How to Keep the Fresh Water Holding Tank in My Trailer Safe From Freezing While It Is in Use
While a trailer home provides many advantages over traditional homes, their very design prevents them from effectively battling winter weather in the same ways that traditional homes do. Fortunately, there are a number of different ways to combat freezing weather and ensure that costly damage is not done to the trailer's pipes, valves and tanks. In this way, the money saved by taking advantage of a trailer is not spent on making repairs to the trailer.
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Instructions
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Ensure that all of the piping in the trailer is covered with heat tape. The heat tape will ensure that, regardless of the outside temperature, the water flowing through the pipes and into holding tanks never approaches freezing. Use extreme caution when installing the heat tape, as it is essentially a heated electrical wire.
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Mix RV antifreeze in with the water in the fresh water holding tank and allow the antifreeze mixture to work it's way through the trailer's plumbing system. Ensure that the antifreeze is the pink, nontoxic RV type and not the highly toxic antifreeze designed for use with automobiles. However, you should still never use the trailer's water for drinking or cooking after RV antifreeze has been introduced as the taste and smell of the water will be altered by the antifreeze. Always ensure that an adequate supply of bottled water is available in the trailer prior to using antifreeze in the plumbing system. You can also opt to use the RV antifreeze only in the gray and black water tanks of the trailer, if these tanks are separate from a potable water tank.
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Wrap skirting around the outside of the trailer to prevent cold air and drafts from freezing the tanks. The installation of skirting is an essential part of winterizing a trailer, as it prevents the winter elements from making ice blocks out of the storage tanks located underneath a trailer.
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Install a heater directly on the outside of the tank to ensure that the liquid within never approaches freezing. While a heater may be costly, it can prevent costly damage to the trailer's tanks and plumbing system. Be sure that it is a heater designed specifically for such purposes.
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References
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