[Steven White]

As in my previous posts I am considering the best way to heat my water for the winter.

My setup is a 100LTR IBC Static tank in the shed, water softener,RO and double DI. Then water is pumped via about 70ft alonf MDPE mostly buried pipes to the van. I have 650L tank in the van which overflows into a 400L, enabling me to carry 1000LTRs on board in both tanks. All pipes in the van are plastic.

I don't want to put the immersion elements in the van, because:
1. I can't park near my house and so plugging in would not be possible overnight (I simply pul up on the roadside to fill up like it's a petrol station or something)
2. I would need two heating elements for two tanks in the van and that would be more expensive to run
3. I'm worried about earthing them in the van
4. Cutting the holes may result in leaks in a moving vehicle.
5. Also I was thinking at a later date to get a propane shower type heater for direct to pole heating in the van.

I want to explore the possibility of heating the water at source on the static IBC, because I have all the electric on hand there and there is only one tank to worry about. My worry is about how much heat will be lost in transit from static to van (and van to pole come to that). I would run the water to drain until the warm comes through before I hook it upto the van allowing for the cold water in the pipes to be got rid of. A few questions:

I ill lag all the pipes, but can I get some jackets like you get in your airing cupboard to wrap around the tanks in the van (and also the static one) to stop heat loss, but keeping the van warm to stop the internal pipe work freezing?

Will I need some extra powerful immersion element for the 1000Ltr IBC as there is a bigger quantity of water to heat? And how long (I'll put it on a timing plug) will I need to heat it for?

Finally, is my idea a load of rubbish and should I go back to the drawing board?

Cheers
Steve

[Twc services]

This should work well as you will be transferring water from near the top of the tank which will be the hottest part. Wrap boiler jackets round ibc and van tank and will stay hot all day. It would take around 6 hours to heat 1000 litres to a nice temp . i have left van immersion on for 4 hours and its warm but is cold under the heater due to heat rising. hope this helps 

[Steven White]

Yes thanx for the input

[H2GoKent]

Tricky this.
I have a similar set up with my tank at the end of the bank garden, but I can and have put an immersion in my van.
If you immersion your shed tank then you'll need to insulate the shed tank pretty well or you'll waste a lot of money. If you insulate your van as well, (polystyrene sheets worked for me) then that should do the job.
As for dumping the water til it runs warm, I don't know if you need to. You're only trying to stop it freezing in your pipes so as long as it stays above freezing you'll be fine.
I started the day with a full tank heated for about 4 or 5 hours and on a below freezing day, I worked all day no problem, my hose was melting snow right up until I'd had enough and gone home.
my only problem I got one very cold day was when I left my hose on the ground turned off then it froze, dumb I know.
I didn't insulate the van tank but used it like a radiator to keep all my van stuff unfroze that worked well.

Another thing you can do is leave water running thru your hoses and that'll help it stay running longer.
Having said all this I leave down south not sure if what I do would work over the whole country.

[Window Washers]

This should work well as you will be transferring water from near the top of the tank which will be the hottest part. Wrap boiler jackets round ibc and van tank and will stay hot all day. It would take around 6 hours to heat 1000 litres to a nice temp . i have left van immersion on for 4 hours and its warm but is cold under the heater due to heat rising. hope this helps 

when I transfer water from my tanks it comes from the bottom as it is a submersible pump, same goes for when were using wfp the water comes from the bottom, maybe something like a fish tank filter or somthing to move the water around in the ibc maybe needed, in the van the movement of driving should move it about enough. with jacket to stop heat loss at the top

This is a great thread as I was thinking of doing very simlar in my unit.

[SunShineCleaning]

If you did get a propane heater you could use your setup in a similar way to me.

I have a small tank and an extra pump so first thing in the morning I circulate the water in the small tank through the heater and after 20 mins or so the water has 'warmed' the longer it is on the better.

I also carry 9-10 25L barrels with water in. I transfer these using the pump and heater into the small tank that I draw my water from. I only use 300-400L per day and find I have warm water all day, plus I am not heating water unnecessarily as I heat it 25L at a time.

Any help???