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Old 02-05-2015, 05:24 PM   #1
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Diameter of water tank inlet

Can anyone give me an exact diameter for the water tank inlet. I am putting together hoses for a water pump to transfer water into the Escape. I gather the hose or tubing needs to go into the inlet a ways to prevent it back flowing. (I believe I read that the inlet to tank tubing doesn't have much slope)

Thanks,

Bob K
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Old 02-05-2015, 05:38 PM   #2
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Bob, what you can do is to just have the hose with no fitting go about 8-10" into the city water fill, and this will eliminate any backflow.
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Old 02-05-2015, 05:40 PM   #3
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Thanks Jim. Will the opening accept 1 inch diameter tubing?

Bob
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Old 02-05-2015, 06:00 PM   #4
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Bob, what you can do is to just have the hose with no fitting go about 8-10" into the city water fill, and this will eliminate any backflow.
But, the city water fill won't fill the fresh water tank, will it?
City water fill is on left and uses standard garden hose fitting. Fresh water fill is on right and my garden hose fitting goes inside ( but only about a half inch ).
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Old 02-05-2015, 06:05 PM   #5
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Assuming the different sized trailers have the same water inlet fittings (likely...) here's the photo I took of the fresh water fill on our 2014 17B so that I could find a piece of tubing the right size for our fill funnel (used when dumping in jugs).
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Old 02-05-2015, 06:12 PM   #6
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Bob, what you can do is to just have the hose with no fitting go about 8-10" into the city water fill, and this will eliminate any backflow.
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But, the city water fill won't fill the fresh water tank, will it?
City water fill is on left and uses standard garden hose fitting. Fresh water fill is on right and my garden hose fitting goes inside ( but only about a half inch ).
The "City Water Fill" won't fill your fresh tank, and has a check valve in the opening, so you can't stick a tube down its throat. The "Fresh Water Fill" (open in my photo, closed in Glenn's) can have a tube stuck down it, but I can't remember what diameter tubing I used for the funnel. There is also a spiffy adapter that I bought in the RV supply section at Walmart that screws onto a standard garden hose so that you don't have the "only fits in 1/2 an inch" problem. Ball valve & everything
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Old 02-05-2015, 06:38 PM   #7
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Get the Camco 40003 water tank filler with shutoff valve (less than $6.00) that screws onto the end of a garden hose. You can hear the change in sound when the tank nears full and then use the shutoff valve.

Camco Water Tank Filler with Shutoff Valve - Walmart.com
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Old 02-05-2015, 06:45 PM   #8
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Get the Camco 40003 water tank filler with shutoff valve (less than $6.00) that screws onto the end of a garden hose. You can hear the change in sound when the tank nears full and then use the shutoff valve.

Camco Water Tank Filler with Shutoff Valve - Walmart.com
Great tip. Why did I leave it off my accessory list?
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Old 02-06-2015, 12:44 AM   #9
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Forgot to also mention the Camco RV water heater tank rinser (less than $9.00 at Walmart). Haven't bought this yet but plan to. It also screws on the end of a garden hose and has its own shutoff valve.

https://www.google.com/search?q=Camc...utf-8&oe=utf-8
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Old 02-06-2015, 12:48 AM   #10
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I appreciate the advice and especially the photo with the tape measure (thanks Sharon). Based on that I got some tubing and connectors for my hand water pump and two additional check valves (the ones in the pump were a joke). My hope was that the tubing could be extended into the water tank inlet far enough to stay put on its own and also to prevent any water coming back out. It looks like that will be the case. I tried the hand pump with separately purchased check valves out in our kitchen sink and was impressed. Tomorrow I will fill a 5 gal container and do a real test pumping, including elevation from ground to waist height. I was considering using a DC powered pump, but it looked too complicated for me. If the hand pump allows me to transfer even half of its rated 11 gpm I will be pleased. It is a bilge pump, but the materials it is constructed with, including the diaphragm, appear to be okay for transfer of the water. Besides using the trailer water to flush the toilet, we brush our teeth and wash with it. Our drinking water is from a 5 gal water container we keep on the picnic table and fill a gal container from.

