Common RV Newbie Mistakes To Avoid Making

If you’re a newbie at RV living, then you will most likely run into some mistakes along the way.

Trust me, we have made plenty of mistakes and we haven’t even lived this life for a full year yet.

However, mistakes like these happen and they become a great learning lesson that you can keep in mind, as well as tell any others who are new to the RV lifestyle.

Have no fear though, because I’m going to give you a heads up on what mistakes we’ve made when it came to RV living.

Here are some common RV newbie mistakes to avoid making!

Make sure your valves are closed

It’s tempting to keep your valves open, especially when showering because the tank fills up so quickly. And though if you have to temporary keep the valves open for this reason, I feel like that’s ok, but PLEASE make sure your valves are CLOSED afterwards.

One of the biggest newbie mistakes we made was keeping the valves open for too long because it can dry out the tank inside.

And since there would be no water in the tank, the waste can easily stick to the tank and not flush out properly.

Cleaning out the tank was a nightmare (for my husband since I would have gagged) and you’re going to find yourself getting your hands……. dirty let’s just say.

Please make sure you have plenty of water in your tank, which is easy to do as long as you keep your valves closed. Only open them when you are emptying the black and grey tanks out.

Cleaning out your sewer hose

Whether you make it a weekly thing or a bi-weekly thing, it wouldn’t hurt to run water in your sewer hose to clean it out.

Waste can easily sit in the sewer hose and make it a difficult drain the tanks properly.

Luckily this hasn’t happened to us, but I’ve heard people’s toilets flood and although I’m not sure of the exact reason for this, it’s just best to run water in your sewer hose just to be on the safe side.

Especially during the winter months because that sh*t can literally freeze and sometimes insulation tape just isn’t enough.

Leaving the water heater on without water

This happened to us a lot when we’re moving to a new location and we leave the water heater on. We have already had to replace the water heater element once and sounds like we might have to do it again.

The water heater element can easily overheat if you don’t have water in the camper which usually happens when you leave your RV unattended for too long or if you are moving to a different location.

And I know you don’t want some water heater element to take out the system, so be sure to turn off your water heater before heading back out on the road!

Keep the fan tops down during rainy days

I know this is usually a no brainer, but I have totally forgotten to close the fan tops when it’s raining. We usually like to keep them up to air out the bathrooms, but there have been times where we just completely forget about them.

Last time this happened, it rained so hard that we had water on our floors.

Luckily, I caught it pretty early on before it got any worse.

But this is your fairy RV mother reminding you to close the fan tops when it starts to rain!