Premium and Winter Packs.

We went away to France with our un lagged van ( 2013 Broadway FB) last month, spent a night in a valley where the temp dropped to -7. No problems with any water freezing, van was very warm inside too. The service point outside across the car park was totally frozen in the morning though when we tried to fill up with fresh water.
I have thought about the tank blankets, but I think you really need the tanks and pipes, including the pipes from the pump to be well lagged too. I have seen a test on the tank blankets and they keep a tank of water from freezing in temps down to -15 with no lagging. No doubt it works well, but at such a large current drain.
Allan

I think the way to go is as fully lagged as possible, then only use the tank heater when on EHU. I will probably fit the ambient air thermostat and a mains relay just to cover myself - Northern Lights here I come, don't suppose there are many sites open top of Norway at the moment!!!!!!!!
John

Peter Brown wrote:Photos of an installation would be good if anyone can help - not tonight or tomorrow though!

Peter

Has anyone got any pictures a switch re heated tanks. I have found a switch near the habitation door that I have no idea what it does thereis a red light when switched on. Is this a tank heater switch.

andyiow wrote:

Peter Brown wrote:Photos of an installation would be good if anyone can help - not tonight or tomorrow though!

Peter

Has anyone got any pictures a switch re heated tanks. I have found a switch near the habitation door that I have no idea what it does thereis a red light when switched on. Is this a tank heater switch.

I have a switch near the hab door that lights up ( orange) when switched on, it turns the microwave oven on.
Allan

Hi there,

This is what can happen with an un-lagged supply pipe!



But the tank didn't freeze!

Best regards,
 

andyiow wrote:

Peter Brown wrote:Photos of an installation would be good if anyone can help - not tonight or tomorrow though!

Peter

Has anyone got any pictures a switch re heated tanks. I have found a switch near the habitation door that I have no idea what it does thereis a red light when switched on. Is this a tank heater switch.

Don't know if mine would be the same as it's the pre-facelift model (2006). My tank heater switch is a straight-forward on/off switch located next to the control panel - which on mine is on the outside of the wardrobe wall above the seat. Sorry no pic.

ajrm wrote:

andyiow wrote:

Peter Brown wrote:Photos of an installation would be good if anyone can help - not tonight or tomorrow though!

Peter

Has anyone got any pictures a switch re heated tanks. I have found a switch near the habitation door that I have no idea what it does thereis a red light when switched on. Is this a tank heater switch.

I have a switch near the hab door that lights up ( orange) when switched on, it turns the microwave oven on.
Allan

Hi Allan its not that, my microwave switch is under the microwave and as you say it has an orange light. This one is a single switch with a red light above it. it is located below the step button / switch.
Andy

That could be an awning light switch or a master switch for interior lights, try leaving interior light(s) on and then operating that switch.

Paulmold wrote:That could be an awning light switch or a master switch for interior lights, try leaving interior light(s) on and then operating that switch.

None of those Paul. Interior led switches above the (unknown switch) and the awning light switch is on the aux button on the control panel.

Have you asked AS. 'If I have tank heater, where would you have mounted the switch'?

It probably is a tank heater switch. When I asked if I had a tank heater fitted in mine ( it was a showroom model with all extras) because I had a tank heater button that lit up on the control panel, i was told they do not use the panel switch but fit a new switch by the hab door.
Looks like this could be your switch. ( Mine doesn't have a tank heater fitted)
Allan

Does the heater work when driving? That might be useful as the cold air passing by at 60+ mph will certainly cool things down. I would think the alternator could throw out enough power to heat the tank a bit. If warmed a touch on the journey, then the tank would stay warm for hours, especially if lagged.

Hi All. It seems my gripe regarding Premium and Winter Packs, certainly stirred up a lot of conversation, strong feelings and some useful information. 
As a follow on, my heater blankets now sorted but the Alko Auto-Stop suspension aid only applies to van conversion models and although shown on the price list for various coach built models at the NEC, was actually a misprint. When the error was discovered this was removed from the relevant pack. 
We are delighted with the motorhome and have been to Taunton to have the obligatory alarm fitted by Van Bitz.

Regards The Bad Penny.

hope you had the taunton firms A TEAM we didn't and ended up broken down twice in 6months due to a shoddy contact ! very hard to prove but 3000 trouble free miles previous to alarm fitting and only less than 100 afterwards ,twice being "low loaded" to nearest Peugeot dealer , 6 days at said dealers,second one (howards of taunton) persevered and found the guilty lose connection instead of just clearing the computer fault as the first dealer had done. another 3000 happy miles later draw your own conclusions

Hi , slightly off topic. I had the Van blitz alarm on my first home. had to go back as the blinking light could not be seen in the sun.!
it did go off once saving me a robbery.
However they are more complicated now and i am not going down that route again. i don't mean Spain where the break in occurred.!
very careful where i leave the van when we are not in it.
I don't think the multi- lingual stickers help, not sure the thieves can read.
if its a isolated spot they can damage the van and take anything they can see,before anyone does anything.
i think the risk of the motorhome being stolen is low.unless you always leave it at a quiet spot. thieves are opportunists.
Of course my experience is based on multiple property break ins.
All IMHO.
regards
mike

Hi Paul and Mike.

