chipy210 Posted December 28, 2013 Share Posted December 28, 2013 Hi/ are fresh and wast water tank heaters worth having installed , if so witch one is best we have elddis aspire 255. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted December 28, 2013 Share Posted December 28, 2013 Thats got to depend on how/when you use van and where the tanks are. If you are only expecting to use the van when there might be the odd frosty night, it's very unlikely you'll need tank heaters. If you intend using it in severe weather and have underslung tanks then they will be a good idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chipy210 Posted December 28, 2013 Author Share Posted December 28, 2013 Hi/ yes tanks are under slung and we rally all year, or is it good plan to insulate tanks with celatex. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keithl Posted December 28, 2013 Share Posted December 28, 2013 If you do have them fitted then they will only be usable if you are on an EHU as your leisure battery will not be able to provide enough power to sustain them for any length of time. Simple answer is to try without and if bad weather is forecast then empty your tanks and use smaller fresh water containers inside the MH for washing, tea making, etc and leave the waste tank drain open with a bucket underneath to catch waste water so it does not freeze in the tank. Far simpler and cheaper and works whether on EHU or not! Keith. PS And welcome to the forum. Edit I assume when you say 'rally' you mean without EHU so my comments are even more applicable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chipy210 Posted December 28, 2013 Author Share Posted December 28, 2013 Ok thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flicka Posted December 28, 2013 Share Posted December 28, 2013 It's worth checking with Elddis for costs & what's involved if retrofitting -if anything like Swift the difference between "factory" fit v "retro" fit is horrendous, as it involves a change of Control Panel (or it did, they may have changed on current models) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted December 29, 2013 Share Posted December 29, 2013 chipy210 Two types of 12V electric heater can be used for motorhome water tanks - the 'probe' type or the 'pad' type. Examples of 'probe' de-frost elements (and tank insulating wrapping) are shown at the top of Page 20 of this extract from the CAK catalogue. http://www.caktanks.com/files/cak_catalogue_2012/2012_CAK_Water%20Tanks.pdf The 'pad' type of tank heater is described on this website that also has useful general advice on motorhome winterisation. http://www.tankblanket.co.uk/ It's not that uncommon for a European-built motorhome to have probe-type heating for an external waste-water tank (my own Hobby has this). As Keith has warned, tank heaters will make a significant demand on a 12V power supply and, in my Hobby's case, tank heating can only be used when the motorhome is being driven or on 230V hook-up when (in both instances) the leisure-battery is receiving charge. But any motorhome that has been factory-fitted with heating for an external waste-water tank is unlikely to have an external fresh-water tank. Boxing-in the tanks, or wrapping them with insulating material, should help to reduce heat loss and would definitely be worth doing if you chose to install tank heaters. However, the simple truth is that a motorhome built with uninsulated external water tanks will not have been designed for use in arctic conditions and trying to make it frost-immune may well prove impracticable. I believe it would be better to accept the cold-weather limitations of an Elddis Aspire and (as Keith suggests) when there's a strong likelihood that the weather will be very cold, to take steps to side-step potential tank-freezing problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spospe Posted December 29, 2013 Share Posted December 29, 2013 Derek Uzzell - 2013-12-29 8:52 AM But any motorhome that has been factory-fitted with heating for an external waste-water tank is unlikely to have an external fresh-water tank. The current (2014) Auto-Sleeper range of Peugeot PVCs have this arrangement. The Warwick Duo for example has external waste and fresh tanks and both are insulated and heated using Tank Blanket pads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted December 29, 2013 Share Posted December 29, 2013 spospe - 2013-12-29 12:53 PM Derek Uzzell - 2013-12-29 8:52 AM But any motorhome that has been factory-fitted with heating for an external waste-water tank is unlikely to have an external fresh-water tank. The current (2014) Auto-Sleeper range of Peugeot PVCs have this arrangement. The Warwick Duo for example has external waste and fresh tanks and both