How to Winterize Your RV
With winter right around the corner here in the Pacific Northwest, it’s time to prepare for looming snow storms, high winds, and freezing temperatures. If you have an RV, travel trailer, toy hauler, or fifth-wheel camper, it’s vitally important to properly winterize it to keep it operational come spring.
In this blog post, RVs Northwest will take you through the step-by-step process of winterizing your RV so you can hunker down and rest easy until spring. While this process isn’t hard, it is involved, so we helpfully provide a service to winterize your RV for you as well!
1. Remove and Bypass the Water Filters
Before doing anything else on this list, remove and bypass the water filters on your RV. The winterization chemicals and antifreeze you’ll add later could damage them, plus this is a great time to inspect and replace them if needed!
2. Drain Black and Gray Water Tanks
Wastewater left in your Coeur d’Alene RV’s wastewater tanks over winter can become a breeding ground for a host of bacteria, as well as freeze, expand, and crack the tanks or other parts of your plumbing system. That’s why it’s extremely important to totally empty the black and gray water tanks in your unit.
Start with the black water tank, then drain the gray water tank. Finally, clean the black tank with a black tank cleaner or cleaning wand to make sure you’ve removed all the bacteria that might grow inside.
3. Drain Water Heater and Water Lines
Turn your water heater off and let it cool down and depressurize. Failing to do so can lead to an accident, so make sure it’s cool before the next step.
After the water heater’s cooled and depressurized, remove its drain plug and open the pressure relief valve to drain all the water out of the unit. Then, drain the plumbing lines in your Spokane RV by opening all the faucets, both hot and cold, on the unit.
4. Bypass Your Water Heater
Before you begin adding antifreeze to your RV’s plumbing, make sure to bypass the water heater—failure to do so can cause major problems when antifreeze gets into the water heater and the unit turns on for vacation season.
Some RVs, like the Northwood Arctic Fox, come with a water heater bypass valve installed on the unit, but some don’t. If you need one installed, the experts at RVs Northwest will be happy to do it for you!
5. Add Antifreeze to the System
Finally, you need to fill the plumbing system with an antifreeze liquid to keep the pipes protected from winter temperatures. Before adding the antifreeze, be sure to install a water pump converter kit on your unit, or place the inlet on your pump inside the antifreeze jug. Then, follow these steps:
- Close all the faucets and drain lines on your Lewiston RV, and turn on the water pump. This will pump antifreeze through the plumbing and pressurize it.
- Alternating first hot, then cold faucets, open all the faucets in your RV til you see antifreeze come out, then close them. Follow this procedure twice to ensure full antifreeze penetration of the system.
- Turn off your water pump and open all the faucets.
- Remove the small screen on the city water inlet on your RV. Use a small screwdriver to push on the valve inside until you see coolant working its way out of the inlet, then replace the screen and close the inlet.
- Finally, pour more antifreeze down the drain in each sink in the RV, double-check the water heater is turned off, and close all the faucets for the winter.
Get Help From the Experts at RVs Northwest
Even though winterizing your Northwood RV, Forest River RV, or Outdoors RV isn’t complicated, there are a number of steps involved, and a mistake can be costly. If this is your first winter with your RV, or if you just want to make sure it’s done correctly, bring it to the experts at RVs Northwest to have it winterized. We can also help if you find you didn’t properly winterize your RV and need help defrosting and repairing it!
So with winter basically here, don’t wait—come to RVs Northwest in Spokane Valley today! We’re also a premier RV dealer, so if you’re looking for your next adventure, we’ll be happy to help you find a new or used RV, travel trailer, fifth wheel, and more.