Froze Up

Nuffsaid

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 26, 2016
Messages
573
Location
Worland, Wyoming
I got caught a little off guard by winter, lol and my water line is frozen up in between my fresh water tank and the pump. We are glamping in my daughter’s front yard just west of Bozeman, MT, it snowed a couple inches Friday night and against better judgment when my wife asked me to turn off the diesel heater that blows into the belly because of the diesel smell, I did as asked. I didn’t realize how empty my fresh water tank was and in the morning, no water! I have had my furnace and diesel heater running non stop and still no luck with thawing the line. I have the diesel heater blowing into the belly right behind the water heater, but I don’t think the heat is making it back to the tank area. I can’t catch a break on the temps either, yesterday only got up to 20 for a high and -9 this morning. Come spring I will drop the corroplast and put a heat trace on that line! Just wondering if anybody has had this happen and how you got it thawed? I have been hooking up a water hose about midday for showers and to do dishes, but I have to put the hose away quickly so it doesn’t freeze. Trailer is a 2018 310gk
 
Thread moved to Winger/Cold Weather Camping.

First off, since the underbelly is not isolated from the interior of the trailer (the air returns under the bedroom/bathroom steps and under the pantry), you are at high risk for getting carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, and nitric oxide inside your living space by using the diesel heater to blow into the underbelly. We have encountered single-digit temps with high winds, but never as low as what you're talking about. While we've not had any freezing issues in our Solitude 310GK, we did have the water lines to the kitchen sink freeze in our Reflection 337RLS. I used electric heaters and a heat gun to thaw them before putting foam pipe insulation around them and adding more insulation to that part of the underbelly (the Reflections are not as well insulated as the Solitudes). A co-op, Tractor Supply, or some other agricultural business might have some solutions for you in terms of heaters for chicken coops, etc. Just be very careful of proximity of any heaters to other objects in the underbelly - especially insulation, etc. Sorry you're having these issues!

Rob
 
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Let's see if these work
 
I am finished with this project and I will give an overview. I determined that the fresh water heater was no longer working. I dropped the coroplast far enough to uncover the fresh water tank and supply line. What I found was pretty pathetic quality control from original construction. Under the water tank, two feet of foil barrier was folded back and none of it was under the drain area of the tank, same with the fiberglass batting. The heater duct was about two feet short of the tank drain and water line feed. This is where the tank was freezing up. No insulation at all under the drain valve. No wonder with tons of heat going into the belly it had no effect! Moving toward the rear of the trailer, almost every piece of batt insulation was 6-8 inches short leaving a great way for cold air to get on top of the insulation that was there and rendering the R45 rating to less than R-11! Large hole in coroplast and reflective foil above spare tire. I fixed all of these areas and added more fiberglass where ever it needed it including a full width piece of fiberglass up against the rear most frame crossmember where it butts up to the rear wall, but has about a 1 inch gap. I am very hopefull that all of these modifications will really help with winter camping. I also installed a new 11.8 amp fresh water tank heater from Ultraheat.com, it is 12x24 and has a very good reputation and a lifetime warranty. The factory heater is 78 watts and from what I could find online only rated for a 50 gallon tank max. The ultra heat pad is rated for a 75 gallon tank. The ultra heat pad should be close to 160 watts at 13.5 volts and it should be a big improvement. When I looked in the fuse panel it appears that all three tank heaters share one 15 amp fuse. For starters I replaced the 15 am fuse with a 20 amp fuse since the supply wires are 12 gauge. I might add that reinstalling the fiberglass batting and coroplast was a little bit of a pain. Since these trailer are built with the frame upside down where installing the batting is easy, no so much so when lying on ones back in the gravel! I removed all of the batting from the water tank back and reinstalled it correctly. I needed something to hold the insulation in place until I could reinstall the coroplast and I came up with attaching pieces of duct tape from the crossmember directly behind the water tank to the rear bumper. Installed 5 of these at equar distances under the frame and they worked great at holding up the fiberglass. Reinstalling the coroplast was a different kind of PIA because I think the coroplast shrunk from the cold temps so none of the original holes would line up with the holes in the frame and cross members. I used a sharp awl to find the holes in the frame and they were off by about one inch. Slowiy I got the coroplast back in place including unfolding the reflective barrier and the fiberglass matting so it totally covered the bottom of the water tank and completely encased the drain valve. I also stretched the two in heater duct to within a couple of inches of the water line to tank connection. I have a lot of confidence that I will be able to handle sub zero temps without freezing up now! I sealed up cuts in the coroplast with some eternabond tape and some butyl rubber caulking. My next insulation job might be to insulate the front storage compartment. I have already added fiberglass above the storage area where the batting was short and allowed cold to come up through the bedroom floor. Again the batting was 5-6 inches short across the entire area.
 
Thread moved to Winger/Cold Weather Camping.

First off, since the underbelly is not isolated from the interior of the trailer (the air returns under the bedroom/bathroom steps and under the pantry), you are at high risk for getting carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, and nitric oxide inside your living space by using the diesel heater to blow into the underbelly. We have encountered single-digit temps with high winds, but never as low as what you're talking about. While we've not had any freezing issues in our Solitude 310GK, we did have the water lines to the kitchen sink freeze in our Reflection 337RLS. I used electric heaters and a heat gun to thaw them before putting foam pipe insulation around them and adding more insulation to that part of the underbelly (the Reflections are not as well insulated as the Solitudes). A co-op, Tractor Supply, or some other agricultural business might have some solutions for you in terms of heaters for chicken coops, etc. Just be very careful of proximity of any heaters to other objects in the underbelly - especially insulation, etc. Sorry you're having these issues!

Rob

Just for clarification, the diesel heater is vented to the outside, only clean air blows into the living area.
 

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