Do you think they are worth the extra money?
No. Put a small heater in the bay. Simple and reliable.
^ ditto
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk. Clumsy fingers may contribute to mistakes.
You can also install a low temp warning unit of some kind to alert of heat failure.
We are on a shared 15Amp circuit from the house where we are parked. As such we have to be careful about power useage. A electric heater is too much. Also while traveling, or boondocking, unless you run the generator, power is very limited. I have 2 furnaces, (20K in back and 40K up front). I ran 1 duct from each to my rear bay. All of our water tanks, lines, etc... originate there. I have kept water flowing as low as -16F. Tank heaters/mats would be a nice back-up for us but not feasible most of the time.
Don & Sheila
Depends how cold the temps are going to be where you go. If you still have access, you should insulate as much as possible down below: floor, walls, bay doors. Then some heat off the furnace should be enough. If worried in really cold weather, one or two light bulbs work good. Or electric cube heaters. Heating pads under the tanks would be nice, and you don't have to use them if you don't have the power that day. Also I am thinking, make sure your dump valves are inside the bay to stay warm, rather than below the floor where they will freeze. Easiest is not to be in cold weather in the first place, but sometimes you can't help it and it is good to be prepared.
JC
Here is an idea for you. My son grows snakes. He has about a dozen, each in its own case. Under each case is a heating pad (thermostatically-controlled) from the pet store. The stuff is called FlexWatt and they sell it by the foot. You purchase only one thermostat to control them all, as long as you have the same amount of square inches of heating pad under your black/gray/fresh tanks. Remember you are not trying to boil anything. Just maintain it above freezing.
It comes in various widths an voltages. You order it by the foot or by 100-foot roll. I have even thought this stuff might be used on the sides of the center walkway to heat the bus.
Here is the company my son recomends:
http://beanfarm.com/index.php
cPath=1204&osCsid=be277904b3f8f2b6ce8c582f86290f1a (http://beanfarm.com/index.php%3Cbr%20/%3EcPath=1204&osCsid=be277904b3f8f2b6ce8c582f86290f1a)
From the same people, he recommends the Helix brand thermostat.
Put your tanks in an insulated box and put small heater as suggested. If heater goes out it will be easier to fix than getting a heat pad from under your tanks.
John
In our 4104, we just plugged a 100 watt rough service light bulb in a receptacle in the water tank/water heater bay. Never had a freez up. You can also buy small fan forced electric heaters that draw any where from 150 watt on up.
Im not there yet, so I am going to follow this thread. Good luck Mike, Its antique experience but I thought about water bed heating mats and don't recall having any issues in the 70s or 80s. And plus 1 on the green house mats type great idea I think.
following, good day
Thanks everyone for all your helpful ideas. I have been working in the bathroom / bunk room all summer and I can't really complete it without installing and plumbing the holding tanks. So thanks for helping me get this all worked out.
We use an electric ceramic heater with a thermostat. Really doesnt have to run much and heats the whole underside of the bus. If we are running the generator (boondocking) there is enough heat from that (and the hot water heater) to keep it from freezing under the bus.
-Sean
There is heat tape for keeping pipes from freezing. I haven't done the energy calculations - just a thought - They make a DC version too, I think. The AC version yu can get at the Home Depot/ Lowes. Light bulbs work good too - The key is to keep the area fairly airtight as possible.