How effective are the heated and enclosed tanks in the Micro Minnie?

tim l · 03-10-2019, 06:37 AM

Who here, with a Micro Minnie, have tested the heated and enclosed tanks, to what temperature, and for how long? If you did experience a freeze up at what temperature did it occur?

Also, when traveling from campsite to campsite in freezing weather, how do you keep things from freezing up? Do you continue to run the furnace while mobile?

Thanks, Tim

tim l · 03-13-2019, 04:45 PM

Just thought I would bump this thread up for another attempt. My wife thinks she would like to do some cold weather camping. I know Micro Minnie is not what comes to mind when considering a cold weather TT but would be interested in anyone who may have tried it.

Bhfromme · 03-15-2019, 06:38 AM

We do a lot of winter camping but we carry our water in jugs. Coleman makes a nice collapsible water jug that holds like 8 gallons. Plenty for a long weekend at least for us. We went to Cabela's and got a bucket toilet so that keeps us from needing to go outside at night.

I turn the furnace and water heater off while traveling but I'm not sure I have to. I do run the gas fridge while traveling of course. I would love to hear from someone with more experience on whether or not it's ok to run the furnace and water heater while traveling. It probably is but I keep them off anyway. I'm thinking the motorhome people run theirs though so it's probably not an issue.

SummitPond · 03-15-2019, 10:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bhfromme

... I would love to hear from someone with more experience on whether or not it's ok to run the furnace and water heater while traveling. ...

We always run with our fridge on - they're designed to do so. However, we do temporarily shut it off when we pull into a gas station. As for the furnace, we've never had ours operating while driving, but I've read threads on another site where they talk about doing just that.

We've camped in sub-freezing temperatures and snow with our prior unit (a Keystone 19FBPR with their "thermal package"); while camped I kept the furnace at 60 degrees and disconnected the FW and sewer hose and had no issues. I doubt the level of insulation between the heated underbelly and the "thermal package" are significantly different. I suspect all the sloshing going on in the tanks while driving prevents freezing.

old_engineer · 03-15-2019, 09:13 PM

I can't speak to tank heaters as we have never had them on any of our trailers. We camp year round here in NC where it will get below freezing at night but will be in the mid/high 40's to low/mid 50's during the day. We have also done late spring camping in the Rockies where the temps were similar. Most of it was in our old trailer which had exposed tanks and plumbing. We never had problems as the residual heat from the day and bleeding through the floor kept the air around the plumbing warm enough not to freeze. The tanks also had some anti-freeze left in them from our regular winterizing and kept things thawed until enough liquid was in the tanks to hold the heat. When we had water hookups I made sure we disconnected and drained the hose for the evening and would run off the trailer water tank or use bottled water. We have followed the same practices in our 2106FBS and have not had any problems.

We did have one trip where I had to prep the trailer and the day and night time temps were in the teens. I did not put any water in the tanks and only blew out the lines. I ran the furnace to keep the drinks and bottled water from freezing and kept the cabinets open just in case water settled in the plumbing lines. I turned the furnace off just before we left as I knew we would be in warmer temps within a few hours of leaving.The only appliance I feel comfortable running on gas while traveling is the refrigerator. I make sure the furnace and water heater are off.

If you are planning on camping where the daytime temps are freezing as well I would probably leave the trailer winterized and use bottled water. if you use the black and grey tanks I would also make sure there is enough antifreeze in the tank to keep them from freezing around the valves.

Jaeger · 03-20-2019, 04:21 PM

I'm interested in the answers to this thread as well. We purchased our first TT, a Minnie 2250DS, last June. Our tanks are not "heated' per se. There is a hard fabric-like coating that seals the bottom and encloses the area under the trailer, including the tanks, and the furnace ducting runs under the floor where the tanks are. So the tanks do receive some indirect heat from the furnace ducting, but the tanks themselves are not "heated".

I have read that the furnace should NOT be run while moving due to the size of the flame. Apparently, the refrigerator has just a small relatively enclosed flame while the furnace is much larger and much more susceptible to air flow while moving.

WolfgangS · 03-20-2019, 08:28 PM

I have a 2018 Minnie Drop 1780 which has external tanks but I get below freezing temps a lot. Here in Colorado camping above 12,000 ft, I have had below freezing even in July. When I bought the trailer I had the dealer install tank heaters on all three tanks but I found that they didn't work that well as is so I did two things and added heaters to the drain pipers on gray and black tanks and insulated all exposed pipes and the tanks. I used self-adhesive car insulation (two layers). Now I can camp with temps dipping into the teens (F) overnight.

