preventing water lines / tanks from freezing while in transit

[ScubaRx]

On 10/21/2019 at 2:31 PM, WhatDa said:

...This was at 20 degrees with probably 80-90mph wind chill while in motion (quartering headwind).

Your trailer can never fall below ambient temperature. Wind chill has no effect on inanimate objects. It will, however, reach that temperature faster with wind. 

[choied]

I wonder if you could simply get a thermostat plug, e.g., HEATIT ET-21 Freeze Thermostatically Controlled Outlet On at 38F /Off at 50F, plug it into your inverter, and then plug in a heat cable and wrap it around your pipes with some pipe insulation (used often to insulate hot water pipes)...e.g., a 30 ft. Automatic Electric Heat Cable Kit.  It should conserve on the use of power, and you could check on it periodically.  The cable only takes 7 watts per foot; so not a huge power requirement to run it.

Edited January 16, 2020 by choied

[JPatrickJ]

Being an amateur astronomer we run into needing to apply heat to our telescopes in freezing weather all the time.  I'm sure this method could be applied in this situation.  What we use are 12 volt heating strips called "dew heaters" which are nothing more than long heating elements.  The individual heating elements are controlled using a Dew Controller.  You can add multiple heating elements to the controller and regulate the temperature to the desired level.  The controller is attached to any 12 volt battery source so will run as long as there is power.   Dew heaters and controllers can be found at places like Astrozap and Dew-Not .  One good telescope store is OPT Telescopes.  This is a workable solution which would allow you to place specific heat at specific locations.  I can't tell you if it's cost effective, but I think it should work.  There also may be better ideas out there for heating cables and tank warmers that run off of 12 volt.

[BackofBeyond]

On 1/13/2020 at 7:57 PM, ScubaRx said:

Your trailer can never fall below ambient temperature. Wind chill has no effect on inanimate objects. It will, however, reach that temperature faster with wind. 

Being an animate object - wind chill just hurts on those really cold days. I never thought about it however - Thanks ScubaRx.

[Mainiac]

We use the non-toxic anti freeze to flush with when traveling. We carry potable water in the TV (tow vehicle) and use that for our needs. A tea kettle provides any heated water we might need. Our refrigerator runs on DC while underway, and switched to propane when the heat is turned on. The unit heats up quite nicely and quickly. We "dewinterize" once we cross south bound the Mason-Dixon line, and with an eye on the weather. Usually we return North when chance of freezing is gone, but we have the hose and anti freeze with us ...in case.