frozen water in the trap, unless it is very cold out.When camping in cold conditions, we carry a 1-gallon jug of the pink stuff, for the trap.Larry 1 Likes
Re: Winterizing 2002 LD Reply #11 – November 22, 2018, 02:10:57 pm "...the shower drain trap can freeze, it isn't inside the coach..."Wow! That's good information! I'd often wondered but never looked.
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