When the temperatures start to drop, it’s time to start thinking about winterizing pop up campers. The good part about a popup is that it’s so much easier to winterize than a travel trailer or motorhome, so you are in luck.
Is Winerizing Necessary?
Yes, winterizing your popup camper is necessary. The last thing you want is for any water in your popup to freeze! This could potentially ruin lots of things like plumbing lines or your water heater.
What You Will Need
- RV & Marine Antifreeze (its pink)
- Blow Out Valve & Air Compressor (adjustable 60psi or less)
- Funnel
How to Winterize
Drain all of the water from your camper, this will include the hot water heater and fresh water tanks. This step will get the water out that is left in the lines. You don’t want it to freeze and cause your lines to bust.
Open up your cold water valves, turn on your pump until the water stops flowing, and turn it back off. Make sure you shut it off as soon as it’s finished so it doesn’t damage your pump.
Open your hot water lines inside, then open up the low-point drains outside. Opening up the hot water inside first will make sure there is pressure for when you open up the low point drain outside.
Open the bottom drain on the water heater and the safety valve.
Once it’s all drained, close everything back up.
Hook up air to the city water inlet. (with the adapter) Open up the drains and fixtures. Blow out all the water.
We did this step in our 5th wheel to help blow out any excess water that might be in the lines. The smallest drops of water can still freeze inside the lines. You can do this step if you don’t want to put antifreeze in your entire camper, just in the tank.
You can skip the air adapter step if you allow antifreeze to flow into all the lines. To do this, you will need to fill your tank with antifreeze, turn on the pump, and open each line until the pink water comes out.
Use a funnel and add antifreeze to the freshwater access point (you may need to refer to your manual).
Close off the water to your water heater and turn on the bypass valve. This way, no antifreeze gets in the tank.
Turn on the water pump to bring some antifreeze into it. (turn it back off)
Make sure that you flush all the antifreeze out when you are ready to camp again in the spring.
Does Winterizing Mean You Can’t Camp?
No, winterizing your popup camper doesn’t mean you can’t go camping. It just means that you will need to bring your own water or use a bathhouse. You could also re-winterize after a trip if having your own water in your camper is important.
We remodeled our popup so that there would be no water needed at any time. This makes it easier for us to enjoy our camper any time of year without having to worry about water.
We decided to take our sink out right after we purchased the popup because it was very small and in the way. We have tent camped so many times, that we know how to handle being at a campsite without a sink.
Our popup didn’t have a bathroom, so we remedied that situation. You can see ours in this post about toilet alternatives.
After you winterize, you can do maintenance things to your popup camper, like making sure it is clean, sealing any holes, removing the battery, covering any openings, etc.
We hope this helps you get your popup ready for winter. Remember, just because it’s cold doesn’t mean your adventures have to end. We camp all the time without water and have just as much fun!