Potable Water

[murphy38]

We will be heading out the first of April for 7 months of camping and we are looking for a way to refill the fresh water tank in the MH while parked without hookups. Some where I saw a post where a small bilge pump was added to one of the 5 gallon water tanks like the ones sold at Walmart but do not remember the name of the pump or how it worked. If anyone has any ideal I would love to hear them. Having a bad back I can not lift the tanks up to the water fill.

[Francesca_Knowl]

Not sure if you have a towed vehicle along, but if you do:

Provided it's tall enough for gravity feed from the roof to your RV input, you might think of a water bladder like the one at this link.

I know it looks expensive, but at 45 gallons it's the equivalent of 9 five gallon jugs. All in one trip, no pump required, and no lifting! The single drawback is that it's not meant for "highway" or long-distance use, just for getting water from a nearby source and schlepping to your rig.

[SCVJeff]

I'll let 2OLDMAN find this in the archives since he can do it in his sleep. But there has been reference made about drawing water out of a POTABLE carrier through the RV anti-freeze suck tube, and re-entering it to the RV tank through a jumper on the outside shower faucet. Sounds confusing but it works great if you have the necessary facilities.

[RoyB]

I think I would like the water hose intake over the bilge type where the water suction is usually the bottom part of the pump assy. I probably would want a 12VDC pump over a 120VAC one.

I saw a whole line of water pumps at Walmart recently near where the battery display is. The water pumps are probably more associated with boats then anything else...

I have seen a couple of folks getting a spare WATER PUMP that is like the one in their trailer and use it for their portable water pump. Then they have a spare on-hand to use if needed...

We usually just travel with a small amount of fresh water in our tank and when we start getting close to our off-road camping spot will stop along the way in and fill the fresh water water.

When we are at hookup sites we use a regular water hose hooked up to the pedestal water spigot port and fill the fresh water tank in case we need it...

I can still lift our 5-gallon tote but do have a two wheeled cart to carry the 5-gallon tote in case we have to go very far to the bath house where water is usually available and wheel it back to the trailer when needed...

When camping off the power grid we usually tote our dirty water back to the bath room and pour down their toilet. Then bring back fresh water in our clean 5-gallon tote... Normally we use their toilet when camping off the power grid. My trailer does have the on-board cassette potti which has wheels on its tote and can be pulled to their toilet and poured down it...

Also we have never used our fresh water tank for consumption of water - only used for showers and dishes...

I'm sure everyone has their own routine haha...

Roy Ken

[Shadow_Catcher]

I have a Harbor Freight 12V pump and an adapted Surefow RV water pump (the same one in our trailer) but if the water tank is above the fresh water inlet gravity will do it.
There are flexible fresh water bladders of varying capacity that will do a better job http://www.amazon.com/AQUATANK2-Water-Storage-Bladder-Gallon/dp/B009MU64Y0
Do a search for potable water bladder for many other possibilities.

[2oldman]

It's potable...unless you really mean portable! 🙂