How to Exercise your RV

So you have an RV.   It has some combination of heater/furnace, air conditioning, generator, engine, transmission.  Those system are used in different combinations, different times of the year, or sometimes not at all depending on your RV use. But no matter what, you want to make sure those systems stay in good working order even when not being used regularly.

To keep these systems humming along and ready to work when you need them, you should maintain them with regular exercise, and with standard maintenance.

Exercise your RV? 

Yep, think about it.  If you have a motor home and it's parked most of the time, the engine, its oil, its fuel, they're just sitting there idle, potentially breaking down over time.  If you have a generator but typically are connected to "shore power", it's not being used. Same as above... it has fuel and oil contained inside that needs to be regularly burned, moved, and used so it stays in good working order.  Your propane furnace, your hot water heater, your air conditioning units... they all need to be exercised periodically to maintain their seals and systems.

So a simple thing to do is mark your calendar for the 1st of every month as RV maintenance day! Start up your engine. Start up your generator.  Run your furnace.  Run your hot water. Run your AC... let them all run 30 - 60 minutes (60 recommended for gas/diesel systems to flush old fuel out of the lines).  This will help things stay lubricated, flushed and working well.

Maintain your systems

The other thing of course is to have things regularly maintained by an expert.  Camping World offers a yearly preventative maintenance package, but other RV shops likely have something similar they can recommend.  Check all vital systems, seals, change the oil on engines, clean/replace filters and more.  Check the roof status and seals, the slide-outs... Having this type of service done once a year should keep you putting right down the road, or enjoying your rolling home all year long!