Freezing pipes and holding tanks

As Winter approaching i want to extend my RV season and search for a solution for avoiding froze over pipe and holding tanks.

The best solution i have found so far is some Heating Pads , glued on the tanks and pipes/elbows.
protection up to minus 24C (more than i need)

like:http://youtu.be/yKbMUxZbxTM

http://www.annodindustries.com/shop/tank-heaters

But Our Unity are factory Urethane sprayed Making the installation quite more difficult...

Have someone know a way to prevent freezing while having all the tanks operational. with those pad or some kind of enclosure...


BTW Winnebago offer those pad in their 2014 line-up.. if i only knew i would have asked LTV to put those before the urethane....

Hmmmm, I have a 2014 TB model on order for delivery next year. Do you really think LTV would install heater pads before spraying the polyurethane on? Also I wonder whether the polyurethane spray might inhibit the effectiveness of the heater pads? Mark

Thinking outside the box a bit... flush the toilet with some pink antifreeze in it as well as the regular water. Close your freshwater system entirely and use jugs.

Or... if you are stationary, put a skirt around the whole van and run an extension cord with several 100 watt lightbulbs around under it.

Use potable antifreeze. The colder it is, the more you need to use. I hqv used mine close to zero F.

Icarus

MarkCooperstein said:

Hmmmm, I have a 2014 TB model on order for delivery next year. Do you really think LTV would install heater pads before spraying the polyurethane on? Also I wonder whether the polyurethane spray might inhibit the effectiveness of the heater pads? Mark

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I dont know if they will do it but if i have been knowing that those pad was available , for sure, i would have asked LTV to install it! (english verb are hard lol)

Winnebago offers then now and plenty of other manufacturer of Class A MH.

Now for the urethane spray.... on the contrary, it should be even more effective since the heating pad is directly on the rotocast holding tank.. THEN sprayed.... So the insulation should enhance the heat retention...
Considering that the temperature where Urethane begin to melt/act funny is 350F

MarkCooperstein said:

Hmmmm, I have a 2014 TB model on order for delivery next year. Do you really think LTV would install heater pads before spraying the polyurethane on? Also I wonder whether the polyurethane spray might inhibit the effectiveness of the heater pads? Mark

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BTW If you ever ask them (LTV) you can tell them DANY Says HI
I think they pretty know me very well by now.

SullyVan said:

Thinking outside the box a bit... flush the toilet with some pink antifreeze in it as well as the regular water. Close your freshwater system entirely and use jugs.

Or... if you are stationary, put a skirt around the whole van and run an extension cord with several 100 watt lightbulbs around under it.

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I know those workaround but i find them more like a last resort solution....

We have pretty much the best product (Sprinter based) MH.... I see my MB as a luxurious hotel room on wheel and having heating pipe/tanks and not having to worry about it (those pad come alive when the temperature is about 7C /44F ... and are effective to very cold temperature (-22c/-7F)
Those pad even work when you drive down the road....

For those living in warmer climate, that option make little sense but up here we experience 2 night of freezing temperature already...

Makes sense. I understand your perspective looking for a more elegant solution.

However, I might suggest it is not the best product because they did a bad job with the design and engineering. My Sprinter based RV, self built, has fully functional plumbing in any temperatures, tested down to -7F.

I designed it correctly, with plumbing inside... which does not freeze in cold weather.

Personally I expect that the tanks are the least of your freezing problem. It is the pipes and dump valves that will freeze first. For my first years of RVing I invariably did a lot of travel in VERY cold weather in the Dakotas. (every trip to and from AZ included at least one blizzard along the way... and temps below zero...) I never found it any big deal to travel with the rig winterized. Flush the toilet with the pink stuff or use "wag bags," and bottled water for everything else.

mumkin said:

Personally I expect that the tanks are the least of your freezing problem. It is the pipes and dump valves that will freeze first. For my first years of RVing I invariably did a lot of travel in VERY cold weather in the Dakotas. (every trip to and from AZ included at least one blizzard along the way... and temps below zero...) I never found it any big deal to travel with the rig winterized. Flush the toilet with the pink stuff or use "wag bags," and bottled water for everything else.

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^ This is what I would do if I were traveling to or from a cold climate. Very simple and no freezing to worry about.
If a person was going to spend a lot of time in cold areas then they should be getting an RV specially prepared for that use.

2whlrider said:

^ This is what I would do if I were traveling to or from a cold climate. Very simple and no freezing to worry about.
If a person was going to spend a lot of time in cold areas then they should be getting an RV specially prepared for that use.

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Dont know any Sprinter based MH made for winter....
My choice would have been GT24 in a heartbeat but 10-12 MPG is kinda low...

Just want to extend my Season till end of october and i will face some freezing temp for sure....
We cannot NOT take at the very least one Shower per day.
Pink stuff make my eyes burn a little lol

Custommm said:

Dont know any Sprinter based MH made for winter....
My choice would have been GT24 in a heartbeat but 10-12 MPG is kinda low...

Just want to extend my Season till end of october and i will face some freezing temp for sure....
We cannot NOT take at the very least one Shower per day.
Pink stuff make my eyes burn a little lol

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I understand the one shower a day thing for sure...lol, but looking at all the exposed water and waste lines under my RV I'm thinking it would be difficult to insulate them. I'd be much less worried about the holding tanks.

A pretty good substitute for that shower are the wipes that they make for bathing the bedridden. Daily showers are a rather modern requirement that our parents and grandparents would never have considered. I started using them for RVing... and they are also great for washing dirty dog feet.

mumkin said:

A pretty good substitute for that shower are the wipes that they make for bathing the bedridden. Daily showers are a rather modern requirement that our parents and grandparents would never have considered. I started using them for RVing... and they are also great for washing dirty dog feet.

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Good idea. I haven't thought of using them for that.


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mumkin said:

A pretty good substitute for that shower are the wipes that they make for bathing the bedridden. Daily showers are a rather modern requirement that our parents and grandparents would never have considered. I started using them for RVing... and they are also great for washing dirty dog feet.

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Baby wipes... you can't have an rv without them!

Re: Wipes
I have a small cruising boat without a shower and have found large adult thick wipes very useful. Besides hospital use they are marketed to backpack hikers. Some camping gear/supply stores carry them plus they can be found on line.

SullyVan said:

Baby wipes... you can't have an rv without them!

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We have wipes in the RV but haven't used them for bathing.....yet.
Good to have to clean up the hands after the diesel pump.

The most affordable place to buy adult sized wipes is at Wal-Mart... store brand. They come in giant packages.