Pipes frozen

kellyjohn

Guest
Hi all been out in van full time for some months now and over the last couple of nights it has been very cold even with heating on ,anyway today woke up and found no water from pump so presume frozen i suppose i will have to wait to thaw or should i put hot water heater on to warm pipes . yessterday was fine but temp -5 outside at moment and going to get colder any thoughts and chat appreciated cheers john
 
Hi john
dont know what sort of heater you have for water but DONT put it on till you have water flowing from hot and cold taps ,if you build up presure in the boiler you may blow a joint that may survive the freeze,
MOS
 
Spend a night on a site with hookup and put some heating on full blast, open all cupboards and drawers. A small fan heater (2Kw) is only a few quid at Supermarkets and will circulate the heat better.
 
I thawed mine out with a 1.5kW fan heater in 10 mins last year when it was -20. It's the best way.
 
thanks all at friends with hook up will try elec heater cheers
 
kellyjohn said:
Hi all been out in van full time for some months now and over the last couple of nights it has been very cold even with heating on ,anyway today woke up and found no water from pump so presume frozen i suppose i will have to wait to thaw or should i put hot water heater on to warm pipes . yessterday was fine but temp -5 outside at moment and going to get colder any thoughts and chat appreciated cheers john
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As you say you are living in the van full time it is proberly the fresh water tank or the pipe from the tank to the pump that has frozen I assume your pump to be inside. Make sure you turn the pump OFF before doing anything else if it is a pressure system it could turn on on its own.
With having water now in your internal system you must try to keep inside above freezing untill you can drain down.

Alf
 
Any external tanks or water pipes WILL freeze so need to make sure all your pipework is within the insulated and heated areas.
Problem is that pipes under the cupboards don't get any heating and they are below the warm air inside the MH and the insulation will only delay, not stop, the freezing.
Trouble points include pipes running past uninsulated parts of the body such as single skin wheel-wells, metal brackets and framework that create cold-bridges and the like.

I had a 2' section of the pump suction line freeze and I had to dismantle half the kitchen to get aat it to apply heat because it ran against the fibreglass wheel arch under the cupboards and was never going to thaw out regardless of how much heating was given to the living area.
 
Hi John,

Feels such a long time since Akebar! Hope you are well.

It's a bit of pain to find parts for older vans like ours as we know from our blow-out experience last year so hopefully you'll sort everything out OK with no damage done

Karen & Steve
 
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thanks lotty still not thawed will sit it out till weather changes is slightly warmer today .y fronts i knew forgot to put something on this morning anyway using them as a hat ???am i bad:rockroll:
 
kellyjohn said:
thanks lotty still not thawed will sit it out till weather changes is slightly warmer today .y fronts i knew forgot to put something on this morning anyway using them as a hat ???am i bad:rockroll:
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commando, In this weather :scared:
:raofl:
x
 
kellyjohn said:
thanks lotty still not thawed will sit it out till weather changes is slightly warmer today .y fronts i knew forgot to put something on this morning anyway using them as a hat ???am i bad:rockroll:
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oh dear, hope they'r clean lol. If you are struggling with your water John you are welcome at mine anytime, xx
 
My wifes hairdrier comes in handy when frozen pipes can't be reached with normal heating. It works every time.
 
pipes thawed at last thanks jen for offer ,keeping pants on head really warm cheers all see soon john:cheers:
 
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