What’s the best way to winterize an RV? Even though it’s not exactly fun, it’s something you know you have to do when the weather gets cold. If you don’t do it, the water inside your RV can freeze and burst the pipes, just like what can happen at your house. Broken pipes are always a bad thing - especially when RVing- so let’s do what we can to avoid that!
The question is which kind of winterization method you choose.
The Two Ways to Winterize an RV
There are essentially two ways to winterize your RV.
Method #1 is to blow air through the system to get all of the moisture out. This works because if there’s no water in the system to freeze, you’re in the clear.
Method #2 is to use a nontoxic antifreeze solution. Even though technically antifreeze can freeze, it only happens at much lower temperatures than the freezing point of water.
Each method has its pros and cons, which we’ll go over next.
Pros and Cons of a Winter RV with Air
Air is arguably the easiest method to choose. All you have to do is connect an air compressor to the lines and blow out the air. Easy peasy.
Another pro of using air to winterize your RV is it’s clean. If you use antifreeze, there’s a chance you may end up spilling it or making a mess. That’s just not going to happen if you use air to blow the moisture out of your plumbing lines.
There are disadvantages though. The first one is that it’s difficult to get every single water droplet out of your lines. This is especially true if you have a big RV or a relatively complex plumbing system. There are probably low spots where the water can accumulate and it can be difficult to blow all of that water out using air.
Don’t let this discourage you - a lot of people still choose to use air. They just make sure they are very thorough and go through a checklist to verify they blew air through every water line.
Pros and Cons of a Winter RV with Antifreeze
The other way to winterize RVs is with antifreeze. This process starts the same way as using air! You start by blowing all of the water out of the system. The difference is you follow up by filling the system with antifreeze.
There are two main pros to this method. The first is that you are less likely to have moisture freeze and damage your RV compared to the air method. The antifreeze will get into those hard-to-reach spots and make sure any residual moisture doesn’t freeze up.
The second advantage is the peace of mind this gives you. You can sleep well at night knowing that your RV is well protected from cold weather. There’s a reason why most RV dealers use antifreeze instead of just air. They want to protect their inventory!
There are a few downsides though. The first, as we mentioned earlier, is that antifreeze can be a bit messier than air. You might end up spilling some if you aren’t careful.
Another is the fact that using antifreeze takes more work. You probably have other things you’d rather be doing than filling an RV with antifreeze, right?
The third is the cost. This is a minor point because antifreeze is inexpensive, but you do need to invest a little money into it.
Final Thoughts
Is it better to winterize an RV with air or antifreeze? Our recommendation is to use antifreeze. Yes, it does take a bit more work, but it’s also the least likely to have any issues. And since you want to hit the road and start RVing again once the weather warms up, it’s better to do a little extra work now than a lot of expensive repair work later!
