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dufferdj's avatar
dufferdj
Explorer
Oct 29, 2020

Froze black/grey tanks....

Hopefully someone here can help me out. We were evacuated last Wednesday as a result of the East Troublesome Fire. We were given about 15 minutes fo get out of our home as the roar of the fire could be heard coming northeast toward us and the the town of Grand Lake and the west side of Rocky Man. Nat'l Park. The RV was loaded and ready to go...almost. We headed south to Granby where we spent the first night on a side street. The next 4 nights were spent in a local rodeo parking lot. Those 5 nights were w/o electricity. Temps dropped to -8 on the coldest night and stayed below freezing most of the time. Now comes my problem. I had the foresight to pour 1/2 gal. of RV anti-freeze down into each the 2 tanks, but it looks like that was not enough. I have not tried to drain the tanks, yet. The temps are finally getting above freezing during the afternoons, but I need to do something to thaw out those tanks. If I pour more RV antifreeze into the tanks, will that cause the "ice" to melt? Someone suggested to pour "ice melt" into the tanks but will that cause a problems with the sensors or the valves? Thanks in advance and so far it looks like our home was spared any damage, but we have not been given the okay to re-enter --- hopefully tomorrow.
Class A
  • MrWizard's avatar
    MrWizard
    Moderator
    Oct 29, 2020
    Its a MH
    Didn't you use your furnance to stay warm and keep things (like your tanks) from freezing ?
    No Hookups
    You are self contained
    Use the furnace Burn some propane for heat
    Burn some Gasoline, use the generator to charge the batteries, maybe put some electric heat in the bay with the holding tanks
    If the tanks were empty prior to this emergency and you poured 1/2 gallon of RV systems antifreeze into each tank
    That stuff went directly into drain plumbing connected to dump valves, your dump valves are safe ,
    on average it takes approximately 2 gallons of water to fill the dump pipes and have some water in the bottom of the tank , many people do not think of this when they are dumping and rinseing the tanks and adding fresh chemicals,
    I always put in several gallons of water before adding the stink limiter, to make sure the dump pipes are full and water is in the tanks,
    Sorry not an Lesson on dumping
    Just an explanation of where your antifreeze went,
    In the dump pipes, not in the bottom of the tanks,
    Unless there was already enough water in there to cover the bottom of the tank
  • dufferdj's avatar
    dufferdj
    Explorer
    Oct 30, 2020
    Thanks to all that responded to my delema. After cranking up the heat last night and putting a couple of trouble lights in the bay with the holding tanks and the fact that the temperature remained a little warmer last night (11 degrees) and the temp got into the 40's this afternoon I drained the tanks successfully .
  • MrWizard's avatar
    MrWizard
    Moderator
    Oct 31, 2020
    That is good news
    Hope the fire danger has passed your home,
    And you made it home safe

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