After being cooped up via an extended, chilly winter, spring blossoms and hotter climate energizes RVers. Our ideas inevitably flip towards getting our RVs prepared for takeoff.
Earlier than hitting the street for that first outing, one important job have to be accomplished: Dewinterizing your RV. It’s obligatory upkeep for RVs which have set idle over the winter months. It’s a traditional facet of proudly owning an RV in areas of the nation the place temperatures dip under freezing.
Winterizing an RV water system boils right down to draining water from the plumbing, water heater and holding tanks. Subsequent, you pour non-toxic RV anti-freeze into sinks, drains, and bathroom to guard vulnerable plastic elements. These embody P-traps and low factors within the strains, which may be broken by standing water freezing throughout the winter.
Dewinterizing an RV’s plumbing is solely reversing every little thing within the winterizing course of so the RV is prepared for tenting. We must always point out this course of focuses solely on dewinterizing an RV’s plumbing system. The final upkeep, checking programs, cleansing, and so on. are a narrative for an additional time.
The Fundamentals Of Dewinterizing An RV’s Plumbing
“There are mainly two duties in dewinterizing any RV,“ says grasp RV technician Tony Salazar of Service RV Service in Eugene, Oregon. “One is to refill the water system and bleed it of air, whereas flushing it to take away all traces of anti-freeze. The opposite is totally checking the whole plumbing system (and water heater) to ensure there aren’t any leaks, cracked filters, or different harm so the RV is mechanically prepared for tenting.”
Salazar says a first-time RV DIYer ought to be capable to accomplish dewinterizing an RV in lower than an hour.
Salazar approaches the duty by closing all of the low-point drain valves. He makes certain the drain plug is reinstalled within the water heater, the heater is off, and the bypass valve closed. Subsequent, he removes the aerator screens from taps and bathe heads and closes all taps.
That is additionally the time to switch the trailer or coach’s water purification filter(s). These filters are eliminated throughout the winterization course of, and new are ones put in throughout dewinterizing.
Bleed The Water System
The subsequent step to dewinterizing an RV is to recharge the RV’s water system. That is achieved by hooking as much as a water provide, turning on the RV’s water pump, after which turning on the water heater.
Subsequent, slowly open every faucet, hot and cold, separately, for a pair minutes to bleed out any air trapped within the strains. Begin within the galley after which go to the toilet(s). Let the water circulate via the whole system till there’s no air popping out. Do the identical with any exterior water fixtures.
Be certain the dump valve on the blackwater tank is closed, then flush the bathroom a number of instances to push the antifreeze out of the P-trap. Run the bathe for a number of minutes for a similar motive.
Observe: That is additionally a superb time to open the graywater tank valve open and drain the tank into the sewer. The dewinterizing course of could fill it shortly because the RV’s water system is charged and flushed.
Verify For Water Leaks
Throughout this filling/flushing a part of dewinterizing an RV it’s essential to fastidiously examine each filter and shutoff valve for leaks. This consists of these at the bathroom, below the sinks, on the water pump, the water filter and water heater. Don’t overlook any which can be situated below the RV.
“I’ve had quite a few clients that do the winterization themselves who miss one thing, after which that merchandise turns into a problem throughout the dewinterizing course of,” says Salazar.
“For instance, they overlook to empty the water filter and empty the little pre-filter feeding into the water pump. When the temperature dips under freezing, the water in these filters turns right into a block of ice and cracks the filter.”
Dewinterizing an RV plumbing system is among the less complicated upkeep duties of being an RV proprietor. All it requires to do correctly is to concentrate. That means, a water leak received’t put a damper in your spring outings.
