Your Spring De-winterizing Checklist

Doug33 wrote:
Just out of curiosity, for those the experience freezing temps, do you empty all the items out of your bathroom such as shampoo, conditioner, liquid soap, etc? Typically I just leave them in all winter and haven't had any problem, since they are all in flexible plastic bottles.

It got up to 60 degrees earlier this week, then plummeted last night to 20 degrees. So I'm going to wait several more weeks before dewinterizing. But at least most of the snow has melted!

I usually take all that stuff out...but honestly I wouldn't have to simply because we store it from late October until the end of March at our local fairgrounds, inside a nice building. Under a normal winter I don't know that I would worry that much about it even if we kept it outside, but man with the BRUTAL winter we just experienced who knows.

Just out of curiosity, for those the experience freezing temps, do you empty all the items out of your bathroom such as shampoo, conditioner, liquid soap, etc? Typically I just leave them in all winter and haven't had any problem, since they are all in flexible plastic bottles.

It got up to 60 degrees earlier this week, then plummeted last night to 20 degrees. So I'm going to wait several more weeks before dewinterizing. But at least most of the snow has melted!

This is what I do.
1. Flush all lines till I am satisfied there is no RV antifreeze left in them.
2. Bleach and water in the fresh water tank then run through the lines.
3. Empty fresh water tank flush with clean water and drain. I do this a few times to make sure all bleach is out then I flush lines with clean water.
4. pull plug from water heater take a wand and flush out hot water tank to get rid of scale that has built up from prior season of use.
Put plug back in.
5. Hook up to city water and open all the faucets let them run for a few mins. I make sure the water heater is full and test to make sure I get hot water on electric and propane. I also take that time to check for any spider webs in the propane system.
6. Wash the roof of camper check the Roof for any cracking in or potential leaks. (washing the roof prevents black streaking)
7. Wash entire TT.
8. Repack wheel bearings check tires and lights on TT adjust the Trailer brakes checking magnets.
9. Go through inventory inside TT for what we may need for the upcoming season.
10. Check Battery test and charge. If battery is weak or will not take a charge replace battery.
11. Lube all stabilizer jacks make sure they operate correctly.
12. Check air pressure in all tires including spare.
13. Go through all systems inside the TT heat AC and stove Fridge and microwave. Make sure everything is working as it should.
14. Clean inside and disinfect.
That's my list. I am pretty crazy with what I do. But I usually have no problems when I do get out camping. I use my camping as vacation and try not to do to much work while I am on vacation.

I don't have a check list. But I typically:
1. flush antifreeze out the water lines,
2. fill the fresh water tank, add bleach, pump bleach water thru lines, let stand while doing everything else, drain tank, fill with fresh water, flush lines, drain again, and refill to about half,
3. run washer/dryer to make sure it works,
4. check all faucets working and no leaks,
5. turn on fridge to make sure it works,
6. make sure toilet flushes and shuts off,
7. check/add water in batteries (also done at least once during winter),
8. wash it,
9. check satellite system to make sure it works,
10. inventory supplies to see what we need to buy for new season.

My 5er stays in storage several months during the winter with power connected.

The way the winter is going in my region, I'll probably be de-winterizing after I set off on a road trip mid-May... maybe when I get to Alaska it'll be warm enough. 5°F here right now, was down to -8 last night. Long range forecast for April isn't looking much better.

I do much the same as GARYWT. I use the blow-out method here in Virginia so all I do is add some water then flush the tanks once then add more water.

I leave my batteries on the trailer as it usually doesnt get a sustained cold here but after this year I may have to re-think that abit. I have a complete battery disconnect setup on my batteries. No battery is connected at all when I do all three BLUE SEA battery switches to the OFF position. I just checked my batteries yesterday and the fluid levels was normal and they all were reading 12.6VDC... Went ahead and did a smart mode charge yesterday since it was nice and warm outside. Today it is 24 degrees haha...

I will wait a few more days before refilling the tanks and hot water heater and setup getting ready for this season. I will have to do a State Inspection before putting it on the road.

We sometimes camp off the power grid during the winter months so doing the blow-out method here works out great for us. I use an AIR ADAPTER to the city water connection to use my 12VDC tankless air compressor. Can use the tanks at a moments notice by just refilling and it only take a few minutes to drain them and blow out the lines when a cold snap comes thru when camping.

Works great for our style of camping...

My OFF-ROAD trailer is my PLAN B backup source of 120VAC for the house when setting here in CAMP BACK YARD. Has helped us out here at the house a couple of times last year when the county wide power went off. I just turn on a few things and run a couple of extension cords into the house to run a few things including the house fridge a couple of hours a day. A couple of lights and the TV set is all we need to keep going here. We have a fireplace for heat.

Roy Ken

I, too, am curious to hear what others do especially after long periods of letting the trailer sit.

We have only owned our trailer for about 7 months and we have used it at least once a month since we purchased it so it hasn't sat for long. I have had to winterize/dewinterize the water system multiple times over the past few months, but I am curious what others do all around the trailer.

I don't have a list but I will put the battery back on, plug it in, hook it to a hose and flush the lines. Do a walk around and put air in the tires before the first trip.