You should sanitize your RV water system every spring after de-winterization, or anytime you detect an odor from the water. The process is simple. You need some household bleach, fresh water, and some patience. (you have to let the bleach work for 12 hours).
The first step is to drain all water from the system holding tanks and hot water heater, once that is complete, close all the drains again.
Take 1/4 cup of household bleach for every 15 gallons of water your fresh water tank holds, and mix the bleach with water in a gallon container and pour it into the fresh water tank. Then fill the fresh water tank completely full of water.
Turn the water pump on, and open all hot and cold water faucets on one at a time until you smell bleach coming out at each faucet.
Then close the faucets and let it sit for at least 12 hours.
Drain the system and re-fill the fresh water tank with fresh water.
Open all the faucets and run the water until you no longer smell any bleach. It may be necessary to repeat this step to remove all signs of bleach from the water system.
This is one of the most important step you can take to maintain your RV. It really is not a difficult task.
The first year we had our camper, I had someone help me and it went fairly quick, and I didn’t really feel like I learned enough to do it myself. I went ahead and used this handy guide. (http://www.rverscorner.com/rvwinterize.html) and it gave me the confidence to do it myself.
The key is to just take your time, do not be in a hurry and do it step by step. I felt very confident when I was done that the job was done right and would protect my RV all winter. Sure enough when spring came and we de-winterized the camper, everything was perfect.
There are some great videos that will also walk you though the winterization process. Here is one that does an excellent job of explaining the RV winterization process.
If you still feel uncomfortable doing your own winterization, be sure and take it to your local RV dealer and have them do it for you, while the process is not terribly hard, it does need to be done correctly to avoid damage to your RV.
