Forum Discussion

SpeakEasy's avatar
SpeakEasy
Explorer
May 13, 2016

Fresh Water Tank Fill Method

My Forest River Micro Lite 23LB has an external port for winterizing (adding anti-freeze) which uses the onboard water pump. There is a valve setting on the water pump that lets me switch from "normal" operation to "winterizing" operation. (Normal draws water from the tank; winterizing draws anti-freeze through that external port.)

There is nothing in any of my manuals about this.

Can I use this winterizing setting to use the pump to fill my water tank if I attach a full 5-gallon aqua-tainer, or some such thing, to the anti-freeze port?

It seems that I should be able to do this.

-Speak
  • Stefonius's avatar
    Stefonius
    Explorer
    May 13, 2016
    Speakeasy - On my fifth wheel, if I switch the knob on the "waterworks control panel" to the "Sanitize/Winterize/Drain" setting, the on-board pump will suction water into my fresh water tank. I bought a 55 gallon food-safe plastic barrel to carry extra water, and I can hook it up to the fill on my rig and use the pump to refill my tank when I'm boondocking. Very convenient. I'll show you how I set it up if you are interested.
  • BB_TX's avatar
    BB_TX
    Nomad
    May 13, 2016
    BB_TX wrote:
    Yes. There have been a number of posts by people who do not have an outside fill tube doing just what you say. Fortunately, I do have an outside fill tube.

    I should clarify that those who have done this connected the hose from the outside shower to the fresh water inlet. And they have the ability to do a normal fill thru the fresh water connection. The pump will suck the water from the jug, out the outside shower, into the fresh water inlet, and to the fresh water tank if the switch is in the fill position.
  • SpeakEasy's avatar
    SpeakEasy
    Explorer
    May 13, 2016
    DutchmenSport wrote:
    It might take a bit of fabricating, but you could cut your water line after the water pump and put in a Y-valve. One line would go to the original flow, the other could go to the fresh water tank.

    You'd also need a way to tap into your fresh water tank inlet hose, and then make sure it also had a check valve so when running the pump into the fresh water tank, it would go into the tank and not out the fill port on the outside of the camper.

    Then, when you added the water to your tank, you can flip the valve back to it's original flow.

    A little common sense and some patients, no reason why you couldn't rig up something like this.


    True dat.

    But I'm not yet much into such a big fabrication project.

    Here's my solution:
    Battery-operated Siphon Fill "Pump"
    and a 6-gallon jug.

    Pretty simple, inexpensive, and functional.

    -Speak
  • DutchmenSport's avatar
    DutchmenSport
    Explorer
    May 13, 2016
    SpeakEasy wrote:
    ....

    Here's my solution:
    Battery-operated Siphon Fill "Pump"
    and a 6-gallon jug.

    Pretty simple, inexpensive, and functional.

    -Speak


    Yup, that's a very simple solution, just pump it from a water container.

    FYI, another solution might be to use one of those water bladders that lay flat. I've only seen photos of them, but mostly they fit in the bed of a pick-up truck or the roof of a car. They are a rubber bag, fill with water, and then use the attached hose and let gravity fill your fresh water tank in your camper. This way, you don't have to man-handle water containers that are heavy.

    Images here.

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