A $9 solution

[mylady]

Yesterday, well, a lot was wrong with yesterday, but I made it work. The water pump wasn't frozen as I could hear it running, but couldn't get any water out. It was -2 degrees outside and I think there was ice in the hoses leading to and from the pump. So I was at my clients house, no water. But before I left I realized my grey tank was full and had not drained. I thawed the lever to open the drain but the hose leading out was full of ice. I did everything I could to try to get the water flowing. Nothing worked. I wasn't sure what I was going to do. So since I couldn't get any water anyway I ended up grooming all 4 dogs in the clients bathroom. I am NOT cut out to be housecall and have so much respect for those who do it! Anyway, when I was done the water hoses had finally thawed and the water started flowing and was HOT. I was hoping that some of the hot water would raise the temp of the grey tank enough to thaw it. Well, there wasn't as much room in there as I thought and I overfilled it a bit. No biggie, went home and then went to walmart. Bought a $9 gravel cleaner for a fish tank. All it is pretty much is a siphon. Stuck it in the tank and drained the whole thing down to about 3 inches of water. Took about a half hour to do it that way. Now I can put hot hot water in and get it to thaw out. So if anyone needs to drain and tank and needs a cheap solution, it works!

[Dolly]

This is why self conversion vans can sometimes turn around and bite you in the butt.
Mobile van companies have spent thousands on engineering so those problems don’t exist for their customers. WGT has an antifreeze system that circulates antifreeze throughout the water pipes of both fresh and bathing system. At the end of the day, I flush antifreeze through the pipes, then put a ceramic heater on the system, then turn on the furnace, at it’s lowest setting. The furnace pipes circulate around the fresh water tank, and keeps it from freezing. You may want to have your mechanic rig up something similar so you don’t have to be bothered by this again with your next van.

Happy Thawing Out

Dolly’s Barking Bubbles, LLC

https://www.dollysbarkingbubbles.com

[dirty hairy]

Clever!

You are one clever woman, Mylady. You should write a book about all of your misadventures in mobile grooming.

[mylady]

It wasn't the tank itself that froze, but the outlet outside the van where the water drains out. At -2 degrees I cannot be surprised and I've seen plenty of people with professionally converted vehicles writing threads about things freezing. My employee gave up mobile grooming years ago because her brand new WnT van was in the shop at least once a month. She said my old gal has fewer problems than her brand new one did.