Ideas for Carrying and xfer of water to fresh tank

[rx2tee]

I have always just used 5 or 6 gallon plastic jugs to carry water from a campground potable water source and then poured it into the fresh water tank using a funnel and adapter made with pvc pipe and a 45 deg coupling.

I have a 30 gallon plastic barrel and I was thinking of filling it and hauling it back to camp. Anyone use an electric pump for filling their r v fresh water tank? I am dealing now with Rheumatoid Arthritis and lifting the water jugs isn't that easy anymore. (I know, more trips less water at a time in the jug.)

[bka0721]

rx2tee wrote:
wkswenson

Is this the pump your are referring to?

Wayne Pump at Home Depot

Thanks to everyone for the ideas.

Don't use this pump for Potable Water tanks. Right on the side of the pump it shows this is a Cast Iron Pump. Home Depot and others have Potable Water Pumps. This pump is designed for use with ground water, that is why it is called a Sump Pump. Seals, lubricants used in the manufacture of this item are not compatible with use with drinking water.

Use at your own risk. Carrying a simple RV type pump is often cheaper, safer and will pump at adequate rates.

b

[Racerchaser27]

fly-boy wrote:
I bought a 12volt pump, cut the wires and spliced in a 7 way trailer plug. Then I bought a 50 gallon ag drum from Tractor Supply and the system has worked great for years. Hook the drum to the pump and the pump to the trailer. Plug in the pump and you are moving water!
C

Pretty much what I did, but went even cheaper than that. I went to the local dry cleaners and bought an empty 55 gallon drum originally used for chlorine bleach for 10 bucks. One of the bungs I went to the local hardware store and bought the pvc fittings to make a vent/fill pipe. The other bung is threaded in the middle for a valve. Bought a used rv 12v pump off a local internet ad for 20 bucks. Wired that to a male 7 pin plug to the constant power pin. Just plug it in to the truck! Works great and have a whole 50 bucks tied up in it. Now have more than enough water for 5 days at the track!

[rick42wood]

I carry a big plastic barrel and fill it when it is in the truck box. Then I pull up next to the fill spout and then siphon the water out with a 3/4" clear plastic tube. Probably slower than using a pump and your truck needs to be higher than your tank but you can't beat the price.

[bcsslc]

Foe me I use a 35gal drum to hold the water as I pass through a town or other water source. I than use a 1/2"pvc pipe the has a slight angle cut on the end that goes to the bottome of the drum and out the top I attached a 90*elbow with a threaded hose end to it. I than hook up one lengthy of hose to the pvc hose fitting and the other end to a 12vot pump that I bought off Amazon (seen similar pumps at hf) and the has clips that attach to the battery. I attach another hose to the outlet of the pump and to the rv and connect the pump to the battery. It amazed me how fast it drained all the water the first time. I always leave the drum straped in the back of the truck when I'm out there.
I still use a 8gal container that I modified with a hose attachment and just gravity feed as well. It just depends on what type of trip we are on.

[wbwood]

I bought a couple of the 6 gallon jerry can style from walmart. Used them the first time last weekend. Just put the spout on it and lifted it up to the fresh water tank opening on the side of the MH and poured it in. 50 lbs of water, I didn't find it all that difficult to do. Took maybe a minute or so to empty.

[bka0721]

kalynzoo wrote:
When I upgraded my original ShurFlo I gave the old one to my friend who often dry camps. Mounted on a board the Shurflo clips on the battery and pumps the water from a Sparklets bottle into the MH. Works for him.

This is exactly what I have done, with a slight change.

I boondock in very remote locations, for long periods of time. Having something fail is not going to cause me to stop and go back to civilization. I carry extra items, such as a Shure Flow Evolution water pump. This extra pump is installed on a board and uses small battery clips (scavenged off a dead battery charger). The pump is my backup. I have a five gallon bucket with a bulkhead fitting (at hardware stores) that has a garden hose thread connector on it. A short vinyl hose, with fittings, connect the bucket to the pump. I pour water from my Wal-Mart 6 gal jugs into the bucket to transfer the water into my fresh water tanks. The Jugs are easily transported on the back of my motorcycle, from various potable water sources.

Good Luck.

b

[eb145]

I pull two two of these filled 7 gallon blue water jugs:


in my little red wagon.

Wagon is useful for firewood and Granddaughter also.

And I use my water pump in my trailer to pump into the freshwater tank. I used some valves and tubing from water heater bypass kits to allow pump to do both chores (pump water into trailer for use and with some valves changed - pump water into the fresh water tank from the blue water containers.

