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Proper prep is key to winterizing your RV
Camping was a simple activity when I started doing it 65 years ago. We all slept in canvas tents and Kapok sleeping bags. We hiked in Sears boots. Our kitchens were small aluminum skillets and tiny pots with lids. Today you find those in thrift stores specializing in “vintage” items.
My 1961 copy of the “Complete Book of Camping,” was published by Outdoor Life. Check out “The Grub List” on page 181 if you want to see how things have changed. Authors Leonard Miracle and Maurice Decker suggest taking 10 pounds of bacon, 2.5 pounds of canned butter and a pound of Crisco for two “men” on a two-week trip. For sweets, those two campers were supposed to take 6 pounds of white sugar, 2 pounds of brown sugar, and 4 pounds of candy bars. And those are just partial lists.
I remember the first pop-up trailer that showed up in the neighborhood, although I do not remember being invited inside. However, I will bet $5 that winterizing that trailer was much easier than winterizing a modern trailer.
First, that pop-up probably had a hand-operated pump to get water to the sink. I know my dad’s early 1960s Shasta had one, which made winterization as simple as opening a drain plug on the water tank, and pumping that handle until it was dry.
A season down the drain
Today, campers have the choice of paying an RV service to winterize a unit, or doing it themselves. Google tells me prices in Albuquerque range from $149 to $185, but I am sure you can spend more. The DIY man or woman must know every pump in that rig, and make sure they drain the water out of them or fill them with RV antifreeze. Some of those giant motorhomes you see in campgrounds, on the highways, or at gas stations have washing machines, icemakers and even macerator sewage pumps. Fortunately, I don’t have enough money to own one of those.
A note of caution, do not trust the gauges inside your camper to determine the holding tanks are empty. Our gauge said there was no fresh water onboard, but when we ran the pump to empty it after the first time we blew out the lines, more than a gallon came into the large bowl under our kitchen sink faucet.
Ordinarily, after draining the tanks, a good place to start winterizing is at the plug on the water heater. Open it, and it will gurgle and release enough water to get your feet wet if you stand too close.
Then, put the plug back and find the water heater bypass; leave it open and you could pump 6 gallons of antifreeze (about $4 a gallon) into it.
RV antifreeze is pink, but not toxic. Tom Coughlan, who has owned Tom’s RV Service on Moon Street NE for roughly 25 years, had a customer who brought him bottles and bottles of vodka to pump into the vehicle’s water system. The vodka wouldn’t freeze during the winter, but Coughlan couldn’t see the clear liquid when it was pumped all the way through the lines.
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“We had to add food coloring so we could see it when it reached the faucet,” he said.
Coughlan has been in business long enough to see massive changes in RVs.
“There is no standard RV anymore,” he said.
Combine that with the complexity of today’s array of camping units, Coughlin encourages campers to learn how to do their own winterizing, especially in this post-COVID era when labor is very prone to move from one job to another quickly.
His checklist of tasks required to winterize include: Holding tanks are empty (fresh water, gray water and black water); water heater is drained; all filters are bypassed and removed; ice-maker valve is drained; washing machine is run with antifreeze; pump antifreeze through the complete water system, or blow out the system with compressed air and then add antifreeze to all pumps and traps.
“And if the trailer is going to sit for a while, be sure to crack the vents on top,” he said. “The trailer will need to breathe a little bit, because if it gets too warm, the wall paper will delaminate.”
Blowing in the wind
Some RV owners pour the antifreeze in the fresh water tank and pump it out to the faucets.
Some buy a kit with tubing that allows the antifreeze to be pumped directly from the bottles. DIY camper Mark Garcia even made a rubber plug for sink drains that allows him to blow out the p-traps.
After that, he adds a little RV antifreeze to the traps for insurance.
Toilets also need attention. The valve that allows water to flow into the bowl must be dry, or a camper runs the risk of the valve freezing and cracking during the winter. This is a personal experience we would rather not repeat, so the valve is left in the open position for a day or two after we blow out the waterlines with our air compressor. Coughlin uses air pressure at 65 PSI for eliminating water from the lines. And, the seal in the toilet must be treated with silicon periodically during the winter.
Garcia also winterizes his tires, an effort to prevent cracking. First, he checks the air pressure, and checks it periodically during the winter.
“You know, air pressure drops during cold weather,” he said.
Then he puts the whole trailer up on blocks to further reduce the stress on the rubber. If you watch the winterizing video posted on “All About RVs,” their recommendation is covering the tires to protect them from the sun’s damaging rays.
Richard Winn, another DIY camper owner, also checks the seals around windows and doors.
With winter winds blowing snow and rain, doors need to seal properly to prevent leaks. Winn coats the seals with WD-40 periodically. Some campers prefer to use silicon spray. In the old days, trailer batteries needed to be removed and stored in a warm garage or building. Today, companies sell heaters to keep the spark alive.
If you are worried about the falling mercury and don’t have time to complete the job, just open the faucets for a couple of days to keep the pressure from building too high.
However, every camper should make sure he or she removes the four pounds of candy bars from the trailer cabinets. No one wants to find mattresses and towels chewed into mouse nests when spring returns and it’s once again time to take the beloved camper to a favored campground.
Timing is everything
David Pohl at South Fork Lodge & RV Park in Colorado says if you are not using your trailer or RV, winterize when the temperatures get down to 32 degrees.
When your pipes freeze, it is never funny, he said.
Pohl said hoses attached to a trailer will freeze after 4 hours at 28 degrees and below zero you are not going to prevent freezing.
