There are some RV maintenance jobs you can do yourself, while others you may want to hand over to an RV specialist. We’ve learned that having a full-time job and renting out our RV continuously keeps us busy! Anything we can delegate to an RV specialist without leaving it for weeks at a time, we do. Regular RV maintenance can save you a lot of money and hassle in the long run, and it makes for a much smoother rental business. Here are a few maintenance checklists to help you keep track of your RV maintenance:
- Maintenance After Every Rental
- Monthly Maintenance Checklist
- Quarterly Maintenance Checklist
- Every 6 Months Maintenance
- Annual Checkup
Eliminating Terrible Smells
Wow, that smell! What died in the RV? After investigating the refrigerator and the freezer, we discovered the shrimp scampi box we had taken on our last vacation.
My husband removed the soggy cardboard box. A few letters were still visible on parts of the box, and showed that shrimp scampi once occupied the overhead freezer. Those sweltering 115-degree temperatures thawed, cooked, and disintegrated the little shrimpies over the summer months. I was too short to see it and never put my hands in to swipe blindly for items left behind at the end of our trip.
That will never happen again with my new, scheduled checks!
Our refrigerator catastrophe took about 2 years to remedy. During that whole time, I was reluctant to use it and didn’t even consider renting out the RV. We never opened the right-side freezer during that time, except to insert coffee grounds, apply baking soda to the inner walls of the freezer, or burn candles and wash the area with lemon juice. We left a sticky note on the outside panel saying, “If you open this you will be sorry.”
Perhaps a new refrigerator was the answer. But estimates of $5000 after parts, labor, and removing the back window for installation didn’t sound like a great idea either. In the end, professional ozone treatment and good ol’ time was the remedy.
My Checklist Guidelines
Feeling overwhelmed with your RV maintenance? This is the checklist we use. You can review your owner’s manual to confirm whether they have recommended times to perform services.
Our checklist is broken down into:
- After every rental
- Monthly
- Quarterly
- Every 6 months
- Annual checkup
Even though ours is a Class A motorhome, you can always make some adjustments to fit your travel trailer, 5th Wheel, or Class C. I also follow RVshare’s maintenance checklist.
1. Maintenance After Every Rental
RVshare has an online arrival form you can fill out when renters return. Explore every inch of your RV. Figure out if anything’s broken, what renters should be responsible for, and what you need to fix before the next rental. You have 72 hours to respond to RVshare with issues, although you do have more time to get an estimate. Submit your form. Occasionally things pop up that are easily missed, so it’s important to have a checklist to inspect bodywork and the inside of your RV.
After one inspection, I noticed the outside RV slide panel was cracked. Although small, it’s not how it was when the renter received it. Another time I noticed the RV awning wasn’t sitting flush against the RV body. Again, RVshare was able to recoup the slight damages, and the RV repair company realigned the awning.
Most Important Things to Check
- Awnings extend and retract flush to the RV
- Sewer hoses are present
- TV and radios work
- Cracks or chips in the windshield
- Windshield wipers don’t smear
- Slides retract and extend
- Tire wear & pressure
- Perishables & food in every cabinet
- Flush gray and black tank
- Fill propane
- Clean pots/pans/bedding
- Check for roof damage
- Clean refrigerator
2. Monthly Maintenance Checklist
My monthly maintenance is done if the RV is sitting idle or if we are getting ready for the next adventure.
Run the generator
Sometimes it takes two tries for our generator to prime. We let our renters know that’s normal for our coach. This also charges the batteries even though we keep our RV plugged in at the storage facility. We put a load on the RV generator to test it.
Flush the tanks
I used to suspect our renters didn’t empty the gray and black tanks, even when they told me they had. Keith used special cleansing agents and forceful spraying mechanisms when draining, but the gauge still read FULL. Finally, we took it in, and after a bit of money, learned we needed a new sensor for the tanks. Now we know it’s actually empty.
Stabilize & Check Tire Pressure
Stabilizing tire pressure can be tricky. Cold weather and driving can drop your tire pressure. We find it necessary to lower the tire PSI to avoid getting stuck in places like the sand dunes. We added a tire valve extension to reach both inner and outer tires which eliminates taking our RV to a service advisor to check pressures.
Check the RV voltage and the GFCI outlet
When we run the generator, we check that our GFCI outlet hasn’t tripped. Sometimes the outlet trips when you switch between the generator and the battery or 120V.
