Heat Pads

[ivanputski]

2nd owner of a 2012, 5.0 first generation. Came with spray foam insulation and the heat pads for the water tanks. Will be camping with night time temps dropping possibly into the mid 20F range. I've never had to use the heating pads. Search shows they are temperature controlled and come on aotumatically when hooked up to shore power. Other posts have people saying they turned them on. If I have to turned them on how do you do that? Anyone with first hand experience know the answer?

Thanks

[Ditchrider]

On mine the "On/Off" toggle switch is under the driver's side dinette seat.

[UncleTim]

Yes I have first hand experience.

1. Only use them with shore power. They take a lot of power. Much more than your battery can supply. Shore power only.

2. You turn them on by flipping the switch under the dinette seat next to the water heater. Right hand side. There are two switches. One for the fresh water and another one for gray water.

Fill the water to at least a few gallons. If you are going to turn on the heating strips, give them something to heat. As Glenn stated they create a thermal mass. That is good!

They take about 2 amp an hour. I had them hooked up to a gauge. You do not do this when you empty your tanks and winterize your system. This is for camping with fresh and gray water active.

This is not a winterizing system. This is for extending your camping season. You control them from the heating and air conditioning panel. The fourth choice is for heating pad temperature settings.

[cpaharley2008]

They are thermostatically controlled and once "powered on" they will heat on at 30/off at 40

[ivanputski]

Thanks for the info. Upon closer inspection it looks like I only have 1 switch. It was buried behind some insulation. I should be good to go. Appreciate the help.

[UncleTim]

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

They are thermostatically controlled and once "powered on" they will heat on at 30/off at 40

Jim, I think mine are able to operate over a range. On my heating and AC panel there is a fourth choice. And then you can set the temp. I have mine at 55°.

I also took your suggestion on the air circulation device with a temp gauge.


Did I understand your comment correctly?

[cpaharley2008]

No, I was referring to the tank heaters, once "on" by the switch, they are controlled by a built in thermostat with preset on/off settings
But yes, now I see in the picture, I use the same air device to dehumidify the interior and a thermo cube at the outlet that turns on/off range.....I would not leave it on the floor, I put mine on top the stove top or some other relatively fireproof setting. The Escape thermostat is not involved and turned off.
http://www.thermocube.com

[UncleTim]

My heating strips are controlled by the heating and AC controls once I flip them on. Did you notice it says heating strips on the temperature settings?

That air circulator is controlled by that thermal switch that plugs in to a 120v outlet and comes on at 35° and turns off at 45°. Just in case I was not clear.

Thanks for the tip on putting the air circulator on the stove. I will do that.

[cpaharley2008]

I'm sorry, there are heat strips with the a/c system and heat pads on the fresh and grey tanks. I was responding to the heat pads having a switch and with out the thermostat involved, are thermostatically controlled or rather preset at 35/45 on/off.

[UncleTim]

Okay so just between us, cause I realize I should know this. But there's no one here but us, so please splain it to me.

What is the difference between heating strips and heating pads? Yeah, I know about heating pads for fresh and gray water. What's the other one for?

The heating strips. Maybe I'm just confused.

[cpaharley2008]

They put heat strips inside air conditioners so that the a/c fans can blow air over them and distribute some heat. Looking down into your home toaster, those heat strips glowing are a rudimentary type of heater, blow air across them and you will feel heat. To me, it is like trying to heat your trailer with a toaster when using heat strips, very inefficient option, JMHO.
Heat pads are wires imbedded in pads that attach to your fresh and grey tanks and when on, they transfer some heat to the tank contents. But these are 12v sourced so the again the inefficient rating is high using 12v to heat a tank contents. A 12v blanket will make you warmer eventually, but a 120v blanket will do same, quicker and more efficient.

[steve dunham]

The heat strip does an excellent job of taking the chill off my trailer and preventing me from freezing
I wish I could say the same about the heat pads !
A gray tank full of warm water with nowhere to go because the drain line / valve is frozen is worthless IMHO

[cpaharley2008]

I found that when towing the trailer after having the pads on helped to spread the warm liquid to the drains and upon arrival at the next destination I was able to drain the tank. Still I did not get the option again as it was easier to winterize and not need the tank heaters.

[steve dunham]

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

I found that when towing the trailer after having the pads on helped to spread the warm liquid to the drains and upon arrival at the next destination I was able to drain the tank. Still I did not get the option again as it was easier to winterize and not need the tank heaters.

Jim the heat pads when used as you describe and in temps at or SLIGHTLY below freezing
do work . When temps are in the mid to lower teens from my experience the heat pads are in effective . Come Fall we winterize our trailer and if we make a late season trip we do not use our onboard plumbing system
Our A/C strip heater has warmed our trailer at -17 below zero F , pretty good for nothing more than an glorified toaster !

[cpaharley2008]

Steve,
Do you know what wattage your heat strips are? Mine back in 2012 were like 1000 watts and the moving air made it seem ineffective.

[AKRogers]

I tested the amperage draw for the heat pads as I installed a Victron 712 monitor. They draw about 8 amps each.

[Perry Butler]

We've camped in well below freezing temps (under 10 F) and have yet to have the valves freeze.

I'd like to run under the assumption that campers here are intelligent, rather than the sky is falling.

If we're going to camp below about 25 F for a day or more we:

• drain the fresh water tank
  
• drain and pour 1/2 gallon of RV antifreeze in both the grey and black water tanks
  
• keep the furnace at 55 or above.

We easily have 20 or more days camping in this scenario with no problems.

If we're going to be camping under 10 F we will:

• basically winterize: drain all three tanks, drain the hot water tank, blow lines clean, then run antifreeze through all the lines, then blow the lines free and fill the water traps.
  
• since we're still camping, a 1/2 gallon of antifreeze will go in both the black and grey tanks
  
• we'll still use the toilet (the black tank is in the camper)
  
• keep the furnace running at 50 degrees

We easily have 10 days in this scenario.

Many of us have camped in these cold situations and understand it's completely doable.

And yes, we have the heat pads, but have yet to camp with 110 ac service for these situations, so basically they were the one item we would leave off if we do purchase the 25' 5.0 TA.

Enjoy,

Perry

[steve dunham]

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

Steve,
Do you know what wattage your heat strips are? Mine back in 2012 were like 1000 watts and the moving air made it seem ineffective.

The heat strip in our 2013 Casita SD was 1700 watts if memory serves me correctly
Our first FG trailer was a 1999 Scamp 16 - no furnace , heat strip only and we made 3 trips during the dead of winter and did just fine