Community Forums

Saburai · 12-26-2014, 03:23 PM

Hello all!

First post here on iRV2, I've been lurking a while...
We have a Keystone Laredo 25+4RL TT and will be Boondocking for the next 3-4 months in a Palm grove down here in Florida. I'll haul drinking water to fill
the fresh water tank for drinking and cooking. There is a clean pond that's close enough to run a hose to and I'd like to do that! I want to prefilter it, at the intake and pump it with a second external surflo in to the "city" water hose input to use for showering and washing. I've been researching RV plumbing diagrams and information on line w/o getting a clear picture of how the system works. Is it possible to isolate the fresh water input from the holding tank? I'm assuming that the tank has a check valve to keep the "city" water from entering. I also realize that I will need to do a line displacement or "drinking water flush" when I use the sink tap for drinking.
Thanks for taking the time to answer newbie questions!

Thanks again!

Rich

Voyager35L · 12-26-2014, 03:31 PM

I feel you are taking a risk putting pond water into your system. I would filter it with the best filter I could find before it enterred my tank and not drink it unless it was boiled or chemically altered. Just a thought.

Saburai · 12-26-2014, 05:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Voyager35L

I feel you are taking a risk putting pond water into your system. I would filter it with the best filter I could find before it enterred my tank and not drink it unless it was boiled or chemically altered. Just a thought.

Thanks for the input

If it wasn't clear in my post I will pre filter at the intake as well as filter it again before it enters the rig. Also, I've got no intention of putting it in my holding tank or drinking it. The post is asking for help with how to isolate the external water feed from the tank...

Rich

D Lindy · 12-26-2014, 05:46 PM

I think what you want to do is almost impossible without totally re-plumbing the TT's water system, and creating 2 independent water systems in the TT.

"007" · 12-26-2014, 06:02 PM

Welcome to irv2.
If your city water inlet has a diverter valve to fill the fresh water tank your idea maybe suitable for use.
If you have to fill fresh water tank by a fill line into tank than not as easy.
You could add your own diverter valve yourself to fill the fresh water tank also.
You have one water system that uses the pump to draw water from fresh water tank and if pump is off and you have city water pressure to push water through the plumbing system which would be your pump from pond after filtering the water.

TT PLUMBING SYSTEMS-----POND WATER FILTRATION

Your idea is done at lake camps every year.
Good luck and you also have to think about sewerage for empting your tanks.

John Wayne · 12-26-2014, 06:06 PM

Why not just make an out side shower out of PVC and use that and then you won't have to worry about dumping the gray water holding tank. And just use the TT tank for drinking and cooking. You can have a bucket of pond water in the head for flushing the toilet.

OldToolmaker · 12-26-2014, 06:08 PM

Here's a real simple answer. No. Won't work. You can't do that.

Whether you are using city water or your tank, it's all the same plumbing at the end. The water comes into that plumbing from two sources and they aren't that far apart.

lanerd · 12-26-2014, 06:17 PM

I don't see why it would not work...Doing it your way would be just the same as hooking up to an rv park's water faucet.

I see three problems. First, you can't use the trailer's on-board water pump to pump the pond water as it will only pump from the trailer's fresh water tank.

Second, you would have to go outside and turn the valve to switch from pond water or fresh water tank water every time you needed to change.

And third, when ever you wanted to use the fresh water, you would have to run the water from the faucets for a while to purge the water lines of the pond water....but that shouldn't be a big deal.

So, if you make the exterior pump powerful enough to pump from the pond to the trailer, it should work.

What are you going to do with your grey and black tanks when they're full?

Good luck

Ron

Saburai · 12-28-2014, 07:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lanerd

I don't see why it would not work...Doing it your way would be just the same as hooking up to an rv park's water faucet.

I see three problems. First, you can't use the trailer's on-board water pump to pump the pond water as it will only pump from the trailer's fresh water tank.

Second, you would have to go outside and turn the valve to switch from pond water or fresh water tank water every time you needed to change.

And third, when ever you wanted to use the fresh water, you would have to run the water from the faucets for a while to purge the water lines of the pond water....but that shouldn't be a big deal.

So, if you make the exterior pump powerful enough to pump from the pond to the trailer, it should work.

What are you going to do with your grey and black tanks when they're full?

Good luck

Ron

Thanks Guys!

I've already done a bunch of on line searching/research. My Google-fu is pretty good! Still I've not been able to find out if my rig has a diverter valve. What do you think a piratical way of ascertaining this would be? Keeping in mind that my fresh water tank is full and I don't want to dump it.

To answer the questions about grey and black water: grey water will water the palm groves eco friendly soap of course. Black water will be pumped out via honey wagon sine there are a few porta potty's on the grove this is simple.

Ron, thanks for the well thought out reply.
Yes, I'll need to do a line displacement before cooking or drinking, I mentioned that in the OP. I've got a spare Surflo that I'll mount outside for the pond water. I was thinking that I'd locate the switch inside, that way when I want to switch water sources, I would just switch between the house pump and the auxiliary (outside) pump.

The real challenge for me is figuring out the pex routing w/o having to tear the whole under belly off to trace it. Also, finding out if I have/location of diverter or check vale(s)...

Good thing for me I like to figure out how things work

jones47172 · 12-28-2014, 08:25 AM

Rich - there is no pond water fit to drink without serious sterilization. Whatever microbes are in the pond are going to inhabit your RVs plumbing system even if you filter and flush lines before use. There should never be any cross utilization of any part of the plumbing without complete sterilization between uses - which isn't practical.

A compromise might be to run the pond water into the coach, using dedicated plumbing, to a hand shower head which could be used for the toilet and shower. Depending on the floor plan, it might be possible to drag this shower head to the sink for rinsing dishes, etc. This method eliminates any coach plumbing (including fittings, valves, etc) from pond water.

Saburai · 12-28-2014, 08:35 AM

Thanks for your concern Mike!
Not to worry! We have traveled the globe, taking care of our water needs as we went along, treating and drinking water that came from some pretty dubious sources in places like the Malaysian jungle.
Be sure that before we drink or cook with any water it will be safe, many thanks.

Back to the problem at hand...

Rich

Ray,IN · 12-28-2014, 08:57 PM

What happens now when you are on "city" water? How is your fresh water holding tank filled now? How does your trailer detect fresh water source now? I know it cannot fill the water tank from city water without a valve to divert the water or the holding tank would be continually overflowing when on city water; OR it must have 2 separate water connections, one for city water, one fill point for holding tank.

Saburai · 12-29-2014, 05:46 AM

Hi Ray, thanks for the reply!
Rig has two connections, female hose for the city water and a screw capped input of about 1.5" for the fresh water holding tank.

lanerd · 12-29-2014, 11:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Saburai

Thanks for your concern Mike!
Not to worry! We have traveled the globe, taking care of our water needs as we went along, treating and drinking water that came from some pretty dubious sources in places like the Malaysian jungle.
Be sure that before we drink or cook with any water it will be safe, many thanks.

Back to the problem at hand...

Rich

Rich, I think what Mike was referring to is that even if you flush out the pond water in the trailer's pex piping when you switch over to fresh water, the piping will still have unwanted microbes in the piping.

Ron