Ed

[time2roll]

When I know the spigot could be a distance I carry 300' of that flat hose + 50' of regular white hose. Has served well a few times. Get some wheels if you are going to lug much water very far BTDT.

[ktmrfs]

I hardwired a 12V RV water pump in the pass through, which is next to the fresh water inlet. Inlet of the water pump has a SS dip tube and plastic tubing, outlet is a water line to the fresh water tank inlet. I fill a 7 gallon water jug at the campsite water and back at the trailer put the dip tube in the water jug vent and turn on the pass through pump. Repeat as necessary. 7 gallons is easy enough for me to carry around as needed and gives a decent amount of water. One trip is usually good for a days water, occasionally a second trip is needed.

Sure solves the biggest problem for me, lifting the water jug high enough and long enough to dump it into the tank through a funnel.

[bka0721]

kalynzoo wrote:
When I upgraded my original ShurFlo I gave the old one to my friend who often dry camps. Mounted on a board the Shurflo clips on the battery and pumps the water from a Sparklets bottle into the MH. Works for him.

This is what I do. I don't have the luxury of having lots of room, as many of you do. Spending more than 40 years of tent and backpacking, my RV life follows the same rule, "anything going into my pack has to have at least two uses or more." I have a back up for my mounted Water Pump and it provides service as an auxiliary water pumper.

On my many exploring treks, on my motorcycle, I often take a 6 gal Wally World water jug with me and fill it up at potable water sources to bring back to my boondock location. These Jugs are transferred into my Potable Water tank via my ShurFlo aux pump mounted on a 12"X14" board, with filter. One of the enjoyable things about boondocking is not needing to go into town, even when something fails (redundancy/backups).

Also, the higher flow pumps, like the Home Depot model showed previously, pumps so fast I couldn't keep up with picking up the jugs, pouring into a dedicated 5 gal potable water bucket (that has a bulkhead fitting, with a short hose is attached, and then to the Water pump) setting down and picking up another one of my 6 Jugs to pour into the 5g transfer bucket.

When needing extra "things" for boondocking, I often ask; "What are you doing to conserve, to lessen your needs?" In this case, Potable Water?" I have a Water Bottles (Bicycle Bottle/Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce Bottle) next to the kitchen sink (use for washing hands/Rinsing glasses n' stuff) and the toilet (to rinse down the fluids and Solids) without needing to turn on the faucets/water pump (less gray water too). Many go out for boondocking (not going into towns) for weeks, I go for months. Water Conservation stretches the need to replenish, a potable water supply, exponentially.

b

[Mootpoint]

Happy Prospector wrote:

Mootpoint wrote:

We use this system with a 12v pump when gravity won't do.
I also have one rigged with connecters to my macerator. Simply pump in waste water reattach macerator to tank and pump out at dump station.
DO NOT get the tanks mixed up!!!!!!!! :S

I was just curious, do you use your bladder tank for black waste also or just grey water?

Both.
I pump out both every 4 to 5 days. After dumping, I pick up fresh water in the other. I have used this system at Quartzsite quite a bit.

[Happy_Prospecto]

Mootpoint wrote:

We use this system with a 12v pump when gravity won't do.
I also have one rigged with connecters to my macerator. Simply pump in waste water reattach macerator to tank and pump out at dump station.
DO NOT get the tanks mixed up!!!!!!!! :S

I was just curious, do you use your bladder tank for black waste also or just grey water?

[Mootpoint]

JnJnKatiebug wrote:
I use one of these, Portable RV Fresh Water Tank and it works perfect. No pump needed.

We use this system with a 12v pump when gravity won't do.
I also have one rigged with connecters to my macerator. Simply pump in waste water reattach macerator to tank and pump out at dump station.
DO NOT get the tanks mixed up!!!!!!!! :S

[zman-az]

Queens Carriage wrote:
you could use the pump in the MH just put in a couple of T's and valves.

or.....

If you got a winterizer inlet you can always use that. No custom plumbing needed other than to extend your winterizer inlet tube to desired length to suck in more water. Just turn the fill valve to on and turn on the pump.

[amandasgramma]

I haven't read all the suggestions, too lazy.....but I'll answer anyway. We bought a $30.00 (3 yrs ago) pump from Harbor Freight. Works great and I swear, fills the tank faster than just using the hose and faucet. And we have the blue barrels, too....one for fresh water and one for emptying the grey/black tanks... 🙂