Heater for Water Bay

[dale farley]

I am wondering if there is any heat in the water bay under my bus if I don't have the Webasto on? It has been freezing every night for the last couple weeks, and I have been assuming that I had a small electric heater in the water bay such as in my last Marathon, but after reading the manual today, I don't see that this is true.

I suppose I have been fortunate so far that I haven't had a pipe to freeze. If I have to run the Webasto every night to keep the bay warm, I won't have any diesel left by the time I start to leave.

[mcirco]

Hi Dale,

I'm not sure abour yours but my 2004 Country Coach has a thermostat set at 40 degrees In the water bay that will turn on the Webasto providing that it has been enabled. The same was true for my 2000 Country Coach Magna so it may be their regular way of dealing with the issue. I would send an e-mail to James Craig at Country Coach for the definitive answer. jscraig@countrycoach.com

Miles Circo
2004 Country Coach XLII 45' D/S

[dale farley]

Miles, My manual says my thermostat in the bay is set at 35 degrees, but I was hoping an electric heater would come on instead of the Webasto. It doesn't make sense to depend on the Webasto to run every night for months when parked in a cold climate.

We are doing fine inside the bus with just a 1500 watt heater set on "Low" which actually draws 800 watts. So far, we've had to run it on high only one night. It was 38 degrees when we got up this morning, and we turned the heater off imediately because we both were too warm inside the bus. The weather is strange here. It freezes at night then warms up very quickly in the day. We usually have to open the windows every evening to cool the bus down. I have two of the small heaters but haven't needed but one, so I may just place the other one in the water bay, just in case. Thanks.

[Jim_Scoggins]

Do you have a thermometer you could stick in the bay and check first thing in the AM to check what you are really dealing with.

Also, is the electric water heater in the same bay as all the other water stuff? It may well be giving off enough heat to help out with those very moderate nightly freezes. The bus, and water tanks, etc is a large mass that is well above freezing for most of the day. All that mass is a heat sump that helps out in the wee hours.

I don't think you have anything to worry about if the temps are as you described.

I would think if you really don't have an electric heater in that bay that it would be a fairly easy addition to do so.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Dale,

When we lived in the frozen north our previous Liberty had an electric bay heater (1500 W), ducting from the propane furnace, and a heat exchanger using engine coolant. But even when temperatures got as low as 20 below I found a cube type heater set on the 500W setting in the bay was ample. I ran it continuously, and the mass of water in the fresh water tank moderated the bay temperatures sufficiently so the cube heater was all it took to prevent freezing.

If you have an outlet in the bay that is all you need.

[truk4u]

Dale,

Welcome to Country Coach world! No electric heater in the bay. The only way you have heat is with the Webasto in coach heat mode and that circulates through the little heat exchanger that's controlled by the thermostat to open or close based on your setting.

That's on of the downsides to their system. This winter we had some 30 degree nights in my garage and I had to use a little cube heater like Jon said.

An electric heater in the bay like Liberty and Marathon... Gee that would make some sense wouldn't it.

[dale farley]

I went out about 11 p.m. last night and started to place one of the box heaters in the bay, but there seems to be an outlet in every bay except the one I needed it in. I will give it a closer look today. I think the two 10.5 gallon water heaters are in that same bay also, but I am not sure.

CC could have added a small electric heater for $25 to start with. I've seen several things I like better, and several I don't like as well as the Marathon. It would be great if one converter would apply all the best from every converter.

I am sure the residual heat has kept everything from freezing. It was 24 degrees last night, and everything is fine this morning. I did try the Webasto for a few minutes last night, and it works fine, so if I need it, I have it.

I will check at Wal Mart tomorrow when we go to church and see if they have a heater that is even smaller than what I have at this time. I could probably use one or two light bulbs and have no problem if the temp doesn't drop below 20. I obviously don't need much since I haven't had any problems so far, and the temp has been in the 20's every night for the last two weeks.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Dale, remember that if you keep the fresh water tank as full as possible and you are able to set a small cube heater next to it so it radiates heat into the water, that tank is literally your bay heater on cold nights. Before you start to have any water lines freeze, the contents of the tank need to approach freezing. We never took special pains to deal with cold outside temperatures when we were in the bus because normal living was keeping the bay relatively warm, and that includes the warm water from showers or the sinks going into the holding tank.

[dale farley]

The tanks probably have been part of the reason I haven't had a problem. I've had the fresh water tank full and don't drain the holding tanks until they get about 3/4 full.

[Jerry Winchester]

Dale,

MangoMike actually uses the "Eat More Tacos" theory for bay heat. When his taco grinder deposits them into the black tank, the exothermic reaction keeps the whole coach toasty and the aroma keeps the bears away.

Forget the heater and just make a stop at Taco Bell.