Recirculating Pump to Prevent Frozen Lines

[rxbristol]

Is anyone using a recirculating pump to prevent frozen water lines? An Ecocirc was recommended by an RVer that winters in cold areas.

 

[Chippendale]

Rex, wouldn't you have to re-plumb your trailer in order to accomplish this, wouldn't it have to be a loop from the pump to the most distant point and then back to the pump in order to get the circulation? Maybe I am missing something. I have thought about installing basic AC light fixtures behind the basement wall where most of the plumbing is and also in the front storage compartment where your batteries are and have a toggle switch somewhere on the basement wall to turn them on and off. Or even better for you tech guys, have some sort of app on your phone so you could turn them on and off from where ever you were. When I was boating, because we used them all winter long, rather than winterizing two V-8 engines and a generator, for the occasional bad, to us, cold spell, we would hang a 100 to 100+ watt light bulb down in the engine compartment and never had any problems. But then we were in Central Texas and not North Dakota.

 

[farside291]

Is the furnace not enough to keep the basement from freezing. Also, leaving a faucet running, is that enough to keep the lines from freezing?

 

[rxbristol]

Rex, wouldn't you have to re-plumb your trailer in order to accomplish this...

It would be simple to install under the sink (assuming this is the farthest from the water heater) and just requires a "T" between the cold and hot incoming lines to the sink. It has a timer than can be used or simply plug and un-plug it's electrical supply as needed.

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Is the furnace not enough to keep the basement from freezing. Also, leaving a faucet running, is that enough to keep the lines from freezing?

Most of us with bigger rigs have plenty of insulation and a heated under-belly, but others do not. Leaving the faucet running is not an option where parks shut off their water at night during freezing temperatures. I manage the water system at our current location and we started shutting off water at night because of individuals running their faucets. It was sending 3,000 gallons of water directly into the waste lagoon every night (90,000) gallons of water per month. With little evaporation during the winter the lagoon was quickly filling up due to the wasteful practice of running faucets. It's better to have a heated hose, use lights and run the propane more to keep pipes from freezing.

 

[Chippendale]

It would be simple to install under the sink (assuming this is the farthest from the water heater) and just requires a "T" between the cold and hot incoming lines to the sink. It has a timer than can be used or simply plug and un-plug it's electrical supply as needed.

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A lot of trailers have washer/dryer connections up in the front cap, and some toy haulers and bunk houses have rear bath rooms. Maybe I am just dense, but it looks to me that it would be a major project to make it work properly. I think it would be a lot easier to just go south for the winter and try and stay out of cold weather.

 

[rxbristol]

It would be simple to install under the sink (assuming this is the farthest from the water heater) and just requires a "T" between the cold and hot incoming lines to the sink. It has a timer than can be used or simply plug and un-plug it's electrical supply as needed.

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A lot of trailers have washer/dryer connections up in the front cap, and some toy haulers and bunk houses have rear bath rooms. Maybe I am just dense, but it looks to me that it would be a major project to make it work properly. I think it would be a lot easier to just go south for the winter and try and stay out of cold weather.

 

[travelin2]

I have a 75w brooder lamp focusing on the water pump, lines and back of UDC. In conjunction with the furnace running that space stays well above freezing
Yesterday and last night was below freezing here at Palacios TX. Thermometer in belly says 54*...

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[Kathi-27]

here in Atlanta its 18 and under belly is 42. the basement storage is 50 degrees. have heated water hose. have not had a problem yet. awhile back got down to 13 was 38 in under belly and 45 in storage. t stat set at 71

 

[danemayer]

Having the underbelly 35 degrees above ambient temp is pretty amazing. Most people are probably 20 or less.

 

[Kathi-27]

Having the underbelly 35 degrees above ambient temp is pretty amazing. Most people are probably 20 or less.

it runs around 18-24 degree diff from ambient temp so for. added 1/2 insulation board on top of belly cover. changed out 2 inch duct to underbelly to 3 inch ran it all the way back to fresh water tank. put cuts in every 4 feet, capped end and drilled some small holes to blow some air on tank. have remote tstat by tank. made a big diff. first cold spell last year was only about 10 degree diff. wanted alittle more insurance.

 

[Lynn1130]

I guess it depends upon how low you think it might go where your are staying. I just finished an elk hunt where we had early AM temps 3 days in a row of 8, 8, and 5 above. We were dry camping. I insulated the UDC area and the area below it that is open to the ground. I also wrapped the low point and fresh water drains with insulation. The inside temp was set to 60 at night and stayed around 55 degrees. We went through 2 full 30 lbs tanks of propane in the 10 days we were there and it was in the 20s and 30s for most of the remainder of the nights. I had a slight freeze up the first night of 8 but that thawed quickly the next morning with the sun on that side of the trailer and I found that I missed a small area at the top of the UDC when packing it. After packing it better we had no more issues other than freezing our XXXXX off in the woods in the mornings.

We also run a Big Buddy heater in the garage and that adds to the inside heat but allows the furnace to cycle to keep warm air in the underbelly.

One thing that I was interested in with this thread is a 12 volt recirc system. In the case above something on a timer to start recirc at 3 AM or so and not draw high amps would be a great addition to low temp dry camping.

 

[esscobra]

yesterday was in low 20's , with sleet, etc all day- luckily we have neighborhood storage lot close to house - usually leave tstat at 41 - usually does not get below 30 here in san Antonio- so went down and turned up heat to 50 - and ran fireplace heater as well- and put a temp sensor basement between cargo area and pump/belly area - there is about 5" gap at top of wall in middle diagonal wall- ( I moved door side wall back and the middle angled piece I turned on its side to fit- thus gap) and stayed about 8 -10 degrees cooler than interior - stayed from 10-1pm doing a few projects and cleaning /organizing - left tstat at 45 - went back later last night around 8pm and inside was 45 and basement at 40- so sees to keep pretty well- I think I am going to put diverter in line to bathroom- which gets really hot as it right above heater and shortest run- to divert some of its flow to underbelly as its a bigger line tan the one that shoots heat to underbelly. I have a 1" foam pad in bottom of udc.

 

[travelin2]

Having the underbelly 35 degrees above ambient temp is pretty amazing. Most people are probably 20 or less.

If all they’re using is a standard incandescent light bulb, no doubt. Mine is a halogen flood lamp which generates more heat than a 100w light bulb


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[TravelTiger]

When outside temps got in the 20s and teens, I was happy to see 31-33 on our underbelly thermometer! But it's also sitting on a frame crossbeam, so it could be "feeling" the cold metal and appear colder than the air temp.


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