| Re: [GMCnet] "Cold Weather" California Style [message #152066] |
Wed, 07 December 2011 13:45 |
Richard Brown
Messages: 281
Registered: May 2009
Karma: 1
|
Senior Member |
|
|
Can't tell you anything about macerators, but being from the country we've had a lot of water wells & have had to protect them from freezing. The usual way we did it was to purchace a short 110v. pipe heater and wrapped it around the pump & exposed piping( the motor was never wrapped since it won't freeze & needs cooling when it runs). We then covered the wrapped areas with rags or old towels(insulation works, but we usually didn't have any handy) and then covered the rags with plastic sheeting. It was in a shed, but the plastic also helps to hold in the heat
& acts as a windbreak. I used a pigtail to hook to the supply side of the pressure switch to plug in the strip. The rural water pump we had used a plastic pump head as do most now that runs off of 110v. Larger pumps usually
use cast iron. Be absolutely sure to wrap the inlet to the macerator up to the black tank.It's only necessary to keep everything above 32 degrees. The tank shouldn't be an issue if it's empty.If you really want to go fancy you can rig a contactor to some kind of thermo switch so it only runs as needed. We have Tractor Supply stores here, so a lot of stuff is there to do this.
Remember, unless the motor is sealed it's not a good idea to wrap it. I'd unplug it if you wrap it all so that it won't run without cooling air flow.
Folks, remember that I was a farm kid who learned early on that making do with what you had was not a sin. I'd rather do an ugly job of insulating & not losing a pump than waiting for something fancier & risking having to buy a new pump. Any mechanic will tell you that parts are usually cheaper than labor
Richard & Carol Brown
1974 Eleganza SE
"DILLIGAF"
Lindale, Tx. 75771
903-881-0192
_______________________________________________
GMCnet mailing list
Unsubscribe or Change List Options:
http://temp.gmcnet.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gmclist
Richard & Carol Brown
1974 Eleganza SE
1174 Hickory Hills Dr.
Murchison, TX. 75778
|
|
|
|
GMCforum
Search
Help
Register
Login
Home
