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Old 10-22-2011, 05:14 AM   #1
steve eboe
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Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Amherst Junction, WI
Posts: 34
winterizing tip

Just completed winterizing my 2011 Passport for first time. My unit had the water heater bypass (as I believe all trailers do now) but not the separate bypass that allows you to draw the pink antifreeze straight from the jug.
I didn't want to dump three or four gallons of the pink stuff into the fresh water tank, so after discovering that my water pump (a Flojet model) was equipped with the quick-connect port system, I made my own bypass.
I ordered an extra Flojet port from a website with the snap-in port connector on one end and a half-inch barbed end on the other....bought five feet of half-inch plastic water hose --- pushed the hose onto the barbed end of the connector, and secured it with a small radiator clamp. Whole thing cost less than $10.
To use, disconnect the hose that runs from your water pump to the freshwater tank at the inlet side of the pump (with the quick-connect port system, all you have to do is pull slide clip straight out and then pull out the port. It take about two seconds!) and then plug in the port connector with the five feet of hose attached, push the slide clip back in until it clicks. Put the end of the hose in the jug of pink stuff and it sucks it right up...avoiding the freshwater tank.
(Make sure you close the water bypass valve before you start.)
Works really nice.
When you're done winterizing, unlug the port with the five feet of tubing and plug the regular freshwater hose back into the pump and you'll be ready for next year.
With Flojet's quick-connect port system, this all works really easy and fast...no worry about water leaks, etc. And no pink stuff in the freshwater tank.
If your pump doesn't have the quick-connect plug-in port sysytem, this could still be done, but would be more difficult.
I am relatively new to this site, and I assume others have posted this kind of advice on other occassions, but I just wanted to let folks know how easy this was to do (only hard part was waiting a few days for the connector to arrive in the mail after I ordered it). I did a search on Flojet water pump connectors and found a lot of sites that sell them. The part itself was only about $4 (for a package of two) but shipping, of course, was more.
While researching all this, I also discovered that these Flojet water systems are supposed to be protected by a "strainer" (like a filter, I assume) installed on the line between the freshwater tank and the pump that stops gunk in the water from reaching and clogging up the pump. In fact, the Flojet owner's manual says the strainer is required for the pump warranty.
My Passport wasn't equipped with the strainer, so I'm now think of ordering one and installing it on the freshwater line. They cost $15-$20 from different sites on the web.
Has anyone else had any experience with a "strainer" like this?
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Old 10-22-2011, 07:48 PM   #2
cumminsdad08
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Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: West Lebanon PA
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i thank for the tip. i was wondering how i was going to get that pink stuff out of the jug and into the lines. i did't know if any one sold a bypass hose or if i had to make my own. i think that i would rather make my own anyhow. anywho, thanks for the write up.
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