Hi-Lo camper travel trailer forum

Hi-Lo camper travel trailer forum (https://www.hilotrailerforum.com/)
-   Off Topic Lounge (https://www.hilotrailerforum.com/f20/)
-   -   Emergency!!!! (https://www.hilotrailerforum.com/f20/emergency-5499/)

Joshuablake48 11-21-2016 11:37 PM

Emergency!!!!
 
Hi guys, winter has finally arrived in Minneapolis and I've made a terrible mistake. We had to go to Kansas city last week so before I left I drained the water system and hot water heater tank and unhooked the hose from the camper. When we got back the temp has barely topped out above freezing so we have been staying in A hotel instead of this absolutely non insulated camper... Now we're done with work and about to head back to Texas and realized that I didn't dump the black OR grey tanks and they are frozen solid!! The valves will still open luckily but I'm in desperate need for a very fast and effective way of thawing the tanks or some advice on what I should and should not do before we hit the road.. thanks for the help!!!!

Treeclimber 11-22-2016 06:08 AM

Short of building a fire under each tank---NOT--- there really isn't much you CAN do, except pack up and drive back to Texas. And when it thaws, find a dump station near home. Really, you can Google that! As they thaw, the chunk may move around, but depending on the time it takes to drive back and the temps along the way, that should not be a problem.
Tree

Treeclimber 11-22-2016 06:10 AM

Oh! and before you leave, close those valves! Otherwise you'll leave a trail.

hilltool 11-22-2016 10:42 AM

I agree. By the time you clear mid Iowa you may be ok during day time. Maybe pour some anti-freeze in there ( rv only) to help things along as stuff begins to melt. Many rest stops (interstate) now have dumps. You may have to do it in spurts- find a dump station and see what will come out and keep trying. Another solution is to buy one of those black-tank flushers that allow you to force water up into the tank and that may help unfreeze whatever is in the line-----but it may take some time. live and learn :)

Rick

RichR 11-22-2016 04:48 PM

I would be hesitant to try to drain the black tank until it is for sure thawed. You don't want to release the liquid without making sure the solids are going to with it. The gray tank you can get away with a bit at a time.

JackandJanet 11-22-2016 10:26 PM

One other point, unless the tanks were full, I would not expect the expansion due to freezing to have cracked them. However, the drain lines would have been full down to the valves, and they might be cracked. You should probably check for leaks as you go.

Additionally, the "J-traps" under the sinks probably had water in them and they could be frozen and cracked too. Check for internal leaks under the sinks. If your toilet is like mine, there's no J-trap above it, so at least that should be ok.

- Jack

mari 01-18-2017 12:38 AM

Its better that you follow the advice given here.

Bravada 07-22-2017 04:40 AM

Well how did it turn out? Inquiring minds want to know.

Epoweredrc 07-22-2017 06:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bravada (Post 39974)
Well how did it turn out? Inquiring minds want to know.

This post is Almost a yr old. I hate when people don't reply to let us know what happened. I had the drain line freeze on my old camper once I had to cut the line outside and thaw it with a heat gun to get water flowing again, somewhere I have a picture of the 2 inches of pipe I cut showing solid frozen water in it. mine was just the grey water pipe


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 03:55 AM.

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
HiLoTrailerForum.com Copyright 2010