[kevinc]

 :-\sat on the toilet today-as you do,going no-where for a bit(yeh i'm getting to it)as we have under floor heating in toilet would a roll of that stuffed into the on van tank stop it freezing when all heated up?my thoughts is yes,as its two continuenous wires married to an outside/onboard thermostat connected to the mains-it shoud'nt short to earth.
i'm probably totally wrong in this and no doubt they'll be something wrong/illegal with the idea-but think about it for a while, it could work?i'm sure i was'nt the only one last year who could have gone to work but because i had a huge block of ice in the van coud'nt and had to wait for it all to thaw out-any thoughts?

[concept]

Check the sticky posts above....heat trace cable on offer already.

[kevinc]

hi concept,just read that post,guess that would work if it was spaced equally-say on a mat then it would equally disperse the heat through the tank as i say stupid idea but there COULD be an idea in it

[king marko]

You could try an electric blanket

[Cedaronics]

Kevin - the idea is fraught with problems, sadly.  You couldn't just curl our heat trace around underneath the tank - it would not stay in one place - you'd need  'blanket' of it, as Mark says.  Trouble with blanket, or indeed heat trace, is that you wouldn't get away with putting a heavy weight on it.  vivarium floor heaters would not carry anything like enough current to make the slightest bit of difference.

I don't know for sure, but I think that underfloor heating has, for the same reasons, limits of weight (like furniture etc.) that can be placed on it.  It's a bit of a non-no, I'm afraid.

You can get blankets (only around £1000), that can be wrapped around a tank, however, but we don't supply them.  Google Tyco Thermal Controls for more info.

Please don't use an electric blanket - you will be asking for trouble from a safety point of view, at the very least.

HTH.

Tim
Cedaronics

[paul saunders]

:-\sat on the toilet today-as you do,going no-where for a bit(yeh i'm getting to it)as we have under floor heating in toilet would a roll of that stuffed into the on van tank stop it freezing when all heated up?my thoughts is yes,as its two continuenous wires married to an outside/onboard thermostat connected to the mains-it shoud'nt short to earth.
i'm probably totally wrong in this and no doubt they'll be something wrong/illegal with the idea-but think about it for a while, it could work?i'm sure i was'nt the only one last year who could have gone to work but because i had a huge block of ice in the van coud'nt and had to wait for it all to thaw out-any thoughts?

Are you talking about actually puting the stuff inside the tank of water and pluging it int the mains. 

[kevinc]

thanks for all the replies,i guess i didn't lets say put the words right in the original post,what i proposed was,could a heating mat be immersed into the tank,so it could at any point be turned on,to either heat,de-frost/de-ice or just keep warm the water in the tank?hi paul,yes i was only sounding out the idea of it all,would it-in theory work?

[kevinc]

as i said,stupid idea,not even thinking of leccy blankets-just the under-floor heating mat immersed into the tank,not wanting to just go and do it.just last year my tank was one big block of ice for weeks-hope its never gonna happen again but IF there could be a way to de-ice it all-that'd be a bonus

[paul saunders]

I have no real experience with these under floor heating mats, but I don't think they are designed to be wet through. If you just want to keep the water from freezing you could use an aquarium heater, or just put an electric fan heater in the van. 

[pristine window cl]

eh £1000 blanket ? wos going on . 
just put an electric THERMOSTAT FAN HEATER IN VAN, on a timer if left for long periods
I had no probs last yr
Alan

[Cedaronics]

That's at a minimum, pristine.

Kevin, the problem isn't immersing such a blanket in the way you describe, APART from the manufacturer's recommended use guidelines, which almost certainly preclude such use.

The other issue is the heating requirement to keep from freezing, um, what?  500l/1000l of water?  You'd be better off using an immersion heater in the way described by others here.

But don't stop - always good to explore ideas around the topic.

I'm waiting to see who's first to heat exchange from their van's radiator to the wfp tank.  What a challenge!  But the rewards!

Cheers

[kevinc]

think of an old victorian radiator,huge surface area on those babies,i'm a bit of a layman on this issue but if you were to heat the tank in this way,would you have to to drive a long way for it all to heat up?or if you were heating both would fuel economy suffer? maybe place a gatevalve in between,good idea though and simple in principle/maintainence free too,might not be as silly as it sounds?

[kevinc]

tim,how about placing a manifold within the tank,connected to two heating loops,upstream could be a thermostat rated to open when engine is warm?

[richard jagger]

JUST DROP A 1000 WATT FISH POND OR TANK HEATER IN THE TANK WILL KEEP IT AT 32 DEGREES .i use them in my static tank.

[Cedaronics]

tim,how about placing a manifold within the tank,connected to two heating loops,upstream could be a thermostat rated to open when engine is warm?

@kev, I think the problem is that your van's engine would never reach proper working temperature, which has implications for it (the engine).

[Spruce]

I knew of a couple of lads that used to transport stuff between Johannesburg and Harare in a sleeper cab lorry with a 40' trailer about 25 years ago. The lads rigged up a large water tank behind the cab at about roof level and used to heat the water with a copper pipe around the lorries exhaust. It took all day driving to warm the water up enough for them to each have a quick shower before bedding down for the night in a safe area.
Whilst running a heat exchanger from the lorries engine coolant would have probably been a better solution, we certainly don't travel enough distance to warm the engine up to normal operating temperature in winter let alone warm up a 650 litre water tank. So this wouldn't work for us.

Another thing to think about is that with the advent of the common rail diesel engine, the engine has become far more fuel efficient and manufacturers have reduced radiator and engine coolant capacities.
Go into any Range Rover Forums and you will see that all Disco 3 Range Rovers have supplementary Webasto diesel heaters to boost incar temperatures as heat from the engine isn't sufficient to keep the car warm.

Spruce