Sprayed Foam Insulation Underneath Trailer plus 12V water tank heating pads

kalyson · 05-23-2011, 11:08 AM

Has anyone had foam insulation sprayed underneath trailer plus the 12 v heater pads on the water tanks?

This is an option Tammy suggested in place of putting water tanks inside.

Would this make repairs more difficult, you think? Has anyone done this?

--Kalyson

shanngord · 05-23-2011, 11:32 PM

I believe that Escape has only been doing this option for about a month or two. I saw a trailer at the factory with this done in March.

It seems like a good idea but there are probably only a couple of units so far with this done. Hopefully somebody will post with a report.

Gord

gabe · 05-27-2011, 10:44 AM

It sounds like an excellent idea. I was at the Grand Canyon in March and an unexpected cold snap arrived one night. My exterior water tank froze solid. My pump froze (under the bed!!) but I was lucky because none of the pipes inside the trailer burst. If they had, it would have been an expensive mess to say the least, as those pipes run under and behind cupboards, shower etc and so are very inaccessable.
The fellow in the $100k motorhome next to me had water all over his unit in the morning as his pipes busted.
There are really only two options for dealing with the cold. One is to insulate the undercarriage as you have described, and the other is to drain the tank and pipes when you know the weather is going to be cold. One costs nothing and the other costs a bit, but think of the convenience and the peace of mind!!
Gabe

medora · 11-22-2011, 05:51 PM

Hello -- I know this is an old topic, but we're considering this under trailer insulation, and Gabem if you're still around we're curious just how cold it was when your tank froze?

Has anyone else had any experience with the insulation? Or -- a frozen tank?

Tammy advised us on the phone today that we may be ok down to 17-18F as long as it warms up during the day.

Thanks,

~e

thoer · 11-22-2011, 06:03 PM

I would think that the 12v heating pads would be a significant battery drain. What about the foam without the heating pads - (just the foam should give s significant amount of added insulation and protection from freezing)?

Eric

gabe · 11-22-2011, 06:16 PM

The night that I was up at the Grand Canyon and my tanks froze, the temperature suddenly dropped to -15 during the night. It had been a sunny day, and the lady at the desk said that the weather forecast was good!!!
Anyway, -15 degrees did the trick. I was sweating bullets in the morning, but the plastic pipes apparently have a bit of give in them and after warming everything up with a hairdryer, I was on my way no worse for the wear.
Hope this is of some help.
gabe

medora66 · 11-22-2011, 07:11 PM

Thanks Gabe ... could you confirm you are meant -15C and not -15F?

(Pretty big diff for us backward Americans

gabe · 11-22-2011, 07:20 PM

It was -15 Celsius.
gabe

Hokie Escape · 11-22-2011, 07:40 PM

If you spend a lot of time off grid, it would definitely eat up some battery...but if your camping is mainly on grid, and you enjoy some shoulder season camping, I'd think it would be great! One other place you would be concerned about however, is the outside shower (if you have one).

medora66 · 11-22-2011, 08:15 PM

So Hokie, you think this wouldn't do much to protect the outside shower? I might email Tammy for a little more info on this, battery drain, etc, tomorrow. We suddenly have this fantasy of taking the trailer out for a run immediately after delivery, which is likely to be in mid-February in Ste St Marie, thus the increased interest in this.

BTW Hokie -- how are the drawers in your wardrobe working out? You have three, right? Or is it four? Are they all the same depth? We were talking about your drawers with Tammy today ... ehm!

Hokie Escape · 11-23-2011, 04:57 AM

We love the drawers. There are 4 in the tall cabinet, and one over the steps. They do increase the weight of the trailer...cause you can get so much in them! They are not all the same depth...because of the curvature of the trailer. They get progressively shorter toward the bottom (but only by an inch or two)
In cold weather, you could disconnect the outside shower and drain it...it hooks up at the kitchen sink, so it wouldn't be a bad job.

medora66 · 11-23-2011, 08:26 AM

Hokie-dokie, Hokie

.

