Water Fill while boondocking

[dms]

We do a lot of dry camping (at car shows and auctions) and normally have power but no other hookups. We run out of fresh water and I have a 35 gallon fresh water tank which I have to pump in using a 4gpm 110v pump.

The problem is that pumping through the regular water hookup hose takes forever to pump 35 gallons (nearly an hour). I would like to know if anyone has ever modified the tank fittings or plumbling to allow a faster inlet path to actually allow a faster flow at 4gpm into the tank.

I assume the restriction in the factory setup is due to a backflow preventer and regulator, not to mention the valve manifold plumbing.

Any ideas how to solve this on a 2016 MA?

[ByeTheWay]

Sounds like your doing the same things I do. I use a bladder with a seperate 12v pump (same as coach uses) with filler hose and I filter the water, but it takes about 20 minutes with my '04 MA DP. One thing that really slows down the flow is some in line charcoal filters, that could be the problem.

[BBelanger]

Sounds like you are carrying the water? Even if not, you're carrying the container. If that's the case, why wouldn't you have a permanent hookup from the aux tank to the main and just have a switch to turn the pump on when you start to get low on fresh. Could be a 12v pump. You wouldn't be in a rush unless you let the main run dry. Even better but more complicated if you had a level sensor in your main and aux tanks, and have the switch turn on and off automatically.

[ghaynes754]

Consider adding a gravity fill port. Not sure of the setup on the MA but would be a pretty easy mod to the tank with the fill port located either in the water bay someplace else in the basement.

[Winemaker2]

Why not rig an outlet from the aux tank and connect to the winterization line that would supply the plumbing via the normal RE pump and just eliminate the empty water tank?

[Dutch Star Don]

I'm guessing that you have a large overflow hose like the Dutch Star on the opposite end of the water tank. Many of us have modified it (located behind the pegboard wall) because it was too short and not high enough, causing it to siphon out water.

If you do, it's a 1.5" free flowing hose with no backflow device. I would take a few minutes to modify it, so that it could be easily lifted over the pegboard wall and used as a gravity fill. You could simply lengthen it by about 24" and put a disconnect in the center. When you want to add water, just disconnect and extend it over the pegboard wall and fill.

[C.Martin]

Originally Posted by dms

We do a lot of dry camping (at car shows and auctions) and normally have power but no other hookups. We run out of fresh water and I have a 35 gallon fresh water tank which I have to pump in using a 4gpm 110v pump.

The problem is that pumping through the regular water hookup hose takes forever to pump 35 gallons (nearly an hour). I would like to know if anyone has ever modified the tank fittings or plumbling to allow a faster inlet path to actually allow a faster flow at 4gpm into the tank.

I assume the restriction in the factory setup is due to a backflow preventer and regulator, not to mention the valve manifold plumbing.

Any ideas how to solve this on a 2016 MA?

You could modify your fresh tank overflow...like I did. It will then acts as a positive and negative pressure relief. Then you could remove the spring loaded negative pressure relief to the left of it...and attach a filler neck with a gravity fill oort at the top of the pegboard. Just make sure your yransfer tank has prefiltered water.

[Rotten-Red]

Originally Posted by dms

We do a lot of dry camping (at car shows and auctions) and normally have power but no other hookups. We run out of fresh water and I have a 35 gallon fresh water tank which I have to pump in using a 4gpm 110v pump.

The problem is that pumping through the regular water hookup hose takes forever to pump 35 gallons (nearly an hour). I would like to know if anyone has ever modified the tank fittings or plumbling to allow a faster inlet path to actually allow a faster flow at 4gpm into the tank.

I assume the restriction in the factory setup is due to a backflow preventer and regulator, not to mention the valve manifold plumbing.

Any ideas how to solve this on a 2016 MA?

This gravity fill is plumbed into the tank overflow piping. I have a fill on both sides of MH.

[Yianni]

I don't understand this.
Most Tiffins come with a gravity fill as standard.

We also dry camp a lot and use a 5 gallon container to add to the fresh water tank through the gravity fill.

In 2015 when we were considering a Ventana, we asked if Newmar could add a gravity fill. Their answer was no. Sorry, can't be that hard if Tiffin does it on most all of their coaches as standard.

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by Rotten-Red

This gravity fill is plumbed into the tank overflow piping. I have a fill on both sides of MH.

Not following your plumbing. Why would you have two pressure gauges and a pressure reducer on a gravity full? Am I missing something?

[Rotten-Red]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

Not following your plumbing. Why would you have two pressure gauges and a pressure reducer on a gravity full? Am I missing something?

The pressure gauges and pressure regulator have no connection to the gravity fill. The gravity fill is what you see above the gauges and regulator.

[dms]

C.Martin.... You've hit exactly what I need! Am I correct that you changed the overflow to a "Tee" for both downward overflow and upward "Vent" by moving the black vent cap to the top of the new upward vent line off the "Tee"?

Then used the old black vent hole fitting for the new fill inlet? If so, I'm off to the store for fittings. Very ingenious. THANKS!!!

[C.Martin]

Originally Posted by dms

C.Martin.... You've hit exactly what I need! Am I correct that you changed the overflow to a "Tee" for both downward overflow and upward "Vent" by moving the black vent cap to the top of the new upward vent line off the "Tee"?

Then used the old black vent hole fitting for the new fill inlet? If so, I'm off to the store for fittings. Very ingenious. THANKS!!!

Actually, when I did this...I was just trying to fix the dreaded siphon effect...where you fill your tank, and then 20 gallons get siphoned back out. It wasn't until another IRV2 member mentioned that the brass/black cap valve was leaking on thier rig that I realized it was redundent. When you asked about filling without having to force water in past the filter and check valve...It popped into my mind this might also be a solution for that, by adding a gravity fill...

I actually used an Oatley Sure-vent air admittance valve. But with the correct fittings...there is absolutely nothing wrong with doing what you suggested---move the brass/black cap valve to the top of the stack. I just hope the spring isn't so strong that a siphon could start thru the overflow.

I added a few more photos...illustrating the parts...and the zip ties I used to anchor the stack to keep it from flopping around back there.

With this arrangement...you could then repurpose the threaded port where the brass/black cap balves was removed to become a gravity fill port.

You could even use tubing with a 3/4" female gardenhose fitting. Let it dangle out of the pegboard...and...when not in use, get a cap to screw on to seal it. When ready to fill, remove the cap, and attach to the hose from your transfer pump and fill away.

I used the existing flexible pipe...and the tee you see has a longer piece of pvc extending up...two short sections going out the other openings. The flexible pipe slides over the pvc stubs, and get band clamped on.

Sorry, my pictures often get turned funny when posting.

[ghaynes754]

Here's what I did during our FPU a few weeks back. Really liked Charlie's setup. I couldn't get as tall but has the same effect. If I needed a manual fill port it would be easy to install going through the pegboard in this compartment.