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I can guess what he means, as a swimming pool owner who closes his pool every fall it makes total sense, you blow the water/moisture out of the unit. Good idea Matt.
Use and electric heater set on a low setting. You’re only trying to keep it above freezing. Also make sure you turn the vent to off. In most vehicles it actually closes the vents and keeps the heat in better.
Great points Ammon…sounds like the voice of experience!
We have a little experience as well and have had frozen cleaner in the lines, frozen pumps and more pumps…so, new operators, we hope this is helpful…and older operators who have already been through the problems, please feel free to add your tips as well…no one has a corner on ways to protect equipment.
I might add though that the heaters are only good down to a certain temp…
For us, if the temp is going into the mid-teens, we pull everything that can freeze and take inside. That is why we keep bottles in a plastic container, easy out and back into the van the next day. Also, any damp pads will freeze as well…not a problem unless you have a large job the next morning and must wait for them to thaw out.
We tested the temperature in the vans for some time before relying on the heaters to protect the contents. One other trick we have done on occasion and that is to tent the contents with the heater underneath with plenty of air space. It allows for the heat to stay more enclosed with a tarp over everything….it does work.
Hope this helps someone.
Dave
All i have to say is thank goodness for a heated garage. as baden has already stated, it can get a little nippy up here. Recently i have been thinking about getting an auto start that will fire the van up at a certain interior temp, let it run for about 15 plus min. then shut it off again. i had a guesstamate at about 500.00 including install. a little pricy, but better then replacing pumps due to freezing on the job.
Since our garage cannot hold the vans and they must stay outside and we must bring water containing materials and machines inside, we did something last year that worked great last year and so far this one.
I built, inside the garage, a makeshift 8 x 8 x 7 foot frame for poly covering and have everything in there, with a small space heater if needed. Our garage rarely gets below 30 deg since it has house on two sides.
With not taking chances when the weather is going down to the low teens, I turn on LOW, the small space heater, close the flaps and it is warm and toasty with very little extra heat or effort. 95% of the time none is required since I monitor with a thermometer…
Hope this helps…
In my old garage I built a small room that had a sink, washing machine and shelves for storing supplies. I insulated it and put a small space heater in it. Worked great, Now i have a an apartment building that is apartments upstairs and down is a large open shop area, with a furnace. It is cocncrete block. It won’t freeze in there unless it gets down to below zero outside then I have a furnace i kick on. the furnace is very expensive but I only need to use it a few nights a year.
Maybe he meant blow it out with compressed air???
Cold weather is coming!! I just wanted to refresh this thread to remind people that it is time to prepare. Be proactive! 😀
In a couple of weeks, I will be eurathaning my van for up here in Alaska. Cant possibly imagine -30 weather again without it. We also have no garage. SOOOO, it will be like the first year I moved here in 2005. If anyone is looking for a good way to insulate their van, this is going to come out to 3-400 bucks, but well worth it as opposed to replacing pumps.
I am lucky to have large heated building. It cost about $200.00 a year to heat
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