De-Winterizing a 2012 North Trail 22fbs

I had RV America winterize our travel trailer, but want to de-winterize it myself. Can someone please tell me the process and where the bypass values are located. Thanks a bunch.

Hi slhill23,

We have an owner-written Winterization Guide that also covers de-winterizing. Generally the hot water bypass valves are either in the Universal Docking Center (UDC), if your trailer has one, or behind an interior panel near the water heater.

Hopefully another North Trail 22fbs owner will be able to tell you more precisely how to get to the bypass valves.

slhill23 said:

I had RV America winterize our travel trailer, but want to de-winterize it myself. Can someone please tell me the process and where the bypass values are located. Thanks a bunch.

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I believe that if you had RV America winterize your trailer . . . the dewinterization is included in that charge.
(ie.- free).

My dealer is part of the RV America family of RV dealers, and that is how they do it.

We did that last year. But the dewinterizing process is suppose to be so simple we thought we'd try it this year. Now if I just knew where the by pass and pump were located I think I could do it.

We just got our 2014 but the floor plan looks the same as the 2012. The water pump in ours is accessed by removing the lower drawer in the kitchen counter closest to the entry door.

I haven't dug around for the water heater bypass yet.

slhill23 said:

I had RV America winterize our travel trailer, but want to de-winterize it myself. Can someone please tell me the process and where the bypass values are located. Thanks a bunch.

Click to expand...

We have a 2014 NT 22FBS. The three bypass valves for the water heater on our unit are behind the panel under the refrigerator. The horizontal handle position is normal and the vertical is bypass. After we are through winterizing, we always place the valves back to the normal/horizontal position. You will need to check what position RV America left the valves making sure they are in the normal/horizontal position. After that, all we do is flush out the system with fresh water making sure there are no water leaks and we're good to go for another fun year of camping!

P.S. Make sure the drain plug for the water heater is installed prior to city water hookup.

Thank you. Two more question. In the hot water unit on the outside of the trailer do I need to replace the core and turn the switch to on before I flush? Is the water heater plug you are referring to where the bypass valves are located?

The drain plug is on the outside of the water heater. If an Atwood unit, it's just a plug. On Suburban units the plug has a sacrificial anode rod.

Flush the antifreeze out of the water lines before returning the bypass valves to normal position. Otherwise you'll get some antifreeze in the water heater.