Winterizing Your RV in Central Pennsylvania: What Actually Matters

Every spring we get the same calls. Somebody de-winterized, turned on the pump, and water came out of somewhere it shouldn't. By then the repair is a cracked fitting behind a wall, or a split water heater, or a pump housing that has a hairline in it.

Central Pennsylvania is hard on plumbing because of the freeze-thaw cycle. We don't get one long deep freeze — we get forty of them, each one working the crack a little bigger. Here's how to get through a winter without paying for it in April.

The steps most people get right

Drain the fresh tank, the gray tank, and the black tank. Drain the water heater — take the plug or anode rod out and let it empty, and don't do it while it's hot or pressurized. Open the low-point drains. Run the pump dry for a few seconds to clear it.

Then either blow the lines out with compressed air at low pressure, or pump RV antifreeze through the system until pink comes out of every fixture. Pink antifreeze only. Never automotive antifreeze in a potable water system.

The steps people skip

The water heater bypass. If you don't bypass it, you'll pump six gallons of antifreeze into the tank and never fill the lines you were trying to protect.

The outside shower. It's a real fixture with real lines. Open both taps until pink runs.

The toilet valve and the sprayer. Hold the pedal until you see color. Run the sprayer if you have one.

The P-traps. Pour a cup of antifreeze down every sink and the shower drain. The trap holds water by design and it will freeze and split.

The ice maker and any water filter. Bypass or remove the filter cartridge — it holds water. Ice maker lines are small and freeze first.

The washer, if you have one. Manufacturer procedure. It's different from the rest of the system.

Batteries

This is the other spring phone call. A lead-acid battery left to self-discharge over a Pennsylvania winter can freeze and be finished by March.

Disconnect the battery or pull the disconnect switch. Parasitic draw from the propane detector, the radio memory, and the control board will flatten it over four months even if nothing is running. Store it charged, off concrete, somewhere it won't freeze, and put a maintainer on it if you can.

Lithium is different — check your manufacturer's cold storage guidance, because charging lithium below freezing damages it.

The roof, before the snow

Get up there before winter, not after. Snow load, ice, and the freeze-thaw cycle are what turn a small crack in a sealant bead into a leak. Water expands when it freezes and pries at everything it's sitting in.

If your sealant is cracked in October, it will be worse in March. Reseal it now or spend the winter with water running into the wall cavity.

Covers and storage

If you cover it, use a breathable RV cover. A plastic tarp traps moisture and gives you mildew and delamination instead of protection. Leave the vents cracked for airflow. Put something down under the tires. Take the food out.

Or call us

We winterize at the shop and on site — driveway, storage lot, campground — anywhere inside our service area, which runs about 50 miles out from Dillsburg. Mobile service runs seven days a week, 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM.

Get on the schedule before the first hard freeze. October fills up.