Check light bulbs for all the interior and exterior lights
We turn on our lights in the RV and make sure they haven’t burnt out. It’s easier to get them replaced on our routine maintenance rather than rushing to make sure they’re working before we deliver our rig to a customer.
Check slides are working and not getting stuck
Sometimes the heat can make the slides stick. Checking the slides also helps to see if any bolts have come unscrewed. One time, just before a rental, we noticed a metal object sitting on the floor…a bolt to the slide. My husband had to disembody the couch to see behind it and screw the bolt back on for the slide to work properly.
Tighten screws throughout the RV inside
As the RV shakes, rattles, and rolls, I seem to find a new screw that protrudes on each trip. Recently I noticed an irritating squeaking sound, one that would drive anyone crazy…but I was alone. Have you ever tried to drive an RV at the same time you’re trying to investigate where a noise was coming from? It doesn’t work. On our last RV maintenance check with the RV specialist, he had to tighten the screws that mounted the microwave, and, voila, the noise is now gone!
Oil changes
I schedule oil changes with our monthly maintenance because I review my handy calendar that shows how often the RV is scheduled to go out with renters. I figure out the average mileage based on the destination renters tell me, and plan for downtime with a service specialist every 4,000- to 6,000 miles.
Keep RV in storage
We keep our RV undercover to avoid sun damage. Being in Phoenix, this is hard to do with the harsh temperatures! Our RV storage facility also offers electrical hookups, so we can keep our RV hooked up to the electricity and manage our batteries.
3. Quarterly Maintenance Checklist
Filter changes
This includes filters for any water filtration system we have. We typically have the RV specialist clean and change any AC filters and oil filters.
Battery Checks
We check our battery and fluids quarterly but also know that they have been looked at by the specialist during our oil changes. If there is any hint of a battery issue, or if something is not holding a charge, we immediately replace it. The hot sun can do a job on vehicle batteries.
Check roof for damage
Every quarter we have the RV specialist review our roof for leaks, cracked molding around the AC units, vents, and fans. Without a ladder to the roof, we depend on the specialist to help with this. After a rental return, if there are any questions about roof damage, I run the RV in for a quick roof inspection.
Tire Review
Although we check our tire pressure frequently, we check the tread on the tires at least quarterly. This way we can budget when we might be needing new tires.
4. Every 6 Months Maintenance
Slide-out Seals
Although we open and close our slides monthly, we have the specialist lubricate the slides semi-annually. Heat tends to dry things up, so we have to maintain lubrication.
Rotate tires
To keep the tires in the best shape possible, we rotate ours every six months. If there are excess miles, we do this sooner than every six months. If we get a flat, there is no jacking up the chassis to change a tire. That’s like jacking up a semi-truck, so preventative maintenance is key!
5. Annual Checkup
Every year we have our air conditioning units serviced, and everything flushed and sealed. Living in Arizona, you don’t want to have even one of the AC units go out. The RV maintenance and repair shop offers a full 100-point inspection. It can be a hefty bill, but there’s no good time for a major engine or RV problem.
Some key points included in the annual inspection include:
- Checking plumbing and appliances
- Signs of leaks and exterior inspections
- Checking axels and welds
- Testing electrical wiring and the generator
It’s a good idea, once a year, to go through this task list and figure out a maintenance plan that works for you and your rental schedule. You can arrange it based on inspections before every trip, inspections each quarter, inspections every six months, inspections each year, and inspections after each rental.
No Need to Cringe Over Your RV Maintenance
Remember the importance of using a reputable RV specialist if you aren’t going to do the repairs and maintenance yourself. Also, check to see how long they will keep your RV for maintenance and if you have an extended warranty.
- Take your RV to a reputable RV specialist
We found out the hard way that when you take your RV in, you’ll want to tell them if everything is working great. You can request just a flush and regular service. On one of our checks, when we got the RV keys 2 weeks later, it wouldn’t shift into second gear as Keith drove out the shop driveway. The RV specialist tried to tell us that we informed them the transmission wasn’t shifting correctly when we brought it in for routine maintenance. A circle around the block, 7 months of waiting for a transmission part for our RV with 11,000 miles, and then a decision for a new $7,000 transmission finally got us back into the rental income-earning business.
RV maintenance doesn’t need to make you cringe if you have a plan in place. Make sure you have a specialist lined up for any repairs and maintenance you don’t want to do yourself, and keep up on the maintenance so that you don’t end up with RV maintenance problems.
How do you maintain your RV for your renters?
