Frozen pipes may be a thing of the past

[Montana_2730]

Because my wife and friends say I'm a perfectionist, here's my story. Reading all the posts about water lines I decided to take a peek. We own a 2005 2955 built in end Sept 2004 purchased in Dec 2005. If I knew how to post pictures to this forum I would show everyone what I found. Here is a narrative.

After revmoving the ABS sheeting up to the rear axles, rear stabilzer jacks, spare tire carrier and peeling back the solar bubble wrap. I found all the supply lines from tank and service port just laying along the left side rail with the 50AMP service line and wiring for rear tail lights. There was no insulation around these lines. The lines run over to the right side of the trailer and just over the rear axle go up into the insulated floor. The expanding foam insulation does nothing except seal the hole in the ABS. We have a saying in Texas about "worthless as breasts on a male hog". That pretty much describes the supply lines in cold weather. Since I did not want to pull anymore ABS sheeting down then I had to I stopped at the rear axle. This gives you a good view of the back of the black water grey water tank combo.

I insulated all the lines with Amrocore pipe insulation purchased at Home Depot. I tied up all the loose wiring and hydraulic supply lines. The 50 amp line was just loose laying on top of the ABS sheeting. You would think Keystone would do a little better tying things up. I then wraped all the drain lines with 3/16" thick Armacore self-sticking insulation just above the ABS. I added pipe wrap to the lines below the ABS and used tie wraps to hold it in place.

Since I had all this stuff exposed now, I painted all the rusty welds and places Keystone did not paint. I brushed Dinatrol on the lower rails the ABS attaches to. Dinatrol is a aerospace rust proofing compound. When Keystone personnel install the ABS they do not take the time to remove the metal shavings from around the self-tapping screw hole. This starts to rust very quickly and badly as in my case. After waiting for a day for the corrosion protection to dry, I add a two inch wide strip of Armocore to the bottom af every rail that the ABS comes in contact. This acts as a foam seal to keep the dirt out. I was surpised to see how much road grim and dirt was in this space after only 1400 miles.

The whole modification took 8 hrs and about $30.00 worth of supplies. It allow me to see how Keystone builds things. My one beef is that the 50 AMP line is laying right on top of the pull handle for the aft grey water tank. It is to far forward for me to change up, so I'll get the dealer on it later.

[sreigle]

Truly excellent post, Travelingman! I hope you don't mind I've saved this for future reference.

If you still want to post pictures, you can put them on the web for free at www.tinypic.com . Use their "browse" button to locate the picture on your system. Then click the 'host it' button to put it on theirs. When the page returns, scroll down and copy one of the urls. I copy the one with the IMG tags. Just click once on it, then either edit/copy from the menu or ctrl-c to copy the url. Paste that url in an MOC post to show the picture right in the post. Or, change the IMG to URL (on both ends) and it will put a link in the post that can be clicked on to go see the picture.

[Montana_2730]

Here is a picture of water lines going from between trailer rails thru the insulated floor.
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This next picture are the lines running down the left side rail with wiring.
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The 50 AMP service line is a problem in this picture.
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And finally a picture of the low point drain at the fresh water tank. .

This next picture gives a good understanding of what I mean by Keystone should do a better job of tieing things up.
Everything is just laying on top of the bubble wrap.
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And finally a picture of the fifty amp service at the back.
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sreigle thanks for explaining how to use www.tinypic.com.

ed

[BillyRay]

no problem, sometimes it does get confusing.

[sreigle]

Excellent pictures, travelingman. Very helpful and informative. Thanks!