How to camp with electric only

[DallasSteve]

Newbie question here.

I have a reservation at a campground with electric hookup only and no water hookup. It was the best I could do over the Memorial Day weekend. At least it's cheap. How do you normally stretch your water in that situation? Can I drive to some station in the park (it's a government park) and fill my fresh water tank? Maybe at the dump station? I know you're not supposed to use the typical water at a dump station, but maybe at these semi-rustic campgrounds they also provide potable water?

[Thom02099]

mdcamping wrote:

DallasSteve wrote:
Newbie question here.

I have a reservation at a campground with electric hookup only and no water hookup. It was the best I could do over the Memorial Day weekend. At least it's cheap. How do you normally stretch your water in that situation? Can I drive to some station in the park (it's a government park) and fill my fresh water tank? Maybe at the dump station? I know you're not supposed to use the typical water at a dump station, but maybe at these semi-rustic campgrounds they also provide potable water?

If your worried about running short of water for the holiday weekend, most camping stores sell inclosed 5 gallon pails that come with a water spigot at the base. The pails fit nicely on your picnic table. Just fill it when coming into the campground.

here somthing similar to what I have, https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/OUTDOOR-CAMPING-WATER-CONTAINER-CARRIER-BOTTLE-PLASTIC-JERRY-CAN-WITH-WAT...

Mike

x2 on this. I have one of the round orange water containers that one can get at any home improvement store for about $10-$20 or so. Works fine for drinking, cooking and washing cookware water, use the on board only for showers.

[theoldwizard1]

bikendan wrote:
We use a 6 gallon FW plastic jug and a 15 gallon tote tank for gray water.

Where do you dispose the gray water ?

[theoldwizard1]

pasusan wrote:
Call the park. We've never seen a dump station that didn't also have a potable water faucet separately.

But, there are some parks [i[(especially government) that have no dump stations and potable water comes from a hand operated well pump !

Gray water can be disposed in a ditch (outside of the campground, away from "civilization"). Black water is an issue.

[mdcamping]

DallasSteve wrote:
Newbie question here.

I have a reservation at a campground with electric hookup only and no water hookup. It was the best I could do over the Memorial Day weekend. At least it's cheap. How do you normally stretch your water in that situation? Can I drive to some station in the park (it's a government park) and fill my fresh water tank? Maybe at the dump station? I know you're not supposed to use the typical water at a dump station, but maybe at these semi-rustic campgrounds they also provide potable water?

If your worried about running short of water for the holiday weekend, most camping stores sell inclosed 5 gallon pails that come with a water spigot at the base. The pails fit nicely on your picnic table. Just fill it when coming into the campground.

here somthing similar to what I have, https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/OUTDOOR-CAMPING-WATER-CONTAINER-CARRIER-BOTTLE-PLASTIC-JERRY-CAN-WITH-WAT...

Mike

[bikendan]

Been camping in California State Parks campgrounds for the past 30+ years. More than 99% of their campsites have no hookups of any kind.
So you have to learn to conserve water and shuttle FW water and gray water.
We use a 6 gallon FW plastic jug and a 15 gallon tote tank for gray water. Also use a water bandit for non-threaded spigot.
At least you have electric.

[Lwiddis]

One idea....Use what shower water you can catch with a larger plastic bowl on the shower floor and all your dishwashing water to flush the toilet. Boondocking 101.

[KD4UPL]

Fill your water tank first. If you can't go for a long weekend without dumping or refilling then you are using entirely too much water. Any camper I've ever had was usually set up where a family could camp for 3 or more days on the tank capacity.

[2oldman]

Dick_B wrote:
I usually shower in the campground bath house which saves a bunch of RV water.

You may want to rethink that.

[opnspaces]

It's been stated on here but just to make sure.

You can fill before you go.

Most parks have water available. But also most have modified the fresh water spigots so you cannot attach a hose. Sometimes you can use a water bandit to fill the tanks. Link

Some campgrounds have spigots with huge 1.5 or 2 inch diameter ends on them. For that kind of fitting you're probably need a big funnel and a portable tank.

You will probably have to break camp and drain the tanks. Remember using up the fresh tank fills up the waste tanks.

[Super_Dave]

Dick_B wrote:
I usually shower in the campground bath house which saves a bunch of RV water. My wife takes navy showers which also helps.
One trick I recently learned is to collect the shower water that you run waiting for it to get hot and use that water to flush the toilet instead of dumping it down the shower drain. It can amount to quite a bit.

Great tips! We also bring a few gallon jugs of drinking water for making our coffee so we aren't using tank water for drinking.

[Dick_B]

I usually shower in the campground bath house which saves a bunch of RV water. My wife takes navy showers which also helps.
One trick I recently learned is to collect the shower water that you run waiting for it to get hot and use that water to flush the toilet instead of dumping it down the shower drain. It can amount to quite a bit.

[time2roll]

Worst case you dump and refill daily. Adjust your habits as needed.
Just don't forget to unplug before you roll out to the dump station and you will be fine.

[Lantley]

Fill your fresh tank at home before you get there. Filling a large tank can take 20-30 minutes. Get it out of the way before you get there.
Unless you know exactly where the water fill is located and how accessible it is than fill at home.
Avoid maneuvering you rig to get to the water source

[DallasSteve]

LibertyMan wrote:
Usually there are spigots placed throughout the campground or one near the entrance. You will have to look online to see if the campground your going to has them or not. Or give them a call to find out. If they are spaced throughout or have a potable spigot near the entrance, I carry four, five gallon fresh water jugs with spouts with me and fill the camper using that method. Of course I use the blue tote to empty gray water once the camper gets full. If there is no potable water on site, fill the camper before you leave. Depending on length of stay and number of people in the camper will decide how much extra water to bring along with you.

LibertyMan

I found a map of the park online and it has "drinking water" marked at about 5 or 10 spots in the park. I don't know if that means a water fountain or a spigot, but as you say there are probably some spigots to fill up my tank. For free, I hope. I had to pay $5 to dump at a state park in Oklahoma where I stayed last week. I guess that's why they call it "Robber's Cave".

I feel more relaxed about my 7-day reservation now. Thanks to all.

[2oldman]

Some travel with full water, I never do. It's heavy. You should verify the CG has central water before arriving to a nasty surprise. I have 75 gallons of capacity on my truck so no breaking camp to fill the 5er. I do not conserve, I like my own shower (especially now), I like plenty of water on tap, and it's easy to just take the truck to get it then pump it in with a spare 12v pump.

The flush water at dump stations is the same water you drink, it's just that the hose and/or spigot may be contaminated.