Winterizing a RV is one of the most important maintenance duties you can perform as a RVer. Whether you own a 5th wheel RV, travel trailer, motorhome or something in between, winterizing it before the cold weather hits your area is essential to keeping your RV or trailer in working condition. You can winterize a RV yourself or hire a company to do it, but you should always know what the winterization process is regardless of what method you take to make it happen.

Why Winterize an RV

Cold weather, particularly snow, can cause damage beyond repair in some cases to recreational vehicles. The damp, cold conditions of winter can destroy tires, roofs, sealants, and vents in a RV rather quickly. Left out without any cover for any entire winter season can do everything from freeze a RVs lines to blow out key components of the engine when started up again. Winterizing a RV protects your vehicle from damage cold weather can cause.

If you don’t believe winterizing a RV helps, chances are you shouldn't invest in a RV.

Types of RV Winterizing

Before you winterize a RV yourself, you need to decide whether you want to do just that or pay a company to do that. If you’ve invested in RV storage, many companies offer to winterize your RV when you drop it off for the winter season at an additional cost. Depending on the type of contract you have with a RV storage location, this may be included in the costs as well. If that’s the case, your only step in winterizing your RV is to drive it to its winter resting home.

The company or storage place will take care of the rest.

Winterizing an RV

If you decide to winterize a RV yourself, it’s not as hard as you think. If you get the entire family involved, it’ll be quicker to complete.

Tip: Winterize your RV where you’ll be parking it during the winter. If you have a RV storage location in mind, drive it there then winterize it. If you’re leaving the RV on your private property, get it parked in its location and then continue with the following steps.

The first step to winterizing a RV is to clean the interior and exterior thoroughly. This is just like when you do a spring-cleaning at home. Make sure to clean out all appliances, cupboards, cabinets and wash everything down. Ideally, you want to leave your RV empty like it rolled off the manufacturer’s assembly line going into winter.

Once you’ve cleaned the interior and exterior, you’ll want to flush your tanks. This includes your freshwater, grey, and black tanks. You want to empty them completely, let them dry out and add RV anti-freeze into the fresh water tank. Don’t add anti-freeze into your grey or black tanks.

Tip: Never use regular anti-freeze in a RV. You’ll destroy your tanks if you do so. Always use RV anti-freeze, and if you don’t have any, go buy some.

Next, lower all stabilizers on the RV and then look over each tire. Check the pressure and adjust each tire to its maximum recommended amount. Use RV tire covers to ensure the tires are protected from cold and weather.

Tip: Once a week, throughout the winter months, check the RV tire covers to ensure they’re still in place. Even the smallest exposure to cold, rain, or snow can begin degrading tire life.

After covering your tires, you’ll move on to your water heater. Flush the heater out by opening every faucet inside the RV, along with the heater itself. Once flushed, turn off every faucet and add RV anti-freeze to the heater. Turn off the water heater.

Then, you’ll need to make a decision about your RV battery. Some RV owners check its water level and leave it in for the winter season. Others will take it out and store it inside their garage or shed. This comes down to security. Some RV batteries are popular among thieves and they will go missing during the winter months if you leave the RV on your property.

Once you make a decision on what to do with your RV battery, you’ll want to turn off your propane sources and remove them for the season.

Tip: Remember propane should never, ever be stored inside even during winter.

After your propane is secure, you’ll want to flush every water line in your RV or trailer until they run red. This means turning on every faucet, in and out of the RV, and once red, pour RV anti-freeze in your drains.

Once your lines are flushed, turn off your RV water pump, removing the water inlet screen and ensuring you push back on the anti-black flow valve. This will run out the remaining water while letting the anti-freeze drain through the pipes.

Double-check your RV and make sure the following are turned off completely:

• Central air
• Heaters
• Lights
• Pumps
• Vents

Pull the following fuses from the RV:

• Propane alarm
• Smoke detector

Tip: If your RV or trailer doesn’t have a smoke detector fuse, you’ll want to disconnect or pull the smoke detector out for the season.

Close and secure all windows, vents, and doors. Check the storage compartments on the exterior to make sure they’re also closed and secured properly.

Every RV and trailer is different. Always refer to your manufacturer guidelines for how to deal with repairs, maintenance, and winterizing to ensure you’re not missing anything on your checklist.