City water or On-board tank?

[ricks99]

Can anyone provide specific reasons why one is better than another?

I see a lot of folks who fill/use their tanks even at a site with city water hookup.

I understand that you may want to have some water while traveling (e.g., to use the sink, toilet, etc) but when camping, why? I had assumed that using city water would always be preferable (less wear/tear on the pump, one less thing to break, etc), to using my on-board, fresh water tank, but I'm not sure.

When camping at a site with city water, do you use your fresh-water tank? Why or why not?

[wa8yxm]

Well. as I said
Where I am city water is high chlorine tastes like bleach (And yes I know the taste from CPR classes(
Letting it sit just a few mintues in the fresh tank clears the taste and.. Sanatizes tank at same time (WIN WIN)

When I accidently opened a faucet the pump let me know.

I leave pump on all the time now but when I had a genuine leak (Slow one) I turned it on only when needed till I identified the leak and bypassed it, then fixed it.

[daveengstrand]

This comment is not meant to be smart, simply an honest question. When you leave your S&B to go to the store, the movie or?, do you shut off your water main? Except for the RVs with the gray polybutylene plumbing, they use the same plumbing as a S&B. Some are CPVC and most, if not all, newer ones are PEX. To be fair, movement from driving down the road can obviously play a part. That will have minimal effect on PEX tho. After 30 years, the ones that concerned me the most were the gray stuff, it is not good and had some recalls to be replaced. Next would be CPVC as it gets brittle with age so movement from traveling could cause an issue. PEX is a very durable product. It is tough, flexible and allows for the elimination of a lot of the fittings needed with hard piping such as copper or CPVC.

[Mr_Mark1]

austinjenna wrote:
I am mostly a weekend camper and just hook up to the city water supply with a filter. If we leave the site and will be gone for a while I turn it off at the supply. I have never been in a situation where the water was turned off at the park. Not saying it doesn't happen but it has not happened to me.

Back in 2005 when we rented a 38 ft. RV, we were backing into a site in Sedona AZ. Beautiful park by the river. Everything was going perfect. I was putting out the living room slide with the guidance of my co-pilot.

In this rental (Fleetwood Expedition), the bay storage bins are attached to the slide-out making the slide-out closer to the ground. My co-pilot was looking up making sure I would not hit any tress, etc. Well, the bottom of the slide-out hit the water spigot cracking the pipe. We didn't realize it at first until we saw water running under the coach.

It was a Friday night at almost 6 PM when the office was about to close. I ran to the office to tell them and they got right on it. They had to cut the water off to half the park to dig down and fix the broken pipe. At 6 PM on a Friday evening, I'm sure people were cooking, etc. My neighbor at the park (long term) came out to see the commotion and I told him how bad I felt about the accident. He said it is not the first time nor will it be that last. I was surprised at how high the water spigot was sticking out of the ground. When it was repaired, it was lowered about a foot.

The park didn't charge me as I was perfectly aligned in my spot and they new I had slide-outs. Their connection was really in a precarious location.

Then, last week, I called a park to make a reservation and they said that they only have electric and sewer that the have had a water pipe break and there was no water until the next day. We found another park.

Safe travels,
MM.

[Bobbo]

ricks99 wrote:
It sounds like the main reason that folks advocate using the fresh water tank instead of city water is the eliminate the possibility of a leak or other water intrusion when you're away from the site.

But wouldn't you have to turn off your water pump when you leave, to avoid the same issue?

Seems like the same difference to me -- turning off the city water nozzle or turning off the pump.

Or am I missing something obvious?

If we are not actively using water, the water pump is off even when we are there. Our routine:

Turn on pump, wash hands, turn off pump.
Turn on pump, brush teeth, turn off pump.
Turn on pump, flush toilet, turn off pump.
Turn on pump, shower, turn off pump.

I think you see a pattern starting to emerge. We don't have to remember to turn the pump off when leaving or sleeping because the pump is already off. It isn't that hard to turn the pump on every time you want to use water. If you forget, the faucet reminds you quite quickly.

[Atlee]

When "city water" was available, I hooked up to it. Lately, I have begun to just used the water on board. The reason is this. By using the water in the tank, I will be able to keep it fresh. When the fresh water tank is emptied, I will just put more in via the "city" water.

And as an added benefit, I will not have to worry about a flooded trailer should a fitting fail. I know the city water faucet should be cut off when ever I'm away from the trailer, but I tend to just forget it there. I'm much more likely to remember to cut off the water pump, which I try to do when ever I don't need water.

I will usually travel with about 1/3 to 1/2 full fresh water tanks. My trailer can carry 84 gallons of fresh water. I have yet to need that much water before I'm at a place where I can add "city" water.

