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Old 10-08-2016, 08:40 AM   #1
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Isata 5 heating pads

Anyone know if heating pads were supposed to come with our 2017 Isata 5 DS or are they an option? Thanks.
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Old 10-08-2016, 08:42 AM   #2
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Are you talking about tank heaters?
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Old 10-08-2016, 08:45 AM   #3
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Yes, they are thermostatically controlled heating pads that go beneath the tanks. I think the tanks are heated when the furnace runs, but these keep the tanks from freezing if we camp when it's below 30deg.
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Old 10-08-2016, 10:07 AM   #4
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If you don't have the switches for them installed I would guess its an option.

I winter camped all the time with my Class A without heated tanks and never had a problem with the tanks freezing up. you are correct the furnace normally heats the basement and on some larger class A rigs like Monaco they have an installed heater in the basement to come on at 34*
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Old 10-08-2016, 10:16 AM   #5
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Actually, we do have the switches, which is why we were wondering if they were supposed to come with the rv
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Old 10-08-2016, 10:25 AM   #6
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If you have the switch than I bet you have tank heaters option or not.
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Old 10-08-2016, 11:42 PM   #7
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I notice that the brochure has an entry for a cold weather package - probably optional. Good chance the tank heater pads are part of that package.
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Old 10-09-2016, 09:02 AM   #8
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Where are the switches
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Old 10-09-2016, 01:23 PM   #9
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There are no tank heaters on the Isata 5. We use a duct run off the furnace to heat the tanks...including the valves. The pass through cavity where all the tanks and utilities are have at least one (but I think we ended up with 2) holes in the ceiling of that area where you will find a furnace outlet. Not sure why it would have switches for tank heater??? picture? maybe it was just part of the standard multiplex software.
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Old 10-10-2016, 10:49 AM   #10
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My bad. No switches, but there is power down there, where you can hook things up. I misunderstood David. Thanks for the clarification.
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Old 10-11-2016, 08:52 AM   #11
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Brian, it would be relatively simple to add heat pads to the tanks during the build. Is this an option you might consider in the future?
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Old 10-11-2016, 08:57 AM   #12
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Potentially. We just don't use them because frankly they give you a false sense of security.

The power draw is quite large...so unless you are plugged in, it doesn't make much sense. They turn on at about 40 degrees and don't shut off until they get up to the 50's if I recall. The weakest link in the plumbing system is fresh water lines, which the tank heaters don't cover...plus you can put a little antifreeze in your black and gray tank...not so much fresh water.

So, let me ask you this. What would you want the black and gray tank heaters for? In what scenario would you use them?
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Old 10-11-2016, 10:18 AM   #13
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As usual, some good points from an insider. We travel through the mountains several times a year in the cold months and we also camp in cold weather. Right now is actually the best time of year to camp IMO. Also, we try not to run the propane heater on a constant basis. A nice heavy comforter does amazing things to take the edge off of a cold night. But, to your point, the tank pads use a lot of energy and do not protect the fresh water lines anyway.

We have them now and I use the fresh water heating pad when in the high country. They are also useful while driving in sub freezing conditions when we are not using the furnace.

Maybe I'm not doing this whole winter RV thing right?!?
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Old 10-11-2016, 10:27 AM   #14
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At my former division, we built 4 season coaches for a rental outfit. I personally spent 4 days/nights with that as my base camp for a ski trip in Alberta. One of the first things they had us do was drop the tank heaters. They're just so inefficient, most of the time people were just draining the batteries down causing all sorts of other havoc.

At night, we turned the T-stat down to about 63 degrees and bundled up, to conserve LP and not have the fan running all the time (was not necessary however as we never had battery issues and we still had over half a tank of LP after 4 days). That left enough of the furnace running to take the edge off the utility bay while we were asleep. During the day, the outside temp was 17 degrees and we never had a single issue. We ran everything, took showers, cooked, washed dishes, etc. Now we did build that unit specific for ski season....but the same principles apply to the fan forced system that we're running on the 5 series. The only difference being, we don't add extra insulation to those bays...but cold weather camping and winter camping are two different things.
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