De-winterizing Woes

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SteveR

De-winterizing Woes

Post by SteveR »

De-winterizing (Springerizing?) issues.

We are going on our first trip of the year and I ran the de-winterizing routine on the MH and found two leaks.

--the water pump clean plastic screen housing had a hairline crack in it. The chamber was filled with RV antifreeze and appeared to be fine. Once I turned on the pump with fresh water from the tank I noticed it was leaking and then saw the crack. I am sure it was not there before or the floor would have been wet with antifreeze. I have been had the door open there many times over the winter and never saw any trace of leakage.

--the outside shower handle had a crack in the neck of the sprayer which also leaked after I pressurized the coach with the water pump. I was sure to drain the line and then fill it with RV antifreeze before the cold weather hit. Still trying to understand how this could have frozen and cracked since it was taken off the hose, drained and the hose drained and then filled with pink stuff and not used until today.

The water pump part is not a common item in this area and was special ordered. The 32' President has a high flow water pump so the screen and plastic housing are twice the size of normal flow pumps.

The spayhead is also unique it seems. It is smaller than a standard showerwand but larger than a kitchen sink vegetable sprayer head. Maybe the factory will ship me one.

Be careful when you de-winterize your Presidents. Watch every fitting for leaks after you drain out the antifreeeze and pressurize the system.
SteveR

Post by SteveR »

Update:

I have the Shur-flo screen on order and it should come in today. Kim from the factory is sending me a replacement hand sprayer. In the meantime, I just screwed a brass 1/2 plug on the line to keep it from running when the water is on in the coach until I can replace it after our trip. Kim did not know why it would crack but the Shur-flo website indicated that excessive vibration from the pump or plumbing could cause it to crack. For those of you that have the higher flow pump (Shur-flo Extreeme) keep an eye on this for cracks and leaks.

As usual, Kim is great to work with and goes out of his way to respond to customer concerns and requests. Great Job and keep up the great customer service!!!
Barbara & Ken
Posts: 143
Joined: Mon Aug 15, 2005 5:36 pm

Post by Barbara & Ken »

The fittings on our interior and exterior showerheads cracked during our first winter. We also ordered replacements, and Kim Olsen suggested that we loosen the fittings when winterizing. That relieves the pressure on the fittings in case there is any moisture in the grooves. After doing that, we never had a problem with the fittings cracking again. However, we never had a freezing/cracking problem with the Shur Flo water pump.

I will admit that we probably used too much anti-freeze, because we did not blow out the lines and didn't want to take a chance on having leaks in the spring. We decided that a little extra anti-freeze is a lot less expensive than making repairs after de-winterizing.
Barbara & Ken
SteveR

Post by SteveR »

Sam Ryan wrote:Sounds to me like you didn't use an adequate amount of the pink RV anti-freeze. Or, you're installing it improperly. If you're not blowing-out the water lines before adding RV antifreeze, you are always risking too much residual water in the water pump and lines.

I've never had any trouble in 4+ years of below zero Fahrenheit wintering over, for days at a time.

Would suggest you start hiring professionals to winterize your units in the future. It's a lot less expensive than replacing fixtures and lines, from frozen water damage. :roll:
I appreciate your comments but I believe in learning by doing. The cost of a new screen housing for the pump was $18 and the hand sprayer is being replaced by Kim at no charge. The Shure-flo screen replacement instructions state that vibration from the pump can cause cracks in the screen housing. The local Camping World wants $120 to winterize and other than the pump and outside shower sprayer damage everything else was fine.

Besides, I now have a larger shower head with more features than the vegetable spayer that came on the unit.

Next year we plan on being out of subzero temperatures when we snowbird down south during the worst part of winter.
Trisha

Post by Trisha »

I take it this higher gpm water pump vibrates more than the 2gpm model? I wonder if they could put it on some kind of vibration absorbant pad when they mount it, like a rubber mat? I also wonder how much louder it is? The 2 gpm is a quiet unit.

I just had the 6.5 gpm model installed in my 26' rb because 2 gal per minute isn't enough water pressure to qualify as a shower or a shampoo. I simply can't rinse my hair with that feeble pressure. I figure, shorter periods of time, more pressure, will make for better results. Or shave the head.

I have not had a chance to use the rig since the upgrade, so i cannot comment. But I am looking forward to the upgrade, except I know I will have to be more careful not to run through my fresh water supply and fill the tanks faster.

This leak issue...that's a whole new dimension I hadn't considered. I'm sure I'll be able to weigh in on this one by this time next year.

But thanks for the head's up. I'll watch this area.
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Mike Jean Bandfield
Posts: 513
Joined: Sun Aug 14, 2005 3:43 pm

Post by Mike Jean Bandfield »

Trisha wrote:I take it this higher gpm water pump vibrates more than the 2gpm model? I wonder if they could put it on some kind of vibration absorbant pad when they mount it, like a rubber mat? I also wonder how much louder it is? The 2 gpm is a quiet unit.
I can't help but wondering what noises you are hearing Trish. Pumps can be loud but often what people are complaining about is plumbing that is vibrating with the staccato pressure of the pump and slapping the walls and floor. It can be enough to wake the whole campground. I had to clamp down my plumbing under the sink to quiet things down.

They also make a small expansion and pressure equalization bladder for RVs (much like those used with well systems). It will provide a more even and consistent flow and has the side benefit of dampening the hammering. We had one in our last RV. It worked OK but it complicated winterizing. I removed it for the second winter and just never replaced it. I decided it was more trouble than it was worth.

