Winterizing - 2004 Allegro Bus

The following winterizing procedure was submitted by Mark Quasius showing his procedure for winterizing his 2004 Allegro Bus.

Black Holding Tank:

Both the black and gray tanks need to be at least 1/3 full before dumping. If not, add more water to them so that there will be enough water to flush any debris out through the sewer hose when dumping.
Dump the black tank.
Connect the black tank flushing attachment and clean out the black tank. Close the black tank's dump valve.
Do not yet dump the gray water, first we'll clean the water lines out.

Drain the Fresh Water:

Open the drain valve on the fresh water tank and let the water drain out.
Turn off the circuit breaker to the electric hot water heater. (If you were to accidentally turn it on when the tank is empty you would destroy the heating element.)
Remove the drain plug on the hot water heater and drain the tank. Open the pressure relief valve to allow air to flow into the tank as the water comes out to aid in draining.
Open both low point drain valves to drain the water lines.
Set the water heater bypass valve to the BYPASS position.

Blow Out the Water Lines:

After the water is totally drained out of the system. close the fresh water tank drain valve.
Close the low point drain valves.
Close the water heater pressure relief valve (leave the drain plug out for now).
Plug in your electric air compressor and blow out the fresh water garden hoses.
Temporarily connect your air compressor to the black water tank flushing to blow out any water that may be trapped in that line
Connect your air compressor hose to the water inlet connection. Be sure to use a pressure regulator to prevent any excessive air pressure from damaging the water system. (I prefer to use a screw in connector with a pressure regulator attached. That way I don't have to hold a tire chuck onto a fitting and I can apply air hands-free so that I can go around to the various faucets.) Turn on the air pressure to around 40 - 50 PSI.
Go to each sink and open both the cold and hot water faucets until all the water is blown through the lines. If your air compressor is of a smaller capacity you may have to wait for enough air to build up between blows. Do each faucet one at a time. Remember, it's volume that will carry the water through the lines, not pressure.
Do the same for the shower faucet, then lay the shower hose on the floor of the shower.
Operate the toilet to blow any water out of it. Also, blow out the spray attachment if you have one.
Blow out the faucets in the outside basement wash station.
Close all the faucets.

Blow out the Ice Maker:

Remove the exterior access panel from behind the refrigerator.
Unplug the ice maker cord from the outlet.
Remove the two spade terminals from the ice maker solenoid valve. (I made a small electrical cord with a pair of spade terminals on the end.)
Connect the temporary "purge" cord to the spade terminals. Plug this cord into the outlet for about 10 seconds. This will open the solenoid valve and blow any water out of the line into the refrigerator. (You might want to shove a towel into the freezer first.)
After the air has purged the ice maker, remove the temporary cord and replace the original spade terminals on the solenoid valve. Leave the ice maker's cord unplugged until spring.
Close the petcock feeding the ice maker.
Reinstall the exterior access panel.

Finishing Up With the Compressed Air:

Temporarily open ,then close, the hot water heater bypass valve to burp any water out of those lines, allowing it to spit into the tank.
Now that you have all of the water out of the lines you can dump the gray water tank. Let it drain real good so that water doesn't accumulate down in the dump valve over winter, then put away the sewer hose and put the cap back on the dump valve.
Disconnect the air compressor from the water inlet.
Be sure the water heater bypass valve is in the BYPASS position.
Replace the water heater drain plug. Use a little Teflon tape on the threads to prevent seizing. (This might be a good time to replace the anode rod, unless you do that in spring.)
Remove the under-sink water filter and set the valve to the BYPASS position. (This is an owner installed feature so you may not have one of these.)
Remove the primary basement water filter and dispose of the element.

Pump the Pink Stuff:

Attach the antifreeze pickup hose to the water pump inlet and insert into a jug of RV Antifreeze. You will need maybe 3-4 gallons to complete this task so you will have to check every now and then as you are performing this to make sure that the current jug hasn't run empty.
Turn on the water pump.
Open the exterior wash station faucets until antifreeze comes out of them, then close the faucets.
Open the shower faucets next. When antifreeze comes out, turn them off. Leave the shower hose on the floor to drain.
Do the 3 sinks in the same manner, one at a time.
Flush the toilet until you see pink.
Open the water heater bypass valve briefly to spurt a bit of antifreeze through the inlet pipes and into the tank.

Winterize the Washer-Dryer:

With the machine's power OFF, turn the WASH TEMP knob to HOT.
Advance the Program Selector to REGULAR in Cotton Heavy Duty.
Press the ON/OFF Button (IN) and let the machine fill until anti-freeze can be seen in the drum.
Advance Program Selector to RESET. Wait 5 seconds (Status/Door Lock LED will blink).
Advance Program Selector knob to a Spin position. Let the antifreeze drain from the drum.
Advance Program Selector to RESET. Wait 5 seconds (Status/Door Lock LED will blink).
Turn the Wash Temp knob to COLD.
Advance the Program Selector to REGULAR in Cotton Heavy Duty.
Let the machine fill until anti-freeze can be seen in the drum.
Advance Program Selector to RESET. Wait 5 seconds (Status/Door Lock LED will blink).
Advance Program Selector knob to a Spin position. Let the antifreeze drain from the drum.
Press the ON/OFF Button (OUT).
The washer-dryer is now winterized.

Finishing Up:

Turn off the water pump.
Remove the pickup hose from the jug and reattach the pump inlet hose line.
Hook up your air compressor to the RV's water inlet connection.
Blow out any antifreeze from the lines by opening all the sink faucets, one by one. Also do the shower faucet and the toilet.
Blow out the exterior wash station faucets.
Open the low point drain valves and blow out any antifreeze.
Dump a few cups of antifreeze into each of the sink drains and shower drain to fill the traps. You may have already dumped plenty of antifreeze through places like the kitchen sink when you were blowing it out because it's far away from the antifreeze source. In that case you may not have to add any to those traps.
Dump a bit of antifreeze into the toilet to keep the blade valve seal from drying out.
Remove your blowout fitting and put away your air compressor and hose.
Close the low point drain valves.
Raise the "no more ice" bail lever on the icemaker and wipe out the interior of the freezer. Dump out any water in the ice tray or bucket.

All done! Now all you have to do is start counting down the days until spring!

Submitted by Mark Quasius - 3/25/06

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