Tank Heater Question

[HangDiver]

I never planned to use my TT for winter use, but plans change. I'll be traveling from Florida to Colorado at the end of November so I'm having tank heaters installed at a local RV shop (I would normally do this myself but I have 1,000 other things to do between now and when I leave). A friend cautioned me about tank heaters peeling/falling off. The shop doing the work assured me they will thoroughly clean the tank surfaces before putting the tank heaters on (they've done work for me before and they do perform top notch quality work).

For those of you who have tank heaters, have you had any issues with them peeling? And if so, how did you repair that? My Micro Lite is exposed underneath.

TIA

[SeaDog]

Your shop is 100% correct the key to them staying in place is the prep work before installing them (cleaning an old tank surface) Mine were factory installed and I have had no problems.

[nomad297]

I have always wondered how anybody would go about testing the tank heaters to make sure they are working properly. Is there an easy way to do this?

Bruce

[Chuck_S]

My factory installed heated tanks aren't. The only area that's heated is by the dump valves and the dump pipes themselves.

They're thermostat controlled so will only heat up when it's cold outdoors. I've only run them the few times we camped when it snowed and we had shorepower so I don't recall is they're 12vDC or 120vAC although logically they're AC powered so won't heat on the road.

-- Chuck

[dbledan]

Mine are DC powered. In 3 years I had never used them until this year. Turned them on to find a fuse light in the panel...it was completely missing and I have never been in there. I added the hand written 30A fuse and was good to go.

Mine are only near the dump valves and thermostat controlled. They did cover them with some black spray foam. There is no heat pad on the fresh tank.

[youroo]

Our Flagstaff TT has heat pads on ALL 5 Tanks plus the lines and elbows going to the Dump valves! They are All 12Volt and All activated by 1 Switch! All are Temp controlled for On and Off while heating,enclosed underbelly! Youroo!!

[TitanMike]

Originally Posted by youroo

Our Flagstaff TT has heat pads on ALL 5 Tanks plus the lines and elbows going to the Dump valves! They are All 12Volt and All activated by 1 Switch! All are Temp controlled for On and Off while heating,enclosed underbelly! Youroo!!

My MicroLite has heat pads on three tanks and heat pads on the discharge pipes of holding tanks.

I test current flow by turning on my tank heaters and looking at my Victron Battery monitor.

The heaters on the discharge pipes are small and only draw about 7 watts. They have NO thermostats built in and will draw about an amp or less each.

The tank heaters need temps lower than ~40 degrees before they'll switch on. When I tested them one frozen morning I found that only 2/3 the estimated current draw was going to the heaters. Just under 10 amps and if all three were running it would be just under 15 amp. The Fresh water tank evidently had enough retained heat from the day to keep it's heater pad turned off.

The only real way to test tank heater pads is to first make sure power is getting to them. Check for 12 volts at the pads with switch on and if no power, correct that issue first.

Next, wait for a nice cold, freezing day, and turn tank heaters on with a means of measuring current flowing to them.

When ALL heating pads on my trailer (3 tank pads and two "elbow pads") I expect to see 4.8 amps per pad and ~1 amp per elbow heater. If not I can use my clamp type ammeter and check individual pad current to see which pad isn't working. IMPORTANT, the pads must be at or below freezing temps and if tanks are filled with liquid the amount of liquid will take varying amounts of time to cool below "activation temp" of the thermostat.

On that note, I'm expecting 20 degree AM temps and my tanks are empty. Good time for me to test my own

[HangDiver]

Thanks for all the replies. We made the trip and I did use the pads for the last night of our travels as temps dipped into the low 20s. The next day warmed up nicely and after driving several hours on the final stretch, I stopped and winterized at a dump station/parking lot. Twenty minutes later we were in the mountains and temps dropped into the 20s enroute.

Everything worked out perfectly.