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Subject Topic: Draining Motorhome for winter. Post Reply Post New Topic
PersonBridlington
via mobile 13/11/2019 at 5:38pm
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Hi.
We have Autocruise, Starfire.
When we drain it for winter we have to pull the plug on the tank, open taps and run pump until it is drained.
When we had the caravan we used to have a little switch under the seat that you lifted and it drained all the water away.
Two questions.
1. Will open taps and run pump METHOD drain all water from boiler, pump?
2. Would it be possible to have one of those switches fitted so we just lift switch like we did in caravan?
Cheers

Ps.
I am always worried in case there is any water left in boiler and it freezes.


Personmarg6
13/11/2019 at 6:31pm
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its not the water being in the tank that causes the problem, its when it turns to ice and expands, but if you left your taps open then the air in the pipes will come out leaving the remainder of the water/ice somewhere to expand too


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Personpepe63
14/11/2019 at 10:01am
 Location: Shropshire
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Mornin'..

I may well be wrong but if it's a "usual" Truma type boiler, then I'd be very surprised if it didn't have a drain tap tucked away somewhere..?
Is the location of such a thing shown in on-line handbooks, or maybe ask on a make-specific owners forum?

(I had a quick "google" prior to posting, and I found a boiler drain tap mentioned in an old thread about a Starfire, over on another forum..but not it's location).

Once fully drained, leave all taps open, and centred if they are mixer taps.


PersonBridlington
via mobile 14/11/2019 at 1:32pm
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The lad who serviced it looked high and low for drain tap Pepe but couldn't find one.
We have drained and left taps open. Will make sure they are in the middle when I go to storage.
This type of draining seems so primitive. That is why I was asking about fitting our own drain tap.
Cheers


Personmarg6
14/11/2019 at 1:54pm
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how old is your van? im thinking you have a carver water heater, if so then you go outside and where you plug your pump into you will see a round plastic screw, remove that and it drains everything down including the water heater, the drain is the lowest point and below any pipework


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Personpepe63
14/11/2019 at 2:26pm
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Hi again..

A few years back, after having frost damage the taps in our supposedly fully drained down- taps left open- motorhome ,I started to use the Floe pressurized drain down *method,
Video here-
Floe drain down
(that video makes it sound far more l-o-n-g winded than it really needs to be! )
I say "method", because I was able to achieve the same results without their kit, as I could easily access the initial feed pipe from the onboard water tank. It was surprising just how much water it shifted from a supposedly drained down van!

As for the - just leave the taps open and just give it room to expand approach- well if that worked, we wouldn't get frozen puddles?


Personmarg6
14/11/2019 at 4:02pm
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Quote: Originally posted by pepe63 on 14/11/2019

As for the - just leave the taps open and just give it room to expand approach- well if that worked, we wouldn't get frozen puddles?


well it works fine for us and has done for the last 20 odd years of caravanning, in fact we don't do anything differently because its winter, we just drain everything down now as a matter of course, there is never any water in our system , oh yeah the only thing we do for winter is to remove the filter


Personminstreljim
15/11/2019 at 10:20pm
 Location: West Midlands
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We have a Starfire registered 2000 the water drain tap was under the off-side bed until I extend the pipe to.put it accessible outside. The boiler has its own drain tap , a slotted head plug in the square outlet plate of the boiler unit. I drain down and open all tap driving the motorhome round th storage area to remove as much as possible then leave all taps open. Works for me.


PersonFiona W
16/11/2019 at 4:30pm
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We empty the fresh tank (the blue tap outside) & run the hot water tank into a sink to drain it, then empty the waste water. When we had a Carver, yes, we had to turn a button on the outside & the hot water ran down the side of the van to empty it.
Our current MH has a valve that pops if it gets cold & drains the water - we only found that out when we were filling up & the water was skooshing back out again on the other side. And it has an "electric blanket" for winter trips, to stop tanks freezing, but that needs the hookup. And No, we haven't been on a ski trip to test it.

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2024 = 20 sites / 41 nights. 2023 = 9/23. 2022 = 13/35. 2021 = 11/29. 2020 = 4/20. 2019 = 13/35. 2018 = 20/33. 2017 = 10/22. 2016 = 19/33. 2015 = 15 sites / 27 nights. Didn't count 1976 to 2014.


PersonFiona W
18/11/2019 at 5:41pm
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PS - remember to leave the fridge door ajar (there'll be a clip to hold it open) or it will go fusty & take the bedding into the house. There'll be several threads with more suggestions, if you search the forum on winter (or winterisation, a made-up word that summarises the job).

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2024 = 20 sites / 41 nights. 2023 = 9/23. 2022 = 13/35. 2021 = 11/29. 2020 = 4/20. 2019 = 13/35. 2018 = 20/33. 2017 = 10/22. 2016 = 19/33. 2015 = 15 sites / 27 nights. Didn't count 1976 to 2014.


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Personmotorhomeguy
via mobile 26/11/2019 at 8:22am
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I saw a great tip on twitter / YouTube yesterday from Sun Living - leave a piece of chocolate on the floor of your van while your not using it ... it!s not enough to tempt mice in but if you find teeth marks on the chocolate you know you have mice and further investigation/ remedy required.

https://youtu.be/9Y_IliFE4S8

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It's only an expensive hobby when it's parked on your Drive....use it, love it , live it.


PersonBridlington
via mobile 27/11/2019 at 9:30pm
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If there is any chocolate in our M/H motorhome guy it will be my teeth that will be in it. Mice can find there own. Lol.



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