Coolant Leak During Pre heat

[John Brown]

Im at an RV park and its freezing, I look out side at the RV next to me and see coolant dripping from the rear. I look under my coach and same thing.  Does anyone know if coolant leaks during block heater use?

Thanks
John

[Gerald Farris]

John,
Coolant should not be leaking at any time. It does not matter if you are using the Aqua Hot or a block heater to preheat your engine, it should not be leaking coolant.

Gerald

[John Brown]

Its leaking from a rubber coupling thats between the radiator and a large pipe that runs to motor. It appears to be leaking from around the edge of it.  Motor started and is running.  Im going to top it off and keep an eye on it. I think its expansion from the freezing cold its 9 degrees right now.
I think ill leave the block heater turned on all night when parked.  Luckily we should be out of this cold by tomorrow.

Also my black and grey tanks are frozen solid. Any tips???
Thx everyone
John

[Gerald Farris]

John,
Your first problem is that it is November and you are a long way north of I 10.

The connection that you described as leaking can be stopped by tightening the clamp. It is very common to get a leak from a standard band clamp in such cold weather. That is the reason that I recommend constant tension clamps when you replace one.

If your Aqua Hot had the diesel boiler running all night, your tanks should not have frozen. If your diesel boiler was running, and the tanks were frozen overnight, I would have the basement heater checked.

Gerald  

[Dick Simonis]

Are you sure the tanks are frozen and not just the drain pipe?  I would think that if you were running the heater all night that the tanks themselves would be unlikely to freeze.  Regardless you could still keep using them until they thaw I would think.

[David T. Richelderfer]

The gates are probably frozen closed.  I have had that problem in my Bluebird.  It has gates that are barely insulated with spray-on foam insulation, and the handles used to open the gates just stick out into the open air.

[Joel Ashley]

9 degrees at 7 a.m. implies no daytime warm-up past 32.  The hose and metal contract and harden enough that the clamp no longers keeps the rubber tight against the coolant system ports, as Gerald notes.

If John's bay heat exchanger fan is out, or just can't keep up with such conditions, his tanks or lines down there may very well be iced up.  I'd consider adding a small electric heater to the tank bay if possible, and until he's out of the Canadian cold front that's slid down.

Joel

[Edward Buker]

This is a 1988 coach, I do not believe those tanks are heated unless there is a heat tape involved nor is there an Aqua Hot.

Later Ed

[Gerald Farris]

John,
I am sorry, but when I looked at your original post I thought that it listed your coach as a 1998 not a 1988. Therefore, I was mistaken when I listed your heating unit as an Aqua Hot. Your coach probably has a forced air propane heating unit that has a duct outlet in the holding tank area, but it will be marginal in keeping the holding tanks from freezing in single digit temperatures unless it runs extensively enough to keep the interior of the coach close to 70 degrees. Hopefully you will be far enough south soon, and freezing temperatures will no longer be a problem.

Ed,
Thank you for pointing out my mistake.

Gerald  

[Edward Buker]

Gerald,

I have trouble with the small print also....

John,

If you were going to be in known cold weather and your tanks were empty but knew you were traveling for a few days you could purchase some concentrated non toxic antifreeze (propylene glycol) which I think is -50 deg F.  Fill your tanks say 1/4 with the antifreeze and slowly dilute that as you use up capacity, then when you are full dump as usual. This would give you travel time but obviously would not work for weeks.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Prestone-RV-Marine-Antifreeze/16213488

ater Ed