It was all good till I hooked back up to City Water.

[lappir]

Well maybe not exactly. 

During the recent cold snap across the US much was in the news about broken pipes in the sticks and bricks homes in my area. I felt blessed that while the water did freeze for a day and a bit more, repositioning one of my electric heaters seemed to have resolved the issue. I had disconnected from the "Hydrant" the day before the sub zero temps were to arrive with a full fresh water tank. 

Then night it dropped to -8F my thermometer near my water filters read 18 when I woke up. I turned the fan pushing warmed air from the living area to the "Possum Belly" (or basement as I like to call it.) to high speed from Low and before two long the thermometer was reading 40. The next morning when I got up and turned on the water pump it started running and I thought all was good.(Because it shut off and didn't cycle unless I opened a faucet). 

Yesterday after work it was Sunny and in the 50's. I decided to hook back up to the city water and fill the tank back up. OOPS, water was suddenly running out of the basement. 

Started looking for the source and found the filters  with one of the bottoms no longer attached and the other one with a large noticeable crack in the side. My Whole house GE filter seemed to have weathered the event much better and has no visual damage. I'll hook it up to pressure when I get the others fixed (RV Water Filter store items) to be sure it's leak free before I decide where I'm going to move the whole filter system. 

I guess I'm in better shape than a co-worker who went out of town during the freeze and came back to a LP furnace that stopped working while he was gone. I offered to check and change his tanks while he was away he had a 100# hooked up and two 20# sitting out in the cold. The day after he left I found the 100# very light so I hooked up a 20#, but knew it wouldn't last long in the expected continued below zero temps. The park has a fill service and I had it filled and changed it over the next morning. I could hear the furnace running, so I assumed all was OK.  Apparently the fan was running but there was no fire to add heat to the blowing air. Haven't found out the extent of the damage. I should have gone inside the rig, but didn't want to intrude on his privacy. 

If I knew then what I know now, I would have insisted on a life time warranty on the Full Four Season rig I had custom built. I keep finding things that apparently were easier to do than the right way to do them. Water lines along the exterior wall in an unheated area. Water pump less than 18 inches from the 50 amp circuit panel and several others. 

I've tried different things with my filters, with limited success. The expanding foam I guess was a better way than my current one, but I kept finding drips from the connection inside after pulling the housings out to change the filters, so I mounted everything to a board to diminish the flexing of the connections. Maybe I'll keep the rigid mount and form around it  to create a new expanded foam mold that I'll slide off to change the filters. Or I could find a place in the living area to place the filters. I have no problem keeping it above freezing. 

 

Rod

[Kirk W]

7 minutes ago, lappir said:

I could hear the furnace running, so I assumed all was OK. 

Many RV furnaces will start the blower when the thermostat calls for heat and then if the propane doesn't light the blower just continues to run until it is turned off. The ability to turn the blower off once the ignition fails is a relatively recent change and even today not all RV furnaces do that. 

[Dutch_12078]

Anyone that has an Atwood or Suburban RV furnace that doesn't shut the fan off if the flame doesn't light can fairly easily upgrade using a Dinosaur "Fan 50 Plus" replacement ignitor board.

"The basic purpose of a Fan Control Ignitor Board is to shut the fan motor off if the board fails to sense a flame after the third ignition try. Thus, battery drain is reduced and the needless blowing of cold air is eliminated."

https://www.dinosaurelectronics.com/Fan_50_PIN.html

[lappir]

Thanks for the info, I'll inform my friend of the possible upgrade. 

 

Rod

[Wrknrvr]

     We got to see -25 with the windchill recently. Yep we did.

 

   But we are in South Carolina. Who the heck ever thought that it would get that cold in South Carolina. Temperatures were tested with a inferred thermometer. 

 

     Since getting to the north west corner of South Carolina in early November (our son lives hear). It either rains for days straight, rains part of the days or at least not nice enough to do anything outside. 

 

   I went out to do some stuff as soon as I could see this am.  It’s going to rain again for several days.

    Back to being cold. One must really plan for the unexpected.     Maybe turn up the heat higher than you think is needed for the underside   I think you had trouble before with the cold. With pipes freezing.

 

       Keep that high speed fan thought in your mind for when it gets cold again.

 

   Now this happened to a customer of mine back in north west Montana a few weeks ago. I was on the phone with a long time customer. He had several problems. But he had a local inexperienced rv tech help him . We are in South Carolina for the winter.

    So with several phone calls that day things were looking good.

 

   But when I checked the phone in the morning that customer texted me that night, that his hot water was not running.   Well things were good the afternoon before. The Aquahot was producing heat.

 

    The customer has medical problems so he could not go outside and look. So his wife did. Both bay doors were open on each side the the Aquahot unit.  She closed the doors, pipes thawed out, hot water then started to work. 

   

[Wrknrvr]

   Thermostatically controlled heat tape. Or a thermostatically controlled high speed on your existing heat source.

[lappir]

6 hours ago, Wrknrvr said:

   Thermostatically controlled heat tape. Or a thermostatically controlled high speed on your existing heat source.

If you are commenting on my post. I have heat tape on two of the lines. The one outside to the Hydrant and the other on the one inside the basement. Didn't wrap the filter housings. I will turn up the heaters in the basement. It seemed like they were cycling, but maybe it was only the one. 

Rod

[Wrknrvr]

     I guess the filter housings need warmth also.

 

  Just trying to help

 

    I have had things like that happen also. Hard lesson ,but we both will remember it.

[lappir]

Just now, Wrknrvr said:

     I guess the filter housings need warmth also.

 

  Just trying to help

 

    I have had things like that happen also. Hard lesson ,but we both will remember it.

If it was still hooked up the the Hydrant the radiant heat may have been enough. I shut off the hydrant and disconnected the hose so I didn't have to pay for a new Hydrant and install. I've heard it's a bit pricy here in Cape to have one replaced. I have several single canisters and am hoping they will just screw on the tops and not leak. If not I can hook them into the RV Waterfilter store bracket I think. 

Thanks for all of your comments. They are very often quite helpful. 

 

 

Rod