holding tank antifreeze?

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for the black water tank..........heavy salt & straight water mixture ?? is that tough on the gate valve?

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Hi Eric
I beleive it would do harm over the long run.Salt is corosive. Just look at some of the cars up north and then you will know what I mean.Where are you from Eric?

Welcome to the forum.:wave

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The pink stuff is less than $3 a gallon at Wal-Mart. In fact, in the beginning of the season, it is on sale for 2 gals for $5.

Although I stand to be corrected, if it is empty and you are not using it, then it should be fine. (We're talking black water tanks and not water lines, right?) IF you are camping and plan on using it, then the heat in the trailer should keep it above freezing and you shouldn't have to worry about it.

More experienced winter campers? What do you think?

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:wave

I'd say a lot depends on which trailer you have, Eric, and where its black water tank is located. Also, as Ches asked, it depends on which part of the world you live in (how cold is the weather).

On the Casitas, the black water tank is actually inside the bathroom. It forms a platform for the throne, so to speak. I wouldn't think anti-freeze would be critical.

But your trailer may be different. Yours may be beneath the trailer, which would make it more subject to freezing.

Since you haven't filled in the information on your profile, it's really hard for us to answer your questions.

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Eric ... I have to admit, I hadn't ever thought of adding salt to the black water tank ... and am not a chemist, so I don't know how much you'd have to add to get a mixture that would alter the freezing point of water.

Salt water, however, does freeze at some temperature/combination/concentration

Reason I use RV Antifreeze to "lube" the tanks when we're winter camping is that RV antifreeze will also "freeze" into a slush but doesn't "expand" or freeze hard.

I'd be worried that your salt/water mixture would freeze, expand and possibly damage something.

Like Suz says ... the RV antifreeze is cheap.

If you are fulltiming or doing some really extended winter camping, you could always add some tank heater pads or some automatic thermostatically controlled heat tape to your dump pipes and valves.

Don't make the mistake of using regular heat tape (the kind used on roofs to prevent snow dams) ... it gets too hot and could damage the pipes.

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Hi Ches..........BUTTT we are dealing with plastic parts NOT metal pieces that corrode. I should have mentioned this before but we have used that blue washer solvent in the past.......$ .99 per gallon. we are from MI but will be moving to TN.

Suz.......how would that pink stuff work with/on the "solids" in the black tank ??

Mary ......... this present application is a truck camper and NOT a Big Foot or newer Lance. NONE of the tanks are heated in any way and the insulation is LESS than perfect in this unit. The black tank is very small and is not heated...the grey tank is under the truck-bed itself.

CW ......... GOOD points you make......... Thx

Thx to all. And I appreciate the welcome.

I will fill out that profile more fully. BTW - we like to boon-dock AND are Walmart campers.......any of you do that?

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>>we like to boon-dock AND are Walmart campers.......any of you do that?

I think the answer to this one is, ''Yep!''

I'll leave details to others, though!

:sunny