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Old 02-06-2015, 09:11 AM   #11
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But, the city water fill won't fill the fresh water tank, will it?
Quote:
Originally Posted by KLRchickie View Post
The "City Water Fill" won't fill your fresh tank,
So shoot me, I wrote the wrong filler type. It was pretty obvious what I meant when saying putting a tube down it to fill. Believe it of not, I have put water in a trailer at least a couple times over the past 30 years. Don't we have enough correcting of misspoken statements around here already?
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Old 02-06-2015, 09:26 AM   #12
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We use a male quick connect hose fitting with 12" length of 1/2" plastic tubing. Wiggle it on, connect to your hose and you are good to go. In line shut off is nice.
For boon docking we use an 18" piece of 3/4" plastic tubing and a funnel attached to a funnel held above the inlet with a suction hook and bungie around the funnel and filled with collapsable buckets. Primitive, but effective.
- Ian
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Old 02-06-2015, 09:37 AM   #13
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For boon docking we use an 18" piece of 3/4" plastic tubing and a funnel attached to a funnel held above the inlet with a suction hook and bungie around the funnel and filled with collapsable buckets. Primitive, but effective.
- Ian
That suction hook and bungee idea is great, Ian. Would make a great third hand.
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Old 02-06-2015, 10:47 AM   #14
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It was pretty obvious what I meant
But, not obvious to a newbie who may be looking for such information.
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Old 02-06-2015, 11:22 AM   #15
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You might want to look at this electric drill powered pump on sale at Canadian Tire as an option. I haven't a clue if it would work.
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Old 02-06-2015, 11:41 AM   #16
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I bought an inexpensive 5/8" diameter garden hose, cut off about nine inches at the female coupler end, and leave that end in the water tank fill opening. When using a garden hose to fill the tank, I just connect it and turn on the tap. One could do the with any other pumping mechanism you might use.
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Old 02-06-2015, 11:41 AM   #17
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gbaglo, as long as you don't try sticking the hose into the city water fill, those drill pumps work great. . I use the same drill to raise and lower my stabilizer jacks. The drill battery gets charged in my DeWalt jobsite radio

DCR015 12V/20V MAX* Worksite Charger Radio | DEWALT Tools

the ETI 1500 watt inverter charges the radio.
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Old 02-06-2015, 12:20 PM   #18
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So I put together the hand pump, fittings and tubing to do a proper test this morning. I was prepared for disappointment and was ready to go back to my original plan of pouring the water into a funnel, but with the added suction cup/bungee cord braces suggested by Ian. The only problem with the funnel method is the 5 gal containers are heavy after holding a few minutes up at waist height. Also pouring into the funnel I would tend to slosh water on the ground a bit, or over my wife’s hands holding the funnel (the reason I was looking for a funnel brace). BTW, I looked at the drill pump option, but it meant one more thing to charge (my rechargeable drill required regular recharging on our trips when used to raise/lower the jacks) and also its rate of transfer didn’t seem adequate to me.

So in this morning’s test I transferred 5 gallons water from a container to a waist heigh output position in 1 ½ minutes and at a leisurely pace. It required a couple minutes more to connect the two tubing sections to the pump (2 more to disassemble) and of course a bit more storage space, but I think this might work for me. Time will tell whether this is more trouble than its worth, but I can do it by myself and there is no strain.

Here is the list and cost (tax included) of the components I used. Overall cost is about $75. The built-in check valves on the pump are useless, the reason for the added spring closed valves. I plan to add rubber feet to the pump so I can push it against the side of the trailer without scratching it.

Hand Pump $55 (Princess Auto)
2 Plumb-Eeze PVC SS Spring Check Valves $11.85
4 male PVC adapters – 1 X 1 inch $3.32 (Rona)
7 ft 1 inch diameter clear PVC tubing $3.05 (Princess Auto)

Thanks for the advice. I will let you know if this is worth the effort once we get our Escape.

Bob K
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Old 02-06-2015, 12:37 PM   #19
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Nice set up. Funnels work too.
Amazon.com: TEKTON 6094 2-In-1 Funnel with Flex Extension 40 oz.: Home Improvement
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Old 02-06-2015, 12:47 PM   #20
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Yes funnels are a lot simpler, but like I said, hefting the water container high and holding it (you can't pour it in too fast) without sloshing it over the funnel is a hassle. I may go back to the funnel if my setup doesn't work out, and the funnel in your photo looks like a good one to use, especially if I use the suction cup/bungee idea to keep it vertical. My wife has some doubts about (the setup time and storage space) my pump and fittings, but time will tell.

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