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Old 11-11-2017, 05:04 PM
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Albertadiver Albertadiver is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by denied access View Post
I would be a bit nervous about hitting the valve with a heat gun. That cheap black plastic is pretty fragile. Is it possible to fill your fresh water, flame up your water heater and hit it with hot water from your external shower or use a kettle on your stove and use hot water? It generally does not take a lot of hot water to thaw something and less chance of a catastrophe. To thaw water lines I have ran a hoses up them, stuck a funnel in the end and poured hot water in. Goes real fast.

I dont really think it will hurt anything if you leave it frozen and if you break the valve you really will have a poopy situation. Pipes and valve are already froze so if they are not cracked now they should be ok. My only concern would be the tank expanding esp if vent stack is froze. Might wanna throw another jug of antifreeze in and stir it (yuck) with a stick if you can.

Best of luck. Maybe put a heat trace on the pipe and heat pads on the tanks for next year.
Yes, I agree about being cautious. I gave er a few solid tugs and it wouldn't budge. The last thing I need to do is break that sucker!!

On further research, looks like these are a slider valve, so in theory, I think I will be ok with 'stuff' in the tank for the winter. I think I'll dump some more antifreeze though....

Will put some gentle heat on it Monday as a last try though. The valve is way back in the underbelly which is covered. That's why it's so hard to get at. The connection for the sani hose is probably 2' from the valve gate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IF6JfnI2AzY

Here's a video of a similar setup.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ken07AOVette View Post
take a kettle of some type and pour boiling water on it. or take it to a car wash and hit it with warm water, or leave it sit in a heated bay for a while. If you were closer you could put it in mine, surely someone has room for a couple days there
I may have a line on a heated bay, and I have some new tires on order, so next good Chinook I may tow it out of there and get it into a shop. Appreciate the offer though. I have a few friends with chevy 1 tons and another guy with an F350 so I think I have that part covered if need be.
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