2016 JAYCO 26.5 BHS plumbing design flaw

[ElkHunter]

I'm surprised that there was not already a post about this issue.

I bought my 2016 26.5 BHS this summer (first Jayco I've owned). During the walkthrough, the techs made a point of showing me what they called a "significant problem" with the way the valves were plumbed. The short of it is, to fill the fresh water tank the bottom bunk mattress has to be removed, the bed panel opened, and a valve near the pump needs to be opened. Once the tank is full, the valve must be closed again and the bed put back together. Every single time. This is not the blue valve lever on the outside service panel, it is a valve inside the trailer itself. It's a huge hassle. The GM of the dealership actually came to me directly and apologized and said they would get it fixed.
The techs said they had never seen anything like it, and they would contact Jayco to get instructions on how to re-plumb it. I read the manual, and there is a very specific plumbing schematic that it says is the design for the specific service panel on this unit. It does NOT match the way that the unit is actually plumed. There are very specific instructions for filling the fresh water tank, but of course they don't work (they say nothing about accessing the pipes and valves under the bunk) since the unit is not plumbed the way the manual says.

About a week later I spoke to the service department, and they said they were told by Jayco that the unit was plumbed as designed. They explained to Jayco that it has to be an error based on the procedure involved and the schematic in the manual, and their reply was that the manual is not VIN specific. They said they would not pay for any changes to the plumbing, and if any changes were made it would void the warranty! The dealership has since told me that they have since had two more units like mine that were plumed exactly like mine was. Those other owners are supposedly equally as frustrated as I am, per the dealership.

I tried calling Jayco, but given my work schedule I work I can never wait on hold long enough to speak to anyone during their working hours. I went back to the dealership and spoke to the GM, who took me to speak to the Jayco rep that happened to be there that day. They both agreed that the situation is untenable. They speculated that the plumbing could be changed, or an access panel could be created in the rear of the unit to make accessing the valve easier. The rep said he would talk to someone at Jayco. I never heard back. I've called the service department three or four times since the summer to see if Jayco had issued a bulletin about the issue. Each time they call and are told the same thing.

This really is ridiculous. The differences between the unit and the description in the manual clearly show that the design has been altered somehow. The current design is absolutely inadequate. It's absurd that someone would have to disassemble the bed to fill the fresh water tank. Someone with any kind of mobility or strength issues probably couldn't even do it at all (my healthy but small wife struggles to drag the mattress off and onto the floor).

Anyone else address this issue successfully? What will it take for Jayco to acknowledge and correct this design flaw?

[Cdash]

That stinks! We are getting ready to order a 29.5 BHDS and it has a valve at the water service inlet (hopefully it works......) While not as bad, you have to be hooked up to pressured water and operate a valve to fill. It seems these units are more and more designed to only be used at a full hookup rv site.

We like to camp in National parks, and often are without hookups. I get around this by putting a couple 6 gallon jugs into the gravity fill every other day on my current 5'er. (I learned long ago that it's easier to carry water than to fight with the family over strict water conservation). While Jayco supposedly will "pump"from a jug into the fresh tank, I expect it will be painfully slow. I plan on seeing if a gravity fill can be added to the unit, or some other way of modifying the fill to make use of gravity and make it faster.

[dalebra]

OMG! I thought Jayco was better than that when it came to fixing such a bad design. I have been working on placing an order for an Eagle 323LKTS 5r. Now, before I do I will be checking this out as I too use the fresh water holding tank often.

Keep us posted if you get results.

[3'senough]

Wow. While it might take some time on your part I would get with engineering at Jayco. An email can work while you do and I would use that as a course of contact with Jayco. Document the faults with pictures and have your dealer work it as well. Once you get a person to deal with you can send the photos of what your issues are and hopefully work towards a resolution.

[BigJohnD]

Just me, but if it were mine, and I knew what it'd take to make it work the way I wanted it to work, I'd just do it. Why get the blood pressure up if you know what'll work. We start hacking ours the day we get them home anyway, to make them how we want them. Odds are, if you change it, they wouldn't know anyway since it isn't right to start with.


Heck I've took out 2 propane lines, gutted the Norcold and put a residential fridge in, modified the plumbing here and there, modified skylight, and though I don't need the dealer for anything, they have no problem honoring warranty if I needed it. They know what's been done to the rig.

[Stingray75]

Doesn't sound like the Jayco many of us know so I think there's more conversation and picture sharing that needs to happen. Certainly you shouldn't be expected to do the hokey pokey just to fill a water tank. Did you order this or was it on the dealers lot for a while? The dealer has a limited amount of time to point out major issues and maybe they failed to check it out in time? They are correct that the manual isn't VIN specific but, what you describe is a significant operational deviation from the research leading up to you purchase decision. In fact if you ordered this rig, you and the dealer had to sign off on the Jayco order sheet. As I said, more calm conversation and photos which will take a bit of your time. Don't take the dealers word without hearing direct from Jayco.

[Hoojs12840]

While it appears to be a stupid design, can you get some pic's? As BigJohnD said you or the dealer might be able to fix it the way you want. Maybe they changed something for a reason, although it would defy logic based on how most are built to fill from the outside.

Shouldn't have to, but I wouldn't spend 8hrs on what could be a 1hr fix, which honestly the dealer should do it.

