Winter Pack: Fresh & Waste Water Tank Heater

The AS Winter Pack has Fresh & Waste Water Tank Heater Blanket, can somebody confirm whether these are visible from under the van, all I can see is plastic tanks !

TIA
Peter

I seem to recall that it's not so much a blanket as a thin pad, about 6" square under the tank. It should be possible to discover it by following the wires.

Yes that's correct don't worry. As Cymro says it's a thin black heat pad glued to the underside of the water tank/s. The term ' blanket ' can be very misleading as indeed my old motorhome did have a blanket insulation around the tanks.

Yes, we had them as part of the winter pack when we purchased the van. They are thin, black and up to about 12 inches square and stuck to the bottom of both tanks with wires coming out of them. They also have black and white manufacturers stickers on them. I took photos for future reference. Interestingly it was one of my first repair jobs on the van. Within weeks of purchase they were both hanging down under the van, they hadn’t been stuck properly. I remember whilst under there I noticed the fresh water drain pipe was also hanging down and had to add extra cable ties. Oh what fun!

Pete

GP1069 wrote:The AS Winter Pack has Fresh & Waste Water Tank Heater Blanket, can somebody confirm whether these are visible from under the van, all I can see is plastic tanks !

TIA
Peter

Your question piqued my interest so I checked my van which I ordered with Winter Pack.
The only way I could see them was by sticking a phone camera underneath the van.
This is a photo of my "Tank Blanket" of waste tank. There is another on the fresh water tank.



As an aside, the current draw is 10.5 amps @12V.

Hi

Just put a link on what happen to my Blanket last June.

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Hi Peter  (GP1069)
 On our Kemerton they are flat pads approx 60cms x 30cms and like Pete ( Massai Warrior) said ours were hanging down. Contacted A/S for adhesive details and was told to use a thixotropic contact glue. Having experience in the shoplifting trade I decided against using there advise as I have experienced contact glues failing when temperature extremes are present.  I decided to use one of the relatively new polymer glues which is applied via a skeleton gun (cheap) these Adhesives are reported to stick anything to virtually anything even when wet and are solvent free.  So far so good.      

Cheers Windy

Windychippy wrote:Having experience in the shoplifting trade

Did you mean that?

Not something that gets admitted on a public forum a lot, but credit due for your honesty.

I'd be tempted to run a bead of sealant/adhesive (such as Purflex/Sikaflex or similar) round the perimeter, if nothing else to prevent water from getting in between tank and blanket and freezing, where the expansion may force the adhesive apart.

I don't know why I bothered with them.

The pipework freezes long before the bulk of the tank, and you are stuffed just the same.  Even though you have plenty of liquid water in the tank you can't get it to the taps.

Thanks all I will check when it's next not raining in a couple of day's. I have some silkafix 252 hope that will do if needed.

AutosleepyDon, do I see in your photo at the back, that your freshwater drain pipe is hanging down a bit? Is there any support? Just wondered.

Pete

AutoSleepyDon wrote:

Windychippy wrote:Having experience in the shoplifting trade

Did you mean that?    

He would answer but is currently helping Police with their enquiries

kaspian

AutoSleepyDon wrote:

Windychippy wrote:Having experience in the shoplifting trade

Did you mean that?     

He would answer but is currently helping Police with their enquiries 

Hi Guys

Just back from the station, I visit quite often for a cuppa.  
      I leave the site for a couple of hours and all sorts of aspersions appear. 
Proves one should proof read before clicking send.  Yes shopfitting becomes shoplifting.
 

Kindest regards
Windy

Can I have my file in the cake I sent back please? 

kaspian wrote:Can I have my file in the cake I sent back please? 

Proves people on this forum are always willing always help, no matter what your situation.

Gromit wrote:I don't know why I bothered with them.

The pipework freezes long before the bulk of the tank, and you are stuffed just the same.  Even though you have plenty of liquid water in the tank you can't get it to the taps.

Are they still building vans with pipework not protected?

Micky

mikethebike wrote:Are they still building vans with pipework not protected?

Micky

Isn't it all about passing the grade 3 thermal insulation test these days.
Having pipes that freeze in a few hours don't prevent you from passing that test.

AutoSleepyDon wrote:

mikethebike wrote:Are they still building vans with pipework not protected?

Micky

Isn't it all about passing the grade 3 thermal insulation test these days.
Having pipes that freeze in a few hours don't prevent you from passing that test.

Cynical or realistic Don?

The latter I think. The thermal insulation test doesn't actually tell you all that much about the effectiveness of the thermal insulation. If you read up about how it is performed, it tells you far more about the output of the heater. 

(Does that count as cynicism??  )

Well it stopped raining(was racing from autocorrect) today and I crawled underneath and found that it does have the Tank Blanket's, covering approx 1/3rd the length of each tank. 

So presumably if I turn on then the tank heater the pad should get warm yes ?

That's right. There's is an isolating switch for each of the 2 blankets (one on grey water tank and one on fresh water). But beware that unless you're on mains, the battery drain will be considerable if left on overnight. There's thread about that on this Forum.

As has been pointed out, it takes a hard frost to freeze a tankful of water; the pipework will freeze sooner; and it's more likely to freeze if driving! (I don't know, but I think that - unlike the fridge which runs on 12v when engine is running - the blankets do not operate when engine is running. But that's a hunch; others can confirm / correct.

Cymro

On our last van the water tank had a tunnel in the moulding and a heating pipe routed through so if it was cold enough for heating the tank was kept from freezing - no excess energy used or complicated wiring to worry about. 

Rich.

Gromit wrote:I don't know why I bothered with them.

The pipework freezes long before the bulk of the tank, and you are stuffed just the same.  Even though you have plenty of liquid water in the tank you can't get it to the taps.

That's a bit of a weird one Gromit, because all the pipes are factory lagged on my Fairford's winter pack and don't freeze up. I was quite impressed with that because the lagging was also done properly. I'm sure you'll agree that there would be no point in kitting out vans with winter packs if the pipes are not properly lagged!!

I would certainly agree Simmo, but they aren't on ours!! 

I wants me money back!   

Me too!  Though I'd settle for free installation of pipework lagging. Fat chance now!

Cymro