De-Winterizing - Could not get water to come out of the sink faucet

[Skips58]

I have a brand new 2025 Jayco Jay Flight SLX 170FQ. De-winterized it yesterday. Never been used. Dealer winterized it before I took possession of it. Closed the antifreeze siphon valve next to the water pump. Connected the trailer to shore power at home with 30 amp line to 20 amp extension cord with adapter. Connected hose to the city water connection and turned on the water. Took maybe 10 minutes before I could get water to come out the shower. Took even longer for it to work with cold or hot control handles every time I tried. Finally got water to the toilet. Never got the sink faucet to work.

Questions:
1. I could get water to the toilet by pressing the foot pedal down halfway; but it came in very slowly and seemed to stop after I got a few inches of water in the bowl. Is this normal? I thought I should be able to fill up the bowl with water.
2. Any suggestions on getting water to the sink?
3. Am I doing something wrong or is this normal the first time someone puts water in the plumbing system?
4. FYI: The low point drain was closed until I gave up and turned off my water supply source.

 

[Glamper64]

That's a question for the dealer...doesn't sound right to me...sounds like the antifreeze got weakened with water in the system and froze or you got blocked/kinked pipes. Was the weather cold before and is it warm now? Did you open all faucets and low point drains to empty the system antifreeze first?

 

[Skips58]

The weather has been cold on and off in the last month or so. We have had several 80+ days in the last couple of weeks. I did open the low point drains. Only have one sink and faucet. It's one of those faucets with one water lever for the cold and hot. Going to open it and try to use the antifreeze siphon and the water pump to try and suck up water into the unit and out the faucet next time I try this. Will let you know what happens. Have a service appointment two weeks from yesterday. Thanks for your response to my question.

 

[Glamper64]

Can you not fill your fresh water tank via a hose and use water pump to fill system?
Also trailers seem to have this fetish with check valves that need good water pressure to push open these valves...there's one behind the screen/washer in the city fill connection which might be the issue trying to fill your system if you don't have enough water pressure?
Your hot water tank should've been bypassed for winterizing and un-bypassed once you drain any antifreeze. This done by turning two valves or one valve and another check valve which allows water in but not out. Also good to let air out of the system when filling with water by opening all faucets and the pressure relief lever on the HWT.
And yes the toilet should only stop filling when you release the foot pedal.
Also I doubt it but you could have shut offs under your sink?

 

[Skips58]

I will try filling the fresh water tank this week. Should have tried that this weekend when the weather was nice. I have a tankless water heater; but it does have a pressure relief valve. Only have the kitchen sink. Don't think I have any valves there except the one used when I'm filling the system with antifreeze. I'm also going to try and use plain water instead of antifreeze to see if I can get it to come out the sink faucet. Do not really want to pay for the dealer to fix something I can. I'm betting what you are suggesting is probably exactly what they might do also. Thank you. I'm taking the NRVTA RV Systems and Maintenance Training course at home. Haven't gotten to the plumbing section yet. Still in the electrical section. Curious if the plumbing section will be helpful. Thank you for your help,

 

[Glamper64]

Not sure how those tankless ones winterize...does it get bypassed? The old tank style is drained and bypassed...when re-filling the HWT I would open that relief lever to let air out and fill the tank.
Yes, use water unless you could freeze again...I would start the process over by opening every faucet including, the pow point drains, step on the toilet pedal for 10 seconds and read about what to do with your tankless if anything? Once the system is drained, close everything you opened and low point drains and connect a water source and turn it on full pressure until the water stops...now listen for running water/leaks, there shouldn't be any Now go to faucet furthest away and open all of them one buy one to let air out and water in...it will spit at you a little
I would anticipate/plan on visiting the dealer in the future for some other under warranty issues it's a common theme. Maybe a good idea to use your new glamper for a while and check everything out. Hopefully the water issue is a minor thing and nothing else is wrong otherwise, I'd let the dealer fix it under warranty especially if you end up with a lengthy to fix list

 

[dora-XRD]

If you connected your hose to the city water connection then no need to have any power connected to your trailer since the city water pressure should be all that's necessary and be a straight shot to the shower and sinks , so if you do have your power connected just make sure the water pump is turned to OFF. It's possible that there's debris in the water piping if the installation crew was not careful when installing it. If you're sure that your plumbing valve lineup is correct then I'd suggest removing the aerator on the end of your faucet to see if it's clogged. Here's a link that'll show you how to do it on most any faucet. Also try running the water with the aerator off in case there's any larger size chunks of something in the line. Remember lefty-loosey and righty-tighty when removing the aerator and also remember how the different screens and parts inside the aerator come apart and are put back together. Let us know what you find.

 

[Skips58]

I have found the documentation too "busy." You have to sort through the documentation from Jayco to figure out what applies to your specific travel trailer. Can't find it right now; but I think I saw somewhere in my documentation where it said the preferable way to winterize the tankless water heater is with air pressure.

 

[Skips58]

I haven't tried removing the aerator yet on the end of the faucet; but I did run my water hose directly into my fresh water tank bypassing the city connection. Turned on the water pump with the kitchen sink faucet turned on. Never got a drip of water out of that faucet. On the other hand, the toilet filled quickly. The water going into the toilet was much more forceful. Same with the shower. It never actually sputtered a lot as if there was a lot of air in the lines; but the rate changed up ever so little now and then and you could hear a rumbling in the pipes until I eased off on the flow by turning the shower faucet down some. Later, I tested the antifreeze siphon with just water in a bucket and it sucked right up. Now wondering if the faucet hoses are even hooked up or if there is another valve somewhere that is at issue. Don't know enough about the layout of the plumbing hoses or how to access them to check that out. Will look at removing the faucet aerator next.

 

[Glamper64]

If there is a shut off somewhere, you should have access to it...you can't see under your sink? There could be a removable panel.
If everything else is working it must be blockage or shut offs under the sink.
Since it's a brand new trailer, have you called the dealer Skip?

 

[Skips58]

Thank you. I've got a service appointment two Mondays from now. Bothers me a little bit as the dealer winterized the camper at my request before picking it up. Guess I'll wait until they fix it before I say anything about that depending upon what they find as the cause. They didn't show me where any of the removable panels were except for the one under the sink you use to de-winterize/winterize. I guess the good thing about something not working correctly is that it's a chance for me to learn something. Thank you for your help. I will post the fix when I find out what it is.

 

[Skips58]

Well, I believe I have figured out the fix. Only thing to confirm it is to try it with water in the system or even using the antifreeze siphon hose to siphon water up with the sink faucet on. My faucet has one knob/handle. I previously had a teardrop camper with the same type of sink faucet handle. You simply turned it to the right or left to operate. The more to the right the less hot water and the more cold water. Rotating it to the left does the opposite. Found a video on YouTube titled "How to Winterize you RV (tankless water heater)". I watched it because it has the same tankless water heater I have. Well, the faucet has the same type of control my camper has which looks like the one I had in my teardrop. There is one exception. On my teardrop, you just rotated the handle to the right or left. On the camper in the video, you tilt the handle forward and then rotate it to the right or left. HA! LIGHTBULB MOMENT!! I went out to my camper and it tilts forward also unlike the one in my teardrop.

 

[Skips58]

Was able to use the antifreeze siphon hose and a container of water to test the sink faucet. It works.

 

[Glamper64]

So basically you didn't turn the faucet on oh well, it happens to the best of us

 

[Skips58]

Yes. I turned it on like I did the one I had on my teardrop camper not realizing it worked differently. Had no clue I had to tilt it forward first. LOL Left and right controls the temp and how the forward motion determines the flow rate.