Cruisers Forum
Main Forum => General Discussion => Topic started by: Two Hams in a Can on February 26, 2017, 08:05:08 pm
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We winterized our PC 2400 Sprinter where we saw pink coming out of all faucets. We drained the water heater, did the bypass valves, put anti freeze in the p traps and settled down for a short winter's nap. We attempted to de-winterize today and have had a terrible time with it. The water flow has been erratic from the kitchen faucet, bathroom faucet and the shower faucet when hooked up to city water. The toilet runs full flow just fine. The hot water sides on all faucets might spit and blow with air in the lines and not much, if any water in the water heater. After disconnecting from city water, we put water in the tank and ran the water pump with no results; so we shut the pump off rather than running it possibly dry.
There seems to be some intermittent blockage in the lines going to all the faucets and probably the water heater, but not the toilet. Could it be partially frozen water/antifreeze? It hasn't been that much below freezing here in recent days. Has anyone dealt with this weird situation before\? We are stumped! :help :)(:
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Check the fill valve and see if it is still in the 'winterize' position. If so it will be trying to siphon from the antifreeze fitting and drawing in air along with the water. That is assuming your rig has the 4 position fill valve. Not sure what year they started to put that on. I think, but I'm not sure that this would cause the water pump to not work at all because it will be drawing from the antifreeze fitting exclusively.
If you are seeing air at the faucets that means to me that air is getting in. So if not the fill valve above check all your valves and openings to make sure they are closed. Another place to look would be the water heater element port.
Try running with the water heater in by pass mode to eliminate the water heater as the problem.
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Thanks...I'll try the bypass thing. My PC predates the 4 way valve switch.
Edit: Nope...didn't work.
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I think the air in the hot water lines are from a very slow seeping of water into the hot water heater, mu h like the very slow drops coming out of the faucets. The toilet is the only thing running full flow. Go figure (WH)
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If the toilet is working fine at full flow, how about the other faucets on cold only? Or with the water heater on bypass? At least as I understand the bypass it shuts off water to the hot water heater and routes the water around it. So if the hot water heater is the problem you should get full flow on both hot and cold with it in bypass.
I would also think you should get full flow on the cold line regardless of whether it is in bypass.
If you have a broken line, you should be getting water out, not air in.
Do you have a checklist you worked off of when you winterized? If so, go back over that and if you missed anything.
Try opening the water drain on the hot water tank and see if it is full. That might get you wet though............. Is there a pressure relief valve on the top of the hot water tank? If so, try popping it and see if you get water or air. You might have a hot water tank full of air that is vacuum locked for some reason. Popping the relief valve with the system pressurized should release any air trapped there.
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We have kept the cold only open for hours while keeping cabinets open and heater going just in case there is a stray frozen place. We have done this for 3-4 hours and now shutting down for the ight. Taking it to a near y RV repair shop tomorrow morning. We had planned to leave for a 2 week trip tomorrow but might be a day late.
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" Is there a pressure relief valve on the top of the hot water tank? If so, try popping it and see if you get water or air. You might have a hot water tank full of air that is vacuum locked for some reason. Popping the relief valve with the system pressurized should release any air trapped there."
DO NOT DO THIS. The water heater needs some air in it to allow for water expansion when it is heated up.
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Double check possible open taps: outdoor shower, low point drains, indoor shower and make sure your pump lever is fully turned from the side position where you pumped in the pink stuff, to in line with the main pipe. IF you disconnected the pump itself, double check those connections and make sure they are secure with no leaks (our manual says to do disconnect the pump if you are blowing air through and NOT filling with pink stuff). Make sure all but the tap you are drawing from is closed. We get a lot of spitting and sputtering the first time out, sometimes for days but we don't normally run a lot of water through.
I like to pull clear water through to the kitchen sink first as it is farthest from the hook up, then the other water outlets in line. I do this cleanse of pink stuff PRIOR to connecting the hot water tank back in.
As a side note, we camped last weekend and took a fully winterized rig to the site. We didn't cleanse all lines and I noticed that after we were running clear water through, the toilet sprayer hose (an add on) was no longer pink and we occasionally got pink stuff out the previously clear taps. I figure the pink stuff is heavier than clear water so it gradually settles back into our lines from the sprayers, outdoor shower, etc. We had clear water in kitchen and bath and then a bit of pink, then clear, then pink and so on. We normally do the full flush of all taps right off but John thought he might be able to leave pink stuff in some of the lines that we weren't using. Didn't work. It drops down and mixes in.
If you are worried about freezing, you can see a good portion of your water lines to check. They pretty much run the perimeter of your rig and you can see them under the cabinets, sinks, etc. Phoenix puts all water lines on the inside of the walls and floor so they are in the heated space. The at-risk spots are hot water tank (which you drained so no worries) and the outdoor shower, which should have pink stuff in it. Oh, and the pump and valves on the macerator. We learned to pump a bit of pink stuff through there also.
I hope you find the solution quickly. Please post so the rest of us can learn.
Good luck!
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Tbanks everyone for all the tips. We pretty much did all the above. The kicker is that we have full water flow from the outside shower, bot hot and cold; and full flow in the toilet. Even though se ran a good flow of RV anti freeze through all faucets, the sprayer head on the kitchen faucet was cracked. Thinking that all my faucets are freeze damaged in spite of our efforts and water is actually at the three faucets but can't get through even though initially they worked long enough to clear the antifreeze but when shut off and then tried again, no flow!
