Winterizing 2018 310GK - did I mess up the winterizing?

jcschultz01

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We just winterized our 2018 Solitude 310GK which I thought went OK after a couple times viewing the online video on winterizing a Grand Design with a Nautilus P1 System - my wife opened all the faucets, shower and toilet till they were pink, I emptied the water filter, opened the low point drain, pulled the hot water plug and checked the fresh water tank was empty.

BUT the Grand Design video I was watching to learn how to do this, put the bottle of RV antifreeze on the ground.
My pump would not suck the RV antifreeze up that far however. I had to hold the jugs of RV antifreeze (used 1.5 gallons) up to the level of the water inlet in the Nautilus P1 system to get the pump to suck the antifreeze into the system. Do I need a new pump or ???

ALSO I was reading the manual on the topic (after the fact) and on page 106 of the Solitude manual (Rev 10/2018) it says I also need to "blow out the black tank flush line with <70psi compressed air". Really???? I drained the tank thoroughly.
And on pages 122-125, the manual discusses positioning various valves handles at 45 degrees for 10 seconds. Again, not in the video???

Thanks for any comments.
 
Sounds like you did it right. I had to put my jug of anti freeze on a ladder so it was higher than the inlet valve. Even with only a 4-5 foot hose it wouldn’t self prime. From my research I found out that this is common. Not a problem with you or the system.
 
Followup

Sounds like you did it right. I had to put my jug of anti freeze on a ladder so it was higher than the inlet valve. Even with only a 4-5 foot hose it wouldn’t self prime. From my research I found out that this is common. Not a problem with you or the system.

Thanks for the comment. Makes me feel better though why the water pump doesn't have enough suction to draw from a 1 gallon bottle of RV Antifreeze on the ground is beyond me. I tried priming it and it still didn't have enough suction.

And in this ongoing saga I, for some reason, turned on the tank heaters with the hot water tank empty as I was reheating the interior of the 2018 Solituude 301GK for my wife to put stuff back in after being washed.

PANIC PANIC PANIC after I realized what I had done.

Fortunately it turns out that there are TWO switches to enable the electric hot water option and I only turned one on!!!! To check, I disconnected the lead to the electric hot water heater and found the resistance was still 9.5 ohms so I fortunately didn't burn out the electric hot water heater element. Still not sure WHY I turned on the hot water heater when I was trying to turn on the furnace - brain fog??

Anyway, thanks for the comments again.
BTW, since I was messing about, I did turn the knobs to 45 degrees as mentioned in the Solitude manual and while there was a brief gurgling noise, no water came out the waste water port so I think I am good for the next trip in April.
 
Agree with Dakota. The first year we winterized, I had to place the jug of anti-freeze at the same level as the Nautilus panel to get it to draw in the anti-freeze. So now I just do that anyway. I don't think it is a pump issue because when sanitizing the water tanks and lines, the pump has not had problems drawing the bleach/water mixture from a 5 gallon bucket setting on the ground.

I also blow out the water heater with a compressor using a shutoff valve connected to the city water connection and set at 45 PSI. Start with draining the water heater, leave the plug out and then blowing the water out. There is a good bit of water left in the bottom of the water tank after draining which would not otherwise drain. After hooking up the compressor, I blow out the water heater, hot and cold water lines, and low point drains, and a quick shot of compressed air through the blank tank flush while hooked to the sewer drain and the dump valve open. I make sure all tanks are drained well before adding anti-freeze.
 
Last edited:
Quick tip. If you take the screen out where you hook the hose to the panel and flip it around so it faces in, it will suction much better. It holds the check valve open so the pump doesn’t need to overcome that also.
 

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