As for the alarm, this is the third mh we have had fitted with Van-Bitz and fortunately unlike you Paul never had a problem, just hope this remains so.

They now fit highly visible blue lights front, back and rear Mike and with the latest "Strikeback Growler" as they call it, really is deafening when activated. Another feature my wife likes when on an Aire is, that we can arm the perimeter when asleep. Having said that the down side is, if there was an attempt to get in, the noise could give me a heart attack. 

Happy Travelling
Regards The Bad Penny.

Has anyone fitted the CAK Tanks heater? We are going away mid February, possibly towards the Alps and have been thinking about lagging and/or heating the tanks and pipes.
I know the tank blankets are easier to fit, but draw more current. The CAK Tanks solution seems better, but does that mean taking the tank off to fit it. I have a large screw cap at the bottom of my fresh water tank. Can this be removed to help in fitting the in tank frost heater?
I will be lagging both tanks and all pipes in the next week or so prior to our trip, just wanted to get some info on the heaters. Has anyone used theirs successfully in very cold weather yet?
Allan

Image of screw cap on tank. Click the link.
https://i.servimg.com/u/f55/18/70/73/08/img_0711.jpg

Hi Bernie. That's a great write up, thanks. It all seems so easy!
When you took the inspection cap off and refitted it, did you have to seal it with anything or is there a rubber seal / washer there?
Did you also insulate the water feed pipes? Mine come out of the front of the tank, around the side and go up through the floor into the front offside side facing seat base. I was thinking of waterproof foam pipe insulation from Armaflex for these pipes and also the freshwater drain pipe.I will also be insulating the waste tank and drain to tank pipes. Not sure if I will fit a frost stat in there though.
Allan

Hi Allen, There was a seal inside the inspection cap. I was not sure if it seated well so I added a little flexible sealing compound I had called Seelastik.
I did insulate all the freshwater pipes with foam pipe insulation I bought from B&Q. It was easy to slide it along the pipes to places you could not get to. I used cable ties to hold it together. I didn’t know about weather proof pipe insulation. I used the B&Q foam on my old Nuevo ES and it looked in good condition after eight years.
To connect to the battery I found two flying leads with crimp connectors which were traced back to the 20amp battery fuse box. They went to two fuse connectors in the same fuse box. A-S told me they were there for an alarm if it was included but they would be suitable for the heater current. I used these battery connections and put two 3amp fuses into the connectors.
Hope this helps. Bernie

Thanks Bernie, I took the inspection cap off and there was chunks of black sealant inside the cap and round the threads, the pump was seated inside the cap, it looks pretty easy to get a heater element in there. 
I did think about using TankBlankets and my dealer now fits them, so I rang them to get a quote. 
3 hours labour at £65 an hour and £124 for 1 blanket. So double that for both tanks. I asked if that included tank and pipe lagging. Seems it doesn't. Whats the use of insulating the tanks if all the pipework is exposed?
So, I'll do it myself and get all the stuff for both tanks and all pipes from Cak Tanks for less than  £300.

I was interested in the leads you found from the battery fuse box. I have a small fuse box with 1x 20 amp fuse in it next to the leisure battery. There seems to be 2 more sets of wires connected, but no fuses. Was this the same fuse box that you found?
Allan

Hi Allan,
Yes it sounds the same. On mine there are two wires with connectors at their ends. One wire was white/red and the other brown/blue. I put two 3 amp fuse in each of sockets and measured the voltage at the connectors. It was 12volts. This saved adding a fuse box and made the connections easy as it was near my heater cable entry. If you are going to enter the cable by the habitation battery breather pipe this is how I did it. I pushed a knitting needle down beside the breather pipe and the taped the wires to it and drew it up into the motorhome. If I can help further let me know.
Bernie

Thanks for the info Bernie, I just traced the cables from the fuse box to the space at the back of the control panel, ( took the cover off under the seat) and they are the same, with a red connecter on each end. As i'm putting two heaters in, I might upgrade the cables but still use the fuse box. Very handy.
I might bring the cables up through the floor with the water pipes. Theres a biggish hole there that I can see daylight through, I will seal it a bit better too. I just ordered the pipe lagging. I'm going to do the pipes from the pump, all the drain pipes and the tank drains too.
Thanks for all your help. The stuff should all arrive next week, so weather permitting, I will start then. I am sure I will be picking your brains later!
Allan

Oops, for got, where would I download the installation and use instructions from their web site, I can't find any links.

Hi Allan, I have looked at the CAK web site and cannot find the Tank De-Frost Element Installation & Use Instructions on their 2014 web pages. It is this PDF document  TECHSHEET-TankDe-FrostElement17-1-08.pdf. I am not able to put it on the forum but they may be able to send it to you.
Bernie

andyiow wrote:

Peter Brown wrote:Photos of an installation would be good if anyone can help - not tonight or tomorrow though!

Peter

Has anyone got any pictures a switch re heated tanks. I have found a switch near the habitation door that I have no idea what it does thereis a red light when switched on. Is this a tank heater switch.

This is the switch does anyone know if this is for the tank heater