Like lots of rural folks, I have a toilet in my shop bld. As the shop is NOT heated when unoccupied I have had partial freeze ups where water in the tank and bowl has skinned over with ice pretty good but not frozen solid (yet). I have protected all my exposed plumbing runs with thermostatically controlled heater tape and insulation but had concerns for the toilet.

Here is the solution I came up with to share here:

Put a piece of copper tubing (or other good conductor of heat) in the water with a fair section sticking up in the air. Put heater tape on the part up in the air. My tank has dips in the top in the back where a bent piece of tubing can be routed so you can have the heater hooked up AND the tank lid in place. I didn't find any heater tapes approved for imersion, hence the tubing solution.

I expect that this will prevent bursting of the fixture in a long cold snap (if the power stays on)

I'm open to suggestions if there is a simpler or better way.

Patrick