Frozen Water Lines and Cold Floor in '16 Cyclone 4150

[sccowboy]

I woke up this morning at 24 degrees. My water froze but only to my kitchen and 1/2 bath. I had my furnace running all night and didn't think anything would freeze. Now I have to wait for it to thaw, hopefully today when we get around 40, and figure out if I have any damage. I am running from the tank.

I have a 2016 Cyclone 4150 which i got only two months ago. I'm thinking maybe my underbelly is not being heated properly. Anyone have suggestions.

This is my first post so please bear with me.

Thanks
Ken

 

[danemayer]

Re: Below freezing

I woke up this morning at 24 degrees. My water froze but only to my kitchen and 1/2 bath. I had my furnace running all night and didn't think anything would freeze. Now I have to wait for it to thaw, hopefully today when we get around 40, and figure out if I have any damage. I am running from the tank.

I have a 2016 Cyclone 4150 which i got only two months ago. I'm thinking maybe my underbelly is not being heated properly. Anyone have suggestions.

This is my first post so please bear with me.

Thanks
Ken

Hi sccowboy,

The kitchen water line is typically the first to freeze when things start freezing. But 24 (F) is usually not cold enough to do so. You'll probably need to do a couple of things:

• Put a remote thermometer in the underbelly so you can monitor the temperature
• Take out the coroplast mounting screws along the side midships (use an impact wrench if possible) so you can see the kitchen water lines. If they're touching metal frame parts, that could be your problem. Pipe insulation will probably correct that.
• If you have low point drains, the water below the coroplast and above the drain valve will freeze and the ice can wick up into the tee, blocking the line. Either push the low point drain above the coroplast or put heat tape on it.
• Check the placement of the 2" duct into the underbelly and make sure it's not disconnected from the furnace or pinched somewhere.

We have an owner-written Water Systems Winter Usage Guide that has additional information you may find helpful. Here's a link. You can also get there by clicking on TOOLS at top of page and selecting HUG - Heartland User Guides.

 

[sccowboy]

Re: Below freezing

Thanks for the advice. I'm having service done now but I did put a remote thermometer in the underbelly as you suggested. After they fixed the furnace I monitored the temperature and it stayed very close to what the interior temperature was (65). However i had the same issue with the kitchen and 1/2 bath getting no water. We did find that a valve that Heartland installed outside all insulated places for the ice maker that broke while the water system was pressurized. Why we have a 1/4 inch clear tube outside is beyond me. Heartland said I should have cutoff the ice maker. I didn't find anywhere in a manual and wasn't told about that valve during the PDI. Now I have to pay for that to be fixed. We now believe that I do have an insulation problem. My floor is very cold in the kitchen leading me to believe a lack of insulation is causing the kitchen to freeze even though I have heat in the underbelly. Each time I call Heartland I get different answers for the same question depending on who I talk to. Very frustrating. And I have to pay to have the tech check for the proper insulation unless they find that its missing. Trying to be patient and understanding but its getting hard. Love the unit hate dealing with the issues.

Update

As of today, 2/6/16, and after many e-mail this problem continues. I had a dealer take down part of the underbelly and found there is no insulation under my unit. Pictures were taken and sent to Heartland. Before I bought this unit I specifically asked about insulation and was told, in writing by email, that all 2016 Cyclones had the insulation. This was confirmed by the Heartland rep over the phone with me. Heartland service section insist my 2016 was built before the change was made while Heartland Sales said it was made after the change. In either case a 2016 is a 2016 in my mind and I was told it was standard. I have never been so frustrated and now find myself at a point when I'm being forced to take legal action or eat nearly $4,000.00 to make it right. I am withholding the dealers name at this point to give them one final chance to fix my issue.

 

[TravelTiger]

Re: Below freezing

Thanks for the advice. I'm having service done now but I did put a remote thermometer in the underbelly as you suggested. After they fixed the furnace I monitored the temperature and it stayed very close to what the interior temperature was (65). However i had the same issue with the kitchen and 1/2 bath getting no water. We did find that a valve that Heartland installed outside all insulated places for the ice maker that broke while the water system was pressurized. Why we have a 1/4 inch clear tube outside is beyond me. Heartland said I should have cutoff the ice maker. I didn't find anywhere in a manual and wasn't told about that valve during the PDI. Now I have to pay for that to be fixed. We now believe that I do have an insulation problem. My floor is very cold in the kitchen leading me to believe a lack of insulation is causing the kitchen to freeze even though I have heat in the underbelly. Each time I call Heartland I get different answers for the same question depending on who I talk to. Very frustrating. And I have to pay to have the tech check for the proper insulation unless they find that its missing. Trying to be patient and understanding but its getting hard. Love the unit hate dealing with the issues.

Sorry to hear of your woes. We decided to pull the underbelly down and look at adding heat pads, made by Ultraheat, to lines that might freeze since we like to take our rig skiing. While we did that, we found that some water lines are right next to and up against the metal frame, which conducts cold to the water lines. We then just added foam pipe insulation over any lines we could see and get to to help this.

Although you should not have to do this, it may be something to think about doing if you expect to be in cold climates often. Fix it yourself and it's done, never to be an issue.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[danemayer]

Re: Below freezing

We did find that a valve that Heartland installed outside all insulated places for the ice maker that broke while the water system was pressurized. Why we have a 1/4 inch clear tube outside is beyond me. Heartland said I should have cutoff the ice maker. I didn't find anywhere in a manual and wasn't told about that valve during the PDI.

Sorry to hear this. We have a collection of owner-written user guides, including one on Winterizing, which includes instructions on how to winterize a Dometic refrigerator. Norcold is similar. We also have a Residential Refrigerator Guide that has specifics on how to winterize those units. In all cases, evacuating the water from the ice maker water feed line is a critical part of winterizing. Even if you are full time, when temps drop, as you found out, the water feed line needs to be winterized.

Here's a link to the folder with the user guides. You can also get there from the TOOLS tab at top of page, by selecting HUG - Heartland User Guides.

 

[jbeletti]

Re: Below freezing

... Why we have a 1/4 inch clear tube outside is beyond me...

Because the refer is in a slide room, the water line has to be able to slide in and out with the slide. As such, the water line is outside under the slide along with power wires for the ac outlets in that slide.

Sorry you were not made aware of this and to guard against it freezing.

One option for you is to remove the line and not replace it. Downside is no ice maker. But no worries about the line freezing again.

I am in Florida this week and it won't be freezing here during my stay but I winterized the ice maker line before I left home as I'll be on a 2.5 month trip across 10 states and I will see plenty of freezing weather. I'll turn the water back on for this line later in the spring. This may be an option for you going forward as well. I used compressed air to winterize my line.

 

[DaddoChief]

I have a 30 ft. rear kitchen Northtrail . We bought this camper new in 2014. We have used it several times since it was purchased. We used it in 2015 several times but the last time we went camping, we had a water leak in the rear of the camper. The kitchen drawers were damp. Most of the water was coming out of the back of the camper. We haven't had any freezing weather prior to discovery of the leak. The fresh water hookup is on the rear of the camper. Where should I look and what kind of connections could be loose?

 

[jimtoo]

Hi DaddoChief,

Welcome to the posting side of the forum.

If your kitchen is in the rear and you have some drawers damp, I would be looking under the sink or cabinet where the dampness is. Most likely a connection at the sink. Remove some drawers and let us know what you find.

Jim M