Escapees March-April 2019 Vol 40 Issue 5

brakes looked at by a service technician before you take off on a trip! This is also the time to have the wheel hubs serviced and the brakes inspected for wear. Do it yourself or have the local RV

again and let the system sit for, at least, a few hours; longer is better. Then drain the freshwater tank and refill with clean water. Flush the system out by running the clean water through each faucet again. Use lots of water until the chlorine smell is gone. This procedure will usually result in clean, odor-free water in your RV. If you have problems with lingering antifreeze taste or chlorine odor, you can re-flush the system using one cup of baking soda dissolved into one gallon of water and follow the same procedure as above. If you don’t have a gravity fill for your fresh-water tank and must use the city water connection and a valve to fill it, simply drain your hose and hook it to the water spigot. Carefully pour the suggested amount of undiluted bleach (1/4 cup for every 15 gal- lons of tank capacity) into the empty hose and, careful not to lose any bleach, connect it to the city water inlet on the rig. Make sure all hose connections are tight! Open the fresh-water tank fill valve and slowly turn on the water at the spigot. This will force the bleach into your tank. Fill the tank normally and follow the rest of the procedure above.   Since we have water, propane and electricity, let’s test appliances. Turn the refrigerator on and test operation for both gas and electric. Light the water heater and make sure that it functions. Fire up any air conditioners and see if they cool. Do the furnace, lights, radio and TV work? Any additional, optional equipment (generators, washer/dryers, ice makers, leveling jacks, etc.) should be placed back into service and tested, again, by following the manufactur- er’s recommendations. Your RV should now be ready for a full summer season of fun. What’s that, you say? What about de-winterizing yourself? Well, that’s easy. Pack away those coats, sweaters and long johns. Then break out the shorts and tee shirts, and stock up on sunscreen and bug repellent. Oh yes, and don’t forget the swimsuits, sunglasses and sandals. Oh, boy! I can’t wait.                                              

shop take care of it.   

Now, let’s deal with the plumbing. If you don’t have fresh water available where your rig is stored, then you need to move it. You’ll need to flush out the plumbing system, especially if RV antifreeze was used. One possibility is to take the rig to a local RV park or campground and use their water and sewer hookups. Hook up your water hose and fill your freshwater tank. Run your water pump and open each faucet in the rig, one at a time, and allow water to flow for a minute or so. If you used antifreeze, let the water flow until all color and odor are gone. Don’t forget the toilet and the shower. Remember to open your grey-water dump valve before you get too carried away. Turn off the water pump and hook up your hose to the city water inlet. Run more water through the system to remove that last bit of antifreeze; then unhook the hose again. Be sure to not un-bypass the water heater until you’ve flushed all the lines. To put your bypassed water heater back in service, reset the valves for normal operation and make sure the drain plug is in or that the drain valve is closed. Now run the water pump and open a hot-water faucet. Once the water heater tank is full, shut all faucets and wait until the pump turns off. Listen for a few minutes to make sure that the pump does not cycle again. If the pump cycles on and off repeatedly, it may indicate a leak somewhere in your freshwater plumbing. If a leak is suspected, take a flashlight and visually inspect all the plumbing under your sinks and see if you can spot any leaks. Look carefully in compartments and inside of cupboards and storage areas until you find the drip. Fix any leaks before continuing. Now, let’s sterilize your freshwater tank and plumbing. Add 1/4 cup of plain house- hold bleach for every 15 gallons of your freshwater-tank capacity into an empty gallon jug, then add water to fill it up. Pour this mixture into your freshwater tank and top off the tank with the hose. Turn on the water pump and run each faucet until you can plainly smell the chlorine. Top off the freshwater tank

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   