Well fall firmly has a hold on Calgary now and we have already had our first couple of snow falls and temperature dips below 0c, so it is definitely time to Winterize. So I thought that it would be a good idea to go over all of the steps of winterizing your rig and getting ready for the big sleep & freeze. Back in September Calgary experienced a significant snow and temperature event where the temps dropped to -10c accompanied by several centimeters of snow. This event came up quickly and there was little time to deal with winterizing the Rig. So instead of keeping the heat on and burning propane I did a quick drain and blow of our water system. How did I do this you may ask? Well here are the steps I took to quickly protect my water system from freezing.
- Open the low point drains on water system
- Open the fresh water tank drain
- Drain the Hot water tank
- Once all water has been drained from the low points close them
- Close the fresh water tank drain once all water has been drained.
- Change hot water tank bypass valve to bypass
- Hook up air compressor to the city water inlet
- Turn on compressor with pressure set to 50psi
- Pressurize water system with compressed air
- Turn on taps one by one starting in kitchen and working back to the bathroom and outdoor shower, and allow water to be pushed out. Close tap and re-pressurize and repeat until no more water comes out of tap. Close the tap and then move on to the next one and repeat the process until all taps have been opened and all water has been pushed out.
- Open hot water tank bypass valve and blow out any water left in this valve and connecting pipe. Repeat process until all water has been blown out
- Turn Hot water tank bypass valve back to bypass
- Once all water has been pushed out of the system turn off the compressor
- Pour Antifreeze down drains
Once I completed all of the above steps my water system was protected from the freezing temperatures. Now I had time to finish the winterization process on my time and once the weather got better. A couple of weeks later I finally got around to finishing up my winterization, and this is what I did.
- Lubricate all slide seals and inspect
- Remove all food and perishable items from RV
- Remove all batteries and stuff that can’t freeze.
- Turn off fridge and clean
- Pump antifreeze through all water lines
- Pump Antifreeze into Hot water tank ( Just a little)
- Pour antifreeze down all sinks
- Pour antifreeze down toilet
- Pour RV fuel stabilizer in fuel tank
- Run engine and Generator to distribute treated fuel
- Turn off fuel shut off valve and run generator dry
- Turn off engine
- Retract Stairs and turn off main power
- Remove batteries from Coach and Cab
- Open all Cabinet doors
- Close door and lock
- Put RV cover on
Whew! That was a full weekend winterizing the RV, but now it is ready for the big sleep. If you want a bit more detail, see my post on RV Winterizing – plumbing.
Well with a checklist in hand and a good weekend you should also be able to get your rig ready for the winter months ahead
Best of Luck
And
Happy Trails
The Glampurs