De-Winterizing

N00Btravel

Member
Joined
Jan 20, 2023
Messages
26
Location
NJ
So I purchased a Hi-Lo that was in winter storage and it's nice enough now for me to bring it out and start using it. I read the manual and figured I would just go in reverse of the winterization procedures but ran into a snag.

Here's what I've done so far:
1) Opened & drained the fresh fill tank to make sure it was completely empty.
2) Filled fresh fill tank with water and drained again just to flush it
3) Hooked up to city water
4) Opened kitchen faucet cold until it was clear/antifreeze was gone then closed
5) Opened kitchen faucet hot until it was clear/antifreeze was gone then closed
6) Repeated hot/cold for shower
7) Repeated hot/cold for bathroom sink
8) Put bleach solution in fresh fill tank, filled with water.
9) Flushed all faucets hot/cold again
10) Reconnected city water supply
11) Turned water heater bypass valves to in service directions
12) Turned water pump t valve to flow to/from fresh fill tank instead of antifreeze tube.
13) Let how water tank fill until there was no more gurgle
14) Went to pressure release valve and released the air until water started dribbling out
15) Turned on cold kitchen faucet to flush out hot water heater

I was pretty proud and feeling good at my first time de-winterizing but this is where it all went wrong.

At step 15 the kitchen faucet stopped producing water. First cold went and when I switched to hot, it too went. I was confused and went into troubleshooting.

- Checked water pump, still off. Still on city water.
- Checked shower, good pressure on cold and hot.
- Checked bathroom sink, good pressure on cold and hot.
- Checked toilet, works fine.
- Checked underneath for leaks, no leaks (sink and trailer)
- Hit the pressure relief on the hot water heater, still full and water flowed out of the valve immediately.
- Disconnected city water to confirm it was flowing. Pressure and flow was fine.
- Filled fresh water tank and stayed off city water, switched to 12v pump still nothing.

Does anyone have any ideas? I'm stumped.
 
Figured it out...solution and potential problem.

When I went to flush out the hot water heater in step 13-15, it must have stirred up and broken loose the calcium deposits in the hot water heater. That sent it through the pipes and clogged up my aerator on the faucet.

What I should have done is added a couple of steps between step 10 and 13
10b - Remove the drain plug to the water heater.
11b - Flush the hot water heater for several minutes.
11c - Turn off city water
11d - Reinstall hot water heater drain plug
11e - Fill hot water heater tank
11f - Drain hot water heater tank (Repeat 2x)
 

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