Help! We are Frozen no water

Howdy All,

We are camping in Williams and it is very cold. We ran the furnace all night it is warm enough inside to run around in your skivvies. The furnace is set to 68-70+ and still our fresh water tank has froze now what do we do. The pump just runs and runs and we have no water. The temp was only in the teens last night I thought this rig could handle the cold!

The fresh water tank is full.

HELP
!

if you have tank heaters use them. Next you'll need to put a small electric heater blowing towards the tank, behind the wall in the basement. thawing out the freshwater drain might help too, as the drain line is teed off the suction line for the pump.

this tread might help too: //heartlandowners.org/showthread.php?t=13556

Steve, it's probably the hose from the tank that is frozen. When you get back home call me and I can tell you how to fix it. Bob

How cold is it, we spend 2 weeks in ours that it was mostly in the 20's every night. We used the fireplace and the furnace. The Cyclone might have different duct, and furnace return air setup.

Cold

It got down to -4 to -11 last night its 29 right now. I removed the cover for the UDC and put a heater blowing down in that direction. I am now hooked up to city water so I am fine right now. We are going to have another cold one tonight. I might leave the city water hooked up and set it to trickle.

Gzopete said:

It got down to -4 to -11 last night its 29 right now. I removed the cover for the UDC and put a heater blowing down in that direction. I am now hooked up to city water so I am fine right now. We are going to have another cold one tonight. I might leave the city water hooked up and set it to trickle.

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Make sure that you also leave the grey tank open if you are going to trickle water, it is a real mess to fill the tanks over night with just a trickle. Might consider adding a heat tape to you faucet and fresh water hose.

Gzopete said:

It got down to -4 to -11 last night its 29 right now. I removed the cover for the UDC and put a heater blowing down in that direction. I am now hooked up to city water so I am fine right now. We are going to have another cold one tonight. I might leave the city water hooked up and set it to trickle.

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I would strongly advise against that. Tried it one time in north Texas and wound up with a 30 ft popsicle in the sewer hose. As the ice expanded, it cracked several connectors.
Also, did you leave your cabinet doors open overnight (under the sinks)? That could help with heat distribution around your pipes.

You are living a part of my life that I experience every day as it will stay well below freezing every night here. We are on city water with a heat taped hose. However there are times when we have had to use our water tank and like you said the pump will just keep running. What we did was to place a 1000 watt radiant heater below the water tank where the drain valve protrudes out of the underbelly. If the temperature does not get too much below freezing it will keep it warm enough for you to have running water.

I am perturbed at the design of our trailer since the heated underbelly is suppose to prevent this from happening. The water tank in our unit is so far back from the furnace that I feel the heat never gets there. In the spring I will go through the painful process of installing a tank heater. It never was an option on the Bighorn but I think that it should be.

Hopefully this will help.

We had a similar problem with our BH shortly after we purchased it. I took it back to the dealer and they found the water line coming from the water tank to the pump was touching the frame and it conducted the cold from the frame to the water line and it froze. They shortened the water line so it would not touch the frame plus installed foam insulation on all water lines behind the drop frame as that area does not get as much heat from the heat duct. They also extended the heat duct back into the belly a little more to get more heat towards the back area of the under belly. We have not had a problem since, but since we are now fulltimers we try and not stay any where it is super cold.

I also shortened the low point drain lines so they didn't stick out so far and wraped them with foam insulation as this was a source of freezing where they stuck out of the under belly. We haven't had a problem since, if you're still under warranty have them fix it as I did I pointed out that their ads stated how they had parked a BH in a freezer warehouse and ran the temp down to 0° and nothing froze, Heartland stepped up and took care of our problem. Good Luck.

Ron

I know there are a lot of people that may disagree but here is what I do.

It has been down to about 19* here and I have not had a problem with any water freezing. I have taken heat tapes and wrapped my fresh water line and the shore fauset. I covered the hose and heat tape with black 1" pipe insulation that runs up into the UDC.

In the basement I took out the one section of board connected to the UDC that closes off the basement and under belly. I took two 150 watt light bulbs in a Bayco 8-1/2" Clamp Light with Aluminum Reflector and hung them off the aluminum rafters in the basement. I have a wireless thermometer velcroed in the basement back behind the UDC. So far the temperature has never gotten below 50* in the basement and the freshwater line has not frozen. I leave my gray water valves open all the time, but I do not let a small flow of water run. I just use the shower and sinks normally.

I changed the outlet out for the microwave. Heartland put in a single plug receptacle. I replaced it with a 20amp dual receptacle. I plug in one electric heater there. I plug a heater in the slide out circuit. I plug one heater in the circuit that is under the bed and one in the bottom of the cabinet above the sink.

