Gotta thaw my grey tank!!! Here we go again!

[BobsYourUncle]

Well, I hit the trail Jan. 26 and headed into the wild wild winter....

I know to be careful with my water usage and have learned to wash things with a thimble full of water and all that, but there comes a time when ya just gotta get rid of some grey water!! But what when it is grey ice??

I am there. When I brush my teeth, water comes up into the sink. Maybe it's plugged, but my bet is the grey tank is full.

I don't dare step into the shower. Even a 3 quart shower is too much. I do have access to a bathroom where I am set up at and I use the potty there instead of mine. Why not? I have a key to the place!

And I wander in there before anyone arrives in the morning, armed with a bar of soap, a towel and facecloth! But you can only do so much.

Aside from that, it's baby wipes to the rescue!! Hahaha! Yeah I've gone through a pile of them. They actually work quite well. Do the pits and other essentials - haha!

But why do I want to smell like a cucumber and green tea? Or smell like a babys butt after cleanup? Better ask Huggies about that one - LOL! Better that than smelling like BO I guess.....

All for the sake of saving water. But that and the sponge bath in the shop biffy keep me going until my grey tank stays thawed enough to use the shower regularly.

Hey we actually warmed up in frozen tundra Alberta yesterday - went above freezing for the first time since I got here Jan 26.

My FIRST thought was my grey tank. Heyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!! Maybe it might flow - plus 5C - 38F.... Maybe????

Tried last night - no sale on that one. A little stuff dribbled out.. Wah....

Another warm day today. Maybe????? I get back the the TT after a days work and go back there, get my 5 gallon pail out and stick it under the thingy there and pull the cork. Awwww heck only a dribble again. Heat tape around my dump pipes. Keeps them thawed but after this consistent minus 500 degrees, I know I have a couple tanks of solid ice! Not worried about the black. I used it once for solids and a few liquid deposits. But I open the valve and have a peek - it is liquid right up to the valve. hmmmmm not sure how I managed that one when I only used it a few times. I know the tank is virtually empty. Oh well. grey water is the concern right now.

So it was still above freezing. I'll help it along. Got an old milk crate, got my little 1500W electric heater, the one I use to supplement the furnace, and I lay it on its back to see if it has one of those safety deals to shut it off if knocked over. Nope! Must be made in China! Haha! It runs while laying on its back.

Throw some cardboard in the snow, shove the milk crate under the grey tank, upside down, stick the heater in here at 1500W, and it's right up almost against the grey tank.

Let her rip baby! Lets see if I can get some drainage happening here.

Got my 5 gallon bucket under the drain thingy. An hour of the heater I go out hopefully and pull the cork again. Slight whoosh, got about a pint out.

This could take a while. Gave upon the heat gun.

Maybe I'll let it go all night. I'd really like to wash my dishes in water instead of moistened paper towels and baby wipes!!! Good for salad - tastes like cucumber and I didn't even put any in!!

:B:B:B:B

Ahh winter in the RV at it's finest!

I wouldn't trade this for any fancy hotel!

[BobsYourUncle]

dougsee3 wrote:
My suggestion would be a battery warmer placed on the bottom of tank held against the tank with a piece of plywood and maybe a small jack, or tarp straps or cords. Possibly some insulation and or some foil between.

Battery Warmer

Battery warmer is a good idea.

I have one that I use for keeping a caulking tube box toasty warm. It works like a charm. I built a wood box that holds 6 tubes of caulking, including the gun, and wrapped the battery warmer around it, and stretch wrap to hold it in place.

I can see where a couple of those would work quite well.

[dougsee3]

My suggestion would be a battery warmer placed on the bottom of tank held against the tank with a piece of plywood and maybe a small jack, or tarp straps or cords. Possibly some insulation and or some foil between.

Battery Warmer

[BobsYourUncle]

BigRabbitMan wrote:

BobsYourUncle wrote:
Not worried about the black. I used it once for solids and a few liquid deposits. But I open the valve and have a peek - it is liquid right up to the valve. hmmmmm not sure how I managed that one when I only used it a few times. I know the tank is virtually empty.
I wouldn't trade this for any fancy hotel!

In my case, the kitchen sink goes into the black tank and the bathroom sink and shower go into the grey tank. How is yours plumbed?

Yuppers!

Bathroom sink is plumbed into the black tank!
There is half my problem right there. Did not realize it until it was too late!

[BobsYourUncle]

Welllllll, I think I got a few things figured out here.

I did manage to get my tanks thawed by tonight. I had a heater going for over 24 hours.

Oh but it was an ordeal from a hot place!
I got drained, I got showered, I got a major black water mess all over my floor!!

I posted a new thread about that ordeal!!

See it here.

I think the best solution is to actively seek a 4 season trailer............

[BigRabbitMan]

BobsYourUncle wrote:
Not worried about the black. I used it once for solids and a few liquid deposits. But I open the valve and have a peek - it is liquid right up to the valve. hmmmmm not sure how I managed that one when I only used it a few times. I know the tank is virtually empty.
I wouldn't trade this for any fancy hotel!

In my case, the kitchen sink goes into the black tank and the bathroom sink and shower go into the grey tank. How is yours plumbed?

[time2roll]

pianotuna wrote:
Hi smk,

The self regulating stuff is not designed to be overlapped. Every year where my brother lives someone makes that mistake. It over heats, burns out, or burns up.

