Dan’s mods

[Jps190]

FIDISP 12 Volt Water Pump, Portable Transfer Pump, 330GPH Larger Flow, 1/10HP Electric Utility Pump with On/Off Switch, 2 * 6’ Water Hose Kit for Garden Pools Aquariums Hot Tub https://a.co/d/0hzZ7HoS

 

Camco Durable Sewer Cap with https://a.co/d/0h5qZBVm

 

Been using this for 4 years. Takes 3 minutes to fill black tank and takes up minimal space.  As a bonus it is simple to hook to a hose bib to flush out.

John

 

 

Edited May 25 by Jps190

[DanielBoondock]

Proof of concept; onboard (inboard?) water conditioning and filtering.

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PSA: Some will think this is way overkill for water and that’s perfectly fine, but we’re really into clean water, and it has the added benefit of not leaving water spots or leaving deposits in the system. And for the mooch camping we’re doing at a relatives which has incredibly hard water it’s a lifesaver so there 😉

The problem has been the water softener and iron filter. So far it’s all be a modular system I move around. A pain but flexible. I gave up on putting the tanks onboard as they’re a bit too tall for any of the storage. But poking around I found that the panel under the bedside drawer is just sitting there so …

 

 

Pros

• All contained nicely 
• Puts weight in the back near the wheels (I’ve got plenty in front)
• Always set up so just takes two hookups, one from the faucet and two to the back water input.
  • For waterpoint boondocking (e.g. national parks) I haven’t used it. Too much to futz with pulled off at some waterpoint and usually blocking the road. 
• Since it’s permanent those hoses won’t kink, they’re a pain as they want to kink up if you use them modular
• Easy to access the valves for backwashing and regenerating by just taking the drawer out which is easy
• It just works out nicely with the lines having the right amount of coil 

Cons

• Not so great for city water. Unless I jack into the line internally I have to keep the hatch open which isn’t optimal
  • But that’s fine, just use the tank and pump until/if I decide to make it more permanent
• Takes up the back storage
  • But that’s odd storage anyhow, I finally settled on putting a folding chair and table there, plus dirty laundry shoved through the interior hatch. 
  • And now this frees up that storage elsewhere. The tanks have been knocking about, mainly in the truck. The main filter has been in the Sea Biscuit back storage, but now I can put the chairs and whatnot there
• And … that’s it? I’ll sit with this a few days but I think I like it and will start to make it permanent  👍 

 

[Steve and MA]

2 hours ago, DanielBoondock said:

Proof of concept; onboard (inboard?) water conditioning and filtering...

Very clever use of basement space. Never thought of removing the panel under the nightstand to gain a few inches of height. Blutech didn't offer their low profile filter system at the time we set ours up, and most softeners small enough for the basement have limited capacity between recharges, so we installed our filter/softener system in our TV, which also has two Blutech hose reels with quick connects for intake from city water and output to the Oliver fresh tank. The reels each hold 50' of hose, so reach hasn't been a problem. 

Even when full hookups are available, we fill the fresh tank and rarely use the city water port. The basement door stays shut. We also have the Nature's Head, so we only deal with fresh and gray. We run out of fresh water about the same time the grey is full.  The inaccuracy of the gauges isn't much of a problem since the grey can't overfill from a single fresh tank, and we haven't ever run out of fresh water before knowing it was low. 

 

Steve

[DanielBoondock]

9 hours ago, Steve and MA said:

Very clever use of basement space. Never thought of removing the panel under the nightstand to gain a few inches of height.

Second choice was opening the hatch under the bed and possibly raising the bed some way to make a space. I’ve got Froli installed plus the condensation mats which might be enough, if I opened a hole in them. Fortunately this works better and makes good use of the space. I rearranged everything last night and like it better than before

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Blutech didn't offer their low profile filter system at the time we set ours up, and most softeners small enough for the basement have limited capacity between recharges, so we installed our filter/softener system in our TV, which also has two Blutech hose reels with quick connects for intake from city water and output to the Oliver fresh tank. The reels each hold 50' of hose, so reach hasn't been a problem. 

If this didn’t work I was going with that approach

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Even when full hookups are available, we fill the fresh tank and rarely use the city water port.

Good to know thanks! Yeah I was leaning in that direction, why use city water at all when you only need to fill the tank every couple days?

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The basement door stays shut. We also have the Nature's Head, so we only deal with fresh and gray. We run out of fresh water about the same time the grey is full.  The inaccuracy of the gauges isn't much of a problem since the grey can't overfill from a single fresh tank, and we haven't ever run out of fresh water before knowing it was low.  

Good tips …

OK yeah with your encouragement this is a go - it’s already basically done. I just need to brace the tanks, maybe I’ll get the Blutech mounting frames or something else. Final bit is I just need some power, right now it has a 120V adapter but it’s 12V so I’ll go that route. For the time being I’ll use a small portable power bank.