Have question regarding the fresh water tank

[Dave&Ginny]

By turning that valve off, you're diverting the suction of the water pump from the fresh water tank to the "winterterization" line.

[atom ant]

Yep Steve,

But you still have something wrong in the check valve. I've never had to use that valve (I always forget) so it's a bit redundant to the check valve. That should get you by till you get it fixed.

[Dave&Ginny]

A word of caution.........

There is a rubber gasket under the cap of your winterizing hose. That little cape and gasket has caused some of us great pains. If a slight bit of air can get past that gasket next spring when you try using your water pump....you'll loose water flow. I cut that water line and put in a "pex" shut off about 11 inches from the end to eliminate any issues.

[Dave&Ginny]

Originally Posted by atom ant

Yep Steve,

But you still have something wrong in the check valve. I've never had to use that valve (I always forget) so it's a bit redundant to the check valve. That should get you by till you get it fixed.

Unless I turn that valve, I can't get the water pump to draw in the antifreeze

[atom ant]

Oh wow - maybe I have just been getting lucky! I didn't even know about the valve the first winter, until Michelle and Anne told me the following year. I forgot to actually use it again this year when I winterized, and closed it after.

[Dave&Ginny]

Originally Posted by atom ant

Oh wow - maybe I have just been getting lucky! I didn't even know about the valve the first winter, until Michelle and Anne told me the following year. I forgot to actually use it again this year when I winterized, and closed it after.

That valve diverts the suction from the fresh water tank.

[johnboytoo]

Ah ha!!!

i didn't go after that second valve - maybe that's it....

I'm SURE I'll remember it next winter

[sbenhoff]

As I will most likely be winterizing this vehicle in the next few weeks, I've decided to turn off the city water and just use up the fresh water I have in the tank. So by doing that, I'm going to leave the valve open for now, unless I have to turn the city water back on later.

We will be packing up tomorrow, so I can use this water up instead of dumping it on the ground. Although, the lake I'm parked near could probably use a little extra.....

Thanks again to you and everyone else for your suggestions/comments.

Steve

[Dave&Ginny]

Like I had posted earlier, winterizing these units is very easy to do. The hardest part is taking the water filter apart.

[atom ant]

Originally Posted by Dave&Ginny

That valve diverts the suction from the fresh water tank.

Ya, I think when I do it the suction just overcomes the additional air from the tank and drafts out of the bottle anyway. Wonder if I ever get solution in the tank.

[BradPAjax]

All,

I agree with Dave. Did my winterize about 4 weeks ago in 15 min with 5 gal of pink... until I tried the Dishwasher. Did this at the storage site and for some reason the generator was not enough to convince the DW to turn on... kept getting an error code. Towed the whole shebang back up to my house, leveled the trailer and ran the DW for 15 seconds on house power and back to the storage yard. What a PITA! Will do the winterize at the house next year!

[TNTBaker]

Originally Posted by BradPAjax

All,

I agree with Dave. Did my winterize about 4 weeks ago in 15 min with 5 gal of pink... until I tried the Dishwasher. Did this at the storage site and for some reason the generator was not enough to convince the DW to turn on... kept getting an error code. Towed the whole shebang back up to my house, leveled the trailer and ran the DW for 15 seconds on house power and back to the storage yard. What a PITA! Will do the winterize at the house next year!

About that DW issue and the generator: This drove many of us crazy. When we were in service I talked to the shop foreman about it and he knew all about it and said that these dishwashers are extremely sensitive to variations in voltage. The generator runs within the tolerances but there is just enough variation that it often will make the dishwasher throw an error. The fix (according to him) is to put a good load on the generator and the voltage will level out more, and the error code will not happen. The other thing you can do is to buy an outlet volt-regulator (don't ask me what this is) and plug the dishwasher into that. I haven't tried that yet, but I am going to.

Recently we had a power outage WHILE the DW was running. When I turned on the generator, I had the clothes dryer going and various other things (big load). The dishwasher kicked back on on it's own and ran fine!! Then, when the clothes dryer stopped, the dishwasher threw an error code... hmmm Looks like he might be right!

[superduty glampers]

Originally Posted by Dave&Ginny

A word of caution.........

There is a rubber gasket under the cap of your winterizing hose. That little cape and gasket has caused some of us great pains. If a slight bit of air can get past that gasket next spring when you try using your water pump....you'll loose water flow. I cut that water line and put in a "pex" shut off about 11 inches from the end to eliminate any issues.

Thanks Dave ,that's going in my note book!

[johnboytoo]

Originally Posted by johnboytoo

Ah ha!!!

i didn't go after that second valve - maybe that's it....

I'm SURE I'll remember it next winter

Actually decided to go give it another run since I stepped outside and it's COLD ! for texus and don't recall if I looked at the water filter...)

and walla - that second valve was it - bet if the fresh tank has water in it it will pull, mine was empty - turned that 2nd valve and it suck it right up !

MUCH easier !

and why am I not surprised there has never been a water filter in our rv!?!

the canister was just filled with pink stuff

so anyone know the filter part # we need ?

[Dave&Ginny]

It's the standard water filter you buy at Walmart. I think they're usually around $5 for 2. Since you didn't have a water filter, you probably don't have a bag in your vacuum either.

[5th_Time]

Ha Ha Dave, bet you're right about that...

[Rick and Mindy]

I am one of those that have always blown my lines out to winterize and have never had a problem. To me it's easier and less costly and much easier to get things back up and running whenever I need to. I do pour RV antifreeze in all the drains and toilet bowl. I'm in North Louisiana so I might want to use my rig during the winter months, depending on weather. If I had to use 5 gallons of RV antifreeze every time I wanted to winterize that could cost a bit, but, to each his own. Either procedure should work.

[weldonetig]

Thanks for the post been full timing in the new 2015 38RL also when I got home from work last night fresh water overflow was flowing at a pretty good rate. So I drained the fresh water tank and turned the city water back on went to bed and got up this morning and fresh tank was full again??? Thanks for the post I will shut off valve in the basement and hope this fixes the problem until I can get it looked at(who knows when that will be). Great forums from a RV rookie such as myself.

[hoosierguy]

Originally Posted by weldonetig

Thanks for the post been full timing in the new 2015 38RL also when I got home from work last night fresh water overflow was flowing at a pretty good rate. So I drained the fresh water tank and turned the city water back on went to bed and got up this morning and fresh tank was full again??? Thanks for the post I will shut off valve in the basement and hope this fixes the problem until I can get it looked at(who knows when that will be). Great forums from a RV rookie such as myself.

There is a check valve built into the 12 VDC pump for fresh water tank. Your description sounds like that is not functioning properly. You might try operating the pump a few times to see if that frees up the check valve. Otherwise, it is possible to remove the motor and pump from the installation......remove the pump housing from the motor and open the pump housing to access the check valve. I just had to do that and it is not difficult......just takes some time.

By the way, not all of the Redwoods have the manual valve that is inline with the pump. My 2012 36RL does not. It could be installed.

Good luck and hope this helps.

[atom ant]

That valve got me again! Took me 30 minutes to troubleshoot why I couldn't get water from the pump during de-winterizing, duh!

You think I would catch on after the 3rd year with this rig.