Heated holding tanks

[Wayne]

Wayne....Welcome to the B190 site

Moved your question to the Plumbing Forum where tanks question fit a little better..

Dave...

[skater]

I think you deleted his message, Dave!

[Alaskan]

oops...looks like you're right, sorry about that Wayne !

How did that happen RJ, I first moved it and then I went back to the Website/Forum Issues and left that message

How did that delete his post that I had moved also...?

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Wayne's rig is a 1997 and in his owners manual he says it mentions that the rig has heated holding tanks and he was looking for additional information about that.

[skater]

Wayne's rig is a 1997 and in his owners manual he says it mentions that the rig has heated holding tanks and he was looking for additional information about that.

That's interesting. First, I take everything in my manual with many grains of salt. I know of several things that are simply wrong.

My second thought would be that there might be some kind of active heating mechanism for it - but there would have to be switch for it somewhere, so I'd say look for a switch that doesn't seem to do anything, probably near the bathroom. I'm thinking this would be a 120 volt only feature, and I doubt it would be wired so that it's on all the time (it would draw a good bit of power and burn out much more quickly).

Another possibility: They're heated either directly by the furnace or they are close enough to the body of the camper that the warmth in the camper keeps them from freezing.

[lv2roam]

I took my '98 to Colorado skiing this winter - the tempature dipped to 4 degrees at night with a wind chill of -14. Oh yes, it was fun. In the '98 the water tank and grey tank are below the floor, the black tank above. I made it through without busting any pipes or tanks.

The below floor tanks are enclosed in steel boxes with heater ducts from the propane furnace (small ones). But, the line from the water tank runs outside for about 12 inches before making a 90 degree bend through the floor - that section has frozen before. So, I bought some 12 volt heater tape to keep it safe. Wired it to the pump circuit - that is another story, but it worked.

Long ago I added another 10 gallon fresh water tank below the floor (I like traveling having 35 gallons of freah water aboard) and it needed heat and my other tanks needed help - those little heat vents are just too small.

Everything is so expensive from the RV dealers and an oil heater I tired just "fried" off the outer steel tank. So, off to Walmart and I bought heating pads. Old fashion heating pads. They did the job.

A little red anti-freeze in the holding tanks for safety. I needed to "re-position" a heating pad to warm up the dump valves one day - but hey, it also worked and I could go another 4 days.

Dry camped a few nights and the battery survived keeping the most important line (while not flowing immediately) safe. One particularly cold night I also used a buddy propane heater under the van to keep the freeze at bay.

After cold soaking for 9 days I cut off the trip and headed for warmer clims before everything froze solid - including me (and the bride of 40 years). What an adventure - winterer camping - great for the challenge.

Oh, the skiing was fantastic - especially for us basic intermediates.

[Rucorosa]

I just took the Bvan up to Mammoth twice this January and it never missed a beat. It only got down to around 20F overnight.

I poured about 1/2 gal of RV antifreeze into each the black and grey tanks and never minded anything else.

Oh yes - the skiing and 'boarding was epic.

[Denco]

My 94 seems to have foam insulation blown all over the tanks, you can not see my tanks they are so covered in foam. I found a switch mounted under the dash and did not know what it did. I traced the wires to the holding tanks and dissapears into the foam. Also I have two power cords coming from the foam as well wrapped around the tow hitch. I will have to asume the switch turns on a relay that puts 110v to a heating coil or heating tape that must be wrapped around my tanks???

I dunno guess someday I may find out, kind of a intersesting test process to see if it works. What do I do put a temp probe in the tanks to see if they get warm.. Or just stick my finger in the doody hole to see if its warm, LOL maybe not...