Winterizing: insulating the grey/black tanks

Indianrock wrote:
Great suggestions, thanks! TWe have a 120 gallon propane tank hooked up so won't be skimping on the propane consumption.
This is a '99 Dutchmen 30RL. One thing I need to change soon is to route the sewer hose into the septic tank and leave it there. I was going to hook that up once a week as needed to dump, but the county probably would prefer it be "permanently" hooked up until we move into the house.

This would allow us to drain the gray tanks all the time. Its usually not recommended to let the black tank drain constantly, although I do have one of those flush elbows where I can hook up a water hose to flush the black tank from outside.

I do plan to buy enough aluminum foil, heat tape and "tube" insulation to completely wrap my water hose -- it is a hose to a faucet, not pvc line.

I think I'd like to find some 3 or four inch pvc to run most of the way to the septic clean out which is about 50 feet downhill from the trailer. So I'll be looking at home depot etc for an elbow that will screw into the septic cleanout. We're not using the onboard water tank at all.

x2 on a couple incandescent bulbs under the trailer for heat; just keep 'em away from the hay/straw bales! Also, you really should stay on a "normal" dump schedule. You leave =anything= trickling, and the hose/pipe will likely ice up and, pretty soon, might close completely. Better to have surges of > freezing water heading down the pipe than an icy trickle that can freeze quickly.

Lyle

If the builder is telling you Dec, think Feb (trust me)
You have to be ready though for the "outlier" year. Like 1991 when it hit -10 in Bellingham.

Old-Biscuit wrote:
No need to stuff tha hay bales under the trailer...just stack around trailer providing a wind block.

Extension cord and a couple of extension lights on a timer under trailer to provide some heat.

If underbelly is enclosed and you have a duct that blows air down into the area around tanks should be OK.....just have to keep up with propane usage.

Been in -14*F temps and no freeze up.......we were living in 5vr at time.
30# propane every other day!!!

If you stuff the bales under the camper you will be insulating the earth, not the camper. Even in subzero weather an enclosed area exposed to the earth the area under the camper will be warmer.

Great suggestions, thanks! TWe have a 120 gallon propane tank hooked up so won't be skimping on the propane consumption.
This is a '99 Dutchmen 30RL. One thing I need to change soon is to route the sewer hose into the septic tank and leave it there. I was going to hook that up once a week as needed to dump, but the county probably would prefer it be "permanently" hooked up until we move into the house.

This would allow us to drain the gray tanks all the time. Its usually not recommended to let the black tank drain constantly, although I do have one of those flush elbows where I can hook up a water hose to flush the black tank from outside.

I do plan to buy enough aluminum foil, heat tape and "tube" insulation to completely wrap my water hose -- it is a hose to a faucet, not pvc line.

I think I'd like to find some 3 or four inch pvc to run most of the way to the septic clean out which is about 50 feet downhill from the trailer. So I'll be looking at home depot etc for an elbow that will screw into the septic cleanout. We're not using the onboard water tank at all.

We try to stay in central Illinois until around Christmas day unless there are huge snow storms. What I have discovered is what has already been suggested, keep some RV antifreeze in those closed tanks. We found that when the outside temp got below 25 degrees our black gate valve froze up. I run my furnace but I also use 3 ceramic heaters, two inside the coach and one in the basement.

Generally speaking when the temps stay in the 30 degree range during the day and 20 degree range at night we were filling a 30 pound propane tank every 4 days.

Old-Biscuit wrote:
No need to stuff tha hay bales under the trailer...just stack around trailer providing a wind block.

Extension cord and a couple of extension lights on a timer under trailer to provide some heat.

If underbelly is enclosed and you have a duct that blows air down into the area around tanks should be OK.....just have to keep up with propane usage.

Been in -14*F temps and no freeze up.......we were living in 5vr at time.
30# propane every other day!!!

X2

No need to stuff tha hay bales under the trailer...just stack around trailer providing a wind block.

Extension cord and a couple of extension lights on a timer under trailer to provide some heat.

If underbelly is enclosed and you have a duct that blows air down into the area around tanks should be OK.....just have to keep up with propane usage.

Been in -14*F temps and no freeze up.......we were living in 5vr at time.
30# propane every other day!!!

Do you have an enclosed underbelly? If so, running your furnace should do the job. It will take a lot of cold to freeze those tanks. You could add some pink antifreeze to them as well for extra protection.