I am warm and my water has not frozen yet..

That is what I do and it works for me..

BC

Yes that is a good idea to talk to the dealer about warranty on this issue. I have been in the basement and taken a look at how the water line is run to the tank and I bet that is why it keeps freezing because it is touching the side rails. I may for now just try to slide some foam insulation down the pipe as it is too difficult right now to take my unit into the shop.

As for the city water hose, I would recommend getting a heat tape that is about 25 percent longer than the hose. Use the extra length to wrap the hose rather than just running down the length of it. I have had our breaker and GFCI trip a couple of times freezing the water line. Once back on it only takes about 45 minutes for it to thaw out. The heat tape from your link (Easy Heat) is what I recommend as that tape will actually get warm rather than just keeping it above freezing.

I fixed the GFCI problem by installing a separate one in our kitchen and removing it from the other GFCI circuit. In our unit there were 6 outlets being fed from the outlet in the bathroom. By adding another circuit and GFCI, it has eliminated the nuisance tripping. The extra GFCI cost me a whopping $16.95. I would recommend that Heartland change the way they do these circuits as there is just too many outlets connected to the bathroom GFCI.

We have a heavy duty heat tape with the thermostat out of the wrapped insulation on the line. That way if we are on 12V it is insulated and if on shore power the heat tape kicks in if needed.

Had problems with kitchen water lines freezing last winter. Lines were against frame so I moved them, put a thermometer under the sink into the underbelly, the temps were in the teens. To fix the problem I tapped into the back heater duct, put a tee in and ran a line over under the sink. Taped off the end and put a few small slices in the top to allow a small amount of heat out.The temps then climbed into the 50's and had no more problems. The heated underbelly is only good for the upper level of underbelly. good luck

BC,

Does the heat tape you are using say "not to be used on hose"? All tape I find gives this warning, not sure why since they never get much hotter than 70F.

I've done the same with the work light in the plumbing area.

5erWonk said:

BC,

Does the heat tape you are using say "not to be used on hose"? All tape I find gives this warning, not sure why since they never get much hotter than 70F.

I've done the same with the work light in the plumbing area.

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Well have had no problem and the instructions say:
Use only on steel, copper, ABS, PVC, CPVC or other plastic pipes rated for at least 140°F service. Do not use on pipes filled with fluids other than
water and do not use on fuel lines.
I am using the regular fresh water hose that has the blue stripe down the length. It is working for me... If it melts the hose or what ever I will let you know. But I don't think it is going to happen.

BC

Looks like a warning for hot water use. Cold should not be a problem.

I love my tank heaters and also Bob's mod for the heat in the underbelly! I'll have to do that when I have time - and better temps - someday. I use an industrial grade heat trace cable on the Cyclone and a 25' hose, never had a problem with anything melting.

As far as 'trickling' - a buddy did this last winter in Utah and left his gray tank opened. He woke up to a solidly frozen drain line and water running over in his sink and all over his SOB. Same guy a week earlier in Wyoming, showed me 2 gallons of RV pink stuff anti-freeze - frozen solid overnight in his truck!

I bought a 60' K&H heated hose recently for the Cyclone. Got back to Nebraska from spending Christmas in OKC with family and it was frozen solid! Got to checking it out and the built-in thermostat was not switching on. I cut the thermostat out, wired it direct and headed back to work. DW called me 10 minute later and said water was running. When temp subside, I'll wire in a better t-stat for it.

Here is a picture of a mod I made just the other day. This heater vent is just above my water tank. When I pulled the vent out and stick my hand down in the underbelly, it is cold down there. So much for a heated underbelly. Anyhow I attached a short extension to the vent and cut in two slots to provide some heat in the area. I think I am going to drop in a remote thermostat down there as I am interested in what the temperature is down there now.

On my Bighorn, the furnace does not put enough heat into the water tank area.
it is supposed to have a winter package but it isn't too well protected for "real cold".
All of the suggestions are good. especially putting a heater in the sub basement where all the tanks and plumbing are located. I mounted a small heater with a thermostat in the sub basement permanently. I fiddled with the thermostat until I got it where I wanted it and it keeps the sub basement nd my tanks warm even in the "real cold".
Be careful about leaving your water trickling! If your grey tanks are closed you will have a mess come morning! If you leave the drains open, the sewer hose will likely freeze solid, another mess!
By all means, leave your cupboard doors open under the sink to let warm air circulate.
Despite all the advertising, most RVs are simply not designed for extreme cold weather conditions!

Triber said:

...
Despite all the advertising, most RVs are simply not designed for extreme cold weather conditions!

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Mine is...now!!