Winterisation – Plumbing (Chapter 2 of 8)

Welcome to chapter 2 of our guide to Winterisation. We’ve put together a step-by-step guide to preparing your caravan or campervan for the winter months. We’ve already covered servicing in our previous chapter and we still have some fantastic chapters to come. This chapter is about your caravan plumbing, one of the things that many people forget is that during winter it gets very cold and without use, the water trapped in your pipes will freeze and thaw. This means that the pipes can swell up and potentially cause cracking or even explode. Below are a few steps you can take to limiting or eliminating damage to your plumbing system.

PLUMBING

1. Open all tank drain valves to drain onboard and external tanks, and leave open.

2. Open the safety drain valve (yellow handle) next to water heater, and leave open.

3. Fully open all the taps and shower mixer, move mixer position to the middle, and leave all taps in the open position.

4. Unscrew the showerhead and shower hose, shake out the remaining water and allow water to drain. It is advised to leave the showerhead and hose disconnected.

5. Run pump for a short time, until all water is expelled.

6. Disconnect the inlet pipe to the onboard water pump, mesh filter and outlet pipe, and re-run the pump for a short time, to ensure all the water is removed. Leave the system disconnected during storage.

7. Fit the cowl cover to the Truma Ultrastore.

8. Clean waste pipes and tanks using a sterilising fluid.