We got an emergency appointment at Pete's RV Center in Schererville, IN and if they get us fixed so we can leave for our planned trip today or tomorrow, we'll si g their praises when we report back with the diagnosis 2o2. :)(:
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Problem solved. Enormous quantity of lime scale in freshwater tank and lines clogging faucet filter screen. Duh! Too much Florida water from having two previous Florida owners and, I suppose too little preventative treatment. So a couple o gallons of vinegar are going into the tank and let the descaling begin. 2o2. :)(:
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Glad you got it figured!! I thought about the faucet screens last night but rejected that idea as you seemed to be getting air.
I think cleaning the faucet screens should be added to everyone's de-winterizing list.
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The latest FMCA mag. has an article about de-Winterizing your motorhome. There is a segment on descaling the water system.
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Not having the magazine, just wondering how long to let the vinegar set and do it's thing ?
Very helpful hear about this, good job !
jim
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Well, I was closing in on the problem, but no cigar for me! :-[ I had the water flow figured as far as the faucet, but never thought to look at the itty bitty screens! The RV tech seemed to think that since "Fawkes" has lived his whole life in Florida since birth, the tank has been constantly filled with high lime water, and the RV antifreeze might have loosened the scale and dumped a bunch into the filter screens. As for the air Jatrax, that was the air from a drained water heater making it's way through.
Sounds like we just added a task to our maintenance list. . .check the faucet screens regularly for debris buildup, and especially if water flow diminishes. And, be aware of high lime water! Our late Cocker Spaniel, Madison had massive bladder stones from being fed high lime water in the apartments we used to live in during a break from fulltiming. We made sure she had filtered water from then on. (%) In fact, we have a PUR water filter on our faucet after a bout with a Giardia infection from drinking suspect water.
Jimmer. . .we put 3 gallons of vinegar (Walmart $2.28/gal) in with about 10 gallons of water and drove around to slosh it (needed to top off fuel anyhow). We let it sit for about 4 hours then drained the tank and continued with our original sanitizing procedure since we haven't been able to do this since buying Fawkes over Christmas and parking him in Chicagoland's freezing weather. Maybe we might have needed to leave the vinegar/water solution in longer, but we have been trying to leave for a long anticipated two week trip to Knoxville, TN, then on to the Raleigh-Durham. NC area for his and her relatives visits. Btw, since we are going to NC, we are bringing our own bathroom (political joke for those who don't indulge) :lol
A big shout out to those who shared advice and experiences. . .you guys are great! tymote
:)(:
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Let vinegar solution sit for 4 hours. My bad, this was in a forum discussion I read, not the FMCA mag.
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Let vinegar solution sit for 4 hours. My bad, this was in a forum discussion I read, not the FMCA mag.
No problem, John. Forums discussions are valuable (with some oversight). As it happens, four hours worke fine...like cleaning a coffee brewer only bigger 2o2 :)(:
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This thread is of great interest to me since I live in the land of decomposing rock and battle mineral build-up in the house. Had not even thought about the impact on the RV. Then what should appear in one of my RV newsletters--a link to an article on the problem and how to treat it. Is a bit of work, but the time is worth it to avoid the problems described.
http://rvtravel.com/curing-the-curse-of-hard-water-rv-plumbing-issues/
Hmmm? Guess I don't know how to make that a hyper link, but cut and past for the article.
Nicki
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Nicki, your link worked just fine 2o2. We did a lot of what the article said except we didn't keep the solution in but 4 hours since we were already a day late leaving for our current trip to Tennessee and North Carolina. We didn't flush the water heater...no wand, but thanks to Amazon Prime we will have a wand, new drain plug and socket waiting when we return from this trip. We will do the whole vinegar/water again sitting at least overnight thing then before we leave for our upcoming trip to Texas. Thanks for finding the link. tymote. :)(:
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http://rvtravel.com/curing-the-curse-of-hard-water-rv-plumbing-issues/
Hmmm? Guess I don't know how to make that a hyper link, but cut and past for the article.
Nicki
Hi Nicki,
If the text is orange (or other color you setup), you got it setup right assuming the link is good to start with. If you want to replace the character links with a word or more, click on "Modify" in the upper/right banner section of your reply and replace the duplicate http://rvtravel.com/curing-the-curse-of-hard-water-rv-plumbing-issues/ with what you want it to say. I like to use "HERE" or "CLICK HERE" for the title of my links, but you can give the link whatever name you like.
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Ron, hyperlinks do not show up as orange in edit mode (where you do the actual typing). Once the information is posted, they show up as orange.
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Ok, here is a simple example on how to add a link into a post or reply, and to change the name of the link in your post.
I had to substitute These [ ] for these ( ) just so I could post it without it taking effect.
The example is making an orange text clicky called "HERE" to the Phoenix Cruiser main page.
- When creating a post or reply, first click on the icon in the banner above the editor, with a globe and a sheet of folded paper in front of it. It is called "Insert Hyperlink"
- It adds this text to where your cursor is: (url)(/url)
- Copy the link from the top banner: http://www.phoenixusarv.com/ and paste it in between as shown so it looks like this: (url)http://www.phoenixusarv.com/(/url)
- You can add words before and after the string of text. Here is one example: Check out Phoenix Cruisers by clicking (url)http://www.phoenixusarv.com/(/url), then scroll down to see the different floorplans.
- Then post the message and immediately modify it to get the full messy string of text that looks like this: (url=http://www.phoenixusarv.com/)http://www.phoenixusarv.com/(/url)
- Then replace the second duplicate string of text with what you want it to say like this: (url=http://www.phoenixusarv.com/)HERE(/url)
So in the end your sentence reads like this: Check out Phoenix Cruisers by clicking HERE (http://www.phoenixusarv.com/), then scroll down to see the different floorplans.
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Hi Ron,
Thanks for posting the example of how to add a link to a post.
--Bruce
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;) Hijacked! (WH)