[austinjenna]

I am mostly a weekend camper and just hook up to the city water supply with a filter. If we leave the site and will be gone for a while I turn it off at the supply. I have never been in a situation where the water was turned off at the park. Not saying it doesn't happen but it has not happened to me.

[wa8yxm]

That was what I meant when I said "Unlimited supply" is a disadvantage of city water. Forgot that.. Should a pipe break (had it happen)( water heater spring a leak (Well it was 12 ywars old) or some thing else happen (Left faucet open) you can get quite a flood.

If I'm at home I will hear the water pump run and think> "Something is odd" In the last case it was a faucet slightly openm lost about 2 gallon which went in the gray tank.. No problem, No overflow.

[2gypsies1]

midnightsadie wrote:
changing water source in your diet can ruin a vacation.

I hope you never plan to go full-timing because you won't have a stick house to run back to in order to refill with water. 🙂 We always drank water from our holding tank and got it from umpteen sources.

We parked next to a RV and saw water dripping from it. Went out to turn off their connection. The owner returned that evening to find his flooring soaked. He had a cat in there that turned on the kitchen faucet - a one lever type. The grey tank filled and the kitchen sink backed up and overflowed. Quite a mess.

[doxiemom11]

In 7 years we have used the city water hookup when it was available, otherwise used our tank. We always keep some water in our tank in case water does get shut off. Some people ONLY drink bottled water and never even try the available source to see how it is. This year we are in Arizona and we use city hookup for showers and buy drinking water for drinking,coffee and cooking. The well water here contains higher levels of salt, arsenic and floride which is removed by city water plants, but we have been on well water at the parks where we have stayed. This is the first time in 7 years full-time that we have purchased water and not used out of the tap. We have a whole house filter.

[Mr_Mark1]

jplante4 wrote:

Mr.Mark wrote:
Jplante4, I agree, a near full tank of water is a not that heavy in the total scheme of things. I would sure hate to run out when I need it most!

MM.

At 100 gallons, mine is 800 lbs. My traveling weight (including 600 lbs of diesel) is just over 22,000 lbs and GVWR is 24,000.

I usually have a one light of fresh water for flushing etc on the road. If I needed to stop somewhere overnight, that would be enough.

For us, 189 gallons of fresh water (1,512 lbs.) and 230 gallons of fuel (1,610 lbs.) is just part of our 56,000 lb. coach. I don't want to run out of either! LOL!

MM.

[jplante4]

Mr.Mark wrote:
Jplante4, I agree, a near full tank of water is a not that heavy in the total scheme of things. I would sure hate to run out when I need it most!

MM.

At 100 gallons, mine is 800 lbs. My traveling weight (including 600 lbs of diesel) is just over 22,000 lbs and GVWR is 24,000.

I usually have a one light of fresh water for flushing etc on the road. If I needed to stop somewhere overnight, that would be enough.

[Mr_Mark1]

Jplante4, I agree, a near full tank of water is a not that heavy in the total scheme of things. I would sure hate to run out when I need it most!

MM.

[jplante4]

Another issue to consider. If you don't want to haul that water around (I don't), you'll need to dump what's left when you move on. So it's waste water or waste fuel hauling it around.

I don't know why this has to be complicated. It's water.

[JAC1982]

Laziness for us too 🙂 Our toyhauler holds 110 gallons of water, and not having to hook up to city water if available is one less thing to hook up/un hook/worry about while enjoying our vacation. We don't drink the water if we can help it though, no matter where it comes from. We use bottled for that.

Our hauler also tows better with at least a half full water tank. We learned that on our first longer trip with it. Ride became a lot smoother once we put some water in it about halfway along the trip.

[wa8yxm]

Advantage City Water: Endless supply
Disadvantage City Water: Endless supply
Water may be "Different" from what you are used to.
Water system can "Fail" due to busted main.

Tanked water: Advantage: No intrupption due to freezing of city water hose busted water main Idiot driving over park water pipe and busting the blazes out of it.

For short trips you bring HOME water and your system is used to it.

Special advantage in parts of OConee County. SC.. Pioneer water district over chloronates teh water so it tastes like bleach Even using it to fill the on-board tankj, that taste is cured by letting it sit in the tank for a few mintues.


What does "Different water" do to your system (I mean YOUR system, not the RV's

Well all summer last year I spent using water from a single source, Then I took on 80 gallons the day before Halloween and headed South for the winter. That 80 gallons lasted me till.. Thanksgiving AM. I will admit I use less on-board water when on the road cause I use Rest stops and truck stop toilets but I was only a few days on the road)

Filled up with Pioneer water and went through the same 80 gallons in a week. WHY. Well mostly flushing the flusher.