Re: [A/S] Re: International Sovereign water valves, 5 of them

[Jim Dunmyer <jdunmyer@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dick,
 You can do a good job by just blowing out the lines, but you do need to
look at how it's plumbed. My '68 G.T. had the pump and water tank in the
front, with a 5/8" line going to the rear, where it connected to the
line coming from the pressure regulator for the city water. My pump (an
old Jabsco) had a Schrader valve on it, so I applied air pressure there,
then on the city water connection, back to the pump, and once again at
the city water connection, using a blowout fitting. The blowjob was done
after draining the water heater, of course. 

While applying the air pressure, you want to open one faucet at a time,
then the drain valves (if equipped), and go back and forth, one to the
other, hot, then cold, etc. If you simply open every valve in the
trailer, the air will escape at the first open valve and might well not
push the water out of all the lines. If you do as I suggest, you'll find
that you'll get no water on the third time around. You MIGHT hear a
little spitting, but no more water.

Don't over-pressurize things, and scope out your system to make sure
there isn't a dead spot. Mine would have had one if that Schrader valve
hadn't been on the pump, the entire line from the pump to the rear would
have had water in it.

From the looks of things, my Avion should be able to be blown clear from
only the city water fitting, with the exception of (again) the pump. The
latter can probably be drained by disconnecting the suction line and/or
just running it dry for a few seconds. The system doesn't have to be
DRY, but you daren't have much water in any one spot or you'll have
problems.

DON'T FORGET THE DRAINS!!! Dump a pint or more down each trap; I kept
dumping until my buddy reported seeing pink stuff coming out the outside
drain. That meant that the water had been pushed out and I had pretty
much pure RV anti-freeze in the traps.

Even using the anti-freeze method of winterizing has its pitfalls. Just
using the pump to push it around is going to leave the regulator and
city water inlet with pure water; there's usually a check valve that
prevents the pump from pushing the water out the city water inlet, and
that'll prevent the anti-freeze from getting everywhere it needs to go.

Moral of the story: look at YOUR water system to see how it works, it's
really quite simple, but probably different from mine, and likely
different from half the other List Members'. If you're a real newbie,
get Bob Livingson's book "RV Maintenance and Repair", it has lots of
diagrams, etc.

                                     <<Jim>>