How To Install 12 Volt RV Tank Heater Pads On A Travel Trailer - 4 Season Camping Upgrade!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 11 ก.ค. 2024
- Tank Heater Pads on Amazon: amzn.to/37VmxbA
Weather-Proof On/Off Switch: amzn.to/3rwV07Y
Water-Proof Inline Fuse: amzn.to/2KOat35
Have you ever wanted to camp in the winter time but you are afraid that your RV's tanks will freeze? Have you ever had your camper's tanks freeze while camping in cold conditions? If you answered yes to either of these questions, you should consider installing tank heater pads on your RV/Camper! These pads are rated to keep your tank from freezing all the way down to 0 degrees Fahrenheit (up to 50 gallons)! In my opinion if you are camping in the winter time, these are a must have!
In this video I show you how to install 12 volt tank heater pads on your black/grey/fresh water tanks. I do the installation on our 2010 Keystone Hideout 27BWE. Our black/grey tanks are completely exposed which helped the process. My fresh water tank was not exposed so I had to improvise my installation. I installed these pads right before a camping trip where the night time temp fell to 5 degree Fahrenheit. The pads did amazing and kept all 3 tanks from freezing. If you have any questions on the installation or how they have performed, please let me know. Thanks for watching!
Amazon Description:
RV Tank Heater Pad | 7 1/4" x 25" | Fresh Water | Gray Water | Holding Tank | Up to 50 Gallons | 12V | with Optional Toggle Switch (3 Pads, No Toggle Switch)
- Peel and stick adhesive back attaches easily to most tanks
- Activates when water temps drop below 45F(5C) and heats to 68F(20C)
- Helps maintain flowing water in freezing temperatures
- Manufactured by Genesis Lighting under Patent No.: US10257888B2
As cold weather approaches, it is time to start thinking about winterizing your RV, or is it? If you aren't ready to say good-bye to the travel season and put your RV into hibernation but sunny Florida isn't calling yet either, then you might be getting into chilly territory. Since the majority of RVs do not come off the line equipped to handle extreme temperatures, there are some things that can be done to make any unit more capable of handling cold weather.
The first thing to confirm is what’s insulated and what is not. Quite often the tanks and plumbing will be totally exposed or have sub-par insulation. This can lead to freezing and bursting within your water system when approaching wintery conditions. To keep the liquids in your tanks from freezing and continuing optimal flow, warmth is key. One convenient way of doing this is by adding heating pads to the mix.
Take for example this RV Tank Heater Pad from RecPro. The peel and stick adhesive and slim profile can be added to the outside of most tanks and used with various set-ups. When properly installed, it will provide consistent and efficient protection for up to a 50-gallon holding tank. This particular product can also be used for your RV's steps. It is thermostatically controlled and when your holding tank temperature reaches 45°F (5°C), it will turn on and off when it reaches 68°F (20°C). It will continue to cycle, preventing freezing as long as it is turned on and is supplied with electrical power.
If you want to take advantage of late fall or even winter with a crackling campfire and a woodsy walk in the first flurries, you might need to consider if your unit is equipped to handle this time of year. And if not, then it might be time to add a heating pad or two to keep things flowing.
Details:
Overall Dimensions: 7 1/4" W x 25" L
Pad Thickness: 3.0 mm
Lead Wire: 36"
Up to 50-Gallon
Optional Toggle Switch
For Steps or Tanks (Fresh, Gray Water, or Holding)
Technical Data:
Voltage: 12V DC
Wattage: 78 Watts
Amp draw: 5.8 Amps
DISCLAIMER: This video and description contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a small commission at no cost to you. This helps support the channel and allows me to continue to make videos like this. Thank you for the support!
Great demonstration. I am planning on installing heater pads on my tanks and was apprehensive. Your video gave me the confidence to move forward with the installation. Thank you. Keep the videos coming.
