De-winterizing Jayco "Drinking Water" system

[JayG7800]

Good afternoon,

I'm curious if anyone has any tips on how to de-winterize the Jayco Drinking water system (ie: the system with a 5 gallon water jug and separate water pump).

I winterized it using the pink antifreeze, and while I've pumped through at least 2-3 gallons of fresh water, I can still smell the pink antifreeze clear as day. I'm guessing I should probably use a bleach / water mixture regardless to sanitize it, but was wondering if anyone had any tips or knew what the ratio should be for bleach to water on a gallon by gallon basis?

[Lake Huron]

1/8 cup of bleach will do 8 gallons. It doesnt have to be exact but I'd do a little less than 1/8 cup and that'll cover 5 gallons. Close enough.
Not real familiar with those systems but IF there is a water filter on that system, change it AFTER you run the bleach solution thru it including AFTER you run some fresh water thru it to flush out the bleach solution. This way you'll have fresh water run thru the line before it hits the filter and you dont have any bleach solution in the filter or housing. Otherwise you'll be tasting a hint of bleach in your water for a while.

[THE MEEKER]

Can you flush your water system with a city water connection or holding tank?

It normally takes me at least 10 minutes of continuous flushing to rinse out the RV antifreeze. 5 minutes kitchen sink, a few minutes bathroom sink and shower, a minute or so for toilet, also outside shower/sink if you have one. Do do the same for the hot water lines.

You can flush the system with a bleach solution if need to. I usually do a cap full of bleach per ten gallons.

[JayG7800]

Thank you, both!

So, the system goes from a 5 gallon water cooler jug (in the 357MDOK, it's under the kitchen island), and is split to two runs - one to the "tap" at the sink (looks like a soap dispenser off to the side of the sink) and the other run goes to the residential fridge for water and ice. There's really no way to directly hook it to city water, aside from filling a 5gal jug with city water.

There is no filter in line, except inside the fridge. I have that removed at the moment and will replace it after flushing the system once I buy some bleach.


Thanks!

[Lake Huron]

Make sure you get the correct bleach. Itll say right on the label fine print.

[JayG7800]

Originally Posted by Lake Huron

Make sure you get the correct bleach. Itll say right on the label fine print.

What is the correct bleach I'm looking for?

[Lake Huron]

Here ya go. Straight from the Clorox site.

https://www.clorox.com/learn/how-to-...k-with-bleach/

Just plain ole bleach. If you click on the blue highlighted clorox bleach in the article it will take you to the product. The bottle will say disinfecting. If I remember right the splashless stuff doesnt get the job done.

[GHen]

I find it’s more difficult to flush the bleach smell than the antifreeze smell. I suggest not using too much bleach unless you have a bacterial problem you need to clean up.
Either way, just use lots of city water through the system and drain that fresh water tank a few times.

[pc55]

For those that dont have the separate fresh water system, its completely separate from the city water and water tank water system.
It pumps from a 5 gallon water jug.
I also had this problem with the water out of my refrigerator. It took a couple full ice bins of ice before it stopped tasting and smelling funny when it melted.
I also ran about 2 gallons through the sink spigot and 3 gallons through the water out of the fridge. The spigot cleared up faster than the fridge. I think there are more places in the fridge for residual antifreeze to hide.
I filled several gallon jugs from my home to use for flushing then flushed that out with purified drinking water from a 5 gallon jug.

I plan to not use antifreeze next year. I'll blow all the lines out with air several times to try and get the water cleared out. I leave my camper plugged in over winter so I can also leave space heaters plugged in inside. We don't get too many extended periods below freezing so I think I can get away with it. I may replace some of the water system tubing with pex if I have a problem. I guess I'll see if dealing with flushing out the antifreeze ends up being a better choice.

[Randyman69357]

Years ago I had a friend who would winterize with cheap vodka. Said it wasn’t nearly as bad when he would de winterize because he didn’t mind brushing his teeth and rinsing with the remnant flavor of vodka till it all got flushed out. Just a thought. 😁

[Edutron]

Stop using anti-freeze. Just blow it out with compressed air. Open drain valves also.
It will take almost forever to get that taste out.
Use anti-freeze for the faucet (sink) and bathroom sink plumbing and toilet.

[GHen]

Originally Posted by Edutron

Stop using anti-freeze. Just blow it out with compressed air. Open drain valves also.
It will take almost forever to get that taste out.
Use anti-freeze for the faucet (sink) and bathroom sink plumbing and toilet.

I agree completely.
I only use antifreeze in the p-traps for each drain. In addition, I pour enough down the drains so I get about 1/2 gallon in each (empty) waste tank to protect the dump valves.

[berwin]

My manual says 1/4 cup of bleach per gallon of water. I use a five gallon bucket of water so I add 1.25 cups of regular, unscented bleach and then use the winterize/sanitize setting to run the water/bleach solution through the various taps until I smell bleach. I let it sit overnight and then flush with regular water.

[gymracer]

Don't use the pink anti-freeze. Had RVs for 25 years, never put in fresh water tank. Use compressed air and blow system out after opening all the low point drains.

[Kim Gass]

If I were you I would not shortcut winterizing by blowing out lines only.
You and I both live in areas where the winter temps never go above freezing for weeks
Why play roulette with the plumbing

[gymracer]

I don't see how that is roulette. If you blow all water out, how is it going to freeze. You open one faucet at a time and blow all the water out. Like I said, I been doing it that way for 25+ years. I do have a professional type air compressor.

[Kim Gass]

Originally Posted by gymracer

I don't see how that is roulette. If you blow all water out, how is it going to freeze. You open one faucet at a time and blow all the water out. Like I said, I been doing it that way for 25+ years. I do have a professional type air compressor.

Our neighborhood has a lot of seasonal camps ( summer homes). The plumbers come in October and blow out the lines and add antifreeze. They use commercial compressors which we do not have ( we have a tire compressor)

We are year rounders. We have antifreeze in our hot water heating system all the time. One year we did not and the damage from one day of no heat was catastrophic. we had drained the lines when the heat went out but had no ability to blow out lines.

Our temps get to minus 30 in the winter for cold snaps and typically are minus 10 to 15 above in the winter. Winter is Jan and Feb and March though it snows till May.

So what we do is based on our climate ( not yours) and our experience and what has been traditionally done to Maine seasonal camps with indoor plumbing and our available tools. A pro compressor is not in our budget.

[DRP]

I simply turn on the water pump that is for the drinking supply. I then make sure I have the water filter removed from the fridge. I then run water from the spigot (drinking supply) and through the fridge door until it runs clear. I then put the filter back in fridge and resume using as normal. I don't have any smells or tastes at all. I also don't have more the a few initial pieces of pinkish ice. If you have the filter in the fridge, that will capture the color of the pink but leave the taste in your water.

The key is getting the filter out and running clean water.

[Learjet]

Originally Posted by DRP

I simply turn on the water pump that is for the drinking supply. I then make sure I have the water filter removed from the fridge. I then run water from the spigot (drinking supply) and through the fridge door until it runs clear. I then put the filter back in fridge and resume using as normal. I don't have any smells or tastes at all. I also don't have more the a few initial pieces of pinkish ice. If you have the filter in the fridge, that will capture the color of the pink but leave the taste in your water.

The key is getting the filter out and running clean water.

That didn't work so well for me with my new trailer...I had to open up the low point drain for the drinking water line to get the antifreeze out that had settled in that line.

[gymracer]

Even though I never put anti-freeze in the fresh water tank, we never drink the water from the tap or use it for cooking. Hooking up to so many different water supplies you just don't know what you are getting.