# Autotrail frozen up water heater & pump



## timmi (Dec 20, 2010)

Hi all,

Wonder if anyone has any suggestions to my recent problem.

I own a Autotrail Arapaho year 2000 and bought this a year ago and has been fantastic travelling arounty Italy,Germany Switzerland with no faults at all.

At my recent short break In Hawes (Richmondshire) had problems with the engine battery not holding it's charge so Just replaced with a heavy duty model and all is good now.

Now here is my little problem, my water heater and pump has frozen in this minus weather and need help to resolve as I will be using the van over Christmas.

I fully drained all water prior to the expected freeze so all pipes should be ok.

Will it be a matter of heating up the interior with a portable heater or is their something else I need to do.

Any help would be appreciated.

Cheers

timmi


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## Mrplodd (Mar 4, 2008)

Your only hope is to GENTLY warm the inside of your van with a fan heater and PRAY that when it froze it did not expand too much and damage your water boiler or pump. If it did then sadly you will not be using your Mh over Xmas and secondly you will have a LARGE  bill for the repair (replacement?) of your water heater

Whatever you do DONT fire up your water heater either on gas or leccy, your only hope is to defrost everything SLOWLY !!!


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## drcotts (Feb 23, 2006)

Hi Timmy
Did you leave the taps open? If not there may be some wateer trapped in the system that will be froze so hopefully this will be OK.
Did you drain the water heater....some of them have auto dump valves in case you forget but i dont know if yours does. 

if this is Ok then you should run the heating system up to warm the van up. this will be better than using say a fan heater as the heater ducting will be behine cupboards which helps to warm pipes up.

When its all warm and dandy then fill the system with water and run the water through the system on hot and cold and exaimine for any leaks or bursts. Its a worryingtime as the pump will be running to fill the heater up so you will need all the seat cusions off so you can look at pipes and the water pump. When the system is filled with water fire up the hot water system and leave it running till you need it.

have a good break wherever you go

Phill


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## Mrplodd (Mar 4, 2008)

Phill

Look at the original post " my water heater and pump has frozen "

That suggests to me that the boiler etc was NOT drained !!! (why else would it be "frozen up?" )


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## timmi (Dec 20, 2010)

Mrplodd said:


> Phill
> 
> Look at the original post " my water heater and pump has frozen "
> 
> That suggests to me that the boiler etc was NOT drained !!! (why else would it be "frozen up?" )


Thank you for your reply, when I went to switch on the power I could not hear the pump clicking as it normally does when the system is empty so I presumed the pump is froze with the cold

Cheers :lol:


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## Rosbotham (May 4, 2008)

> Phill
> 
> Look at the original post " my water heater and pump has frozen "
> 
> That suggests to me that the boiler etc was NOT drained !!! (why else would it be "frozen up?" )


But the OP said:

_I fully drained all water prior to the expected freeze so all pipes should be ok. _

So he did drain it....


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## Rapide561 (Oct 1, 2005)

*Draining*

Hi

When it comes to draining the van, emply the tanks, drain the boiler and open all taps. Leave the taps open until only air splutters out. You may have water trapped in the pump somewhere.

Hopefully though, any water may have had room to expand and no harm down.

Gently heat, open all cupboards etc if there are pipes behind to allow warm air to move freely.

Where is the pump located? If under a cupboard etc, get warm air circulated by opening the cupboard door.

All may not be lost.

Some boilers can operate without water in them - refer to your user guide.

Russell


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## peedee (May 10, 2005)

I agree with Russell, you probably still have trapped water somewhere which has frozen. This has happened to me and it is usually at the point where the fresh water comes into the interior.
Get a hair dryer and try warming the pump and pipes around it.

I have also had problems with not being able to refill the fresh water tank due to water collecting in a dip in the filler pipe.

If you are using it, Autotrails are usualy ok down to about -5/-7C beyond that forget it and keep a container of water stored inside in the shower compartment.

peedee


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## Carl_n_Flo (May 10, 2005)

I agree with Peedee's statement - we full time in our Autotrail, and the last few days have been 'interesting'.....

