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njtony's avatar
njtony
Explorer
Jan 12, 2014

heated water compartment

Well you just have to find out the hard way sometimes ! I 2013 cook up coachman Mirada with heated basement. But just found out the heat does not go into the water / waste compartment. DuH ! 6degrees in nj and water lines froze up. Just like water heater, ( it also froze up) there is no heat supplied to these area's. I was lucky and caught it before anything broke, still need to check water pump. You SHOULD NEVER believe a Salesman. I now have a small heater,but need to figure out a way to control temp our find a different


heater. The one I used is a constant on that came out of my bunk area. maybe its time to trade up again ? but no coachman or forest river.
  • wa8yxm's avatar
    wa8yxm
    Explorer III
    Jan 13, 2014
    RoyB wrote:
    One of these TC-3 Thermo cube units available from AMAZON should help you out.
    THERMO CUBE

    This comes on at 35 degrees and goes off at 45 degrees. They have different models for different ON/OFF temperature ranges...



    I have that exact same Thermo-Cube, IT is outside the MH (Under it in a rain protected area, supposed to rain today) and plugged into it is a rope light which is taped to my fresh hose, on the end of that is 150 watts of heater or 100 watts of light bulb inside a rip-stop Nylong bag dropped over the park water faucet. Keeps everyitng nice and liquid at 20...

    At six.. No such joy.

    In the wet bay next to and under the fresh water tank is a competitor's product I got at I think Home Depot. it's bright yellor or orange (Forget which) and has but one outlet.. It feeds a string of C-9 Christmas tree lamps (About 270 watts as I recall) and a 100 watt lamp in a cage which is in the black/gray end of the bay.

    My furnace pumps warm air down into the bay as well.

    When it hit 11 a week ago,,, I had one water line that froze,, Tanks remained liquid, no fittings were frozen, just the middle of a PEX run (The pex is in that bay but I figure without a lot of air moving about it froze right about where it crosses over the drive shaft) only one of the two lines there froze.. So to flush I grabbed my six cup measure and filled with HOT water from the sink and dumped it in.

    Soon as the sun came up the line thawed and normal operation continued,, Water heater (Operating) did not, of course, freeze.

    Man was I glad to be on a 50 amp site.

    Now Im back on a 30+30 site.
  • Bobbo's avatar
    Bobbo
    Explorer II
    Jan 13, 2014
    It gets down to about 28 degrees F about two or three times a winter, but doesn't stay there the next day. And it is an enclosed space, which helps hold the heat.
  • pianotuna's avatar
    pianotuna
    Nomad III
    Jan 12, 2014
    Hi Bobbo,

    24 watts is better than nothing--but it must not get very cold where you are.
  • Bobbo's avatar
    Bobbo
    Explorer II
    Jan 12, 2014
    I put a 12v connector in the dump compartment to run my Flojet Macerator. I have a socket for an 1156 bulb with a mating connector. The bulb puts out enough heat to keep the pipes from freezing.
  • bsinmich's avatar
    bsinmich
    Explorer
    Jan 12, 2014
    If you have the normal RV water heater they do not have any frost protection other than being run to get water warm. Because the entire water heater is exposed to fresh air for combustion purposes there is no other way to keep it from freezing. I have combo gas/electric water heater so can use either to keep it from freezing but must use one or the other.
  • JaxDad's avatar
    JaxDad
    Explorer III
    Jan 12, 2014
    Most every new heater I've seen in the last decade had a thermostat that only went down to about 35 or 40 degrees. It cannot be turned down to "off" that can only be done by means of the switch. If it has an on / off switch separate from the thermostat it usually means the unit is designed to prevent freezing.

    They usually call it "frost guard" or something to that effect.

    If your heater has that function adding a second thermostat into the mix only increases the chances of failure.

    Those thermo cubes are designed to turn on & off devices like heat lamps or other heating devices without thermostats.
  • pianotuna's avatar
    pianotuna
    Nomad III
    Jan 12, 2014
    Hi,

    I deliberately added 120 volt outlets to areas that are suspect for freezing. I chose to use mechanical thermostats with fan based heaters for my waste tanks (which are supposed to be heated--but do not appear to be so).

    Walmart sells a 100 watt heater, and also a 200 watt.

    My hose storage also has a 120 volt outlet so I can use a small heater there, as well.
  • RoyB's avatar
    RoyB
    Explorer II
    Jan 12, 2014
    One of these TC-3 Thermo cube units available from AMAZON should help you out.
    THERMO CUBE

    This comes on at 35 degrees and goes off at 45 degrees. They have different models for different ON/OFF temperature ranges...


    Just plug your oil-filled portable heater into it... I recommend the oil-filled heater since this will be used in an unattended area. These units have no visible flame or visible red hot core and would probably be your best bet for an unattended portable heater. Pick the low profile oil-filled heater that is only 15-ionches high if your height space is limited. I believe they also have base-board size oil-filled heaters as well.


    Roy Ken

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