NanatoJON · 03-22-2019, 07:33 PM

We have the heated/enclosed tanks on our 2019 MM 2108DS that came off the assembly line late August 2018. The interior heat is ducted into the enclosed belly that houses the tanks. Your furnace must be on for this to happen. We camped in MT mid September and the temps were 40's daytime and low 20's at night. We had no problems, just unhooked water at night and re-hooked in daytime if fresh water tank needed refilling. Put hose inside in the shower so that it would not be stiff as a board when we needed to use it. Kept our heat on at 65 at night. No issues doing this.

Bhfromme · 03-23-2019, 07:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NanatoJON

We have the heated/enclosed tanks on our 2019 MM 2108DS that came off the assembly line late August 2018. The interior heat is ducted into the enclosed belly that houses the tanks. Your furnace must be on for this to happen. We camped in MT mid September and the temps were 40's daytime and low 20's at night. We had no problems, just unhooked water at night and re-hooked in daytime if fresh water tank needed refilling. Put hose inside in the shower so that it would not be stiff as a board when we needed to use it. Kept our heat on at 65 at night. No issues doing this.

I wonder about the valves freezing up. It's hard getting good advice because dealers don't want the liability of someone coming back to them with a problem after saying one thing or another. Can't blame them there. We just winterize and carry water in jugs but I'm trying to get a better understanding of where the freeze points are.

jol · 03-23-2019, 08:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bhfromme

I wonder about the valves freezing up. It's hard getting good advice because dealers don't want the liability of someone coming back to them with a problem after saying one thing or another. Can't blame them there. We just winterize and carry water in jugs but I'm trying to get a better understanding of where the freeze points are.

Looking to purchase Winnebago 2401RG and asked the question as I had seen this question on here. Showed me that the valves are a remote release somewhat and that they are in the enclosed heated section, at least on the Minnie.

Suds · 04-13-2020, 11:02 AM

I just completed a through investigation of the underbelly heating on my 2019 Winnebago 2500RL. Mine is NOT labeled "Extreme Weather".

It has a 3 flex tubes that feed warm air from the Heating unit to a Aluminium rectangle tray that then feeds a second rectangular tray that runs down the center of the camper from the forward floor vent to the rear floor vent.

There are 2 roughly 3 inch holes cut in the bottom of the aluminium tray that feed into the sub floor (basement / enclosed underbelly). One hole is located under my bath room in line with the main door and the other is at the rear of the trailer 3 inches forward of the rear floor vent.

Return air comes back from the underbelly through an opening in the floor beside the furnace where some plumbing lines are located.

On top of that you have radiant heat coming off of this rectangular tray that is 12' long by 14" wide that is right above all your tanks. Lets just say it is warm in the sub floor.

Now everyone's question how cold of weather can it keep your pipes from freezing in. I do not know, but let me say this, as long as the main furnace is running it is pumping a lot of warm air through the underbelly

I would not be scared down to 0 degrees Fahrenheit.

Goodspike · 04-13-2020, 11:14 AM

I forget what these things are called, but some trailers come with a device on the shower where it runs water from the hot water line back to the tank so that you don't waste water getting to the point of hot water before you shower. Something like that, together with tank insulation, would be a lot better for cold weather tank heating. Of course you'd have to remember to turn it on periodically, but tanks are a lot of water and would take a long time to freeze. It's the lines that are a bigger concern.

**creativepart** · 04-13-2020, 12:04 PM

In general, what you have to worry about is substantially below 32 degrees. But not simple overnight drops where the daytime temps rise above freezing.

If you see a 27 degree night followed by a 39 or 40 degree day then there are no worries. The thermal mass of your RV can not reach freezing temps in just a few hours.

The floor heated air ducted around tanks is very effective, but folks sometimes forget about that going away if you use a portable electric heater inside the RV to save on propane.

Suds · 04-13-2020, 12:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by creativepart

In general, what you have to worry about is substantially below 32 degrees. But not simple overnight drops where the daytime temps rise above freezing.

If you see a 27 degree night followed by a 39 or 40 degree day then there are no worries. The thermal mass of your RV can not reach freezing temps in just a few hours.

The floor heated air ducted around tanks is very effective, but folks sometimes forget about that going away if you use a portable electric heater inside the RV to save on propane.

I agree. I have noticed some post where they use a electric heater like you mentioned to save on propane but they may not realize they are getting very little heat in the sub floor /around the tanks with this method.

Personally unless I was broke and needed to save a precious few bucks the risk / cost of breaking line is not worth the savings. But to each their own.