Long term stay questions.

[Jeffrey99]

The wife and I went down one income, due to her injuring her back. So we weren't' gonna be able to afford to travel with the TT we bought last summer. So as a early Anniversary present my parents bought us a annual pass for a small local campground. It has electric, sewer and water hookups.

My question is when it comes to sewer and water hookups. The campgrounds we stayed at last year didn't have these.

For the Water: I have a regulator on the line coming in. Is this water safe to drink? Should I buy some type of filter for the end of the faucet? You do not need water pump with city water connection correct? Do I just turn on water heater when we need hot water?

For the Sewer: We just bought a sewer hose that will thread into the sewer line at the campground so that it's a sealed connection. Do we need to buy a sewer hose support? If you always hooked up to the sewer, do you leave drain at the hose open? Or let it fill up so far, and then dump it?Or like just dump it each weekend before we had back home?

Thanks in Advance,
Jeffrey

[wa8yxm]

Oh, one more thing about the filter.. I see someone puts his filter at the park end of his hose.. Bad idea

you want the filter as close to the RV as possible (Some have it built in) Mine lays in the wet bay out of the sun.

Here is why

Sun heats hose and chemicals get into the water from the hose, Even the best of hoses will do this, and it ends up with a nasty chemical taste.

Simple charcoal filter such as my home brew one or the cheapest one you can buy at the RV isle/store takes that chemical out like you'd not believe. So put it as close to the INLET as you can.. They come with sort strain relief hoses if you buy them that way. (I have in the past).

As others have said: Keep drain valves closed unless dumping.

Hose support: I use one, but in most places it's optional.. SOME places (Clark County, NV, which includes the city of lost wages, The Valley (Los Vegas) is one of those places. I do not know about others.


Fresh water storage: In years past the local water district has been very generous with the chlorine in the water (Tastes like bleach it does) and my filters (2, I re-filter drinking water with a Brita) were not enough to compensate.. This year they seem to have re-adjusted the ratio.. But when they over chlorinate I fill the fresh tank, shut off "City" water (Real city water) and use the water that's stood in the tank for a while (Chlorine dissipates very swiftly unless under pressure) Of course this is not well water.

One of the CGs I stay at in the summer (normally I'd be there now) has well problems and thus I tend to fill up at the other park (Also on well but no problem) and use stored water as much as possible.

IF you plan on short trips.. I recommend you tank up at home, on the water you are USED TO DRINKING, and do not use park water less you have to. Of course this does not apply if you full time or if the camper is parked full time.

A Brita picture for drinking water (or competitor) may be all the filter you need.

[WA7NDD]

Never really knowing about the water conditions, we always carry bottled water to drink, and use the CG water to cook and bathe with. It gets boiled on the stove or in the hot water heater. Getting a bug in the gut on a trip is no fun. I caught the Norovirus last year, and I was not even on a cruise ship. Got it from a fast food joint, it was no fun. My son disconnected his RV water from a CG after a weekend, and his hose screen was filled with little critters. I now run the water for a bit before hooking up. The valve is three feet down in the ground not at the top of the spigot, so who knows what crawls into the spigot end when not being used over the winter.

[cherrykiss3]

I drink the city water no problem. It is not any different then if you go to a restaurant and drink water with your meal.

I have a surge protector and it has saved all my appliances 2 times in 2 yr. now. Glad I had it!

I do keep a little water in my fresh tank in case of when they turn the water off to work on the water system. Doesn't happen often but when it does I am glad all I have to do is turn on the pump and flush. lol

Cherry

[Jeffrey99]

mlts22 wrote:
It would be wise to buy an EMS, or at least a surge suppressor for the electric side. That way, voltage spikes/surges or sags won't fry stuff over time.

Actually bought one of those last year. Can't remember the exact brand but it was recommend by some people here on this forum.

[mlts22]

It would be wise to buy an EMS, or at least a surge suppressor for the electric side. That way, voltage spikes/surges or sags won't fry stuff over time.

[JimM68]

We always use the blue filters, first thing on the campground spigot.

I've never used a "good regulator", we use a shurflo extreme 65 psi pump, few campground are anywhere near that.

Charcoal filters, and that includes the blue one, remove any chlorine in the water. So if that is attached when you fill your onboard tank, the water is more likely to "go bad"

You do want to sanitize the entire system with a bleach solution annually or more.

