Keeping bulk water in winter

[Scenic WonderRunner]

Would something like this work?

I'm thinkin' opposite of summer...here!

Water freezes from the top...down.

http://www.igloocoolers.com/products/Beverage/FullSizeBeverage/257/

There are also 12 Volt cup warmers out there. Could those help?


.

 

[rusty_tlc]

I don't think a AC heater will work, you math is not quite correct, you are forgetting resistance and power consumed changes with the square of voltage. 45W at 110V is 0.4A, using R=V/I you get a resistance of 275ohms. With a resistance of 275ohms and 13V only 0.04A flows which is only about half a watt.

To get 45W at 12V you need approximately 4A and to get that much current you need a resistance of around 3 ohms.

Rob

Math aside, it's a length of nichrome (or some other alloy) wire wound into a coil. It really doesn't care if you run AC or DC current through it, at the end of the day it will get hot. My guess is if you run about 4.5 Amps at 13V through it it will deliver around 45W of heat

 

[GreenToys]

Hey

Since the 7gal containers won't fit into a cooler maybe I could build a wooden box lined with the 1-2" blue/pink insulating foam sheet and set the jugs inside and then keep the whole thing in the back of my car which is somewhat protected.

Another thought I just had is to use a "Bubbler" for oxygenating a fish tank, the bubbles would keep the water moving and ice from forming, at least in theory. They used to use a similar thing in MI for people who left their boats in the water over the winter, they would run several of these bubblers around the hull to keep the ice from damaging the boat hull, but I haven't seen one in years.

Pete Wilson

What about if you just wrap it with an electric blanket, 12v or 110v your choice, and there's no filament or glass to break. And just like someone had mentioned earlier, when it's time to sleep, that warm container with water (just make sure it won't leak ) and electric blanket can keep you out of the frost.

 

[L8 APEKS]

Hey

I'm looking for suggestions on keeping bulk water jugs from freezing during winter camping (usually 2-4 days). I'm using the Reliance 7 gal blue jugs; most of my gear is stored in my utility trailer but I'm planning on using 2 of the jugs in January for a camp outing in OK. Even though weather can be mild, I would like to hear others on recommendations you have used for winter camping. My trailer does have access to 12v and 115vac (inverter w/ two batteries) on board. Thanks.

Pete Wilson

Heating pad or nitrous bottle warmer?

 

[Robthebrit]

Math aside, it's a length of nichrome (or some other alloy) wire wound into a coil. It really doesn't care if you run AC or DC current through it, at the end of the day it will get hot. My guess is if you run about 4.5 Amps at 13V through it it will deliver around 45W of heat

Correct, it doesn't care about AC or DC but to get it to the same temperature you'll need to dissipate the same power which requires roughly the RMS voltage as DC - Changing the voltage does not change the resistance of the wire.

You may be better off getting one of those 12V coil type mug heaters and dropping it in a cooler and leaving it on. You don't need to warm the water up you just need to add energy as fast as its leaving.

Rob

 

[HINO SG]

This stuff is supposed to be odorless and tasteless. You might want to research to see if it will make you sterile if you drink it.
http://www.campingworld.com/shopping/item/fulltimer-s-choice-rv-marine-antifreeze-gallon/30243

The idea would be to heat the sleeping compartment in my box truck conversion with a radiator to avoid carbon monoxide/oxygen depletion issues; thinking about how to do it so I can use water from the radiator for washing/cooking in the AM. Not having to keep the "boiler" running 24/7 to keep the system from freezing up would be ideal.

Just getting started on the idea, sure there are other details I havn't thought about.

 

[pete.wilson]

Hey

I think of the idea's so far, is the using an insulated cooler for the water or placing the jugs in the insulated box would work the best and the cheapest. Using a 12v pad might be do-able in extremely cold days. I will try some testing this winter to see what happens.

Pete Wilson

 

[roberto]

if your carrying military type water cans I know you can buy on ebay and surplus stores the insulated can covers, very thick and tuff?

R

 

[NuggetHoarder]

I've camped quite a bit in freezing temps and I'll second what go4aryd said with the disposable hand warmers. This works great for short camping trips of a day or two. Just stick a hand warmer under the container before you go to bed at night and if you have a wool blanket wrap that around the container. Even better if you can get a few layers of wool blanket under the container and the hand warmer.

That will keep it from freezing if the outside temps drop as low as 10F outside your truck during the night. If you get up in the morning and ice has formed near the top of the container, just shake it real good and the ice will break up enough that you can pour water out. The hand warmer system works great as long as the temps are above about 40F sometime during the day and you can get your container out into the sun.

