How to Keep my RV Pipes from Freezing

Welcome to another one of Todd’s Two Minute Tech Tip Tuesdays. Brought to you by the National RV Training Academy, the largest hands-on RV training academy in America.

Here’s the situation:

Phil, who is temporarily living in an RV while building his home, has a question about what to do during sub-freezing temperatures. The key to preventing your RV from freezing is to keep it occupied or “pretend” you’re still living in it. What does this mean and what does he need to do?

The best way to keep your RV from freezing is to live in it or, pretend like you’re still living in it. What does that mean? That means you’ve got to keep the propane in there and run your furnace so those lines will help keep your water lines warm. If you have access to electricity, keep your water heater on to prevent freezing.

The thing you really need to look at is your low point drains. You want to make sure there’s little to no water in there, try and protect those, and keep that water moving. The best thing to do is fill up your holding tank, turn on your heated tank warmers if you have them, and then use that water.

Where we have problems with the RV going through winter is when we’re not in it, and that’s where we need to completely winterize the system (which you can learn here). The last thing I would say is find a way to skirt up underneath to prevent airflow. Most of the heat loss we have is under the RV itself, so we need to try and keep some of that heat underneath there to also protect our water lines.

And there’s your tech tip.

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