Getting Your RV Ready for Winter

Well winter is fast approaching and your all done with your RV or trailer. Now before the winter comes, you have to winterize your RV. Hopefully you've done it already like myself because winter is already here. If you live in a warmer climate, maybe the winter hasn't hit you yet. So you will have alittle longer to do this or your still using your RV or trailer.

Where I live, right after the Thanksgiving long weekend, I get myself ready to winterize my trailer. First I take out all the food, clean it up, put things in their proper place and just basically tidey it up. I give the trailer a good washing on the outside, also don't forget the awning as well. I open it up, prop the support arms underneath the trailer so the awning top is flat to the side of the trailer. A good power wash will clean whatever has gathered on the top of the awning. I then clean the wheels with Armoral to protect the sidewalls and then cover them with wheel covers.

Now I'm ready to flush the all the tanks. I always do this every fall to make sure the tanks are in good condition for when I open the camper up for the new season. Now once everything is cleaned out, I drain all the lines inside but running all the taps so alittle as possible of water is not left inside the lines. Now I have already bought my RV anti-freeze so I'm ready to run it through all the lines. I usually use about 4 gallons of anti-freeze so I always have some onhand in the garage. I drain the hot water tank and make sure I have the by-pass value turned on. Some RV's have the by-pass kit already installed on the pump but I didn't so I had to installed my own.

Now that the hot water tank is drained, I re-place the plug, flip the by-pass valve on the hot water tank and now turn the by-pass valve on at the pump. Now I place the suction line on the pump, place it in a jug of anti-freeze and turn on the pump to prime the pump with it. Now I go to the farthest tap which is my bathroom and start 1 tap to get anti-freeze through it. Once you see the pink color, stop. Go to the next tap and repeat. Then do the bath tub and shower. Once you see the anti-freeze come out, stop as the line is full now. When the jug run's out, just replace with a full one. Now do the taps in the sinks as well. Also don't forget to do your toilet to! On my camper the lines are clear so I see that all the lines are full of anti-freeze underneath my sink.

Once all the lines and taps are full, I pour some anti-freeze down all the traps, in the black and grey tanks and the fresh water tank. I also go outside to the city water connection, pull the mesh screen off and push on the little plug to get anti-freeze through that as well. Now my camper is winterized and good to go for the new season when I open it up and flush all the anti-freeze out!