We have disconnected the waste drains from the shower and basin as they exit under the floor because they were freezing before reaching the waste tank - they now discharge into a bucket - no frozen drain pipes!!!

The kitchen waste drains directly into the top of the waste tank so doesnt have time to freeze!!!

Our biggest problem is the freezing of the fresh water as it just leaves the tank but before it enters the van. The pipe is lagged (although not very well) by the converter. At about -4 it freezes, then we revert to the 5 gallon container for all oout needs....including using a 2litre bottle to flush the loo (the added problem of electric flush from the main tank!!!).

This summer I WILL fit extra lagging and insulation under the van!!!!

As to the original OP problem - more than likely the pump has some residual water in that has frozen......if the pump can operate but no water appears when the tank is full, then it is frozen pipes....

Carl


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## Rosbotham (May 4, 2008)

Luck of the draw I guess Carl. I was away over the weekend when it got down to minus 7, and I was surprised that everything worked fine on my 696. I've got a freshwater tank heater, but a quick look underneath had shown some uninsulated pipework exiting the tank which seemed guaranteed to freeze, but for some reason it didn't. Like you at some point I'll crawl underneath to insulate it. Didn't have any issues with the shower draining...perhaps I take mine a bit hotter. (Although I did use your technique on my old van of shower tray plughole direct to bucket...but that's because Elddis don't understand simple laws of physics and seem to think that water will drain uphill to the grey tank...)


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## peedee (May 10, 2005)

Wind chill has a lot to do with at what point your unprotected pipe areas freeze. I have been ok at -7C in calm conditions but had problems at about -3C with a north wind blowing under the van.
Unless you are going to put a tank heater in, it is probably not worth insulating the pipes further.

peedee


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## Rapide561 (Oct 1, 2005)

*Water*

Hi

Somewhat off topic, but I have heated water tanks and so far this winter have kept the water flowing.

Difficulty now is all taps on site are frozen up, so water has to come from the laundry! Water's water at the end of the day!

Russell


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## briggsy (Oct 15, 2010)

*autotrail frozen tank*

I have a 2010 Mohawk.I was away for the weekend and kept the heating on all day and night.The following morning no taps or toilet would run.I now wait to see what the fault is.Surely your not expected to drain all the system down every night,also the wardens would not like you dumping several gallons of fresh water on a frozen pitch.We have had a Hymer for 6 years, used it on the continent without problems.I have looked at autotrails literature which gives me no figures by which the tank will go down to.I now await the big thaw and see who is liable for any damage


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## coppo (May 27, 2009)

*Re: autotrail frozen tank*



briggsy said:


> I have a 2010 Mohawk.I was away for the weekend and kept the heating on all day and night.The following morning no taps or toilet would run.I now wait to see what the fault is.Surely your not expected to drain all the system down every night,also the wardens would not like you dumping several gallons of fresh water on a frozen pitch.We have had a Hymer for 6 years, used it on the continent without problems.I have looked at autotrails literature which gives me no figures by which the tank will go down to.I now await the big thaw and see who is liable for any damage


No, you are not expected to drain down if you are staying in the van with the heating on. As has been said many times you need to choose the correct van for cold weather, fully winterised like the hymer you had. The draining down is when the van is parked up on the drive etc and not been used. Sounds like you need to consider a continental van if you want to use in the winter.

Hope the damage is not too expensive for you.

Paul.


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## peribro (Sep 6, 2009)

*Re: autotrail frozen tank*



briggsy said:


> I have looked at autotrails literature which gives me no figures by which the tank will go down to.I now await the big thaw and see who is liable for any damage


Autotrail offers heaters for both water tanks as an optional extra. If you have those and one or other of the heaters has failed, then I imagine that any repairs will be covered under warranty. If you haven't got the heaters then I imagine that any repair costs will be down to you.


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