Question about the water system.....

srusnowangel · 04-12-2007, 05:33 AM

Hello All,
Sorry but I have some more questions for the experienced Sunline owner. We are not familiar with using the water system on a travel trailer. So my husband and I were wondering the following:

1. We want to use the water system this weekend on our trip but are afraid it will be too cold. What is a good rule of thumb on the temperature it should be outside to use the water system?
We planned on flushing it all out tonight and preparing it for the weekend. But thought we would find out first before we started it.

2. With a water heater: Do we just light it turn it on and the water will get to it? Is there anything else we need to do or check?

We don't want to ruin our system so any help from the experienced traveler would be much appreciated.

Thank you,
Janette

**Tweety** · 04-12-2007, 08:21 AM

We camped over Easter and it got down to 29 and our water system was fine. With the heat on and the hot water heater on the pipes stayed above freezing. The frist night our hose to the campground connection froze. The second night we disconnected the outside hose, drained it, and put it under the camper so that it wouldn't freeze. Then just reconnected in the morning. If you're a coffee addict like I am make sure you fill the pot with water the night before!

**PTHutch** · 04-12-2007, 08:44 AM

Make sure the HW tank is NOT bypassed and filled with water before igniting it.

What Pam said about disconnecting the water hose at night is a good idea if the temps will drop below freezing at night.

MACK C-85 · 04-12-2007, 08:48 AM

We are headed out to the Quarryville, PA Jellystone this weekend and from what I've seen the predicted temps to be, you shouldn't have an issue in the Central PA area.

Flush your system out then sanitize it by adding 1/4 cup of bleach for each 15 gallons of fresh water capacity to the tank. After you fill up the tank with water, run the solution through all the outlets until you smell bleach. Let sit for an hour or so then drain the tank refill and flush until the bleach smell is gone.

As for the the Hot Water Heater, check the water line feeding it, there may be a bypass valve (isolates the heater so you don't need antifreeze) if there is you will need to open it to get water into the heater. After you get water in the heater run a hot water faucet until you don't get anymore air, then turn on the heater. Don't turn on the heater without water in it.

I'll second what Quetse said, disconnect the water supply hose and drain it if it is going below freezing. We ordered our coach with fresh, grey, and black tank heaters to extend our season, but there isn't much you can do about the supply hose freezing.

Mark · 04-12-2007, 03:07 PM

I am not used to having a DSI heater system. I believe I turned my heater on for about 20 minutes by accident. The system is still winterized, and I assume it would have little to no water in the tank.

How long do you think it would take for damage to occur?

MikeM · 04-13-2007, 06:16 AM

Hi Mark

Typically you burn up the electric heating element in a relatively short time if the tank is empty.

I am not sure about the gas. The manufacturer probably can tell you if there will be a serious damage if the propane is lit.

MIke