Thank you! I'm glad my video gave you the confidence to do the install! It really wasn't a bad install at all. Thanks for watching and good luck with the installation!
after having a frozen black water tank get full without notice, your video has convinced me this isn't the scary expensive option i thought it would be. thank you.
Glad the video could be helpful! These have been a great addition to our camper and gives us extra peace of mind when camping during cold weather. Thanks for watching!
Very helpful video, thank you!
You're welcome, thanks for watching!
Good video. Now I know I can it myself too
Glad it was helpful! Good luck with the project and Thanks for watching!
Cool stuff! You are braver than I am camping with water on board in single digit temperatures...good for you 👍. I do my late fall and early spring camping while still winterized...no big deal for me
Thank you! They ended up working out really good. I should be posting that camping video in the next two weeks to a month. Those tank heaters were the reason I was able to camp in those single temps! Otherwise I would be doing exactly what you do!
@@ColoradoCamperman Our 2020 EPro19BH came with tank heaters, but the camper isn't heated and enclosed. I thought if it wasn't we cant camp in the winter. Hubby wants to camp at the ski resorts here in WA and I'm trying to find a smaller trailer for him but don't understand how folks are using the toilet facilities in the winter.
@@sherab2715 I looked at EPro and was worried about them not being enclosed underneath. But it is a definite positive that you have the tank heaters! What you could do is get some RV antifreeze and pour it down your toilet and sinks/shower. This way your waste won't freeze up. I did this with my toilet in my truck camper. The only thing then you would have to worry about is your fresh water tank. An alternative would be to use a jug of water at your sink that would then drain into your sink and not use your fresh water tank at all. Again, I did this with my truck camper in the winter while camping at ski resorts and it worked great! The only downside is you can't take a shower. Hope that helps! Have fun out there!
@@ColoradoCamperman I see, so keep nothing but antifreeze in tanks and when you use the bathroom, then pour water down the toilet or sink afterwards. Thanks!
@@sherab2715 Yep, that's what I did and it worked well!
Thanks mate =) been 28F on the INSIDE of my 5th wheel recently o.o
You're welcome! That's cold, especially for the inside. Thanks for watching.
nice video, in video you install a Facon heating pad, as seen on the label. The link in the description is to a rec pro heating pad, also your description talks about recpro? Trying to understand which brand was ultimately installed and used.
I just looked back on my Amazon orders and can confirm it was the Rec Pro just like the link in the description. Not sure why the actual heat pad said Facon, maybe the parent brand?
A wire nut is a bad idea for the positive leads. I would suggest a crimp connector with heat shrink. It will keep out water and will not fall off. You don’t want to short your battery.
Ok, thanks for the tip and watching!
And wrapping in electrical tape is a bad idea.
Very nice info, thanks . How are they holding up?
They work great! Camped in them for a few days while it got down to 5 degrees F. Tanks did not freeze! Thanks for watching!
It was a good demonstration. Which brand of tank heater you used or recommend ?
Amazon link is in the video description. The ones I installed are made by RecPro. They worked great!
Nice how-to-install tank heater video! A couple things I would look at if you ever have issues with the heater working: 1) Consider running ground directly to the battery (or at least the main fuse box). These heaters draw enough amps that an exposed ground could cause problems in time. 2) Not sure that switch is weather proof despite the boot on the front switch handle. Might cause a voltage drop. Thanks for the links looking into installing something similar myself. EDIT: Just saw the link states the switch boot is weatherproof! Good. But what about the switch contacts themselves?
Thank you! I appreciate the feedback and you watching.
Hey Brian, How much draw did the pads have? I was thinking that this pad (probably a smaller size) would work good to heat a battery box for my solar unit. I just didn't know if it would drain the batteries faster than they would charge. I understand it would depend on how well the battery box would be insulated etc.
78 watts each, so you have to have a decent solar setup in order to make sure you battery doesn't die on ya. The smaller ones are not as bad. Hope that helps, thanks for watching!
