Heat tape question

[RuralPastor]

We are looking at an extended season trip next fall/winter in the northern great plains area. I plan to make some underbelly changes with insulation, pulling lines away from frame, etc. I also plan to heat trace and insulate all the piping. If you had the option, would you consider 12 volt heat trace instead of 120 volt? Along with tank heaters, my reasoning would be that I would have protection while traveling to and from various set ups without extended usage of propane. Obviously, once set up, I would be able to use pedestal power. I already have a source for both 12 and 120 volt tape. Am I missing something here? Thanks a bunch for the help/opinions.

 

[TravelTiger]

RuralPastor,

We decided on 12V because the heading pads (UltraHeat) required they run on their own breaker/fuses. We didn't have any space in our breaker box, but did have some empty fuse locations. We used UltraHeat pipe heaters to wrap a number of water lines, then applied foam pipe insulation over them (ok'd by the manufacturer). We used them this winter for a week in Breckenridge, CO. The lowest temp was 11 degrees one night. We had zero issues with pipes freezing. We ran off the fresh tank (which had a heating pad), which we re-filled every other day. The rig was winterized (rv anti-freeze in the pipes) before we got to Breck, and we re-winterized again before we headed home. We did not run the pipe/tank heaters or furnace while traveling.

Hope this helps!