Filling a Travel Trailer from a Community Water Source

I use a slightly modified Hydroller:



I also made some minor changes to the plumbing so that that water can be sucked out of the container and sent to the tank via the city water inlet.



No lifting, no carrying, no pump to buy, no electrical hookup and minimal expense.

I'm usually not near the campground water source, so running a hose directly to the trailer usually doesn't work. I could be careful and find such a site, but I have other criteria when looking. The water thief would be handy if the faucet is not at a convenient height to fill the can and a short length of hose would help. It is small and easy to carry, so why not have one? Right now, I'm comparing Linky2 to the Walmart water can.
Jim

BubbaChris wrote:

2oldman wrote:

Jim Hill wrote:
Thanks for the tips. I'll purchase linky2 and Water thief.

Interesting. I use the water thief so I can use a hose to fill. Not sure what you have against using a hose.

If you need to refill your fresh water partway through a camping visit, the spigot may not be close enough to your spot to run a hose (or you may be too far uphill from the spigot for the water thief to help).

True, then the OP appears to be using a water thief to fill a container, which makes no sense to me.

2oldman wrote:

Jim Hill wrote:
Thanks for the tips. I'll purchase linky2 and Water thief.

Interesting. I use the water thief so I can use a hose to fill. Not sure what you have against using a hose.

If you need to refill your fresh water partway through a camping visit, the spigot may not be close enough to your spot to run a hose (or you may be too far uphill from the spigot for the water thief to help).

If your close enough to the spigot just use a hose and water thief if necessary. Obviously your going to disconnect the hose when your done. I know sometimes the spigots are further away and makes a hose near impossible.

However I have ran over 200 feet of hose to fill the freshwater tank!

SoundGuy wrote:
Carry a set of fresh water containers of your choice in the back of your TV for collecting water and you won't have to lift anything.

Campfire Time wrote:
Nice idea! But not all have the room to carry a set of water jugs.

Way back in our popup days I for awhile used collapsible 5 gal jugs for collecting water and of course they took up little room to store but over time I found they developed small leaks ... the Aquatainers I've had for years and have had no failures with any of them ... well, except one when I foolishly let it fall off the TV tailgate! :S The Aquatainer is cubed shaped and as such makes efficient use of the space available for storage ... and unlike that tall, green Desert Patrol container shown earlier the Aquatainer won't inadvertently fall over. It's inexpensive, durable, made of food grade plastic, stores efficiently as mentioned, and has a screw on vent cap rather than a plug cap that can inadvertently pop open ... been my fav for years now for collecting fresh water. I even have a separate set I use for offloading grey or macerated black water with my FloJet Waste Macerator, eliminating any need for a heavy tote tank.

Another option for collecting fresh water in quantity is a collapsible water bladder, 'though I wouldn't be too keen on having that much weight sitting up on top of my truck's cab and would likely still use a pump to transfer the water out.

Many places with those non-threaded spigots are that way because the well is low yielding and someone pumping 50 or 100 gallons at a time will run it dry. That is bad for the well pump and will many times get you a bunch of crud in the water as the well runs dry.

SoundGuy wrote:

Carry a set of fresh water containers of your choice in the back of your TV for collecting water and you won't have to lift anything.

Nice idea! But not all have the room to carry a set of water jugs.

I love the pump in the battery box!

Another option....portable water tank, a pond pump, and vinyl tubing. I have a 5 gallon water container that I fill with water, submerge a small pond pump to the bottom of the container and use vinyl tubing to pump water via the fresh water inlet. Pond pumps are cheap, and I just leave the pond pump and tubing stored in the water container.

Jim Hill wrote:
Thanks for the tips. I'll purchase linky2 and Water thief.

Interesting. I use the water thief so I can use a hose to fill. Not sure what you have against using a hose.