Hey Brian .... These look like a great idea ! My camper outlet valves ( Black & grey ) always freeze solid too , already had to fix that this season by thawing them out with a small heater and dumping hot water down the sink drain and toilet . How many watts do these run ? OK have fun on your elk trip and good luck getting one ! Im heading into the back country camping and skiing !
Man they worked great on the trip! The tailpipe of the grey tank still froze, but I got back into civilization and it was above freezing and it thawed quickly. You can actually get pads for the tailpipes so they don't freeze up to. Glad you got your situation figured out! Each pad is 78 watts. So, if you're running on batteries, you will need to have a pretty big bank in order to get through the night with all 3 tanks on. No luck getting an elk on the trip :( But it was still a great time! Are you having a good winter so far? Have you been doing a lot of BC skiing?
@@ColoradoCamperman .....Thanks for the info on those pads ....Bummer you did not get you a elk .... I see them almost everyday here on the property , bulls , cows , youngsters ....prawn horn , mule deer Bucks & does .....The season here has not been good so far , low snow volume keeps me from going up high and getting some peak bagging in . To much exposure still up there . The resort has been open so thats your best bet getting some skiing or boarding in . maybe next year I will get a pass if Im still here in this area . I don't mind the cold if i can ski , but if its just cold and no snow ...Im out of here Ha ! Time to head farther north .
@@Sirskibumsalot NP! Man, that is awesome you have that much wild life by you! I think we would have more if we didn't allow cattle to graze our property. They pretty much eat everything up. Sounds like it's been a dry year everywhere! Hopefully we all get more snow soon. I could understand why you'd want to follow the snow, hopefully it'll dump on ya and you won't have to think about moving, lol.
How do you use the toilet facilities in the winter?
@@sherab2715 ,,,Hi Shera .... I have a flushing toilet that transfers into my septic system . pipes are all insulated what is exposed under cabin and the rest of pipe is under ground so its insulated too like that . Some folks have a out house bath room that are off grid too .which also works well . hope that answers your question .... let me know if theres any thing else you want to know ....ok have a good week .
I'm in New England, Massachusetts to be exact... I live in my trailer, I doesn't use the water system (pump, pipes), I made a makeshift faucet with 5 gallon fresh water jugs. I do use the sink drain (Grey tank) and toilet (black tank), should I install these on my tanks? Or would heat lamps with insulation board going around the outside.???? This is my first winter, I couldn't afford an apartment because of inflation so I got a 17ft trailer. What would be my best option?
If your tanks are exposed like mine were, I would definitely recommend getting these tank heaters. I'd be very surprised if a heat lamp would keep those tanks from freezing. Good luck and thanks for watching.
Hi, thanks for the great info.
Do you wrap heat tape around the grey and black drain pipes going to the waste gate valves? I didn’t know if they freeze up
I've only used the tank heaters for about a week long trip. It did get down to 5 degree F though. I skirted the underside of the camper and I put foam fun noodles on the exposed grey/black tank pipes. The dump valves ended up freezing. But when I went to dump it warmed up considerable and I was able to open the valves. No long term damage was done, but if I was doing more camping like that, I would use the heat tape. Hope that helps. Thanks for watching!
Thanks , great channel
@@Schetmesa You're welcome! I appreciate you checking out my channel and watching my videos!
7:07 sounds like alien seagulls
Lol, thanks for watching!
Does fresh water tank support bracket smoosh the tank heater with water in it to make it not work or is it fine I Installed it Like you Did on fresh water tank under the brackets
I have only used the tank heaters on one long trip, and it still worked great! It'll be interesting to see if it holds up long term. I'm guessing/hoping it will be fine. Thanks for watching!
So i wires mine up and im not seeing a draw. For sure the ground gets wired to the metal
Frame and not the negative terminal of the battery?
You have to make sure it is bare metal and not metal with paint. You could have it go to the negative terminal on the battery as well, nothing wrong with that. Also, there is a built-in thermostat on the tank warmers. So, if it is not cold enough outside, they will not turn on. I believe they will turn on around 45° F.
