It's-Cooling-Off-in-Colorado---Time-to-Winterize-(Helpful-Hints-and-Don't-Forgets)

Материал из campus.mephi.ru

I guess they don't like the smell. Since we've had such a cool summer this year, I've noticed we've been inundated more than normal with bugs, spiders and mice around the exterior of our house than during our very warm summers. Since we store our RV here at home - I'm going to try the dryer sheet trick this year. You can also shove a dryer sheet into any open area, hole, crease, etc.; on the underside of your trailer keeping the rig pest free. Inflated tires and chocked all around, dryer sheets in place, and tire covers; your tires will be good to go in the Spring.

Defrost, clean and wipe down your fridge and freezer. Don't forget to blow out the drain lines for the fridge to prevent the line from freezing and future refrigerator issues. Keep an open box of baking soda in both the fridge and freezer. You don't want the fridge smelling like an old cooler next year. It works very well - just as it does for the fridge in the house.

Be sure to cover your air conditioning unit and TV antenna with a covers designed to fit and protect. Critical!

Pipes and Tanks: Here's the fun part and the most important of all your winterizing chores. Drain and flush the black and grey tanks first. Then drain the fresh water system, and utilize an air compressor to blow out the lines - keeping all faucets (hot and cold) wide open during this process. Someone should watch from inside to confirm there isn't a single drop of water left coming out of the faucets. Be sure to open up tub and shower lines too. Next, be sure to remove drain plugs from your water heater, refrigerator and ice maker (if you have one). Last year we completely missed blowing out the little plastic inlet line in the toilet. Big mistake. The small amount of water left in the inlet to the toilet froze and split, and cost us a waterless weekend on our first trip of the year (our shakedown cruise), and then another $200 at the RV store to buy a replacement john!

After you are sure all of the water has been flushed and blown out of the lines, it's time to finalize the process with a good RV antifreeze product. Pour a little down your sinks and in the shower. This will protect any water left in the P-traps from freezing. We also pump antifreeze into the black, grey and fresh water tanks to keep any puddles left on the bottom of these tanks from freezing.

We've found the best way to protect our trailer batteries is to unhook them and store in an area that won't freeze. Be sure your battery fluids are topped off before storing. We do have a battery cut-off switch for the trailer, but prefer to detach and bring them into our garage. For the propane tanks, make sure the main valve on the tanks are shut off.

And the finishing touch; bring in the slide-outs and cover your unit, leaving one of the vents open just a bit for a little air flow.

A good winterizing ensures our first RVing adventure next year will go smoothly.