All you guys outside of the 3 W Counties, if you haven't winterised your vans, get it done today, the rest of the country is due to drop down to -4 in the next 24 hours.
The Trauma water heating has an auto frost stat, my water pump is off,the water tank is internal so I leave it filled as we use the MH all year round,I have a dehumidifier in on a timer and run the heating a few times a week. Anything else I need to do?
eirebus
Eat's Sleep's craic
Gender: Location: kildare Posts: 7455 Registered: 10 / 2011 My Motorhome: Dethleffs Advantage Base Vehicle: Fiat 2.3
the water tank is internal so I leave it filled as we use the MH all year round
Not sure if that's a good idea
I leave my internal tank filled also. The boiler drains itself when too cold and I open all the taps and let the pressured water out of them. It would be a very cold frost like we had in 2010 before an internal tank would freeze. We also use the van and I also leave a radiator in there down very low.
Our Talbot campervan internal tank froze in 2010, but it wasn't being used.
I thought the there was a risk of water lying in a tank becoming contaminated. Probably more so in the summer. I always dump the fresh water tank after every trip and refill before we leave. Also run the taps dry and leave them open.
I hardly ever empty my tank, but the van is used a lot, the tank is absolutely spotless. I fill it up, let it get low, fill it up again, wait until it overflows and stop. Water is refreshed weekly.
I can't remember ever emptying my old cold water tank in the house
I drain my tank in the winter if not used and open the taps. Even though the tank is inboard and heating on I have had the water in it freeze while skiing
eirebus
Eat's Sleep's craic
Gender: Location: kildare Posts: 7455 Registered: 10 / 2011 My Motorhome: Dethleffs Advantage Base Vehicle: Fiat 2.3
I have no choice but to drain my tank, if I want to drain the pump, water heater and connecting lines that is. I just did it now. It’s a bit of a chore. I open the my Carver water heater drain pump. That drains most of the tank and takes ages. When gravity no longer works, I run the water pump and it forces the rest of the water out the Carver drain plug. I need to run the pump for about 10 minutes to complete this.
Is it normal to need to drain the tank if you only want to evacuate the pump, heater and lines? I think I could install a shut-off valve on the tank outlet so as to isolate from the rest of the system that I want to purge. Good idea or not ?
Ally
Founder
Gender: Location: Muckamore, Antrim Age: 55 Homepage:motorhomecraic.com Posts: 32600 Registered: 08 / 2011 My Motorhome: Lunar Roadstar 780 Base Vehicle: Fiat 2.8 JTD
Our water heater/boiler has its own drain separate from the tank. I turn pump off when leaving the van and let the automatic valve open when the temperature drops. Leave the taps open so it back drains with gravity from the taps.
I can't empty the pump completely without emptying fresh water tank. If I empty that then I run the pump for a few minutes to flush remaining water out.
Both completely emptied today before it goes to its new home.
Yes or a couple of vents in the dinette seat and let the hot air in from the main living area. When the MH comes back from repair of the damp it’s my first thing to do
I threw this sketch together quickly on the iPad so excuse if it is not great. But it is a rough idea of my system. The water tank supplies the pump which is lower down. This in turn supplies the cold taps directly and also the water heater which is higher up. For me to drain the tank I could run the cold taps. But I would also need to open the drain plug on the heater. Eventually the pump should force the residual water out the heater drain.
Now if I wanted to add a shutoff valve as shown in the cutaway of the elbow joint, that would save me having to drain the whole tank and allow me to flush out the heater and pump right? But I think I would need to vent the line at the new valve which I have attempted to show with a tube pointing upwards in the sketch. Does that seem fair enough? Is there a such thing as a valve with vent built in?
Gavster
Eat's Sleep's craic
Gender: Location: Newry, Co Down Age: 45 Posts: 1000 Registered: 11 / 2016 My Motorhome: LMC Liberty 630R (LHD) Base Vehicle: Fiat Ducato 2.5 TD
I don’t use mine from Nov- Feb so I just drain it down completely and take 5L bottles of water filled at home for drinking. I just give it an overnight charge once a week to keep the batteries right.
Davy
Eat's Sleep's craic
Gender: Location: Co. Down Age: 70 Posts: 1544 Registered: 09 / 2011 My Motorhome: Hymer B598 PL Base Vehicle: Fiat 130 hp multijet
Sure do. Why not. Tea, cooking, washing teeth. Do you not drink from your tap at home.
I suppose. But I always use bottled water in the camper.
We use our tank water for drinking etc, 140 litre fill and can be topped up often when on the continent for up to 8 weeks at a time.
However I can understand why you buy bottled for drinking in the ROI. I read the Irish independent every day and never fail to be amazed at the boil notices which are a regular feature of many locations down there.
A symptom of poor planning in the past and perhaps corruption with regard to septic tanks etc. I believe the taxpayer is due to fund a huge EU fine in the near future for failure to meet standards.
Sure do. Why not. Tea, cooking, washing teeth. Do you not drink from your tap at home.
I suppose. But I always use bottled water in the camper.
What’s the thinking behind that. I know loads do it. If abroad and not 100% sure of water quality, then we revert to bottled water for drinking. Otherwise as it’s mainly from our own taps at home, we just use as we would at home
Well we don’t drink tap water in the house either. We had a reverse osmosis system for drinking water up until recently. It reached its end of life so now we drink bottled water at home and on the road. But that’s not the reason I mention it. I just thought I remember reading a thread on here once about drinking from the motorhome tank and the consensus seemed to favour bottled water for drinking.
The Rambler
Eat's Sleep's craic
Gender: Location: Galway Age: 50 Posts: 2346 Registered: 07 / 2017 My Motorhome: Base Vehicle: Vauxhall Movano 2.5 CDTI
I’m fairly picky where I fill from. We can get about 5-6 days from a tank, easy. So after that length we would generally be hitting a campsite by then anyway. To answer you’re question, if I’m not sure I probably wouldn’t fill it from there and would go to bottles until I got a safe supply
I’ve seen to many people washing out cassettes from the sites drinking water tap to trust any of them. Always use bottled water for drinking in the van and sterilise the main tank twice a year.
The Trauma water heating has an auto frost stat, my water pump is off,the water tank is internal so I leave it filled as we use the MH all year round,I have a dehumidifier in on a timer and run the heating a few times a week. Anything else I need to do?
17 Essential tips to prepare your motorhome or camper for winter storage
In terms of me isolating my water tank from pump/ heater, I think I need something like the ball valve below. It’s vented so should allow the pump to still ‘pump’ when the valve is shut off.
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