Boondocking water intake

[btroxell]

Originally Posted by rubicon327

Nice work. If I interpret correctly you have the same capabilities as the Oliver system. The only difference being their rear inlet outside is your “winterizing” intake line inside. So when you are filling your tank you are backfeeding the pump suction line (that attaches to the side of the tank near the bottom) and seen in Eggscape’s photo above?

I have not seen an Oliver in person but was watching a video and saw how they could pump from a spare water container and came up with this method. Yes, the output in the 3rd configuration is to the bottom of the FW tank as shown in the photo.

Originally Posted by rubicon327

I was worried about this same thing, but then realized the pump should not turn off until it reaches the cut-out pressure (nominally 55 PSI) which shouldn't happen when filling a vented tank. Maybe you need to turn your pump pressure setting up?

I checked the accumulator's pressure and it's correct and the pump functions on and off as I would expect it to in normal operation. I haven't checked the system's pressure directly but maybe I should.

Ben

[Gori]

Originally Posted by rubicon327

Is it this one?
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Turbo-Ele...SABEgLbZfD_BwE

If so it gets some pretty poor reviews. I personally don’t want to carry around something so cheap and likely to break or to fuss with throw away batteries when I have an onboard 12V battery bank to leverage. As the D batteries start to die you can expect reduced flow. That all said I hope it works well for you. Hard to go wrong for only $10 I guess.

Looks similar to that, but not exactly the same. Ours is red too. It brings a smile to my daughter’s face, every time she uses it to fill our tank. : )

[rubicon327]

Originally Posted by Gori

It brings a smile to my daughter’s face, every time she uses it to fill our tank. : )

Definitely worth the $10 then!

[Ian and Sue]

Originally Posted by Greg A

If ur boondocking most of the time there is room around the trailer. I just pull the truck alongside the DS, lower the tailgate, hook up the siphon and go. No lifting 40lbs of water.
Ian’s system is exactly what I originally wanted. Very cool setup.

Thanks! With my shower tent we can shower all we want and the gray and black tanks can go more than a week. All you need is a supply of water to go get with the truck tank and pump it into the camper.

[Stormie]

Look up on u tube adventures in no madness. Rhonda and Angie had a video on an extra water tank.

[scubarx]

Originally Posted by tdf-texas

It would be expensive - but two of these with an external switch?

https://www.amazon.com/HSH-Flo-24VAC...9810415&sr=8-3

These are considerably cheaper. I installed a couple in our trailer several years ago. They are wired together through a DPDT switch. No more reaching inside to swap the valves. Now it can all be done from outside the trailer. I've also installed these in some of our camping buddy's trailers as well.

[dfandrews]

How about a simple drill pump? I carry an 18V cordless drill for extending and retracting my stabilizers and tongue jack, so this would be an easy addition.

[Adventures in Nomadness]

Our solution was to install a 30 gallon tank in the back of our truck. Fortunately we had the for thought when we bought our camper shell to have a 12V plug installed in the back. This has been a TOTAL game changer for us when we boondock. We boondocked/dry camped from March until November. We go to a water fill spot, sometimes an rv park or various sources, and fill up the tank. Then we go back to the trailer and use our 12V pump to pump it into the trailer. I'll include the link to the video we did. Unfortunately the video is mostly over the truck bed storage we installed and just a little bit on the actual tank. I've seen others post really great ideas on the FB page too. We bought our tank off Amazon but I think they discontinued it.

https://youtu.be/AeygbP9NZzY

[Adventures in Nomadness]

Wow, never seen the drill pump! That's pretty cool!

[marsman]

I simply carry a drill pump and two short chunks of hose attached to either side, one goes into the container and one into the fresh water inlet in the trailer; easy! I only use this setup for my water and clean it with some bleach once a year. I carry my cordless Dewalt with me all the time anyways and so all I have to carry is the pump and hose which takes up very little space. I don't have access to my rig right now but I believe this is the one I bought - https://www.amazon.com/Jabsco-17250-...t%2C183&sr=8-2

[rubicon327]

With all these good ideas I never did implement the scheme to pipe in a permanent onboard pump to an intake. Seemed a little too complicated. Since I replaced our original pump (Shurflo 2088) and its works fine after cleaning I repurposed it. With a couple of fittings (1/2" NPT female to 3/4" GHT female lead free), a 10' power cord and a couple of drinking water safe hoses I now have a 12V transfer pump and spare trailer pump. Pressure switch functionality was left intact. To use in the trailer if main pump fails you simply unscrew the fittings, screw on the pump inlet and outlet hose and plug it into a 12V outlet. Great when things can be dual purpose.

[Iowa Dave]

I use a 12 volt battery booster pack, 5 gallon water jugs tipped to run into an ice cream bucket, containing a ZODI pump powered by the booster pack. A hose runs to the water fill from the pump. I sit in my lawn chair tipping the jug and decant 5 gallons of fresh water in about three minutes. I have a funnel and can lift the 5 gallons easily enough but it doesn’t fit my mantra of “Easy does it”. The Zodi pumps warm or cold water so I can also use it to wash the dog if need be. The booster pack I always have along in case of a dead battery, or to keep my minnow pump running without eating up D cells. The minnow aerator runs on D cells, 12 volt or 110ac. I also have a couple new little pumps that run on rechargeable AA’s. They are called Baby Bubbles and work swell. These things may sound like a hassle but to me it’s innovative camping and relaxing to me.
Iowa Dave