How to dewinterize a Jayco 16' travel trailer

[Nmeister]

Is there a written document that details how to de winterize a Jayco travel trailer?

This will be out 1st time.

Nancy

[oldmanAZ]

Welcome to the forum.

It would help to know...
Is this a new trailer winterized by a dealer or a used trailer winterized by the previous owner?
Does it have a 'city' water connection and/or a Fresh water tank?
Does it have gray water or black water tanks?
Were you given an owners manual?

[TaftCoach]

Run the water until clear.
Make certain any bypasses that were used to winterize are correctly positioned. (That is unique to your TT)

I like to use the fresh water tank and pump first then later hook to city water. If all the faucets are closed and the pump is still running you know you have a leak somewhere.

[SouthCo]

Nancy, what model trailer? Like has been said, if there were bypasses such as the hot water heater they need to be switched back. Run water until it's clear. I put a little bleach in my hose before hooking it up to the trailer so the bleach can go through the lines as well.

[Nmeister]

Thank you for your reply. The Jayco Trailer was winterized by the dealer before we left the lot. It is new and will sit until May when we de winterize it. We have a grey and black water tank. Well water.


No, we were not given a manual with this type of info. Just given appliance manuals.


Can we pull one off a website somewhere?


NAncy

[Nmeister]

The trailer is a Jay Feather 16XRB

[RedHorse1]

You can probably find generic instructions (YouTube?) but probably not specific to your TT.
In general hook it up to a water source and run all faucets (cold and hot) until the water is clear. If you will use the TT soon then return the WH to normal and fill/flush it too, if you have an internal filter it's time to install a new cartridge. This would be a good time to sanitize as well. Short version is just flush the faucets till clear and return other stuff to "normal".

[NVGun40]

It's several months before you will be de-winterizing it. Do yourself a favor. Locate the panel that gives you access to the water pump. Remove said panel (usually held in place by a couple screws. Take pictures of the water pump with the hoses and valves clearly visible. Then take notice on the outside of your trailer where the water heater is; go back inside and find the access panel which allows you to get in behind the water heater. Take pictures of the hoses and valves behind the water heater.
Now save these pictures and when you get ready to de-winterize, come back to the forums and ask again, this time attaching the pictures. You will get very quick detailed answer on what valves to turn where and step by step instructions which will be easy to follow. Some people have even gone as far as walking someone through their first time over the phone. It doesn't take long.

[bansai]

The PDF for your manual is here.2016 Jay Feather 7 Travel Trailer Files & Downloads | Jayco, Inc.

Your first time out, you may want to pay a dealer to dewinterize for you, with the stipulation that you get to watch.

It's pretty easy, but since you haven't done it before and don't know your systems that well yet, this is one case where paying a dealer might make more sense.

Sanitizing your fresh water system is also on the to do list, a lot of people skip this step and will be posting here later about funny smells in their water.

When things thaw out, if you can park your camper at 'home' for a week and run through the manual, learn about the water heater valves, the water pump valve which may be still set to 'suck in antifreeze' instead of clean water from your tanks, etc, you can de winterize for free. Like others have said, you have time to learn now, watch the youtube videos, ask specific questions. You'll get it ready just fine.

[Jagiven]

Dewinterizing is really easy. I first add some water to the fw tank, pump said water through all the pipes until the water flows clear. Then I connect to the city water connection, then I flow water through the pipes. Then I open the water heater bypass, and open the water heater drain, and flush and drain the water heater a few times. Once complete. Turn off the water, drain the water heater. Now I sanitize the plumbing system.

Add about 1/4 cup of unsented plain bleach per 10 gallons to the fw tank, fill the tank with water. Then pump the water through all the pipes and fill the water heater. Top of the fw tank. The instructions say let it sit a few hours an rinse with plain water. I let it sit overnight. Then rinse and rinse. I close the bypass valves to the water heat and drain it and the fw tank. While the tanks are drainning. I connect the hose to the city water connection and rinse the water lines. Once the water heater is drained, I open the bypass valves to the water heat, while the drain valve is open and flush water through and out of the tank. I use the "old sniffer" (smell) test, if I can smell the bleach, I keep rinsing. While I am rinsing, I have the gray tank valve open and dump the water on the grass. The black tank should only get a gallon or two of water from rinsing.