Nautilus Winterizing Issue

[hartcentr]

Just winterized my Reflection 287RLTS for the first time. Everything went fine I got to the part about siphoning the RV antifreeze in. I had the Nautilus levers in the winterizing position (no chance I erred), turned on the pump, and nothing. I could hear the pump whirring, but nothing was being siphoned out of the RV antifreeze jug. Toggled the pump on and off several times, tried it with a faucet open and closed, nothing.

On a whim, I turned the Nautilus levers to the sanitize position to see if it would siphon to the fresh water tank, turned the pump on, and it immediately started siphoning. Turned the pump off, set the levers back to winterize, turned the pump back on, and it worked fine from that point on.

Weird. Anyone else had that happen?

[Hobo Bill]

Just winterized my Reflection 287RLTS for the first time. Everything went fine I got to the part about siphoning the RV antifreeze in. I had the Nautilus levers in the winterizing position (no chance I erred), turned on the pump, and nothing. I could hear the pump whirring, but nothing was being siphoned out of the RV antifreeze jug. Toggled the pump on and off several times, tried it with a faucet open and closed, nothing.

On a whim, I turned the Nautilus levers to the sanitize position to see if it would siphon to the fresh water tank, turned the pump on, and it immediately started siphoning. Turned the pump off, set the levers back to winterize, turned the pump back on, and it worked fine from that point on.

Weird. Anyone else had that happen?

Seems like a priming problem ... but the section from the City Water port to the pump is the same section whether you are in Winterize Mode or Sanitize Mode. Mine primed immediately in Winterize mode, and my bottle was actually above the City Water port. Did you change the position of the antifreeze bottle between tries ?

[hartcentr]

Seems like a priming problem ... but the section from the City Water port to the pump is the same section whether you are in Winterize Mode or Sanitize Mode. Mine primed immediately in Winterize mode, and my bottle was actually above the City Water port. Did you change the position of the antifreeze bottle between tries ?

No, the jug was sitting on a box outside the compartment (the hose was about three feet long), and was slightly below (about a foot below) the level of the city water port the whole time. Nothing in the manual says anything about having it above the port, but that is certainly something I could try the next time I do it. When I bought it earlier this year and sanitized it before going out, my jug of bleach/water mixture was in the same position and I had no trouble with it. It is obviously a priming issue, but why it will prime on sanitize and not on winterize is strange.

[QCCowboy]

Just winterized mine today. Same experience when winterizing and when sanitizing. I moved the jug up into the storage compartment by the Nautilus panel and coiled the hose (had the same issue with my precious RV) and everything began working fine.

Enjoyed the last couple days camping this weekend before the snow hits this week!

[boyscout]

Just winterized my Reflection 287RLTS for the first time. Everything went fine I got to the part about siphoning the RV antifreeze in. I had the Nautilus levers in the winterizing position (no chance I erred), turned on the pump, and nothing. I could hear the pump whirring, but nothing was being siphoned out of the RV antifreeze jug. Toggled the pump on and off several times, tried it with a faucet open and closed, nothing. On a whim, I turned the Nautilus levers to the sanitize position to see if it would siphon to the fresh water tank, turned the pump on, and it immediately started siphoning. Turned the pump off, set the levers back to winterize, turned the pump back on, and it worked fine from that point on. Weird. Anyone else had that happen?

Likely a coincidence that you made the change at about the time your pump was approaching being primed.

The cheap Lippert pumps that Grand Design uses don't exactly suck like champs. Tricks such as raising the level of the anti-freeze jug and reversing the valve behind the cone screen in the inlet are often required to get the system pulling antifreeze, and it can take minutes before prime is achieved.

Our first trailer was eventually coaxed into sucking. Our second one never did get going, so I replaced the Lippert pump with a Shurflo and it immediately began pulling antifreeze.