Winterized our Camper, Twice
We winterized our camper just a couple of days after we purchased it because the local temperature was dipping into the twenties. This resulted in scrambling to read manuals and watch YouTube videos. The camper was taken on its maiden trip a few days after. Having now winterized the camper twice, once when we first brought it home and again when we returned from a nine day trip, we feel we have a handle on it.
We are by no means experts in camper winterization, but believe our process will be adequate to protect it. We hope this post will be helpful to others new to this process.
Winterization Preparation
We purchased RV antifreeze and a suction tube that attaches to the water pump at our local RV dealer. The combo of hose and gallon of antifreeze was $12.99. There’s also a kit on Amazon that includes the tube plus a few items we did not use.
For our method, we only used one gallon of RV antifreeze, the kind that is non-toxic. It is very important to only use RV antifreeze because you are dealing with your water system.
We turned off our Alde heating system before beginning the process. We previously dumped our gray and black tanks at the campground. As we had fresh water in our holding tank, I ran a good bit of water into the sink and flushed the toilet several times to run fresh water through the tanks. If connected to city water, you would want to disconnect after running some fresh water through the system.
Draining the System
Before draining, be sure that your camper is level from front to back and also right to left to ensure that everything drains properly.
1. Drain the fresh water tank.
The valve is located behind the wheel on the driver’s side. It holds 30 gallons, so be sure to allow plenty of time for it to drain. It drains best when the camper is level.
2. Flush Water Lines:
After the fresh water tank is completely drained, turn on the water pump and open each hot and cold water faucet. Close each faucet when water stops. Next, flush the toilet till no water flows.
3. Low Point and Water Heater Drains:
Open the two low point drains and the hot water heater drains. They can be accessed through the rear compartment on the driver’s side. The drains are located where the green circles are below.
The low point drains are perpendicular when closed and parallel when open. They are open in the photo below.
The water heater drains are pointing up when open and are pointing forward when closed. The Alde 3020 Manual recommends having all water taps open to drain the hot water tank. It also recommends leaving the valves open during winterization. Below is the page from the manual.
Allow all the water to flow out of the low point and water heater drains, then close them. When closed, they should look like the photo below.
4. Drain the Holding Tanks:
I am assuming that the tanks were drained after the last camping trip, so you will only be draining the little bit of freshwater that was in the water lines.
5. Bypass the Hot Water Heater
Change the Bypass valve for the hot water system from “Normal” to “Bypass”. We do this to prevent antifreeze from getting into the hot water system. It should remain in this position until the camper is dewinterized and ready to be used again.
6. Add the Antifreeze:
Turn on the pump for a couple of minutes because you want to get any water that might remain out and turn on a faucet to release it.
You are now ready to pump antifreeze into the water system using the pump, which is accessible through the wardrobe inside the camper.
Below is a photo of what we attached to the pump. We removed the waterline that was going into the pump and attached the black 1/2” fitting below. We then inserted the tubing into the antifreeze container.
Below is a photo of how it looked while attached.
Next, we ran the pump, which sucked the antifreeze into the water system. While the pump was running, we turned on each faucet until we saw pink antifreeze coming out of it. This included both hot and cold faucets in both sinks and the shower. We also did this for the toilet and for the hot and cold faucets for the outside shower.
We used about 3/4 of a gallon of antifreeze through the pump. Next, we poured the remaining amount into the 2 sinks, shower floor, and toilet.
Winterized Our Camper:
We have now winterized our camper water system! I will be following up later with a post on how we dewinterize to get ready to go camping.
Alternate Methods:
1) Antifreeze into Fresh Water Tank
I have read that if you do not want to pump antifreeze directly into your system, you can use the fresh water system instead. First, drain all possible water and then add approximately 3 gallons antifreeze directly into the fresh water tank. Next, turn on the pump and open all faucets until the pink antifreeze is coming through. You would also pour antifreeze into the drains (#7 above).
2) Blowout Method:
This process requires the following:
- A a special adapter to attach to the city water inlet.
- A regulated air compressor to blow the water out of the system. The PSI should be set to no more than 30 PSI.
We recently used this method for a few freezing nights before going camping.
All the drainage steps (1-5) above would be used, except the drains and faucets would be left open for the blowout process. They would then be closed and a total of approximately one gallon of antifreeze poured down the sink and shower drains and toilet. There are also instructions on the web and YouTube for this method.
Winterized Our Camper Conclusion
The steps above are just to prepare the water system for winter. I have reviewed the manual and know there are other things we must do before we can put our camper safely away for winter.
We never winterized our T@G camper because it slept in our basement when not on the road. I was pretty comfortable with how to manage camping in our T@G and all that it entails. Now, there is a new, more complicated camper to understand. How we winterized our camper has been added to our Camping Resources for New Teardrop Campers.
Looking forward to warmer weather and new camping adventures!
