He had noticed that the heater ran on propane, with a pilot light, and 
proceeded to explain that the
> water would not freeze as long as the pilot light was lit.  He explained
> the water might change to a slurry (or, near freeze), but would not > 
> freeze.  As long as there was a smidgen of liquid, there would be enough 
> room for expansion so that the tank would not burst.

 The above is off course true about the *tank*

. The problem is with the water in the freon lines of the "milk tank" ,the 
lines to and from the pump and the  pump (not the tank itself). Most tanks 
are open top for a couple reasons but damage could be done to some I have 
seen if the water is frozen. Also the pump could be damaged.

I assure the list that once the lines of a "milk tank" freeze and rupture 
(big repair problem) or simply freeze ( hard to get unfrozen in an unheated 
building) then you have got problems. Blowing out the freon lines with air 
is needed unless the liquid is a solution which will not freeze.

>
> He also explained that it was not necessary to use air to blow out the
> lines, and all we needed to do was to get out 'most' of the water so that 
> if
> the remaining amount froze there would be empty pipe enough to handle
> the resulting expansion of volume with rupturing.

One reason I heat my honey processing  area in winter is the constant repair 
of  lines which freeze in Missouri winter in unheated areas. Draining was 
simply not enough most of the time.

Mobile home heat lines do work and I have seen used if electricity is 
available however if the electricity goes off then problems. ice storm 
tomorrow morning in our area  and power outages are not unusal for our area. 
Eleven days has been the longest period in freezing weather without power.

To combate the problem I put downward valves on each place water can stay in 
the lines and now I have lttle problems with frozen lines at startup. I 
drain and blow out Milk tank freon lines went not in use.

 Blowing out the lines works best.

I used copper for years but finally went to PVC due to ease of repair. 
Trying to repair copper with any moisture in the lines is a hassle.

bob



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