water freezes in the supply line

I have an 08 3010 that I use year round and when the night temps dip below freezing the supply line freezes but it will unthaw when the temps rise. What can be done to help this? I have come to the conclusion that when temps stay below freezing I will have to have a 50 gal. barrel in the garage with some type of heat. Hook the winterizing bypass valve to the barrel inside the trailer and blow out the lines after use.
 

htneighbors

Unbelievably Blessed!
You can use heat tape and insulation on your supply hose. You also could add heating pads to your holding tanks and use your on-board fresh water tanks instead of having a hose connected all the time.
 

Goldenwingers

goldenwingers
Like htneighbors said With my Landmark I found that if I fill the tanks when it is going to freeze and set the valves to draw from the tank and turn on the water pump but stay hooked up to city water as long as I have pressure from the supply line it furnishes water to the trailer but if the water line freezes and the pressure drops the pump will kick in and pump water from the fresh water tank. I am not sure if the other models will operate like this but it works on my Landmark.

Don
 
I guess I should have mentioned that it was the supply line from fw tank to the pump that freezes. I thought that the 5ers had heat in the belly. The 3010 TT has no heat vents to the belly and only covered with black corrugated plastic. I wonder if it would do any good because it is not sealed good.
thanks for your input.
bruce
 

Oldlthrneck

Just an Old Jarhead
According to the Heartland site, All of the Cyclones have enclosed and heated underbellys. I would take this to the dealer and have it checked out. There really isn't a vent for the underbelly, it is just a air tube duct that lays on the floor behind the wall. It may be that the tube is obstructed in some way. You could look behind the wall should be an easy fix.
Fred
 

Luckyhat12

Active Member
I have been digging under my camper all weekend trying to insulate it for winter. I found that the supply line from the fresh water tank to the pump is right next to the frame going under a cross member that puts the hose laying against the corrugated plastic underbelly with no insulation underneath it. It is sandwiched at the very bottom outside of the insulation area so there really isn't much heat getting to it. I will be insulating that hose with pipe insulation and trying to find a better way to route it but I don't think that is possible. There is a hole cut out through that crossmember where the fill hose goes but there isn't enough room for the feed lines to go through there. I haven't figured out if I can drill another hole through the cross member because it may weaken that member.

I also took the time to attach cross braces to the frame underneath and I have cut the under belly plastic into 4 sections so that I can work with it. I found that almost all of the valves and plumbing in my 3795 are together in a single 3ft section of the camper so I put a steel stud under there on both sides of the plumbing so that I could section that part out and insulate it separately. I am going to be installing rigid foam insulation under the bottom and leaving most of it there permanantly and securing it with extra screws.

I haven't taken any pictures but if I get the camera out I will try to take some later this week. It will be dark because of the time change but I need to have it completed before next weekend.
 

bigredtruck

Well-known member
The Cyclones do have an enclosed and heated underbelly but have no insulation. We have done the same as Chris (LuckyHat 12) and installed rigid insulation the whole length of the trailer. Hopefully that will help us as we use ours all year round as well. It's just the City supply we have to worry about now and a trip to Home Depot should fix that.
 
main water tank bypass

I had it out in freezing temps again and noticed it froze not only the inlet but on the outlet side too. It did warm up enough to thaw and get it drained. the next time put the 50 gal barrel in garage and ran a hose to the bypass. To avoid freezing on the outlet side I blew the water out of the lines before bed. That worked fine, but I forgot to switch the heater bypass back and it took me awhile to figure why I had no hot water. I hate those brain cramps. The hose is a little pain, but we are able to flowing water.
 

DW_Gray

Well-known member
Fresh water tank supply line frozen

Where or how is the underbelly heated? I'm in NC now and have not had any water all day. It got up to 33 degrees for about 30 minutes. I varified the pump is working and the lines near the pump are okay. It appears the line from the tank is frozen. I tried running hot water down the line but that did not work. Is there some other way to get heat to the fresh water tank?
 

2010augusta

Well-known member
I did some digging around a few days ago and found the our fresh water tank is over the axles and the pump is behind the UDC, so that is about 10 feet if it is a straight shot. I did find that a few of the heater vent, if removed from the floor allow alot of access to the lines and the tank. you might try removing the vent and placing a electric heat there and blow more hot air since the tank is so far away from the heat area of the basement.
 

htneighbors

Unbelievably Blessed!
It is my understanding that the underbelly gets it's heat when the furnace is running. Just turn your heater up and see if that'll thaw it.
 

DW_Gray

Well-known member
Water supply line frozen

I just came back in after checking the underbelly. I found the water supply line coming from the tank and it is frozen solid. As for the supposed heat from the furnace to heat the underbelly and keep the water supply line hose from freezing, well that will never happen the way mine is installed. The supply line lies on top of the plastic sheeting attached to the underbelly frame. It is basically fully exposed to the open air. The supply line is nowhere near the heat ducting and there is no insulation.

Now I have to start thinking of some ideas how to improve this situation.

The other thing I noticed is the cheep plywood sheeting the water tank is lying on is bowing down very much. It doesn’t look like it would take very much for the full water tank to bust through.
 

caissiel

Senior Member
If its the same as the BC the air around the UDC is at room temperature. A fan might just be required to push some hotter air toward the tank.

My tanks are all Imperial Capacity and I have to check them all for proper support, Imperial Gallons are 20% heavier then US Gallons. I had to reinforce supports of the Graywater tank under the Backwater tank because the combined weight of the 2 tanks were bending one of the angles.
 

DW_Gray

Well-known member
If its the same as the BC the air around the UDC is at room temperature. A fan might just be required to push some hotter air toward the tank.

My tanks are all Imperial Capacity and I have to check them all for proper support, Imperial Gallons are 20% heavier then US Gallons. I had to reinforce supports of the Graywater tank under the Backwater tank because the combined weight of the 2 tanks were bending one of the angles.

Considering there is a lot of open space in the underbelly and plenty of holes I don't think a simple fan will do much of anything but blow cold air around. There has to be a lot of forced hot air under there to thaw the frozen pipe. I just hope it hasn't been cracked or split somewhere.

Also, it appears the Cyclone has two water tanks connected by a pipe.
 

DW_Gray

Well-known member
It warmed up enough today to thaw the line. Everything is working fine now and I haven't seen any leaks. When I get to Florida, I will look into some kind of modification. Now I'm waiting on the the awning replacement to arrive and instillation.
 

lwmcguir

Well-known member
Another poster a couple days ago has pictures of the plywood breaking under the tanks. Sounds like something ever-one with those particular units should check out.
 

pickuphunt

Active Member
Freeze

If you leave the water run a little bit during the freeze, be sure to leave your tank valve open. RV's don't have an 'overflow' in the sinks like our house sinks do.
 

SpaGuru

Member
A small trouble light or a small space heater mounted in the area, under there, could provide enough heat to prevent a freezup...
 
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