Can you wire/do you need to wire the ground/negative to the negative of the battery?
Either the frame or the negative on the battery should work fine. Thanks for watching!
I’ve got 2 grey and 2 black tanks to install heaters on how would you run power to each of them?
I would probably do the exact same thing that I did. I've seen some people on TH-cam just hook them directly up to 12 volt power and not install a switch. I didn't want to do that because we camp in the mountains and even in the summer nighttime temps will be in the 30's & 40's. No need to have the tanks heaters automatically turn on in the summer if it is not a hard freeze. Good luck with the project and thanks for watching!
Question: When turned on, were the heating pads drawing amps directly from a stand-alone battery/bank at 12.9V (with no charger/inverter attached)? Reason for asking is: The manufacturer of the pads rates them for use at 13.5V, which could only be achieved if the battery system is being charged.
I've used the pads while drawing power from my battery bank and also being hooked up to shore power. They have worked in both instances regardless of the voltage. Hope that helps. Thanks for watching!
@@ColoradoCamperman excellent thank you
Hello I have a question I have 2, 50 gallon water tanks and 2 grey and one black tank What should I do? Thanks Rob
Holy smokes, that is a lot of tanks! I guess it depends on what your power situation is going to look like. If you want to do off grid and not use a generator, you are going to have to have a pretty massive battery bank. If power is no concern, I guess you could hook up a heater to every tank. Unless you have a way to just use one water tank and one grey tank? If yes, maybe just put tank heaters on those and the black. Good luck and thanks for watching!.
How to prevent the pipe from frozen now that the tank is taken care of ? Thank you!
Which pipes? Our pipes are not exposed and run through the insulated floors. Also, the heat ducts warm the floor where the pipes are, so there is no need to do anything else. If you have exposed pipes on the outside, you may need to run heat tape.
Mine fell off. WHAT CAN i USE to get them to stick back
I used Gorilla tape to put the plastic that goes on my tank after the install. Almost 4 years later it is still on there!
You need to put the fuse close to the battery and not after the switch!!!
I didn't think it would matter from a switch because all it does is open and close the circuit. I suppose a failure could happen and the switch could get fried instead of the fuse. Thanks for the feedback and watching!
@@ColoradoCamperman it's an unwritten law. the cable can be damaged and short-circuited so it can start to burn.
@@nicklaslindgard Ok, thanks Nicklaus!
How cold does it have to be, before they kick on?
Would you happen to know?
45° F
@@ColoradoCamperman thank God, lol I thought I did something wrong with the wiring because they never turned on but my reader detected 12 volts, yet my outside temperature was 47°
Thank you for the info and reply.
What guage wire did you use?
I actually used extension cord wire. It's called SPT-1. I run a Christmas lighting business and I have a lot of it, so I decided to use that versus buying something.
WHAT AMP FUSE?
I believe that was a 30amp fuse but you may be able to do a 20amp depending on how big your pads are. I think each one is around 6.5 amps. Thanks for watching!
The switch contacts are exposed. They need to be sealed. Snow could accumulate on the contacts and short them out. Or water could splash up while on the road leading to a short.
Also make absolutely sure those wires do not rub against the frame.
Okay, thanks for the heads up on that. I will make sure I put electrical tape all over the rear of the switch. Thanks for watching!
@@ColoradoCamperman do not use tape. use shrink tubing. much better
@@nicklaslindgard Will do, thanks Nicklaus!
Does it smell when you heat up the black tank?
Lol, it doesn't actually! It warms it up enough to not let it freeze but doesn't cool it. Thanks for watching!
Hopefully the black tank is not explosive (he hee)
Could only imagine some A.T.F. Looking uNdear all those wires?
Lol, exactly! Thanks for watching!
I do not understand all the wiring. Definitely not a job for a beginner non electrician.
Just have the positive wires go to the positive terminal on the battery. Negative wires get grounded on the frame. The switch is optional. Thanks for watching!
@@ColoradoCamperman to do that you need to know which is which. I don’t lol