Forum Discussion

noteven's avatar
noteven
Explorer III
Sep 02, 2021

Inline water meters

My base camp travel trailer (Roughneck) has the tanks enclosed below the floor with plywood and spray foam insulation. Accessing tanks from below is work.


It has the std crummy RV tank sensor "system" which reports fake news most of the time. Not sure why when SeeLevel systems are made 1-1/2hrs away from where the trailer was built... anyhoo...

I see the marine industry commonly uses inline style turbine meters to display volume of water pumped.

My pump and suction line is very accessible - I'm thinking of installing one of these meters to track fresh water use.

Is anyone using one of these?
  • I am thinking about an inline meter because accessing the tank itself involves removing spray foam insulation and the plywood panels below the tanks / replacing spray foam etc etc

    Something like this:

    Neptune in line flow meter
  • If the bottom of the water tank is accessible, Mopeka makes a stick-on ultrasonic level sensor that can be read with an app on your phone. I use their standard LP sensors on my portable cylinders and am quite pleased with their accuracy. The water level sensor can also be used with gray water tanks, but they're not recommended for black tanks due to the varying density of the contents.

    Mopeka Water Sensor Bottom Mount
  • I use a meter when I fill. I never thought to use one when I pump though.

    I think the biggest challenge would be finding a location where the meter would be visible. My pump is buried under the floor near the shower and there's definitely no way to see into that sealed compartment, at least not without removing a bunch of cargo from the hold and then removing the compartment's cover.