Mike
Mike & Jean
2005 26' RSS Diesel
SteveR

Post by SteveR »

Here is an update:

The refrigerator does not cool below a few degrees below ambient. It appears the cooling system is bad. We decided to have it fixed after our trip we were taking on Thursday. We made it 300 miles from town when the transmission stopped downshifting on hills and the transmission service light came on. GM service said don't drive it and it would have to be towed back home to a dealer for repair.

So our trip was a short one; half of it spent in the cab of a wrecker as it pulled our BF 300 miles to the Allison repair facility.

We are still waiting for what when wrong. The tech. said it looks like the TCM when out; transmision control module. They have to tear it down to confirm it and we won't get it back for maybe 24 hours as they have a large backlog of trucks in front of us.

So much for our first RV trip of the year.
SteveR

Post by SteveR »

Sam,

Thanks for the info. I sent BF a letter about all the problems I have had on this "new" unit. We got it in Oct. 2006 and have only traveled in it from the factory in Iowa to Utah when we first bought it. We have yet to make it to a campground since that trip.

So far we have had to replace:

Kingdome dish controller module.--defective unit

Link air suspension system control valves (leaking)

transmission fault

refrigerator cooling unit failure.

They replied very quickly that they would send the information to their R&D and Quality Assurance areas.

It is frustrating to pay $$$$ for a coach and experience all these problems. To BF's credit, all the problems have been with stuff they don't make; still, appliances and other items should last longer than a few months.
RVN4US

Post by RVN4US »

Steve,

Hang in there, be for you know everything will be fixed and you will be enjoying your Born Free.
SteveR

Post by SteveR »

Well, the repair shop called and said they finally dropped the pan and found a shorted out solenoid. They replaced it and all is well again according to them. No reason provided as to why it shorted out.

Too lake to go on our trip so we will see if a repair shop can take it in for the refrigerator cooling system issue. We won't be using it for several weeks now.

DW is very very frustrated with the MH. I need several good trips under our belts to feel we made the right decision.
Trisha

Post by Trisha »

I have not yet un-winterized so I am not hearing anything yet. We'll see when I actually try it for the first time. It's not warm enough here to de-winterize yet.

I did get an accumulator installed which does just what you say.

I'll report back in June when winter's over.

Trish
Mike & Jean Bandfield wrote:
Trisha wrote:I take it this higher gpm water pump vibrates more than the 2gpm model? I wonder if they could put it on some kind of vibration absorbant pad when they mount it, like a rubber mat? I also wonder how much louder it is? The 2 gpm is a quiet unit.
I can't help but wondering what noises you are hearing Trish. Pumps can be loud but often what people are complaining about is plumbing that is vibrating with the staccato pressure of the pump and slapping the walls and floor. It can be enough to wake the whole campground. I had to clamp down my plumbing under the sink to quiet things down.

They also make a small expansion and pressure equalization bladder for RVs (much like those used with well systems). It will provide a more even and consistent flow and has the side benefit of dampening the hammering. We had one in our last RV. It worked OK but it complicated winterizing. I removed it for the second winter and just never replaced it. I decided it was more trouble than it was worth.

Mike
SteveR

Post by SteveR »

The Allison repair tech showed me what they found. Amazing! It was a small piece of metal no larger than half of sewing needle in length and diameter. He said they have had a few of the Allisons come in for intermittent shifting problems and most of the time it is the same thing...a small piece of metal that comes off the gears and eventually finds the solenoid and sometimes floats away and comes back later. He said they found out about the issue only when they open one up at night (they are open 24 hours) and the tech saw it with a flashlight. Now they look there first and most of the time that is the cause.

They flushed the tranny and replaced all the fluid so I should be fine.


On another note, the BF is at Camping World for an oil change (sale) and to work on the refrigerator. I received a phone call from Dometic today. It seems the email I sent to Customer Service had some effect. They promised to follow up with Camping World personally to be sure they found and fixed the problem. He believed it was a plugged cooling system most likely from metal flakes inside the tubing. They will replace the cooling system if this is the case; all under warranty. I will know later this week as they are backup with work since the weather has warmed up so much in the last week.

My thanks to Kim for calling Dometic on this issue.
SteveR

Post by SteveR »

Sam Ryan wrote:Steve,

I'm very interested in learning the cause(s) and associated fix of your refrigerator's malfunctioning.
Me too. Camping World says they need two full days for a full diagnostic to tell what is wrong with it. The customer rep. from Dometic has called by twice on the issue and wants me to deal direclty with him on any warranty issues. So far not word yet from the techs. I will give them a call later in the day on Thursday to see what they found and what they intend to do the correct it.

I will keep you posted.
SteveR

Post by SteveR »

The Dometic refrigerator is toast!

The cooling unit is dead and will have to be replaced. Dometic will replace it "gratis" but I have to wait 7-10 days to get one here and installed.

Hopefully, this is the end of our current problems with the BF and we can get on the road and enjoy it instead of just driving it from repair shop to repair shop.

At least I will have cold food now without having to drag around a bunch of coolers. Still need one for icy-cold adult beverages but that one will compress and is squishable when not in use.
SteveR

Post by SteveR »

Thanks to Kim at the factory and his pounding on Dometic; I now have a working refrigerator...WoW what a difference in cooling. We can actually feel the cold rolling out of the freezer now instead of guessing if it was actually getting cooler or not.

The downside was that Camping World had to take off the coach door to replace the refrigerator and they did not do such a great job getting it back on. It looks like I will need to do some clean up work to get it all back to factory condition again.

Our next first trip is scheduled for tomorrow night to a local campground about an hour away. We are going with another couple so if anything else goes wrong we will have someone else there to bail us out.

Kim has been great to work with through the trials and tribulations of problems with the appliances and add-ons to the coach. We appreciate his hard work and his customer service.

We hope it is all smooth sailing from here out.
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