[bluesteve]

anybody know what the freezing point of pure water is?
and has anyone any tips for the winter with regards to frozen hoses etc etc. My first winter is looming.
cheers lads

[alansavvi]

Errr dont know if you are serious but after many hours of reserch i think it is 0?

[Chris A]

Yeah I think it's around ZERO, but I could be wrong.

[Chris A]

 

[bluesteve]

  will the boiling point be the same then?

[freshwater]

Freezing point is zero, but ice crystals can start to form at 2'C. Hoses being pvc or similar should not suffer too much as they act as insulation, but if gets very cold they will freeze. Drain as much water as possible from your hoses before storing them for the night, keep the in the centre of your vehicle. Your tank should be OK even if it freeze’s as there will be room for the water expand. Where possible leave valves open, again to allow any ice to expand. It you live some where really cold then consider some insulation for the inside of your van. The coldest place I have been in a van was up in the mountains on the Austrian/Italian border in winter, the windows froze on the inside even with the engine and heaters going, but containers of water in the back of the van were OK, so I wouldn't worry too much, just be sensible.

steve@freshwatersystems.co.uk

[matt]

its my 3rd winter WFP

my advice (for what its worth)

take your pump inside (thats why the pump box is great)

take your brush and microbore pipe inside, as these freeze real easy in the nights (esp the brush)

start a little latter in the day (norm for me in the summer 9ish, winter 10ish)

thats it

[JM123]

pure water will freeze at roughly 0c depending on atmospheric pressure (1.013bar UK average), freeze it to -173c and a funny thing happns, it change back to water again until you freeze it a further 3/4c where it will become solid again.  Shouldn't get that cold I don't think!

[Pat Purcell]

If it does then forget it im not moving back there

[Sir Squeaky]

Hope you're not from Scotland.
It could easily reach -173c.....

[Ian_Giles]

Actually the question isn't as daft as it might appear.

The freezing point of pure water water is BELOW 0 degrees

How much further below depends on just how pure the water is.

For the water that we use it is only just below, but for ultra pure water it is several degrees below the point at which ordinary tap water will freeze.

Ice crystals form around impurities in the water, so the fewer there are, the lower the freezing point.

Where winter work is concerned it means nothing though, as soon as you start to use it on windows and so on it is contanimated.
Also; I have a van, I'm lucky enough to be able to plug a fan heater in the van overnight when needed.
Set it to it's frost stat setting and it cuts in and out just enough to keep the temp in the back of the van above freezing, very cheap to run.
My R/O is permenantly outside, we had some very cold weather last winter and I didn't have anything freeze up on me (apart from the delivery hose from my submersible pump )
I just slapped a load of bubble wrap around the vulnerable bits and it was fine.


Ian

[trevor perry]

is it possible to run a fan heater from a 12 volt battery using a power inverter this would save having to run wire cable from van to garrage .

[Bob McKillop]

any advice on best fan heaters/where to get them. I was just going to get a small electric heater and run cable from house to van when forecast is very cold.

[Ian_Giles]

No idea about a battery powered heater

But with regards the best heater...just buy any cheap one that has a frost stat setting.
Mine is a 2 kilowatt one from a local hardware shop, cost about £15.
If running an extension cable out to your van isn't a problem then I would personally say that this is the best method to use...it's not used every night of the winter remember, only on those days where you know it's going to be cold enough to cause a problem.

Ian

[ccwc1988]

any advice on best fan heaters/where to get them. I was just going to get a small electric heater and run cable from house to van when forecast is very cold.

Hi peope,

 You will need a fan heater, just because you will.
My first year in the game all my r.o's burst and the fliters smashed.. not good off work for two days and then spent third day rebuilding.

So i got meself down to Argos got the cheapest which was about £18.00 and set it at frost setting and wrapped r.o's and filters in a very cheap quilt from Asda's £5.00..works a treat.

Do not try and beat the weather you will lose...

Good luck people.

[JM123]

pure water will freeze at roughly 0c depending on atmospheric pressure (1.013bar UK average), freeze it to -173c and a funny thing happns, it change back to water again until you freeze it a further 3/4c where it will become solid again.  Shouldn't get that cold I don't think!

Actually the question isn't as daft as it might appear.

The freezing point of pure water water is BELOW 0 degrees

How much further below depends on just how pure the water is.

For the water that we use it is only just below, but for ultra pure water it is several degrees below the point at which ordinary tap water will freeze.

Ice crystals form around impurities in the water, so the fewer there are, the lower the freezing point.

Where winter work is concerned it means nothing though, as soon as you start to use it on windows and so on it is contanimated.
Also; I have a van, I'm lucky enough to be able to plug a fan heater in the van overnight when needed.
Set it to it's frost stat setting and it cuts in and out just enough to keep the temp in the back of the van above freezing, very cheap to run.
My R/O is permenantly outside, we had some very cold weather last winter and I didn't have anything freeze up on me (apart from the delivery hose from my submersible pump )
I just slapped a load of bubble wrap around the vulnerable bits and it was fine.


Ian

Thats very true Ian, I was only applying it to water above 12Siemens (1ppm approx 28Siemens)

Water at 0Siemens and 1.013bar will freeze at close to -12c depending on the levels of H2CO3 (carbonic acid) present in the water, you see deionising the water only removes free ions, not carbonic or carboxylic acids. 

I know I'm a saddo for knowing this but it was relevant for my first degree.