Holding tanks and water lines

[Jtholland757@att.net]

Getting ready for the soon to be pain in the butt Alabama winter. 71 degrees yesterday and 32 degrees Tuesday as an example, and it gets more radical until spring. Owners manual says fresh water tank is heated via furnace vent. Nothing about black and gray. As our unit was in excellent shape when we bought it I’ve not had to drop belly pan or access sewer system. I figure if I open under sink cabinets in bath and kitchen, and access door to space below bed where hot water tank and water pump are located internal heat will infiltrate helping with prolonged sub freezing temps. Between forced air heat and a couple of space heaters inside should be fine. I’m mainly worried about black and gray tanks and their plumbing. Any experience or suggestions would be appreciated.

[silverloaf]

I guess I really depends on whether you want to keep your trailer active or passive as the weather becomes colder. We decided winter camping in potential sub-freezing temperatures was not our bag. That meant focusing more on drainage of water lines and freeze projection measures like adding RV antifreeze to the gray water p-traps. I also made sure all tanks were empty.

While restoring our new-to-us '88 30-P, I sealed it up the furnace duct to the fresh water tank compartment. I was convinced the duct would deliver more cold air into the trailer than hot air into the tank compartment.

Even though the living space gets heat from the furnace, it doesn't necessarily mean plumbing under the beds, behind the vanity, etc. gets sufficient heat. It's what we don't see that presents the greatest challenge to survival.

Anyway, that's my 2-cents worth to your question.

[KYAvion]

I’ve done and continue to do a lot of cold weather camping, and until temps are sustained below freezing I wouldn’t worry about it. Even then, I think there’s plenty of residual heat that will keep your tanks fine while you are in it and have space heaters and/or the furnace running.

Now I do have tank heaters on my black tank and the drain pipe between the black tank and gate valve. The purpose of these heaters is so I don’t have to worry about dumping when I’m NOT using the Avion. Before I installed these heaters I would routinely dump RV antifreeze into the black tank to keep things from freezing during sustained cold temps when I wasn’t using the trailer.

I did have one issue with the grey water during a time when it got down to ZERO degrees and I failed to close the gate valve to the grey tank. I had a 3/4” diameter hose attached and of course the grey water froze in the hose, which in turn caused the grey water inside the gate valve and drain pipe to freeze as well. The fix was easy though—I turned the furnace on and in no time at all everything thawed out without any issue.

I’ll be heading to our Avion this Wednesday, and we are predicted to have temps in the low 20’s at night. Starting to get a little chilly...

[Jtholland757@att.net]

We are living full time in ours now. We have full hookup and are running a couple of ceramic space heaters now. Just getting down to freezing tonight and tomorrow night. It’s the “hard freeze” I’m worried about, and I know it’s coming. If my wife wasn’t working, we’d be down in Florida somewhere. Thanks for the tips.

[KYAvion]

I really wouldn’t stress too much about it since you’re using your Avion 24/7. Just allow your grey water to drain, but remember that it may back up if it gets REALLY cold. You could close the valve, but then just remember the gate valve may freeze shut.

If you’re concerned, you could dump a couple gallons of RV antifreeze into your black tank right after you dump it and before you begin daily use of the toilet. That way, you’ve got the antifreeze in the bottom of the tank and the drain leading to the gate valve.

With the exception of when it’s cold and I first get to our Avion to bring it up to temp (typically from 20-30 degrees up to 70), I really don’t run the furnace. I’ve got a wall mounted space heater in the rear bedroom, a Vornado on the floor in the middle kitchen area, and I just added an oil filled radiator on the shelf at the front window. That oil filled heater is nice to take the chill away from the front window when sitting on the couch. Even on the low setting I find myself turning the thermostat on the radiator down.

Once the temp is at 70 degrees or so, these heaters easily keep things warm even during really cold (teens or lower) temps.

[Jtholland757@att.net]

Where did you mount your wall mount heater in the bedroom? Our 34w has a double bed turned sideways with the head of the bed against the drivers side. You can walk around the bed sideways keeping your head down as there are overhead lockers on the rear and driver side with windows all around. We have a cube space heater for bath bedroom area and another tower style in living kitchen. Looking to get a dedicated one for kitchen and we should be ok. We’ll be able to write a “how to”brochure by spring. We are staying in Theodore, Al. and rode out hurricane Sally onboard, and it got down to 28 last night so has been an experience so far. I still welcome and appreciate any info I can get. Thanks

[KYAvion]

I have a 30R that originally had twin beds. I insulated and built a platform and joined the twin beds together with a foam topper. By doing this, I have a ton of storage accessible via the outside compartment. The head of the bed is at the rear window.

I installed the heater on the wall that is shared with the shower. There’s not much space in the cavity, but I was able to surface mount the heater with the toggle anchors shown in the pic below. Unlike regular toggle anchors, you set these and then fasten the screw to them.

[KYAvion]

Here’s a link that shows how I sealed up the storage area and insulated under the bed.

https://www.aviontrailers.net/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=1334

This one, although about electrical, shows how I sealed up the storage area for the compartment for the water and electrical cord. Everything is wrapped in foam board.

https://www.aviontrailers.net/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1414


My objective is to keep as much cool air from entering the trailer as possible. Eventually I’ll get around to storm windows.

[silverloaf]

How do people handle the condensation that occurs between a warm interior and cold exterior?

[Jtholland757@att.net]

Ours has no access doors to the outside anywhere. Shower wall is about 6 or 7 inches from the side of the bed. Basically where my face is when I’m sleeping, so no go there. We do have a 4 drawer night stand against the wall at the foot of the bed that we set the cube heater on. If it gets too cold I’ll use rv antifreeze. If it gets worse than that I’m going to Florida.