Winterizing Your Motorhome"Nothing is going to ruin your cheery spring mood like having to spend thousands of dollars repairing the pipes in your motorhome"
Winterizing Your MotorhomeBy: Jeremy Johnson When you think of a motorhome owner, you usually think "Snowbird" right? You know those people that follow the warmth to wherever it happens to be that season. They may be from Calgary, but they spend their winters in St. George, Utah. A lot of these folks have motorhomes - in fact they live in them. The Snowbirds don't have to worry about winterizing their coach because it's never going to sit in the freezing cold during the winter months. That's not true for many other motorhome owners though. If you live in a cold climate you need to properly winterize your coach to avoid having your plumbing explode in the cold. Nothing is going to ruin your cheery spring mood like having to spend thousands of dollars repairing your pipes before you take your first road trip next summer. Here's the recommended process for protecting your motorhome plumbing.
After that valve is open, get into your coach and open all the sink and shower valves and flush the toilet (you don't want a frozen exploding throne do you?). Turn on all sink and shower faucets so those can drain too.
You'll want to point the valve handle toward the transparent hose that comes with the kit, and you'll want to put that hose in a jug of potable antifreeze
You'll need to open the drain petcock on the heater, but you'll have to be firm because finger-operated valves have a tendency to get stuck after being heated and cooled off several times. Open the relief valve on the heater so air can get in and push the water you're trying to drain out. Otherwise this one part of the process could take hours. Just don't forget to close the petcock and the valve after you're done draining the water heater. Those are little details you don't want to remember next spring when you're de-winterizing your motor home.
You also want to let enough anti-freeze run so your sink traps and drains get covered with the anti-freeze. One final note: if you have a water filtration system make sure you disconnect it before running anti-freeze through the whole system. It will make your filters unusable. These RV Education 101 Videos Can Be Downloaded Instantly
For more great reading on RVing, Camping, Outdoor Sports, and traveling through the US and Canada, visit The Everything About RVing Book Store If this article did not answer all of your RV, RVing or RV Lifestyle questions, go to our FREE Ask An RV Question Page and we will get you the answers you need. If you have written an article about RVing, Camping or the Great Outdoors and you would like us to publish it on Everything-About-RVing.com, please visit our Submit An Article Page. We hope this information has been helpful to you. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions please Contact Us and help us make Everything-About-RVing.com better. Thanks for stopping by and Happy RVing.
Custom Search
Click Here To Subscribe To Our Free e-Newspaper RVing Al Recommends
Click Here to Join the Good Sam Club RV Emergency Road Service from the Good Sam Club Leave your RV repair bills to us—Good Sam Extended Service Plan
Here Are Some Great Places To Shop
Return to the RV Lifestyle Articles main page from the Winterizing Your Motorhome page
|
.
On the undercarriage of your rig you'll find a low-point valve. You need to open it; this is where all the fresh water that could freeze and destroy your pipes will drain. It's going to be a little tough to get to.
