It hasn't gotten very cold here in Virginia Beach yet and we are OK with that. But a few people near us have wrapped their water hoses and it looks like they are ready for freezing weather. There is a pretty good likely hood of that so we went to Home Depot and bought some things to be prepared.
First thing we got was the 30" Frost King pipe warmer heat cable. Then we got a 25' hose to go with the 6' water hose we already had.
And we got the five sections of 6' foam
Then I read the directions on the Frost King pipe warmer. Something about "...not for hoses...". Hmm. Next I went next door and ask the fellow camper about that and he said, "Yeah, no big deal there, we looked it up and found out we just needed to wrap the hose in aluminum foil and its working fine".
OK - before we did that I wanted to check out the wrap sensor to see if was going to warm up as advertised. Pam read the thing to do was to plug it in and put the sensor between a small bag of ice. We did that and it heated right up after about 15 minutes. Not hot, but warm.
Next step was to wrap the entire hose with tin foil.
Then we laid the sensor cord/wrap up against the hose and secured it with electrical tape every 6-10 inches.
And stuffed it all into the foam wraps and tape it up with duct tape.
Then I connected it to the water faucet
and the other end with the sensor to the regular coiled water hose in the wet bay.
I know there is a lot going on here but the 3 main things to note are: 1) The hose on the reel connected to the tin foiled hose 2) the heat sensor is plugged into an extension cord that I have threaded through the bays to an inverter outlet on the other side of the coach and 3) I also have addition drop lights in the wet bay turned on 24/7.
Once I close the bay door, the hoses are protected.
The rest of the hose has the foam wrap.
That's what the finished product looks like. We've had it on there about a week now and so far no issues. It only dipped below freezing one time since there.
We feel like this gives us another cold weather option and we wanted to see if it was feasible.
What other solutions have you seen to prevent hoses from freezing? Or what do you do?
I'd be interested.
Thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles and hope you are warm and enjoying things as we approach the new year.
In freezing weather I just fill my onboard water tank and disconnect my FW hose. But I know you've already thought of that. ;c)
ReplyDeleteWe've never stayed onyplace where the temps are below freezing for an extended period of time so I've always just gone out and disconnected the hose in the evenings and used our on-board water tank. Then when it warmed up, I'd go back out and hook the hose up again.
ReplyDeleteJim
We do what Paul and Marti do...Keep an eye on the weather forecast, and make sure the tank has fresh water...Usually if we get freezing temps, the hoses thaw once the sun comes up and warms the air.
ReplyDelete5 years ago we experienced a hard freeze near Lake Okeechobee, Fl.. Our water hose and closed dump valves stayed frozen til late afternoon. Kinda suprizeing that far South. It was the coldest year in 13 years..Kinda makes me wonder if sewer hoses and dump valves need some protection too. Charlie of Rolling Earthquake .
ReplyDeleteWe used to camp into the Winter in Alaska and did the same as Paul and Marti. It worked for us.
ReplyDeleteI suspect with the weather flipped like it is, you will not get a freeze this winter.
Wishing you guys a Happy New Year.