TankBlanket: Winterisation that Works
Motorhome Winterisation,
tips & advice from TankBlanket: The Tank Heater
Recently, TankBlanket, the water tank heater, made its inaugural appearance at
the NEC Caravan and Motorhome Show in Birmingham. The interest generated from consumers,
dealers and converters was overwhelming, encouraging and extremely exciting; although,
upon reflection, it shouldn’t have been a surprise, as, since 1991, TankBlanket
has been America’s favorite winterisation product.
Previous blogs from The World of TankBlanket have focused
upon the detail behind Grade 3, the British standard for heating and insulation
and insights gained from our involvement in cold chamber testing. This blog
will concentrate on motorhome winterisation, tips & tricks and the impact of
The TankBlanket System.
When people discuss winterisation they are generally
referring to a vehicle’s preparation for winter storage; we define it as a
motorhome fitted with a water system that does not freeze during winter and
therefore can be used throughout the year.
A good starting point in creating that ultimate
winterised vehicle is to own one accredited with Grade 3. You will then have
assurance that the insulation and heating system will cope with freezing
conditions. If your vehicle is not Grade 3 accredited then you start from a weaker
position, but, by nature of their construction method, monocoque and coachbuilt
/ Styrofoam models possess good insulation levels; it is panel van conversions
that struggle, due to their steel body shell.
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| The water tank heater |
The first step in winterising your vehicle is to protect
the fresh and waste water tanks.
There are three methods available. These are in-tanks probes or Frostats as
they are more generally known, insulation wraps and TankBlankets.
Both Frostats and TankBlanket are thermostatically controlled and require an
LED switched 12V dc fused power supply. A single Frostat has a capacity to
protect up to 45 Litres of water while a TankBlanket can protect up to 121
Litres and is available in two sizes depending on the surface area of your
tank.
Frostat is an in-tank probe similar to an immersion
heater. The installation of Frostat involves
drilling a hole in the tank, while TankBlanket is a water tank heater that you just simply peel &
stick, as it is applied to the outside of the tank and with no holes to be
drilled, is guaranteed to be leak proof. In addition the adhesive that bonds TankBlanket
becomes more aggressive with age and units installed in the USA during 1991 are
still in use today.
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| The water tank heater |
Several retailers market an insulation wrap and as a
standalone insulator they offer some protection against frost but are not a robust
solution. Using an insulation wrap in conjunction with Frostat or TankBlanket
will improve the efficiency of both products as it keeps heat in rather than
cold out! The TankJacket insulator is an element of The TankBlanket System and
is recommended more to improve the energy efficiency of TankBlanket rather than
as frost protection.
Typical fresh and waste water tanks are 100 and 60 litres
respectively. Therefore, to protect both the fresh and waste water tanks two
Frostats per tank are required compared to one TankBlanket. We recommend, based
on ease of installation, robustness, cost and energy efficiency, fitting a TankBlanket
in conjunction with a TankJacket to your fresh and waste water tanks.
With your fresh and waste water tanks protected the next
issue to tackle is the externally exposed
pipework. The solutions available are trace heaters, PipeBlankets and pipe
insulator. Trace heaters are widely available in the domestic market, while, PipeBlanket,
an element of the TankBlanket System, was specifically designed for leisure
vehicles. Similar to TankBlanket, PipeBlanket requires a fused 12V dc power
circuit controlled by an LED switch although they are not thermostatically
controlled; trials have shown there is no need. Trace heaters wrap or spiral
around the pipe to be protected while PipeBlanket is applied to the bottom of
the pipe which is where they gain an edge over trace heaters. By being applied
to the bottom of the pipe the heat generated from PipeBlanket is applied where
it is needed as the pipework on leisure vehicles may not be full. Because Trace
heaters are wrapped around the pipe they need the pipe being protected to be
full of water. Applying heat to an empty plastic pipe could result in damage as
the pipe may become distorted. Fitting pipe insulation should in most cases
provide a satisfactory solution, as long as the insulation is good quality.
PipeJacket, an element of The TankBlanket System is a high quality closed cell
insulator.
For protecting pipework we recommend, based on cost,
performance and providence fitting PipeJacket; but for that ultimate winterised
vehicle, we advocate installing PipeBlanket in conjunction with PipeJacket.
TankBlanket and PipeBlanket require their own 12V dc
power circuit controlled by an LED switch. This allows you to isolate a particular
tank or pipe and leave it switched off in cold conditions if there is no water
in the tank or pipe.
When switched 'On', TankBlanket automatically activates when the contents
of the water tank drops to 7 °C and deactivates when the contents reach 18 °C.
This keeps the tank contents just outside the freeze zone and because
TankBlanket cycles ‘on’ and ‘off’ automatically, energy consumption is
minimised. PipeBlanket is not thermostatically controlled; tests have shown
that for this application, due to the volume of water involved, it is not
required. Each Tank and Pipe Blanket has their own switch but to eliminate the
stress of remembering when to switch them ‘on’ and ‘off’ the TankBlanket System
has an intelligent iController, which monitors the ambient temperature and
automatically switches the selected Tank and PipeBlanket on and off.
With the external tanks and pipework protected attention
now turns to the habitation area.
Our previous blog concerning cold chamber testing details some unforeseen ‘nuggets
of wisdom’ concerning blown air heating, drafts, cold spots, dump valves, and
airflow.
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| WheelarchBlanket |
An interesting point which was highlighted during cold
chamber testing was how cold the internal surfaces of the wheel arches were. To
combat this, a quilted WheelarchBlanket was developed and fitted with excellent
results. WheelarchBlanket is part of The TankBlanket System, which is rapidly becoming The choice water tank heater.
The Achilles heel of Leisure vehicle winterisation,
especially during a Grade 3 cold chamber test, is the abundance of hidden water
pipes, located in places that are difficult to access but loved by Jack Frost!
So, does this mean that creating that Ultimate Winterised
Vehicle is unattainable?
Well, we believe that Grade 3 test conditions are harsh;
a vehicle is soaked for a minimum of ten hours at -15°C with no heating switched
on. After this the heating system is then allowed four hours to raise the
habitation area to an even 20 °C throughout. These criteria are not
representative of typical winter motorhoming. We believe that a motorhome used
under normal ambient conditions, winterised, in line with the above recommendations,
should be more than capable of coping with freezing conditions. If the interior
of the vehicle is kept above 10 °C your
internal pipes should remain frost free while The TankBlanket system will
deliver free flowing water.
But, we do know that several major manufacturers have a
desire to design, manufacture and market a leisure vehicle that can pass the grade
3 cold chamber test with a fully charged water system. So, the battle is on!
Which manufacturer is going to be the first to market
such a beast?
We have
collected together some of the best articles, blogs and websites offering
winterisation advice; please follow this link:
Find this blog informative, interesting? If so please
leave a comment
Do you have any ideas or suggestions? If yes, then please visit
our website and leave feedback on our ‘Ideas’ tag, located on the left hand
side of our home page.
Do you have a view on which manufacturer will design,
manufacture and achieve Grade 3 with free flowing water? If so please leave a
comment on our websites ‘ideas’ tag.
