How to Properly Winterize Your RV (It’s More Than Just The Plumbing!)

Winterizing an RV takes some time and thought, and there are consequences to taking shortcuts. There can also be serious consequences to forgetting some crucial winterizing steps. So, we’re offering some RV winterizing tips to help you avoid some very common mistakes that you’d seriously regret… and which could be very costly.

Steps to Winterize Your Camper

Getting your RV ready to be stored away for the winter months isn’t necessarily a complicated process, but it does involve a series of steps you need to take. Not all of them may apply to you and/or your RV, but the basic items you’ll need to take care of include:

• Winterizing your RV’s plumbing (to prevent any remaining water from freezing and cracking pipes/fittings)
• Disconnecting batteries (to avoid any parasitic drains from depleting them (which causes long-term damage)
• Turning off the propane tank(s) (this helps avoid the potential for a leak that could result in fire/explosion)
• Removing food and liquids (so that rodents and other critters won’t be attracted inside, and liquids won’t freeze & burst)
• Block/seal openings in your RV (to prevent rodents from being able to get inside… as best you can, anyway)
• Clean your RV inside & out (again, to remove food smells that could attract pests… and to leave it nice for next season)
• Check all sealants for any damage (to make sure no water from rain or melting snow can get into the roof or walls)
• Cover your RV (not right for everyone, but a good way to ensure it’s protected from the elements while stored)

For more detail on each of these steps/suggestions, keep reading… we go into greater depth on each of them below (and we recommend using our suggestions to make your own winterizing checklist, so you don’t miss anything).

Winterize Your RV’s Plumbing

If your RV will spend any part of the winter in an area that could see freezing (or even close to freezing) temperatures, don’t make the mistake of thinking that your RV’s plumbing doesn’t need to be winterized. It does. You need to winterize your RV’s plumbing either with antifreeze or by blowing out the water lines.

And while it may seem like a hassle to winterize, it’s far less of a problem than dealing with the consequences of burst pipes and/or fittings, a broken water pump or faucet that leaks and has to be replaced, and the damage that could come to your RV as a result.

Drain Your Fresh Water Tank, Holding Tanks, and Low-Point Drains

The first step is to be sure that you thoroughly empty out all of the onboard tanks.

Your fresh water tank should have its own drain, so you can empty it as completely as possible. Don’t worry about any water left at the bottom of the tank, though. There’s plenty of room for any remaining water to expand as it freezes, without damaging the tank.

Use your most thorough process for dumping and cleaning your RV’s holding tanks. You don’t want to leave any waste/debris behind, as that can lead to significant odor issues later on.

And, finally, you’ll want to open up the low-point drains for your RV’s plumbing system. The valves to do this may be located in your water compartment, or they may be hidden away behind a panel somewhere in your RV (in our new Outdoors RV, the low-point drain valves are behind a removable panel at the bottom of our bathroom sink cabinet). Check your owner’s manual to see where they are in your RV.

Don’t Forget Your Outside Shower

A common mistake that many people make is to forget to winterize their outside shower. This is an important RV winterizing tip because the outside shower is easy to forget. However, if you fail to winterize your outside shower, plastic fittings and valves will almost certainly crack, and the pipes that route out to the outside shower could burst.

So, if you have your winterizing steps recorded somewhere, be sure to add a note saying, “Don’t forget the outside shower!” You’ll simply need to run the shower until the water turns pink (as with your sinks and your inside shower), or if you winterize by blowing out your plumbing lines with an air compressor, make sure to blow out your outside shower… both the cold and hot water lines!

Completely Drain and Bypass Your Water Heater

Another common mistake is forgetting the water heater, and that mistake could very easily cost you your water heater. The cost of a new one is substantial enough to write this one down.

The first step is to drain your water heater. You’ll do this by pulling the drain plug or anode (whichever one your water heater has). Next, be sure to open the pressure valve so that the tank drains completely.

And here’s another commonly omitted but very important step: Make sure to turn your bypass valves! (If you don’t have a bypass kit, you can buy one from your RV dealer. Otherwise, you’ll have to fill your water heater’s tank with antifreeze… so you’ll need to add 6-12 additional gallons of antifreeze to your list of supplies.)

Pro Tip: assuming you have a traditional style water heater with a tank (i.e. not an on-demand water heater), you don’t have to drain it completely. Any water left in the bottom of the tank will have plenty of room to expand/contract as it freezes/thaws and won’t cause any damage to the water heater. Just be sure that the water lines into and out of the water heater are properly drained and/or blown out.

If you don’t want to buy a new water heater come spring, don’t make the mistake of forgetting to prepare your water heater for winter.

