Discover everything you need to know about camper hot water heater, from installation and maintenance to troubleshooting common issues. Ensure a reliable hot water supply for your camping adventures with expert tips and guidance.
If you use your camper during the winter months or store it somewhere where the temperatures fluctuate greatly, it is important to know how to winterise your camper water heater. First of all, turn your hot water heater off and make sure all water has been drained out of it. These can be accomplished by either turning the drain valve and pressure relief valve. When drained, turn off the water supply if your camper has a bypass kit, it prevents antifreeze from getting to the camper water heater. Following that, over the course of a couple days, run non-toxic RV antifreeze through your camper’s water plumbing to prevent the pipes from freezing. Remember from faucet to faucet to open them to allow the antifreeze run through the line. Last but not the least make sure that all the valves are shut and your system is well isolated. Completing these procedures will assist guaranteeing your RV water heater is shielded from the intense coolness that defines winter.
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Tips for Maintaining Your Camper Water Heater
Well, as the foliage turns and the weather gets chilly you will be planning you next step to winterise the camper. Standing water is the major enemy when it comes to winter, and one of the first things that need to go through the winterisation process is a camper water heater. This is because the structures within the water line and the tank can be severely and costly damaged by water when it is allowed to freeze. Safely winterising your RV camper water heater is simple and can be completed in a few stages.
First of all, one should close the propane supply to the water heater. You should also ensure that there should be a separate propane tank for water heater only. Ensure the propane valve is secure and does not permits any leak of gas. This shuts the fuel supply off to the burner so the water won’t heat unintentionally while sitting all winter.
Last, turn the pressure release valve that is situated outside the water heater. This valve is often located at the lowest part of your car’s system. Almost like a small handle or button that is protruding out of the side. Turn the handle or the knob in anti-clockwise direction or pull up on the lever to open the Pressure relief valve. This also enable the pressure build up to be discharged from the tank as the water empties out of it.
You need to find the drain valve, it usually is close to the bottom of the camper water heater. Fill a bucket under the valve and open it allowing water to flow freely. If your drain valve looks like a standard hose bib, then detached the hose and let the valve turn open. When emptying your tank all the water is expected to flow into your bucket through the drain that is opened.
For as a plus, turn on both the hot and cold faucets indoors within your camper too. Such an occurrence results in clearing the water from the supply lines to avoid cracking the pipes as they freeze. Open and let the taps run for a few moments until the lines are drained, this is shown wherever water is seen sputtering.
If your water heater has a bypass valve, open that too so that no closed off areas of water in the tank will remain filled inside it. The bypass is just a loop that is used to divert the supply around the tank so that no water stagnates in it. If you cannot find the bypass valve you should go through the owner’s manual.
After all visible water has drained to the lowest of the system, the final step involves putting the RV antifreeze into the plumbing lines. This clears any remaining drops and leaves the pipes protected all winter through to spring. Fit a short piece of pipe onto the supply of the water pump. Insert the other end into the jug with non-toxic RV antifreeze.
Turns on the water pump to check the water flow. Turn the taps one at a time and let the water pump run until pink antifreeze comes out of the faucet and not clear water. Start by the nearest tap and move round the house to the most distant. Do not forget the Toilet, Shower, Washing Machine and any other water line. Use enough antifreeze to fill all fixtures in the dependable jug for them.
So it turns out, that is all that is required for winterising the water heater of your camper. With the water out and the anti-freezing the plumbing, there’ll be no freeze damage within the system during the entire winter. By spring time it only takes a few minutes to flush out the antifreeze and switch everything back on again. However, if you remember to do a good flushing and antifreeze each fall, your water heater is going to give you good service for years.
Cozy up in your home away from home this winter. As always, if you have any other suggestions or ways to prepare your RV camper water heater for winter, let me know in the comments section below. Happy Camping.
Conclusion
Camper water heater winterisation is one of the most important procedures in the preparation of an RV for use in cold climate. Some of the general precautions include; the water supply should be shut off and the heater should not be hot when draining the tank. To finish, there will still be other pressure points that you might need to release by turning the pressure relief valve. If your camper is equipped with a water heater bypass valve, use it to make sure that no antifreeze gets into the water heater but turn it off after and save much time and material. After the process, the vehicle’s system should be refilled with water after which the lines should be flushed with non-toxic RV antifreeze. Pump the antifreeze through the external taps, shower and any other outlet where you want unwarranted freezing. Among the things that must be looked at, people should not forget to check all connections of the home and the water heater as these are likely to be left open when winter sets in and this might lead to some amount of water freeze forming in between. Winterising your camper properly will help to prolong its water system to help it get ready for use when you are ready to travel again in spring.