[carey965]

wow i thought my 27.5 was annoying with the fresh water fill being on the passenger side of the unit (all the provincials i go to have the fresh water fill on the driverside)

good luck with it, hopefully something a little bitching to the heads of jayco will fix

[ElkHunter]

I know, this doesn't match up with the reputation Jayco has. But they definitely have not made it right.
I believe it was changed for a reason, as other units have the same issue mine has. I did not order this one, it was on the lot. There was no way to find out about this until the service department did the final prep for delivery and filled the tanks. I haven't sat there and really studied the system to see why they changed the design. There must be a design flaw somewhere that forced them to reroute the valve system. If that's the case, then the fix is probably more than just rerouting the valves I have acces to, or else they would have just done it (or had the dealer fix it).
Regardless, the burden to sort it out shouldn't be on me. I paid a lot of money (to me anyway) and took a big hit on depreciation by buying a new rig, I shouldn't have to fix this error.
The unit is actually at the dealer right now getting some other minor warranty issues addressed. Who knows, maybe they'll surprise me and this issue will be fixed too when I get it back! Wishful thinking probably.
When I get it back I'll post some pictures.

[ElkHunter]

Originally Posted by Cdash

That stinks! We are getting ready to order a 29.5 BHDS and it has a valve at the water service inlet (hopefully it works......) While not as bad, you have to be hooked up to pressured water and operate a valve to fill. It seems these units are more and more designed to only be used at a full hookup rv site.

We like to camp in National parks, and often are without hookups. I get around this by putting a couple 6 gallon jugs into the gravity fill every other day on my current 5'er. (I learned long ago that it's easier to carry water than to fight with the family over strict water conservation). While Jayco supposedly will "pump"from a jug into the fresh tank, I expect it will be painfully slow. I plan on seeing if a gravity fill can be added to the unit, or some other way of modifying the fill to make use of gravity and make it faster.

Pump method or "country fill" works very well. I actually have a cool system for doing this. I bought an emergency water reservoir that's intended to store drinking water in a bathtub when a water outage is expected (hurricaine, etc.). It's basically a 100 gallon clear plastic bag with a screw on lid. It's $20, and is intended for a single use.
I have a Ram 3500 with the bed extender/divider system. I use that to create a rectangular section in the truck bed (in lieu of a bathtub) and then go fetch water. The bag may hold water (might not bust) without the rectangular support, but I haven't tried it. I do a country fill and then dry it out and fold it up. Folds up to the size of a bed pillow.
We don't use the fresh water tank for drinking or cooking, so I have no problem reusing this "single use" device as long as I let it dry out. I'm in the southwest, so with our low humidity it dries out pretty quickly, especially when laid out in the sun. My guess is I'll need to replace it once or twice a year.


The Reservoir, Emergency Water Storage System 100 Gallons - Emergency Water Supplies - Amazon.com

[ElkHunter]

Originally Posted by Cdash

That stinks! We are getting ready to order a 29.5 BHDS and it has a valve at the water service inlet (hopefully it works......) While not as bad, you have to be hooked up to pressured water and operate a valve to fill. It seems these units are more and more designed to only be used at a full hookup rv site.

We like to camp in National parks, and often are without hookups. I get around this by putting a couple 6 gallon jugs into the gravity fill every other day on my current 5'er. (I learned long ago that it's easier to carry water than to fight with the family over strict water conservation). While Jayco supposedly will "pump"from a jug into the fresh tank, I expect it will be painfully slow. I plan on seeing if a gravity fill can be added to the unit, or some other way of modifying the fill to make use of gravity and make it faster.

Also, I've never timed the country fill, but'm pretty sure the pump in my unit will easily pump your 12 gallons in less than 5 minutes.

[RVhiker]

I'd suggest posting a video on Youtube showing the Jayco designed water fill procedure; perhaps embarrassment would get Jayco to make it a bit more convenient.

[stuart0411]

Any developments regarding this problem, we are considering a 26.5bhs?
Can you get at this valve from the outside locker which gives access to under the bunk?

[Onefastdaddy]

Any updates, photos?
We just took delivery of a 2016 Eagle HS 26.6 BHS (Sacramento RV, Calif) and the tanks were filled before we took delivery. During the walk through no mention was made other than put the water hose in the receptacle on the outside at the docking station and add water.
Now I'm very interested as there was no mention of lifting the back lower bunk bed to access the pipes/valves underneath during the walkthrough.
-DC

[mtedelen]

We just took delivery of our 26.5BHS. I was aware of this being an issue when i ordered the trailer and figured I would just deal with it when it comes in. I know one can buy a 12 volt or 120 volt water pump with garden hose threading pretty cheap, under $80. I figure this would simulate the pressure that comes from a city water hook up and fill up the tank through tank fill/city fill.

Has there been any other developments on the issue that anyone else is aware of?

[ElkHunter]

Well, here it is. Finally posting a video of this arduous process (I've sent this to Jayco as well). I have hung up while on hold several times over the last two years, but this time I held out for the full hour since I am almost out of warranty (my warranty runs out next week). I have an open issue with Jayco, but not expecting much given their cool responses so far.

My favorite response they gave me was "yeah, when it comes to filling the tank that model is not consumer-friendly."

Doesn't look like the video uploaded, so here is the link to the video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/ZF1D5c_Lxko

[ElkHunter]

So did your rig turn out to have the same plumbing as mine?

[dksmith17]

My 2017 does not have this. You do have to access the pump from the bunk in order to winterize.