Forum Discussion

DutchmenSport's avatar
Oct 30, 2019

Water Usage

As I've shared on these forums many times, we use our camper(s) almost full time all year round. If not camping at a park, we are still in the camper at home in the driveway.

I run water exclusively off the fresh tank and water pump. At home, and unless on full hook-up sites, dump our tanks via a 32 gallon blue tote (at home, directly into the septic tank).

After we purchased our current 5er, we started washing dishes in the kitchen all the time. The previous TT had an outside small kitchen with sink, and we almost always dumped dish water on the ground or a fire pit. We really never knew how much water we were actually using that way. Especially just rinsing with hose.

Not so with the 5er. No outside kitchen.

So, that means all dishes are washed inside and the 2nd grey tank gets use all the time now. After a year of owning this camper, I've been able to monitor our water use, mostly because of the blue tote, so as not to overfill it. And here is how our water usage breaks down.

66 gallon fresh water tank
39 gallon black tank
39 gallon grey Kitchen
39 gallon grey Bathroom

I'm dumping into a 32 gallon blue tote on a regular basis. Here's the observation:

17% of water usage is the toilet (black tank)
33% of water usage is shower and bathroom sink (grey #1 tank) (2 people)
50% of water usage is the kitchen sink (grey #2 tank)

That translates to one tank of fresh water:

11 gallons for black (toilet)
22 gallons for shower and bathroom sink (Navy showers, almost always)
33 gallons for dishwashing

With my tote, I always dump black and grey (shower) at the same time. Timing it right, it never overspills.
Grey (kitchen) is always dumped by itself, as it usually almost always fill the tote (but does not spill over.)

Once dumped, I fill the fresh water again.

I suppose there is no real point to this post, except to say, I've pretty much validated our highest water usage is for washing dishes. And to think, most folks think it's the shower! (well, maybe for some it is).
  • You'd be surprised how effectively even a trickle of water will do the job- dishes, toothbrushing, sometimes even a quick rinse shower to feel fresh. Our culture of running water at high pressure is changing- some hotels have separate knobs so you can adjust in the tubs nowadays. But we don't have to wait till it's mainstream.
  • When we don't have sewer hookup and are watching our water usage trying not to fill tanks (we only have 2) I use a dishpan to wash dishes, starting with a small amount of water and then rinse holding the item with the hot water. That goes into the dishpan gradually adding more volume and keeping the water hot. When done we dump into the grass. None of it goes into the tank.
  • naturist wrote:

    Back in my youth, our scout troop always had that pot of rinse water boiling to give the dishes just washed by young boys a scalding rinse for hygienic reasons.

    Yup, I remember those days!:B
  • If you really want to cut down on water usage, instead of rinsing dishes by pouring water over them, fill another dish pan with water, and rinse by just dunking the dishes in that pan of water. Two gallons each for wash and rinse, means that your 33 gallons of water will do 8+ batches of dishes. Just a suggestion.

    Back in my youth, our scout troop always had that pot of rinse water boiling to give the dishes just washed by young boys a scalding rinse for hygienic reasons.
  • Water use in today’s world is very important. That’s the point...how can we conserve and live well? You are doing well.

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