Fresh Water system Advice

[pixie]

Hello Folks,
Moss and I have just finished installing our solar pannels and are now ready to tackle the fresh water/ plumbing project.

If anyone has any info on how this is done, any links to pages with good advice/instructions, and good books we would really appreciate it.We have dave galleys plumbing for bus nuts but are intrested in amassing as much info/advice as possible.

Like everything else we have done so far on this bus..we pretty much are starting out knowing nothing on this topic....

Of particular intrest isthe easiest way to go about mounting a plastic 75 gallon fresh water tank in the safest manner.

Thank you for any help! ~Pixie

[Sharkey]

Hey Pixie, welcome.

There's several ways to do water. On the Housetruck, I took an old 55 gallon water heater, fabricated a mount to hold it horizontally inder the floor and added fittings at the top (previously the "side"). Water heaters are glass lined, so no rust, and better yet, they are rated for pressure, which gave me an interesting advantage. I put together a 5 gallon air pressure tank with regulator and used to to pressurize the tank once it was filled. The air pushed down on the water at about 35 PSI and forced it to the fixtures. No pumps necessary onboard. I used the gasoline-powered pump that we used to water the garden to fill the tank from the creek every week or two.

This system was very useful when I was living off-grid back in the woods. The air pressure tank held enough air to empty the tank completely from full, and it weighed less than the batteries that I had to haul out to where the electricity was to charge. Best of all, the air pressure came free from the service station, I would just throw it in the car and fill it on my trip to town once a week. I also purchased a 12 volt air compressor for "emergencies".

I still use this tank, although the operation with city water pressure is even easier to deal with. Start with an empty tank, turn on the city supply and the tank will pressurize itself as the trapped air on top is compressed. I need only a few pounds of air from the compressed air tank near the end to assist as the trapped air returns to near atmospheric levels.

On the Crown, I have a 100 gallon plastic tank that I pulled from a burned RV at the wrecking yard. It was mounted inside a steel box with insulation, hanging from the floor joists by threaded rod and "C" channel. I also picked up two Surflow electric pumps, and will run them in tandem for lots of pressure and flow. Yes, they will make noise and eat power, but I'm finding myself parked most of the time, hooked up to city water, so I don't expect them to get much use.

Don't forget that there are books on this subject. Ben Rosander offers one on his web site: http://www.rv-busconversions.com/catalogSpecialty.html , scroll down to item "C8".

[Maisry]

I have an old fifth wheel off the grid. Being a woman, too small to manuever tanks off and on my truck, desiring to be independent and not ask friends with tanks and muscles to help, and being cheap, I had to find a way to get water from the well of a friend to my holding tanks. I looked into various bulky expensive tanks, searched for used ones, thought about the extra water trips I would have to make if I used a tank small enough for me to manage, and found a solution.

I bought a thirty dollar super single water bed mattrass, attached a hose to the opening, and away I went. It lays out flat in the pick up, hooks up to the well's faucet, and fills with about 125 gallons of water, or less if I want. It rolls up and fits in a five gallon bucket when not in use. Now and then I disinfect it by filling it with air at the friend's compressor, adding a few ounces of bleach and a gallon of water to the "balloon", then dance with it for a bit, to slosh it all around.

I was a little worried that it would be unstable in the drive, but my place is on the side of a mountain, with a lot of pretty bad dirt road, and I've had no trouble at all driving around with a big water balloon in the back. I wouldn't take a turn to fast, but I can do the "speed limit" for the area, and then some. Besides, it's fun to have a giant water baloon.

I park up hill from my tanks and use gravity to empty the water bed into the tanks. Every little bit, I hop up in the bed and roll up the empty portion so it goes faster.

If I don't have my truck and need a little water, or somebody else in the neighborhood wants some, I can put the water bed folded in the back of my Suberu. Then there's just less, and it works just as well.

I thought it was no big deal, but I hang with a crowd of off grid people, and they're all borrowing my water bed. They think I invented something new, and why didn't they think of it before? I've been using this method for several years, and it still work great.

Maisry