Add Antifreeze to All Drains

Whether you choose to blow out your RV water lines using an air compressor or use antifreeze, make sure you don’t forget to pour some antifreeze down every drain in your RV. This is a simple but very important RV winterizing tip.

Pour at least a cup of antifreeze down your bathroom and kitchen sinks and your shower, so that all p-traps are protected from freezing. The antifreeze will also prevent the traps from drying out while your RV is stored… helping to keep gray tank odors where they belong.

Leave Some Antifreeze in the Toilet Bowl

Leave some RV antifreeze in your rig’s toilet. This helps to protect the seals from damage due to water freezing and keeps them from drying out and needing to be replaced.

Remove or Disconnect Your House Batteries

When preparing your RV for winter, don’t forget to give attention to your house batteries. If your RV is going to be stored in a warm climate and not subject to freezing temperatures, it’s a good idea to disconnect and wrap the negative cable(s) to prevent any drains.

If your rig will be stored in a cold climate, fully recharge and then remove the house (and chassis) battery/batteries, then store them as per the battery manufacturer’s instructions. Also, be sure they are stored in an environment that won’t see freezing temps. Flooded lead-acid and AGM batteries CAN freeze when they aren’t being charged, so plan accordingly.

Turn Off the Propane Tank

This one is also easy to forget, but it’s very important to turn off your propane tank when storing your rig for the winter. Be sure to completely turn off the shutoff valve to stop the flow of propane. If you have more than one propane tank, remember to shut them both off.

Remove All Food Products

Remove all food products from your RV unless you want “winter guests” (a more pleasant term for mice and other rodents) that can really wreak havoc with your RV in many ways. Taking the appropriate steps to keep them out – and certainly not invite them in for snacks – is an important RV winterizing tip.

For more information on keeping rodents out of your RV, feel free to check out our post, “How to Keep Invasive Mice Out of Your RV for Good”.

Remove All Liquids From Living Space and Storage Compartments

If your RV will be stored in a climate that may see freezing temperatures, be sure to remove all liquids from your RV’s living space and from your storage compartments.

It’s easy to forget the liquids you have stored in your rig’s basement, but containers can crack in the cold weather, spilling any liquids in your rig or its storage areas. Don’t make this mistake. Take this RV winterizing tip to heart and move all liquids into your basement or garage.

Fill Any Openings With Steel/Brass/Copper Wool

This is part of the mouse patrol preparation, but worth mentioning as a separate RV winterizing tip. Use steel, brass, or copper wool to fill any openings that could allow the little devils into your rig. This is important even if you use your RV in the winter.

Mice, squirrels, and other little critters are looking for warmth and food all winter long. If you’ve got either to offer, you can bet they’ll find their way to your winter palace and then tell all their friends where the party is.

Do everything possible to keep them out.

Clean Your RV Inside and Out

Prior to storing your RV for winter, give it a good cleaning, both inside and outside. Clean the bathroom, sweep floors, vacuum any carpeting well, remove linens (blankets, comforters, and pillows), clean the kitchen well, and wash the outside of your RV so that you’re not storing a dirty rig.

Caring for your RV like this keeps it in good condition, and ready for spring. (Take it from a couple of guys who’ve had the same sparkling-like-new rig since 2005.)

Check the Sealants on your Roof and Repair if Necessary

RV roof maintenance is so important – you’ve probably seen us go on about this in other posts, but we really can’t stress it enough. Preventing leaks is a very important task for an RV owner. There are lots of rooftop items that are sealed – and those sealants need to be regularly checked for cracks and damage.

If you make the mistake of neglecting your rooftop sealants, your RV could see some insidious leaks that you have no idea exist until serious & costly damage has occurred.

Cover Your RV

And for our final RV winterizing tip, we suggest covering your rig if possible. Just be sure not to cover it with a tarp! Tarps are made of non-breathable material and could cause your rig some serious harm in the way of mold build-up among other things.

If you can’t store your RV inside or under a shelter, consider an actual RV cover. Sure, there are pros and cons to RV covers, but if you get a quality RV cover with UV protection, wind protection, and breathability, as well as the ability to allow you to get inside the rig to check things out periodically, your RV will be less exposed to the elements while stored. For some good candidates for protective RV covers, check out our post entitled, “The 5 Best Covers to Protect Your RV”.

More Cold-Weather RVing Topics

Of course, not everyone plans to put their RV in storage when the cold weather approaches, and instead plan to do some winter RVing! If that’s the case for you, you may want to check out some of our other content so you’re prepared:

• Convert Your RV Furnace to Electric : CheapHeat Add-On
• How to Properly Store Lithium RV Batteries For the Winter
• How to Live in an RV in Winter
• Plus more great winter RVing content…

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