I for one hate bending over to shuffle around in a cabinet. I think I too am a Drawer Person. In looking at yours, it seems like the top ones are deeper (from top to bottom) than the lower ones. True? If so, was that your choice or Escape's? I'm thinking that we might actually want the top drawer not so deep, so that it serves as a utility drawer for things like lighters and screwdrivers and thanks, and the lower ones deeper for our clothes or kitchen stuff.

Hokie Escape · 11-23-2011, 08:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by medora66

Hokie-dokie, Hokie

.

I for one hate bending over to shuffle around in a cabinet. I think I too am a Drawer Person. In looking at yours, it seems like the top ones are deeper (from top to bottom) than the lower ones. True? If so, was that your choice or Escape's? I'm thinking that we might actually want the top drawer not so deep, so that it serves as a utility drawer for things like lighters and screwdrivers and thanks, and the lower ones deeper for our clothes or kitchen stuff.

I built them myself, so I determined the depth of each drawer. If Escape will do it for you, then you can dictate the depth and number of drawers. Important to use "full extension" pulls. Remember also, that the cabinet is a few inches shallower on the 5.0 (for any 5.0'ers who are interested) to give a little more isle space.

medora · 11-24-2011, 05:49 PM

Thanks muchly, Hokie.

Curious, has anyone added insulation after the fact? If so, could you share the cost?

We're not totally convinced we need it, but we are wondering if it's considerably cheaper and easier just to get it done as part of the build.

~e

gbaglo · 11-24-2011, 06:59 PM

Keep in mind that you have to carry the weight of additional insulation the whole year 'round.

baglo

J Mac · 11-24-2011, 08:08 PM

How much weight are we considering?

medora · 11-24-2011, 08:14 PM

According to Tammy's email today:

The two 12V heat pads and extra insulation do not add a lot of weight to the trailer maybe 20lbs. The extra insulation will not protect the exterior shower as the water lines are inside the trailer not outside. The extra insulation provides an R21 insulation value to the floor of the trailer it is marketed as having an R7 for every inch of thickness and the the average thickness is three to four inches. The 12V heat pads will run off of the battery but your battery will continuously be charging as you have ordered the solar panel.

--

There you have it!
~e

kalyson · 12-02-2011, 10:17 AM

Well, we know for a fact the insulation weighs more than 20 lbs since we got it on our trailer. Plus, it is just logical it would weigh more since the stuff is so incredibly dense. Just pick up a piece of it and you know it adds more than 20 lbs to the trailer.

In fact, we weighed the trailer many times at the local weigh station and Reace helped us calculate the amount by subtracting out the base weight of the trailer and the extras we added. His calculation was that it was about 100 lbs - maybe slightly less. But roughly.

Email Reace and I am quite sure he will remember us (Kris and Marcie) and that he will remember the weight of the insulation.

Personally, we think it is worth every penny and every pound. Our trailer is VERY QUIET and well-insulated. Pipes are protected -- underside is protected -- it can be noisy outside but it really dampens the noise. The temperature differential between inside and outside the trailer was far more stable and more long lasting than we anticipated. (And as you might guess, we also got the additional insulation and dual pane windows option they offered, as well.)

It is a great option and we were glad to have it. Escape Trailers spent A LOT of time underneath making sure there was no overspray and that the parts that needed to be out were outside the foam.

reace · 12-08-2011, 08:21 PM

To add to the weight question, depending on the size of trailer, the spray foam will add 70-90 lbs. Each heat pad draws 10 amps, so they are really only meant to work while in tow or while plugged in to 110V power.

Reace

LeonW · 03-09-2012, 01:08 PM

I got an email from Tammy yesterday about the insulation and the heat pads. Apparently an escapee took their trailer on a skiing trip, and it got down to -15 Celsius. It had a the insulation and the heating pads. However, since they were boon docking, there wasn't any electricity, so they didn't use the heating pads. It was just fine. As a result, we are going with just the insulation, but no heating pads. We usually don't camp below about -5 to -7 Celsius, so I think we will be fine. It saves $200.00

Leon

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