Winterizing Your RV

 

There are many opinions about how to best winterize your RV, but they all boil down to just one thing, getting the water out of the lines and fixtures to avoid damage from freezing. Winterizing an RV is within the ability of any RVer and requires only a few basic steps. I'll walk through the process below and throw in a few pictures to boot. Read every step and be sure to understand it, before proceeding.

 

Step #1 Go inside your RV and open any faucet of your choosing. Why you ask. Simply to release any pressure that may still be in the system from the last time you used your RV. That way when you open the drains or unscrew the plug on the water heater, you will not get sprayed.

 

Step #2 You should be starting with empty holding tanks, although there is almost no danger the tanks will be harmed by freezing unless they are nearly full of water. Don't forget, many fifth wheels have two gray water tanks. I just finished winterizing one today in which the owner had forgotten to empty one of the tanks. If we didn't catch it, we may have had a busted tank in the spring.

 

Step #3 Now we are going to unscrew the drain plug in the water heater. To find the plug, open the water heater door on the outside of your RV. The plug is at the bottom of the tank. On Suburban water heaters it is part of the anode rod. On Atwood water heaters it is plastic and is intended to stay that way. Do not substitute anything in the water heater drains. I use a ratchet, extension, and socket to remove the plug. Water will spray out of the drain, so try not to stand in front of it. It will take a couple of minutes for the water to drain out. If you open the level on the pressure relief valve at the top of the tank, the water will drain more quickly. Below is what you will see when you open the door on a Suburban water heater. The drain plug and relief valve are labeled. Leave the plug out for now.

 

 

Step #4 If your unit has what are called low point drains underneath your RV, open them. Although some water may run out, do not may the mistake of thinking all the water lines are emptied by simply opening the low point drains, they are not. They may have a shut off valve you can turn open, but many of them simply have a plug, which you unscrew. Keep track of the plug as you will want to put it back in. Close the valve or put the plug back in when water no longer runs out. If your rig does not have low point drains, don't worry about it. Many RVs do not. Sometimes you really have to look for them by getting on your hands and knees. I wish I could tell you where to look, but they can be almost anywhere underneath. Just look for water lines hanging down.  

 

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