And just when I thought I was “perfect”. Camping at remote location with river about 50 feet away, nobody there except us. I use a tiny bulge pump to refill my water, that I've had for years. First and heavy trip down to the waters edge with spare battery and pump and I can refill whenever I want. You guess it, I packed up to come home and completely forgot about pump and battery by river. About 2 ½ hours drive away. This campsite gets some use so I don’t plan on driving 2 ½ hours back. Someone will make use of it I'm sure. Another expensive lesson, pump and battery. (Think I learn by now!):) Maybe I should start using clothes pins with notes on the steering wheel. ?Anyway here is what I thought I would do for the next water pump set up.Buy same type of water pump that I have in RV so I can use it as backup if house pump ever fails. Mount it on piece of wood. Any reason why I can't use RV type water pump?(moderator...not sure where to put; this post is a mod and tech and crying in my beer)

Typical RV water pump has a max 6' prime.They have a small strainer which could plug up easilyRun off 12VNot sure how far they can pumpShould work fine for filling jugs

Surflo states a 12 ft head for even their "basic" pump

There is no reason that a backup rv pump won't work. The typical 2088 series Shurflo will prime up to 12' and there is no real limit as to how far you can pump. The distance is only limited by friction and lift.The terms head and prime don't interchange. It will pull a 12' prime, but deliver (@45psi) close to 100' of head.

Instead of dragging a battery around why not use some 12volt wire with alligator clips on it and hook it up to your trailer battery or truck battery.

Happy Prospector wrote:Instead of dragging a battery around why not use some 12volt wire with alligator clips on it and hook it up to your trailer battery or truck battery.Thought about that...Most places are real close to water but have had to hook 2 hoses of 25 foot together in the past. Distance over(50 ft) I don't carry enough hose so resort to bucket method. Believe it or not some of those places are not a boondock place middle of now where. But some rest areas and city parks where water is not close to curb has been my experience.Would wire size important for 50 feet? Would fuse size be any different because of length from power source?Thanks

Need new remote water pump/ will this work? | Good Sam Community

Bobbo
Explorer II
Jun 07, 2014
I have a spare Shurflo pump with hose connections added for that very use. Use it all the time when boondocking.
path1
Explorer
Jun 07, 2014
2oldman wrote:
path1 wrote:
Would wire size important for 50 feet? Would fuse size be any different because of length from power source?
Probably not. Don't know why a fuse would be necessary.

I've used exactly what you want to do.. an RV pump on a board, and a garden battery. Works great. But, get too much hose on the output and things start to slow down. Just have to give it more time.

Thanks, never thought about motorcycle or lawn mower battery, would lighten the load a lot.

Thanks
path1
Explorer
Jun 07, 2014
m4reel wrote:
I'm wondering how our ancestors ever survived on the frontier without water purifiers?

The Pacific Northwest has a lot of clean, fast moving, mountain water. It's not the icky, brown, murkey, yuck, that you see in other parts of our country.

X2

Our ancestors did a lot stuff we don't do in todays times.

For example, For the heck of it cooking with Dutch Oven couple days ago, I had heck of a time starting charcoal briquettes without charcoal starter.

Yep, we have plenty of clean water.
reasley
Explorer
Jun 06, 2014
m4reel wrote:
I'm wondering how our ancestors ever survived on the frontier without water purifiers?

Oft time they didn't. I had a great uncle that died of water born cholera crossing the Great Basin in Nevada. Bad water and water born disease was the #1 killer of immigrants coming west.
2oldman
Explorer II
Jun 06, 2014
path1 wrote:
Would wire size important for 50 feet? Would fuse size be any different because of length from power source?
Probably not. Don't know why a fuse would be necessary.

I've used exactly what you want to do.. an RV pump on a board, and a garden battery. Works great. But, get too much hose on the output and things start to slow down. Just have to give it more time.
m4reel
Explorer
Jun 06, 2014
I'm wondering how our ancestors ever survived on the frontier without water purifiers?

The Pacific Northwest has a lot of clean, fast moving, mountain water. It's not the icky, brown, murkey, yuck, that you see in other parts of our country.
path1
Explorer
Jun 04, 2014
wmoses wrote:
Wind River wrote:
If I am reading correctly, OP was refilling fresh water tank from a river? Not a good idea IMO what with the possible bacteria in the river water.

OP - I was thinking the same thing. I did see the your reply to Wind River's point and like the idea of using a purifier or boiling when truly boondocking.

But what about the bacteria fouling the FW tank which is the point that was being made above? Cooking and drinking is fine but showers take water from the FW tank so unless you are running river water to an outside shower or using a chemical or composting toilet, the FW tank is being filled with the river water. Care to expand on that aspect? :h

Every year we sanitize the fresh water tank (FW) at least once, including our water containers; so I guess any bacteria is less than a year old when I take a shower.

When I take a shower the bacteria must really have fun mixing with their old friends or maybe their old friends mutated and they kill each other?

ON the serious side, my wife a retired hosp building manger has lunch with her friend and hosp "infectious control" person about once a month. Last Friday wife came home and got all updated on our newest worry http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2023287928_measlesseattlexml.html

BTW when daughter became a nurse every time she sneezed she knew she had something fatal.
wmoses
Explorer
Jun 04, 2014
Wind River wrote:
If I am reading correctly, OP was refilling fresh water tank from a river? Not a good idea IMO what with the possible bacteria in the river water.

OP - I was thinking the same thing. I did see the your reply to Wind River's point and like the idea of using a purifier or boiling when truly boondocking.

But what about the bacteria fouling the FW tank which is the point that was being made above? Cooking and drinking is fine but showers take water from the FW tank so unless you are running river water to an outside shower or using a chemical or composting toilet, the FW tank is being filled with the river water. Care to expand on that aspect? :h
westend
Explorer
Jun 04, 2014
reasley wrote:
westend wrote:
I've had one of these Harbor Freight Utility Pumps for a few years and it does a pretty good job with transfer. The headlift rating is greatly exaggerated, it's probably closer to 10'. IMO, it's better than a Shurflow for this task.

Why is it better? I can see that it's about $10 cheaper, but it also has a rubber wiper impeller and does not have run dry capability.
For one thing, it's an impeller pump instead of an axial diaphragm, less moving parts to wear. I believe it moves more volume than a Shurflow but haven't put one against the Shurflo I have so can't say that exactly. The axial pumps are built more toward a smaller volume of delivery and making pressure, a perfect situation for a small pressurized system. Impeller pumps are made for moving water at low pressure, perfect for transferring water.
path1
Explorer
Jun 04, 2014
Wind River wrote:
If I am reading correctly, OP was refilling fresh water tank from a river? Not a good idea IMO what with the possible bacteria in the river water.

OP here...And I've drank out of garden hose before also.

Have not heard or read of any problems in my area at higher elevations and fast moving water.

But to be extra safe, water for cooking/drinking is ran thru our backing packing water purifier. That is after a 5 gallon and a couple 3 gallon plastic jugs we bring from home are empty. Which is usually good for 4 or 5 days depending on heat. Used to boil to purify on outside stove. Boiling water just guzzles those 1 pounds propane bottles in no time. But I do trust boiling more than back packing water purifier.

And if we pre-plan and pre-cook our meals we can go even longer and hardly use any water except to drink because very little cooking.

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