Shore water vs holding tank water

I agree with obgraham. After a few trips, we never hooked up city water to our PW Excel. On our 1st trip, the campground pressure was so high it blew out the regulator. We drink bottled water and wash up using the water pump. We used CG showers with our Excel.

Empty water tank will not affect handling.

kvoiles wrote:
I'm trying to avoid having to haul all that weight down the road, since we don't plan to dry camp on this trip. I'm not sure how an empty tank will affect handling (if at all), as I've always had it filled in the past. I'm not too worried about a campground source shutting down, as we're camping a max of one night per spot during our three weeks.

It's always nice to have water while travelling to flush the toilet and wash your hands. Much better than using a wayside toilet!

I use only the onboard tank, and have never hooked up the shore water connection. I'm just too lazy to get the hose out and fuss with it.

Fortunately, these modern B's are set up to please all of us!

I'm trying to avoid having to haul all that weight down the road, since we don't plan to dry camp on this trip. I'm not sure how an empty tank will affect handling (if at all), as I've always had it filled in the past. I'm not too worried about a campground source shutting down, as we're camping a max of one night per spot during our three weeks.

kvoiles wrote:
I should know this after RVing all these years, but there you have it. My 2010 Pleasure-Way has typical systems. There is always the option of using holding tank water or shore connection water.

Here's my question: can I leave the fresh water holding tank empty and only use shore water, or will the shore source try to fill the empty tank? If that's not the case, how will using only shore water affect using the water heater, if at all? Thanks.

When connected to 'city water' that is all you need.
It will fill water heater (provided valving is correct ----not bypassed) and supply both COLD and HOT water lines.


OR you can fill fresh water tank and use on-board pump. It will fill water heater and supply both COLD and Hot water lines.

After having a leak during the night while hooked to city water we changed the way we use water.
We fill/top of fresh water tank and us on-board pump....which gets turned off at night or whenever we are away from rig.

We also travel with a full fresh water tank after getting caught with only a few gallons and CG water source went down for 3 days.

Fresh water tank....on-board pump!!!

A note about the diagram Roy provided:

On some RVs the bathroom sink drains into the black water tank and NOT the gray water tank.

Here is a simplified pictorial of how a typical RV water system works...


Roy Ken

They are two seperate systems connected after the water pump. Meaning one does not effect the other. Connected to camp ground water pressurizes everything after the pump. Fill the water tank, turn on the pump, everything after the check valve at the water inlet is pressureized.
Does that make sense?