Spring is here! It is my first How-To write up of the season! Before you can use your camper, you need to De-Winterize the water system. Most people winterize by opening all the faucets and the low point drain. Then the hot water heater would have been by-passed and plug removed to completely drain it. Then RV anti-freeze was is pumped into the system to make sure none of your pipes or fitting freeze and are damaged over the winter. Now that we all basically understand what winterization of the water system is. Lets get to how we make our water systems ready for the first trip which is extremely easy. Many campers now have “water control centers” like my 2017 Jayco does. But I won’t forget proud owners of older campers that require few extra steps depending on the camper.
How-To De-Winterize the Water System with Jayco
First you need to local your water control center which is normally where you would plug your water hose in. Mine in my Jayco Eagle is located in the front pass thru storage on the Driver Side. As you can see below:
As you can see there are few parts of the control center including:
- Water pump power switch
- Water bib for your water hose
- Knobs for setting the valves that control water flow
- Diagram for how to setup the knobs for different situations (Winterized, City Water, Water tank filling, and etc.)
- Finally mine includes a faucet which I have a hose attached to for spraying items off
You can see that my knobs are current set for “Winterized” which I now need to switch over to “City Water.” I just follow the diagram to switch the knobs to the proper setting. Moving these knobs will change valves that are hidden behind the control panel that control the water flow.
If You Have An Older Camper WITHOUT a Control Center
If you do not have a water control center than you will have to find the water heater bypass valve. This will normally be in a cabinet inside near where the hot water heater access outside. Many times in the kitchen in a lower cabinet. You simply turn the valve(s) to turn the bypass from winterization off.
Next the Hot water heater!
Next I will go to my hot water heater where I neatly let my plug all winter inside the door. I HIGHLY recommend cleaning out any debris careful that may have built up. This is especially important around the propane burner if your hot water heater is both propane & electric like mine. Once everything is cleanup, replace the plug by screwing it back in by hand. I do not recommend using a tool unless you have to due to a leak as it is very easy to strip these plastic plugs. Check out our blog Post on simple modification where you can add valve for draining hot water heater!
Now we can move on to hooking up a water supply AKA a hose to my water control center. Remember to use your pressure control fitting on the hose to ensure you don’t accidental over pressurize the water system suddenly. RV water systems are plex plumbing and no water like to have to find the leak behind a wall! Once everything is hook up, I always “gingerly” turn on the water to pressurize the water system. (NOTE: If you do not have a control center than remember you have TWO water connections including one for City Water and one for Fresh water tank. Remember to hook up to City Water for this step if so.)
Time to get rid of the Antifreeze
Final steps are pretty easy as you have to go to every faucet turning on cold then hot knobs. You want to run them till you do not notice the antifreeze color at all anymore. I generally run them few minutes. Once you have done every faucet I recommend turning on each faucet in the same order again for 30 seconds. Just like a house these faucets are all on the same plumbing lines and this ensures the antifreeze is completely gone!
All done!
Now your system is ready to go. Many people will also sanitize both their water tank and plumbing. I will go over this process in another “How-To.” Stay tuned!
Random advice:
- Always wipe out all the sinks and shower so you do not stain them with anti-freeze.
- I highly suggest removing the shower head for both de-winterizing and winterizing. It makes it much cleaner and easier to get the antifreeze in and out.
- Double check everything is closed up as I have seen MANY people rip their hot water heater access doors off when they didn’t make sure they were securely closed.