are insulated and heated using Tank Blanket pads. I'd forgotten about that - it was mentioned in MMM December 2013 (Page 182). Do you know how much 12V power Tank Blankets take as I can't find any data about this? The installation instructions specify a 15A fuse and there's advice that an EHU should be used to maintain the charge-state of the leisure-battery, but there doesn't seem to be any information on the pads' amperage. A USA advert for this type of tank-heater quotes 5A to 11A depending on the size of the pad, so 10A for the two fitted to the Auto-Sleepers PVCs would seem a fair guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulmold Posted December 29, 2013 Share Posted December 29, 2013 Here is the Tank Blanket website... http://www.tankblanket.co.uk/ and according to their spec sheet, the smaller one uses 4.0A ... http://www.tankblanket.co.uk/information/product-specifications/tankblanket/ they automatically switch on at 7 degrees and switch off at 18 degrees. So unless on hook-up you are going to use a lot of power from your battery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spospe Posted December 29, 2013 Share Posted December 29, 2013 Derek Uzzell - 2013-12-29 5:30 PM I'd forgotten about that - it was mentioned in MMM December 2013 (Page 182). Do you know how much 12V power Tank Blankets take as I can't find any data about this? The Tank Blanket website at: www.tankblanket.co.uk quotes 60 watt for the large size and 54 watt for the smaller version of the heater pads. I have not yet had the opportunity to check this for myself as we do not get our new van until the end of February. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spospe Posted December 29, 2013 Share Posted December 29, 2013 spospe - 2013-12-29 7:01 PM Derek Uzzell - 2013-12-29 5:30 PM I'd forgotten about that - it was mentioned in MMM December 2013 (Page 182). Do you know how much 12V power Tank Blankets take as I can't find any data about this? The Tank Blanket website at: http://www.tankblanket.co.uk quotes 60 watt for the large size and 54 watt for the smaller version of the heater pads. I have not yet had the opportunity to check this for myself as we do not get our new van until the end of February. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spospe Posted December 29, 2013 Share Posted December 29, 2013 Derek Uzzell - 2013-12-29 5:30 PM I'd forgotten about that - it was mentioned in MMM December 2013 (Page 182). Do you know how much 12V power Tank Blankets take as I can't find any data about this? The Tank Blanket website at: http://www.tankblanket.co.uk quotes 60 watt for the large size and 54 watt for the smaller version of the heater pads. I have not yet had the opportunity to check this for myself as we do not get our new van until the end of February. EDIT: something really strange has happened here, as I attempted to edit my post in order to make the Tank Blanket link 'clickable' and I seem to have ended up with three posts!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted December 30, 2013 Share Posted December 30, 2013 Thanks for the reference to the Product Specifications part of the Tank Blanket website, I can't understand how I overlooked that. As Auto-Sleepers PVCs' tank capacities are relatively small I expect the TankBlanket 90 will have been fitted. 54W (4.5A) is not a huge 12V drain - no more than a headlamp bulb's - so it should be practicable to have both tank heaters operating while the motorhome is being driven. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliB Posted December 30, 2013 Share Posted December 30, 2013 Our Swift has a unheated under slung waste tank. A couple of winters ago staying in the Howgill Fells the campsite shower block froze so we had to use the van shower. The waste tank did not quite freeze. It was just the tap/outlet that froze. I now put a padded Jiffy bag over the outlet and I reckon we are good to -5 degree C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iain Strachan Posted December 30, 2013 Share Posted December 30, 2013 Hi, we have a 255, this March in North France we had -10c which froze the waste, drain valve, only. As others have mentioned if you are expecting cold conditions, better to open this valve and use a bucket. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iain Strachan Posted December 30, 2013 Share Posted December 30, 2013 sorry double post Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chipy210 Posted January 3, 2014 Author Share Posted January 3, 2014 Thanks lain and you all I think I will just insulate tanks and hope for the best. As I don't want flat batteries.and happy new year to you all Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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