water tank frozen

[PM3579]

Does anyone have any suggestions on keeping your fresh water tank from freezing in the winter? The furnace will take care of the plumbing inside the pup but I am some what concerned about the tank and plumbing below.Late November and early December in northern Indiana & southern Mich can get pretty cold. I've given some thought to electric heat tape but not sure how much to use and how to mount it to the tank. Thanksgiving last year we had already winterized so we put a five gallon water jug inside for water. It was a good thing since it was in the upper teens at night and low 20's during the day. I would like to be ready for late season camping this year, any suggestions?

[wavery]

Does anyone have any suggestions on keeping your fresh water tank from freezing in the winter? The furnace will take care of the plumbing inside the pup but I am some what concerned about the tank and plumbing below.Late November and early December in northern Indiana & southern Mich can get pretty cold. I've given some thought to electric heat tape but not sure how much to use and how to mount it to the tank. Thanksgiving last year we had already winterized so we put a five gallon water jug inside for water. It was a good thing since it was in the upper teens at night and low 20's during the day. I would like to be ready for late season camping this year, any suggestions?

Move to So California  :S ......

j/k .....sorry, I couldn't resist.

[PattieAM]

Options might include:

skirting around your PUP and a drop light under the PUP

making hooks under your PUP and attaching an electric blanket

Some of the available heat tapes on the market specifically state they are to be used on copper or metal piping vs. plastics....so ?

[sacrawf]

When camping with nights substantially below freezing, the first thing to freeze up is the feed line between the tank and the floor and the grey water drain hose.  I suspect that before the whole water tank would freeze up, the valve area and fresh water hose feeding into the camper may have burst or cracked from the expansion.

I winterize the popup fresh water system with RV antifreeze after the first substantial frosts, and then go camping as late as I can into the early winter using using gallon bottles of water stored in the camper.  With having the camper already winterized, you can camp as late into the season you want without worry about winterizing on your return in adverse weather or potential damage to the camper.  I do the same in early spring after having experienced fresh water lines freezing up during an Easter camp in Southern Indiana.

I do go ahead and use the grey water drain. I used to complain about my wife having to bring a hair drier, but it has been very useful in unthawing the water lines. I have had to remove the grey water hose and thaw in a heated bathhouse to get the ice cleared.

Does anyone have any suggestions on keeping your fresh water tank from freezing in the winter? The furnace will take care of the plumbing inside the pup but I am some what concerned about the tank and plumbing below.Late November and early December in northern Indiana & southern Mich can get pretty cold. I've given some thought to electric heat tape but not sure how much to use and how to mount it to the tank. Thanksgiving last year we had already winterized so we put a five gallon water jug inside for water. It was a good thing since it was in the upper teens at night and low 20's during the day. I would like to be ready for late season camping this year, any suggestions?

[tlhdoc]

I camp all year long.  I use my cassette potty and re-winterize it at the end of every trip.  I use the sink drain and re-winterize it at the end of each trip.  I don't use the on board water system during the winter.  I have a hot pot for making hot water and I use jugs of water.  Some RV's come with heated holding tanks, but the water lines are not heated (at least not that I know of).  I don't think you would get away with using the water system in the winter, unless you put a heat source under the camper and skirt the camper to keep the heat in.  Good luck and let us know what you decide.

[dthurk]

I'm approaching this from a TT perspective, but can't see that popup water systems would be constructed substantially differently.  If you have a fresh tank slung under the floor, it should be positioned between major framing members underneath the camper and should not extend below the lowest point of the frame.  I would think that you should be able to enclose just that portion of the framing underneath that the water tank is build into.  At that point, a light socket with a 60 watt bulb placed near the water tank should be more than enough to keep the water tank from freezing down to rather low temps.  Make sure the bulb doesn't touch anything.  The fill tube from the tank into the camper should go directly up from the tank through the floor into the camper and so shouldn't be a problem as long as the tank remains unfrozen.  You should have no fresh water plumbing lines running anywhere under the camper, they should all be above floor level. If you have a water heater, keeping the water heater on should keep the compartment warm enough to keep the plumbing lines there from freezing.  If you keep the camper itself warm, the water lines in the camper should also not freeze until teens or lower temps.
 
  In the end, it might be easier to do a tlhdoc does and just use a cassette toilet or porta pottie and the sink drain directly to a bucket outside.  Empty the bucket before going to sleep at night.
 
  Wavery's suggestion would work, but I'd suggest Florida, maybe the Keys.  You could start driving now.  By the time you get there, hurricane season will be over.  

[PM3579]

Thanks for all the feed back folks. Wavery I'm a bitter gun owner, I think I'll stay in Indiana,the only thing liberal around here is our gun laws.PattieAM you are correct about metal pipes and heat tape. We tend to camp in state parks or boondock,we don't have a cassette potty so that is not an issue. Sooo we will likely winterize the fresh water system and carry a five gallon jug inside for water,and re winterize the gray water drain after each trip. The lower portion of the fresh water tank sits kind of low on an 06 Santa Fe, well below the frame. I may give some thought to covering the tank with DOW Foamular pink rigid insulation. I am going to do some testing with heat tape on metal straping the same dimensions as the straps on the pup. I plan on attaching the tape with Eterna-Bond. I think the Eterna-Bond will take the heat and hold, we will see. I think the big question will be the degree of heat transfer on the metal straping. Again thanks for all your thoughts. :usflag: