Water

I am filling up for the first time today (practice run). I've noticed there is going to be a slight frost on Thursday. Question---- Would it be safe just to empty the fresh and waste tanks or should I drain down completely. What would others do?

Hi Rose, I've got into the habit of totally draining down after each trip.

John.

Morning Rose

Don't worry about it. For any damage to be done it would have to remain well below zero for many hours, if not a couple of days. At worst a slight frost may freeze up your externally exposed pipework, but not for long at this time of year.

Our van has been full of water for a fortnight. Couldn't be bothered to drain it when we shall be using it again soon.

Dave

Hi there,

This is the Met Office forecast for Worcester ....

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/weather/forecast/gcq2vwwxp#?fcTime=1426896000

.... and there appears to be no mention of the temperature falling below 0 degrees over the next five days.

In view of this I would go ahead.

Having said that, when I complained about getting wet due to unpredicted rain an old schoolfriend of mine said ....


So, maybe be better safe than sorry! 

Best regards,


PS

As explained on another Thread, although the "Feels Like" temperature may drop below 0 degrees this is not relevant when considering whether or not water will freeze.

rose49f wrote:I am filling up for the first time today (practice run). I've noticed there is going to be a slight frost on Thursday. Question---- Would it be safe just to empty the fresh and waste tanks or should I drain down completely. What would others do?

On arriving back home yesterday I thought we had left the cold weather behind and left the van filled.  I noticed this morning that next week it will drop to -2°C for a couple of nights I reconsidered:

• It is unlikely that anything in the van will be cold enough for long enough to freeze and there will probably be no damage
  
• Having had a frozen damaged boiler replaced (at dealer expense), a shower head cracked and having seen many broken taps I would not rely on 'probably'
  
• Normally I would just put the oil filled heater and the water tank heater on overnight for the nights in question
  
• However as I'm awaiting delivery of a citrus based descaler to use in the freshwater tank and boiler sometime this week I'll drain today
  

Its not a great deal of effort to drain and refill but the consequences of frost damage can be costly.

Peter

All above comments are very valid. As Grommit we havn't drained ours down since using it last week. As we use it fairly regularly there is always some latent heat which limited night time frosts have never overcome. (Touch wood ).

Jaytee wrote:All above comments are very valid. As Grommit we havn't drained ours down since using it last week. As we use it fairly regularly there is always some latent heat which limited night time frosts have never overcome. (Touch wood ).

I wasn't clear enough before - apologies for that!

I almost always drain down the fresh water tank after every trip, but that's more about hygiene than concern about a slight frost. (I regularly sterilise the tank as we always drink straight from the tap, and fresh water before every trip is preferable to stale.)

However I don't bother to drain the hot tank when no sustained freezing weather is anticipated. Generally speaking, if the daytime temperature gets above about 7 or 8 degrees Celsius I don't worry too much, since the night time temperature is extremely unlikely to have sunk low enough and for long enough to freeze that volume of water.

Dave


P.S. We have the manual drain tap, so the decision is not made for me - fortunately! The automatic ones can be a real nuisance.

If its your first fill up and your worried about freezing up why not add tank cleaning agents to your tanks and flush them out before any forecasted drop in temperature.
Many members use different tank cleaning liquids and Bio agents to  clean the water tanks and boilers , we have had sum sharp frosts over recent weeks which haven't been forecasted by our Look North weather presenters.
Boaby

Thank you all for your input. I have filled up. I think the dealers must have cleaned the system before I got the van as there was no smell of stale water.  Drained everything. I even remembered to stick the shower outside just in case. It all ran smoothly and quickly. Then drove to the shop to get rid of excess water.
I feel happy now I have done that and found it not a big job at all.
As for the weather forecasts they never seem to be right since the forecasters have got their new computer but mine defo says for night -2 Wed and -1Thurs. It will probably change though. Lets hope we  have