De-Winterizing

I just realized that the motorhome has not run except for short periods over the winter to keep everything lubricated, for 11 months! It cannot be good for it and I have 3/4 of a tank of almost one year old gas in the tank.

The waterlines and hot water tank were also full of RV antifreeze and yesterday I decided to clean it out and purge the system. I drained the water tank, refilling and draining it several more times. I then hooked up the water hose to the RV, opened the gray water valve to allow the water to drain out onto the ground and turned on all the taps inside. I let the water run until all foam and telltale antifreeze smell had been purged out of the system. I then gave the six gallon hot water tank an extra few minutes to be sure it was completely clean. Then I re-filled the fresh water tank, adding about two cups of bleach. When it was full I used the water pump to pump water from the tank through each hot and cold tap until I smelled bleach and let a couple more gallons run through each tap just to be sure. Done!

Today I will tackle the black (sewage) tank! In theory it should be empty but just to be sure I will put a bucket under it when I pull the valve! When I know it is empty I will leave the valve open and use a hose from up above in the toilet to rince out the tank. Once it is spotless I will close the valve and put in a couple of gallons of bleachy water. Where does the dirty water from the tank go? Into the driveway gravel and maybe into the grass and hedge beside the parking area where it will join the deer and raccoon poop. It will do no harm.

Our intention is to put road insurance on the motorhome when the weather gets warmer and use it a little on the Island this summer.