If you are in a prolonged cold exposure setting where days and nights never go above 32F, then you could go with a 12v heater of some sort which I've never done.

One thing that does work well for long camping trips below freezing is to buy an old down filled mummy sleeping bag off of craigslist. Cut the mummy bag in half and only keep the lower (foot) portion. Stitch it back up with some thread so the down doesn't spill out. Basically you want to end up with the mummy bag about 3 feet long and it will look like a kitchen garbage bag sized bag.

Next, take your dutch oven and put it in the bottom of the mummy bag after you've eaten dinner and cleaned up. From your campfire, heat up a couple of rocks and put them in the dutch oven and put the dutch oven lid on.

Next, take a couple of tree branches that are about 4" long and about 1" in diameter and place them on either side of the dutch oven's lid handle. This creates a flat platform to set your reliance container on.

Next, put your water container on top of the dutch oven and tie up the mummy bag like a garbage bag. The dutch oven will keep the plastic container from direct contact with the hot rocks. You'll quickly figure out how often you need to throw a newly heated rock into the dutch oven to keep it above 32F. It shouldn't be more than once a day that you need to throw a new hot rock inside and you don't even need big rocks. A couple of fist sized rocks work well.

The nice thing about this solution is that you don't have to store your water in the truck, you can keep it outside next to your kitchen area and you are repurposing your dutch oven into double duty which is always good. It also doesn't use any batteries and the mummy bag will scrunch up to the size of a softball making the whole system very compact. When you need to use your dutch oven for cooking, just wipe the ashes out with a paper towel and off you go.

A couple of tips - you don't need to use a glowing red hot 1,000F hot rock. That will be too hot and melt your mummy bag. Just heat up a rock for about 20 minutes in the fire and it will be plenty - or just keep 4 or 5 fist sized rocks at the edge of your coals at all times. No need to keep the rocks right in the hottest part of your fire. Also never use wet river rocks in your campfire. They will explode because of the expanding steam inside.

Happy Winter Camping!

 

[5Runner]

Holy Cow NuggetHoarder! That was a great post and by far the best and most well thought idea thus far!!

Excellent...:ylsmoke:

 

[demonslaer]

I know this is a old thread but I have 4 mwc I built a box insulated it with sheet insulation & put in a 12v blanket so I could wrap it around the cans 4 days 3 nights high 33 low -17 works great

 

[robert]

Water freezes from the top down so I just leave the spout stuck down in mine (in the stored position on the blue water jugs); if it's frozen I just unscrew the cap and pour the water through the spout with the spout frozen in place. A little messy, but no too bad. I also wrap it in a wool blanket. On really cold nights I've put a disposable hand-warmer under it like someone else mentioned.

Since I have no desire to take a shower on a really cold morning I usually just do the water bottle in sleeping bag trick- learned it in Boy Scouts when I was a kid.

If you hooked a RC boat prop up to a shaft on a small motor then connected that to a battery it should keep the water circulating enough to prevent freezing and it wouldn't take much juice. Alternately you could just run a small pump to keep it moving within the jug.

ETA- a paint stirrer might work better than a RC boat prop.

 

[BillTex]

We used to do this for winter camping.

What we would do is use coolers for the water, then fill a plastic bottle (one liter or so) with hot water, seal it, then put it in the cooler in the morning and again at night (this is assuming you have the ability to heat water).

This would keep the water warm enough for it not to freeze.

This idea, along with some hand warmers should get you through some pretty colds temps.
No power required, except fuel to boil the water for the warm jug once/twice per day...

B

 

[blastic]

i am trying to keep my 5 gal cooler of water from freezing outside while camping in winter

i cannot find ANY solutions from experience out there, except building an insulated box to keep the cooler in.

I then got to thinking i have a regular cooler for food, bottled drinks and I use ice packs to keep the entire thing cold.....I then thought I need to do this, but exactly opposite.

I did some googling and found those hot or cold packs for your body, like for injuries..... would it be safe/OK/effective to heat up a half dozen or so of these small hot/cold packs and then throw them in the 5 gal cooler/jug? once daily?

 

[Kestrel]

Howdy All,
Good Discussion, Good Ideas. we also use those reliant jugs because they fit well on the floor (low C/G) behind the seats. But from before we moved to TX, on cold nights we'd put tomorrow morning's water in a crew-style water cooler, add a pan of hot water from the stove, close & keep it out of the wind. Good to go next morning.
K.I.S.