My water tank odyssey

[DavePhelps]

Well I may be kicking a dead horse here, but I finally got around to adding the siphon tube to my Ollie's FWT.

Thanks to Raspy and Reed and all others for their input which was of great help to me. I modified Raspy's design just a bit by using a PEX suction tube instead of copper. Don't know if one is better than the other but they do have some subtle installation differences I thought I'd point out.

The heart of the setup is the same, the 1/2" brass compression fitting that has been carefully drilled through with a 5/8" bit to remove the internal stop so the copper or pex tube can be pushed through the fitting. The important difference here with PEX is not to use the brass compression ring, but a nylon ring made for that purpose. Here's a pic of the siphon tube setup with all the fittings:

 

 

Of course the part that gave me the greatest worry was spin welding the fitting on to the tank. I used the same HD fitting that Reed used and I bought 6 of them so I could practice on a piece of scrap plastic I got at a local tank factory (they gave me the scraps). I bought the fittings and the driver from  here.  They have all the fittings and drivers for that particular fitting that you need, and are very fairly priced. I oversized the fitting and also got the HD version for strength. I oversized because I wanted to screw the brass compression fitting into a bushing and not directly into the spin weld fitting as a hedge just in case! Did I need to? Maybe not, but I felt better doing it. The difficulty on my Elite is that it is crowded down there in between the hulls! I'm no stranger to routers, they are powerful, can impart tremendous torque, and things can go South in a hurry if you don't respect that. Reaching down in there with the router was dicey. My grip was tenuous at best, I needed an extra elbow!  I could get a reasonable hold and turn it on, but had to change my grip for the critical turning off stage!! I did not want to change my grip with the router running and court disaster. So finally I put two short extension cords together and had my wife at the ready to pull them apart when I yelled out to her. We practiced a few times until we both felt good about it. Four seconds of terror later the job was done....perfect weld! For those used to using routers with wood and who know what can happen, I would say that spin-welding plastic fittings is pretty easy and forgiving. Timing is the most critical factor. I was glad though that I did a few test tries first, and at only .35 cents a fitting, it was cheap to do so.

 

The rest was easy. Since using a PEX suction tube, I did not cap it but cut out 2 tabs on the bottom on my table saw  to keep the tube 1/4" above the tank bottom. Everything else was just as Raspy and Reed did in their video. Here's the pic of the installed suction tube. It's actually straight, camera was tilted a bit.

 

 

Here's a pic on the pump side:

 

 

The pickup tube came out just next to the water heater where I strapped it to the drain pipe to the GWT. You can see the brass pulg in the old pickup tube next to the water heater. While down there, I added a brass elbow to the valve on the left for the flex line to the input side of the pump. Originally, there was none and the flex line was badly kinked having to make such a tight turn:

 

 

So all is well now. Instead of loosing prime at 36% full. The pump just barely makes it to 6% full. That's a lot of water! Things are looking up!

 

Dave

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Overland]

Nice job and great pics!

[Raspy]

Dave,

 

Good work! I know you thought about this a lot and went through the same design consideratijons I did. I went to the larger threaded bushing after the first one too.

 

The spin welding is the most nerve-wracking part.

 

Now Oliver is doing the same thing on all new trailers.

 

Any chance you'll be at the Oregon Coast Gathering at Bullards Beach this month, or Winnipeg next month for the Boler anniversary?

[ScubaRx]

Any chance you’ll be at the Oregon Coast Gathering at Bullards Beach this month, or Winnipeg next month for the Boler anniversary?

 

Sorry for the slight hijack. We are going to the Boler Rally to help represent Oliver. Are you planning to attend too?

[Raspy]

Steve,

Yes, were going, but I haven't been able to negotiate the payment system yet as there was a glitch. Looking to be with the "Ollie" bunch too, but the code word system may not get the word to them. I hope to have it worked out tomorrow.

I wonder if there is a spot with FAQs about border crossing, credit cards, cell phones and the like? Never been up there before.

[bugeyedriver]

Steve,

I wonder if there is a spot with FAQs about border crossing, credit cards, cell phones and the like? Never been up there before.

 

Greetings from Grand Prairie, Alberta! This is my third year up in Canada and I have found it to be a breeze (except for the Quebec Province where all of the signs are in French and some store personnel look at you like you're from Mars) Border crossing with a passport or border card is easy . . . bring NO firearms or ammo!!

 

ATMs are all over, just like the states and will gladly give you Canadian dollars for a nominal fee, just like the states. The exchange rate is close to 1CND = .74USD. You'll quickly get used to the colorful paper denominations and coins that are similar in size to their US counterparts.

 

Cell phone service is widespread. Check with your provider about coverage. I have a Version plan that includes Canada. Although my data plan is unlimited, after a lot of use, to may "throttle down" for the rest of the day. No biggie. All town libraries have great, high speed data flow, as do many fast food restaurants.

 

Best of all . . . it's not as hot up here.

[Raspy]

Thanks Pete!

[DavePhelps]

Raspy wrote:

 

Any chance you’ll be at the Oregon Coast Gathering at Bullards Beach this month, or Winnipeg next month for the Boler anniversary?

 

No I won't be at either. The summer has filled up fast. Bullards Beach was booked out quite a while ago. Have fun though! Like your setup Pete!

 

Dave