RV Living

RV Living

Setting up, staying safe and avoiding the mistakes that cost RV owners money, sleep and the occasional awning. Written for southern Alberta, where the wind has opinions.

At a glance: most RV trouble comes from rushing the setup, ignoring the wind, or letting water freeze. Slow down on arrival and on departure, and you avoid most of it.

Arriving and setting up

  • Walk the site first. Look for low branches, soft ground, the power pedestal and water connection before you back in.
  • Level side to side before you unhitch. It’s far easier with the tow vehicle still attached. Then level front to back with the tongue jack.
  • Chock before you unhitch. Every time, even on flat ground.
  • Stabilizers stabilize, they don’t lift. Using them to level can bend them or the frame.
  • Check the pedestal before you plug in. A plug-in surge protector or energy management system shows wiring faults before they reach your RV’s electronics.

Wind: the Lethbridge factor

Wind does more damage to RVs around here than almost anything else. An awning can be torn off in seconds by a gust you didn’t see coming.

  • Roll in the awning when you leave the site, and before bed. Don’t trust a calm evening.
  • Park nose into the prevailing west wind when you can. It’s quieter, and slides and awnings take less stress.
  • Bring in slide toppers and secure anything loose outside: chairs, mats, the barbecue lid.
  • Check gusts, not just average wind. See Wind in Lethbridge.
  • Driving in a strong crosswind with a high-profile trailer is dangerous. If gusts are high on Highway 3 or the QE2, waiting a few hours is often the smart choice.

Power, water and propane

  • Power: know whether your RV is 30 A or 50 A and carry the right adapter. Don’t run the air conditioner, microwave and water heater at once on 30 A.
  • Water: use a pressure regulator at the tap and a drinking-water hose. Campground pressure can be high enough to damage RV plumbing.
  • Sewer: keep the black tank valve closed until the tank is at least half full, then dump black before grey so the grey water rinses the hose.
  • Propane: check fittings with soapy water, never a flame. Make sure your propane and carbon monoxide detectors work, and test them at the start of every season.

Cold weather and winterizing

  • Fresh water lines can freeze on the first cold night of fall. Watch the overnight low, not the daytime high.
  • Winterize before the first hard frost: drain the tanks and water heater, bypass the heater, then blow out the lines or fill them with RV antifreeze.
  • If you camp in the cold, a heated hose, skirting and tank heaters make the difference between camping and repairing.
  • Keep the batteries charged over winter. A flat lead-acid battery can freeze and crack.

Mistakes to avoid

  • Driving away with the steps out, the antenna up or the power cord still plugged in. Use a written departure checklist.
  • Forgetting the breakaway cable or safety chains.
  • Overloading. Know your trailer’s weight and your truck’s towing and payload limits.
  • Ignoring tire age. RV tires often age out before they wear out. Check the date code.
  • Leaving the awning out overnight in Lethbridge.

From Gary’s own campsite

Tips from years of seasonal camping in southern Alberta, the things that have actually worked.

  • Get an awning that looks after itself. A self-retracting awning that closes on its own when the wind picks up has saved more than one weekend. Around here a gust can come out of nowhere while you’re away from the site.
  • Tie down like the wind means it. Heavy-duty tarps, 550 paracord guy lines with adjustable Prusik hitches, and long 10-inch spikes hold where light pegs and thin rope let go.
  • Carry the right water fittings. A small kit of hose adapters and fittings means you can hook up at any tap or pedestal, not just the ones that match your hose.
  • Keep drinking water separate. Use bottled or filtered water for drinking only, and separate jugs for washing and dishes. A gravity filter such as an MSR Guardian is good insurance.
  • Haul your own grey and black water if the pump-out is far or pricey. A macerator pump and a large tote let you move waste to the sani-dump yourself. On a seasonal site it can save a pump-out fee every time. Check your campground’s rules first, and use a tote and fittings made for the job.
  • Look after the tank sensors. Use a black-water treatment and flush the tanks well. Sensors that read “full” when they aren’t are usually just coated.
  • Raise the cot. Cot risers add storage space underneath and keep you up off the cold floor.

Go deeper

RV water connection kit

Every water hookup follows the same order: source → protection → pressure → filter → hose → RV. Build it that way every time and you avoid blown fittings, leaks, poor flow and bad water.

Know your threads
Almost all outside RV water gear is 3/4″ garden hose thread (GHT). The plumbing inside the RV is usually 1/2″ NPT, which doesn’t mate with GHT. When you buy fittings, check they say GHT.

The campground setup

  1. Spigot
  2. Backflow preventer (protects the park’s supply; some campgrounds require one)
  3. Pressure regulator, ideally adjustable with a gauge. Aim for about 40 to 50 psi. Campground pressure can spike well above that and burst RV fittings.
  4. Filter: a sediment filter then a carbon filter, or at least one inline carbon filter
  5. Drinking-water-safe hose
  6. 90° elbow at the RV’s city-water inlet, so the hose weight doesn’t crack the inlet

No hookup: tank and pump

On a dry site you can fill from a water tank in the truck with a 12-volt demand pump: tank → pump → hose-barb-to-GHT adapter → hose → RV. Use proper hose clamps on the barbs and put a shutoff valve right after the pump.

The minimum kit to carry

  • Adjustable pressure regulator with gauge
  • 90° elbow for the RV inlet
  • Y-splitter with shutoffs (one side to the RV, one for rinsing or filling jugs)
  • Two or three adapters: female-to-female, male-to-male
  • Inline shutoff valve
  • Inline filter and a spare cartridge
  • Two drinking-water hoses (a 7.5 m and a 15 m, or 25 ft and 50 ft) plus a spare
  • Hose barb adapters and clamps for a pump setup
  • Spare hose washers. A missing washer causes most drips.
Common mistakes
No pressure regulator. No elbow at the inlet. Cheap plastic fittings that crack in the cold. No spare adapter when the campground tap is an odd one. Using the drinking-water hose to rinse the black tank: keep a separate, different-coloured hose for that, and never swap them.
Southern Alberta weather notes
Freezing nights: from September to May a clear, calm night can freeze an outside hose and regulator. Disconnect and drain them at night, fill the fresh tank and run on the pump, or use a heated hose plugged in all night. Wind: keep hoses off the road and tied down so a gust doesn’t drag the elbow off the inlet. Sun: a hose lying in summer sun can run hot water for the first minute, so let it run before filling a kettle.

Before the first fill each season, sanitize the fresh water system and hoses following your RV maker’s instructions.

Keep reading

Last updated October 2026.

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