Just following the instructions.

"•Cable can overlap across itself without risk of overheating and/or burnout for easy installation around roof, gutters, and downspouts"

Nuheat 13FP Heat cable

[BobsYourUncle]

Well, I got things flowing tonight, finally. It has been a few degrees above freezing here for a couple days, during the day.

Last night I put a 1500W electric fan forced heater on its back, on top of a milk crate, right up under the grey tank. No sale on the task last night but tonight I was victorious!

Came back from work and stuck my 5 gallon bucket under there and she was flowing somewhat. Still lots of ice in there but the big thing was that what I poured down the tub was coming out the dump pipe.

So empty the hot water tank into the tub and let it work on the ice, and then pull the cork and collect and dump it.

However, it was not without tribulation..... Ohhhhh boy did I run into an issue doing this.. I mean I really had an issue. Ohhhhh boy, here we go again!

Gonna post a new thread about this one!!! Oh EEK!

I will link to it here later. Stay tuned.....

[BobsYourUncle]

HJGyswyt wrote:


This is my low tech solution to keeping my tanks liquid. One infrared heat lamp kept our tanks working down to 5 degrees Fahrenheit. It's probably a lot colder where you are in Alberta, but I also think it works for us because we never let ours get to the freezing point. All the best. Hans

Looks simple but effective! I don't care about hi tech, only about effective.

Tomorrow is Sunday, I'm going to go on the hunt for something that will work. No luck looking at the stores I was in during the past few days.

But I did get it flowing. Going to post about it soon.

[pianotuna]

Hi smk,

The self regulating stuff is not designed to be overlapped. Every year where my brother lives someone makes that mistake. It over heats, burns out, or burns up.

Both are serious as much of the town of Iqaluit Nunavut is on tanked water and sewer. When the heat tape over heats and burns out then the sewage tanks which are under the houses freeze. My Nephew just paid $3500.00 for this issue and his was properly installed--but failed.

smkettner wrote:

pianotuna wrote:
Hi,

Every year someone makes the mistake of overlapping the cables. Then they over heat. Then they catch fire. So your bathroom would be mighty warm--for a while.

westend wrote:
criss-crossed on top of the foam board underneath the tank. If I do this right, my bathroom may be the warmest space in the trailer. :B

Why not use self regulating cable made to be overlapped?

[HJGyswyt]

This is my low tech solution to keeping my tanks liquid. One infrared heat lamp kept our tanks working down to 5 degrees Fahrenheit. It's probably a lot colder where you are in Alberta, but I also think it works for us because we never let ours get to the freezing point. All the best. Hans

[time2roll]

pianotuna wrote:
Hi,

Every year someone makes the mistake of overlapping the cables. Then they over heat. Then they catch fire. So your bathroom would be mighty warm--for a while.

westend wrote:
criss-crossed on top of the foam board underneath the tank. If I do this right, my bathroom may be the warmest space in the trailer. :B

Why not use self regulating cable made to be overlapped?

[down_home]

Once you drain the tank put in a gallon of RV biodegradble anti freez in the tanks.
If you shower in the morning filling the gray tank with warm water will certainly loosen any slush. Fill the gray and black tanks with water and drain just like emptying for travel. Put in another gallon of biodegradeable anti freeze. Any little bit ,of water in there will not now freeze.
If you shower in the evening and wash dishes etc, the water in the tank will warm. Fill it then and flush.... add more anti freeze.
The anti freeze, in a mostly or completely empty tank will gather at the valves and any low point settling with the water there.
Just don't let water or sewage sit in the tank without antifreeze.
If the black tank did freeze, but nowhere near full. A hose from hot water side, in shower or sink into the tank should loosen things up nicely, especially if there is antifreeze in there. If the pink stuff doesn't work biodegradeble auto anti freeze should work.
Didn't say it would be cheap though. A big water heater would be a very nice thing to have there. Might even have to put a little insulation around the tank or outside even. When Dealer messed with our coach and replaced the water heater the dork took thee solid piece of foam insualation out, that helped cut the noise and insulated the tank. had a time getting it put back in

[pianotuna]

Hi Westend,

I'm glad you don't overlap the darn cables! Thanks for clearing up what you really do.

[westend]

pianotuna wrote:
Hi,

Every year someone makes the mistake of overlapping the cables. Then they over heat. Then they catch fire. So your bathroom would be mighty warm--for a while.

westend wrote:
criss-crossed on top of the foam board underneath the tank. If I do this right, my bathroom may be the warmest space in the trailer. :B

Yes, I know this is a common problem with pipe wrap cable and probably, the deicing cable. My choice of "criss-cross" was not the best description for what I intend to do. I don't know if anyone understands "Dutch laid", it's a nautical term, used for lines. The cable never crosses itself but is laid in loops, the loops close to each other.
I install a few of these deicing cables every year, mostly for snowbirds that leave for the Winter and need deicing to prevent ice dams and gutter problems. The ones I use draw about 300w (60 ft. cable). I haven't had any issues with the cables regarding fire or the cable jacket melting. Maybe it's just the way I deploy them. I will be experimenting before I install mine for a permanent installation.

Thanks for posting the caveat about nesting the cables, though. I sometimes forget that others may have a problem using my methods.