We have a sani-con macerator, and I have to pay a bunch of attention to dumping and pumping.
Most of the others at our seasonal campground, TT's and park models, must just keep their valves open, cause I never see them dumping or tending to the situation.

[wa8yxm]

First: If your wife's injury will keep her off work for an extended period of time check into Social Security Disability,, SHE might qualify, I am not an expert and thus can not assist you however I can tell you this. Standard practice is to rubber stamp well over half the initial applications DENIED. This simply is a way to weed out the lazy folks.. You then go on to appeal, usually it takes 2 or 3 of those. Or so experienced folks tell me.

Second:
Water: I hope you got a good regulator, not one of those 3/4 Inch cylinder jobs,, I use a ZURIN 3/4 Inch job, used to use a WATTS, the Zurin is adjustable (As was the Watts, which froze and broke, plus it was wore out).

Pressure is set to 50 PSI, and when I turn on a shower... It remains at 50 PSI

The watts went down to, as I recall 20,, but as I said it's old and in need of a rebuild kit, worked much better new.

Sur-Flo went down to 10

Some of those 3/4 inch cylinder jobs. 5 (not good at all).


Put the regulator BEFORE your hose..

Filters: If the Campground is close to home and uses a water supply close enough to your home supply filters are not needed, HOWEVER I have never been that lucky.. So I use a simple activated charcoal filter.. in my case it is a home made consisting of a length of PVC pipes. some reducers and adapters to make garden hoses fit, A pair of drain covers (Stainless or PVC) some filter floss from the Fish isle at the pet store, and some activated charcoal (The basic kind not the anti-algae kind) from teh same isle

Drain cover | Floss | Charcoal granuals | Floss | drain cover

Water flows through the floss, which catches most of the "Crud" (Particulates) then through the charcoal which takes care of a lot of stuff like chemicals, then more floss Catches stray charcoal, then out into the RV.. NOTE; this is the 1st level of filter, Lets fairly good size particulate past but does a fairly good job on taste and odor.

They make some very impressive filters.. Very impressive indeed, Some output near lab quality pure water.

How much filter you need.. Varies but I'd start with the under 20 inline job from your favorite store. NOTE: Most filters restrict water flow. Mine does not.

[JoeTampa]

You may want to leave the grey tank closed as well. When you dump the black tank, the grey tank will flush the leftover black tank residue out of your sewer hose.

I use a water filter right after the pressure regulator, and for drinking water, I run that through a filtered water pitcher.

[azrving]

We always turn off the water pump if using our water and always turn off the campground water if leaving the rig. Too many cases of hose fittings popping off and flooding. What the others have said about keeping the valve closed until you are ready to dump is very important. Since its their water and their septic or sewer, run plenty of water into your tanks so you have a lot of liquid to carry the solids out. If you were traveling with the rig it would get agitation and break up the solids but that doesn't happen when parked all the time.

[amandasgramma]

Fresh water from a well has no chlorine......take it from me, 3 weeks sitting in the full sun of central Oregon caused the water to smell like a sewer. If the campground provides city water, leave it on the city water. I wouldn't worry about the holding tank for fresh water. If they provide well water, then I'd put chlorine in the water every now and then. As for your question "is the water safe"...... I can imagine, if it's well water, then it's been checked every now and then. If it's city water, then yes, it's safe. The BIG question is --- IS THE WATER GOOD!!! Many areas we've camped the water tasted horrible.

[Jeffrey99]

One other quick question. Am I better off staying hooked up to campground water or filling up fresh water tank? How long will fresh water tank water stay fresh for? Trying to decide which route is better.

[DutchmenSport]

Dutch_12078 wrote:
The regulator always goes on the spigot, before anything else is connected. Check with the campground about a sewer line support. Some campgrounds or municipalities require them.

Dutch is correct. Regulator should always be at the campground spigot. It helps to protect not only the plumbing inside the camper, but helps to protect your garden hose too. (although the hose could still burst ... as mine did once)... That sill makes me shrudder thinking about it. If we would have been gone, I would hope a fellow camper would have turned the spigot off for us.

[Dutch_12078]

The regulator always goes on the spigot, before anything else is connected. Check with the campground about a sewer line support. Some campgrounds or municipalities require them.

[Jeffrey99]

DutchmenSport wrote:
For an RV filter, one like this will probably do OK. You may want to eventually beef-it-up but these are relatively inexpensive, can be used for one season, and tossed out if you don't like it. Click here.

That looks great. If we do that does the regulator go on between the camper and filter? or between water hose and filter?