Freezing Temps And Tanks Not Draining

[brookside]

We moved out of our house and have to finish up a couple of things before leaving, and in comes the freezing temps to central KS. We are in a new to us, 2310 Hi Lo. My husband put a gallon of RV anti-freeze down both the gray and black water tanks. Two days later, with freezing temps, the tanks will not drain. The plunger in the shower brings up water and the pink anti-freeze. We didn't learn this until after dark, so will have to work on it tomorrow.

The temp last night was 11 degrees and the high today about 28, similar to this for yesterday. It will be 40 degrees tomorrow and 32 tomorrow night. 48 on Sunday. Central Kansas - a place we will flee as soon as possible.

We have Buddy Heater, the big one in storage that we can access. I have searched here and googled for ideas. I wish I could better pinpoint where it may be frozen, it is not the thingy that you pull open as that is fine. I am thinking maybe some water went into the tank, formed an ice cube near the outlet and it is blocking the whole deal.

Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated. Yes, I know this may seem less than bright, but sold the house and the weather decided to be a good 20 degrees colder than last year. This is what we have to work with.

Thanks!

[brookside]

PaisleyDale wrote:
I lived in a 5th wheel for five cold winter with temps getting down to zero F. My water pipes froze inside several times without ever a brake.

I had heat tape attached to a hard brown water hose and covered it with 2" foam pipe insulation this heat tape also covered the exposed hose bib.

I covered the valves for both the black and grey tanks and the exposed pipes before the valves with tin foil then heat tape. This kept my valves working all winter.

I always had my grey valve open and connected to the slinky and the slinky rested in an elevated cradle. I never had a problem with this system.

Excellent advice. You covered it all! We didn't get the fresh water hose bib covered and that was the last thing that froze. So far, and we are expecting a 2 degree night, so far only done 15, the Reflectix shielding and drop light have kept the tanks flowing although, in order to keep up and not end up full, we empty the tanks after we shower every evening. The good thing is that we near the office/bathhouse for backup water/toilet "services".

Thanks!

[PaisleyDale]

I lived in a 5th wheel for five cold winter with temps getting down to zero F. My water pipes froze inside several times without ever a brake.

I had heat tape attached to a hard brown water hose and covered it with 2" foam pipe insulation this heat tape also covered the exposed hose bib.

I covered the valves for both the black and grey tanks and the exposed pipes before the valves with tin foil then heat tape. This kept my valves working all winter.

I always had my grey valve open and connected to the slinky and the slinky rested in an elevated cradle. I never had a problem with this system.

[RGar974417]

One winter we came back late in the day from a trip south over Christmas. Temps here were in the 30's. I thought I would drain everything the next day. Well over night everything froze up. So I turned on the furnace,got out the hair dryer and started thawing things in the trailer. I then got my torpedo heater and fired it up pointing towards the tanks. In about an hour or so, everything was thawed.Make sure you turn off the water pump,open all faucets and the drain valves.

[brookside]

No enclosed underbelly. We have put Reflectix and a drop light in the space to see if it will help.

[hohenwald48]

I assume your RV does not have an enclosed underbelly. However, if it does, you need to run the RV furnace as that is how the heat gets into the underbelly. Electric or gas space heaters do not transfer any heat into the underbelly space.

[brookside]

We think it must have froze just before the discharge pipe, the first of the water that went down, and then the antifreeze was added. It was very cold and we were hurrying to get everything done, just weren't fast enough.

[Vette_Racer]

If something froze in the discharge pipe then one of your valves must be leaking because after closing the valves the discharge pipe should be empty unless you also have a valve at the end of it too.

[brookside]

Funny! I was just thinking about the foam panels before I started reading the new responses, and no it isn't a "dumb" idea at all. We aren't sure when we will get out of here with the weather, and it is running 20 degrees colder consistently. I'll update as we move through it and it is coming yet again.

[PawPaw_n_Gram]

One thing to remember - RV antifreeze will turn slushy and near solid.

It WILL FREEZE if temps get low enough. But it does not expand - so it will not damage plumbing if it freezes.

Freezing will not damage plumbing, it is the expansion of water when it freezes that damages plumbing.

So it may freeze enough to stop the tank from draining, but still be protecting the rig.

[westend]

Just a dumb idea, white Styrofoam panels and making an enclosure around the grey and black tanks with a light bulb to maintain some heat, even cardboard should work to make a closure around the tanks and a heat source, just an idea.

Not a dumb idea at all.

FWIW, I built a plywood and styrofoam enclosure around a pipe array, outside, in St. Paul Harbor. One single 100W light bulb kept this 4' x 8' x 4' enclosure toasty warm. We were able to keep that water service active down to subzero temperatures.

[navegator]

Just a dumb idea, white Styrofoam panels and making an enclosure around the grey and black tanks with a light bulb to maintain some heat, even cardboard should work to make a closure around the tanks and a heat source, just an idea.

I insulated my tanks with expanding foam and placed insulating tubing on the water lines, water tank is under the sofa/bed and the water heater is next to it and all water lines are inside the cabin, only the grey and black tanks are under and exposed, word of caution when using the expanding foam make sure that you build a barrier so that it has a stop, otherwise it will really get out of hand.

navegator

[brookside]

What I think happened was that a small amount of water went into the grey tank, froze and the anti-freeze and additional water was sitting above it. No, we don't leave the tanks open. The discharge pipe, attached to the trailer, not the sewer hose, was the issue.

Thanks everyone. Will test out the Reflectix and drop light Tuesday night when we have another hard freeze.

[John_Wayne]

Drain the discharge pipe after every dump and put it away and just reattach it when you need to drain again. No reason to leave it hooked up unless your ready to drain the tanks. Keep tank valves closed untill drain time.

[2gypsies1]

Hmmm. The discharge pipe shouldn't freeze shut if there's no water in it. When you dump, the water should drain it all out. Do you leave the dump valves open all the time? If so and if it's so cold then the liquid could slowly freeze before it drains out. Best to keep the valves closed until ready to dump.