# Winterised fresh water tank



## Cherekee

Hi 
Further to the post on Winterisation have any Autocruise Starspirit (05) owners found the need to fit heaters in the fresh water semi internal tank whilst away in the Alps during the winter ? Autocruise inform me that they are happy (as is) down to -15c but i am not so sure. If so any advice would be appreciated.

Cherekee


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## 96343

Hi try fish tank water heater works well 
regards john


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## 91929

You may be OK down to -15C

We have had -23C here in Cumbria

That explains why two couples with "Winterised" Burstners had frozen internal tanks, pipes & taps
when travelling through France to Spain Mid day temp was -7C & a truck driver recconed -25C overnight in Southern France

Advice is travell with some drinking water in containers inside the van & empty tanks if the temp drops


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## Scotjimland

Hi 

Good advice from Pete, 
all I would add is that we didn't have a problem with the fresh water but the waste emptying pipe valve freezing.. we used a pail and kept it open. 

Propane gas is a must too and don't forget the porta potty .. it can freeze, you can add antifreeze to the flush water if it's a separate tank from the drinking water. 
To defrost a frozen valve or pipe I've used a hair dryer ..


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## 91929

i put this on yesterday but for some reason it has not appeared

When travelling in very cold weather we travel with ALL water tanks empty
We use a small washing up bowl and pour water from this into the toilet cassett instead of using the flushing system

We then empty the cassett daily 

Saves going outside in cold weather to the loo in the night
Not had any problems so far with the cassett freezing


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## Scotjimland

PamNPete said:


> Not had any problems so far with the cassett freezing


I have this image of trying to empty a frozen cassette .. 8O 8O 
:lol: :lol: :lol:.. NIGHTMARE ! :bad-words:


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## 91929

The cassett is the least problem we have had

One site in France ALL water was frozen solid

We only stayed one night (by plan) then set off for the sun 
Spent the next night in an aires Nr Perpignon (pulled in at 23.30
Motorway had been closed 5hrs afer a fatal crash on black ice

we kept the diesel heater going all night
Ran out of ice Nr Barcelona


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## Cherekee

*Thankyou*

Regarding water tanks thank you all for your advice. Will know doubt find out in January.

Cherekee


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## drcotts

*winterising tanks*

My current non autocruise van is lucky enough to have an inboard tank and i have never had any problems. however i intend to buy a starblazer soon and noticed that the tank is outside.

I thought of insulating the tank with a good few layers of bubble wrap. the air pockets would provide a good insulation (i hope).
Has anyone else thought of this or tried it.


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## rowley

Quote- I thought of insulating the tank with a good few layers of bubble wrap.
I have an external water tank and have covered it with a layer of the foil coated bubble wrap. Since doing this we have not suffered with the water freezing up. Foam pipe wrap was used on the pipes.
I used spray on contact adhesive to stick the bubble wrap on to the tank.


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## Cherekee

*Water Tanks*

Hi drcotts,
We survived the ski trip in January. Our semi internal tank did not freeze even in night time temps of -19c. The problem we had in our Starspirit was the supply pipe was routed externally underneath the floor, although insulated it was never going to cope with these temps. We lost our water for a few days but were parked within 5 mtrs of the wash rooms etc so did not cause a real problem. The drains need to drain directly (vertical) straight into a bucket (no traps whatsoever). Do the mod before you go. Suggest cut the pipe to allow a bit of slack and then connect with a push male plastic connector. When you get to a cold site just undo and your done. When you leave again just reconnect. Have since our return done a bit of modification to the insulation so will be ok next trip. Bubblewrap may be ok but would suggest 30mm polyeurathane and incase if you can. We used the camp sites at Praz su Arly near Megeve and the one next to the lifts at Samoens. Would reccommend both. 17.50 euros per night all in.


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## BERTHA

Not sure how the 2 Burstners had frozen pipes and tanks, looking at ours there are rads all around the lower floor

H


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## peedee

*Re: winterising tanks*



drcotts said:


> I thought of insulating the tank with a good few layers of bubble wrap. the air pockets would provide a good insulation (i hope).
> Has anyone else thought of this or tried it.


We have just come back from a week away in North Wales where we experienced 6 inches of snow over three days and temperatures as low as -7C. My fresh water tank is insulated with silver coated bubble wrap and the short feed pipe to the pump is wrapped in foam pipe insulation. This seemed fine down to about -4C but it froze up below this and remained frozen for nearly 36 hours. My view is that the only true winterised vans are those with false floors with all tanks and piping inboard.

peedee

-


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## BERTHA

Peedee, Clearly from Pam and Pete's post even if you have a fully sealed double floor they witnessed 2 Burstners freezing up

I find, not so much hard to believe but they must have shut off their heating, our heating has been on throughout the winter and the water seems almost warm.

But if the 2 Burstners mentioned by P&P did have heating on and they still freezed then makes me think that anything below say -10 of any model you should drain down

H


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## peedee

Possibly so, but nothing inboard on my trip froze. The heating was on all the time even if very low. I only drain down when the van is unoccupied.

peedee

Second thoughts, Our pipes and main water tank in the loft at home have never frozen up and we have recorded -12C on occasions and -5 to -8C is not that unusual. The environment up there is little different to that of a motorhome false floor.

peedee


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## drcotts

*winterising and tanks*

Thanks to everyone who replied to this post.

We have actually done a deal on a wentworth now - still with outside tanks. I will of course have a look at the piping and stuff when i get the vehicle next tues 14/3/06. I suppose i am lucky in that i work for a firm which has quite a stock of plastic fittings and connectors etc so i will be able to get some connectors to do some modifications if necessary. I will also have a look at some trade catalogues to see if there are any thermo barrier materials. I will of course post any info i have or get.

Thanks again to all
Phill and Pauline cotterill


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## 97526

*Autocruise water tanks*

Hello

We are going to spend the 2006-07 ski season at La Tania, and after reading Cherekee comments of experience with same motorhome, we are going to have a water heater installed in the fresh water tank, as well as lagging etc. We are in process of getting quotes and will keep you posted............

Good advice about the waste water outlet as it has been perplexing us on how to get round the non verticalness of it!!

Madge


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