7-Gallon Water Jug With Pump - REVISITED

[Geewizard]

I read Brad's old post about a 12v pump for 7-gal jugs. Nice info.

7-Gallon Water Jug With Pump

I can't find the same or a similar bilge pump he mentions (Attwood A500, model 4240) anywhere.

Any suggestions on a similar pump with 3/4" pipe thread fittings to fit a 7-gal Aqua-Tainer jug?

[deltabravo]

I built a similar pump system (Attwood bilge pump) for my jugs many years ago.... Pre-2010, because I remember using it on my DF toy hauler. (DF=Desert Fox)

[Bedlam]

I use the slightly higher volume 260 gph with 35' lift pump even though both are rated at 50 psi and physical dimensions are the same:

http://www.harborfreight.com/12-volt-marine-utility-water-pump-94639.html

[Dewclaw]

CAJW wrote:
Here's what I use for emergency refills. 200 gph and 3/8" npt make the connections easy. Beats trying to lift a full jug overhead to the fill pipe level. We once did an "emergency" refill with DIL in the shower that ran out of water. Tried a couple different methods, but ended up hoisting the 7 gal jug up on the roof, one son held the jug, I held the funnel and another son held the hose in the fill pipe. Keystone cops aint' got nuthin' on us! Pump is much easier.....

Utility pump

That's the same pump I use. Works very well, and it's pretty fast.

[AnEv942]

Huh same motivation, after running out of water ONCE while she was in shower, juggin thru side fill- she said that wont happen again.
Our option, deck lid in top of tank.

Copied Netboys idea several years ago..


Large funnel that fits and held between deck lid and box 'sub' top holes, just dump water in. I do have to hold jug if refilling tank but it can be emptied pretty quick, and its only a 6 gal. Instead of a pump I threaded in a brass faucet, usually set up on side for outside use.

Rarely use for refilling, so the deck lids primary function is for emptying/cleaning tank.

[CAJW]

Here's what I use for emergency refills. 200 gph and 3/8" npt make the connections easy. Beats trying to lift a full jug overhead to the fill pipe level. We once did an "emergency" refill with DIL in the shower that ran out of water. Tried a couple different methods, but ended up hoisting the 7 gal jug up on the roof, one son held the jug, I held the funnel and another son held the hose in the fill pipe. Keystone cops aint' got nuthin' on us! Pump is much easier.....

Utility pump

[JoeChiOhki]

jimh425 wrote:
If you have horses or take outdoor showers, I understand, but otherwise, what are you guys doing with the extra water?

Or are your tanks that small. My water tank is 60 gallons which is enough for a week for the two of us, but would fill up the black/grey tanks even if it wasn't.

Depending on where I am, I usually pipe it directly into my rolling tote and tow that to the dump station, or a tree gets watered via a sand-trap filter bucket.

[Bedlam]

With 130+ gallons of fresh water available between my camper and enclosed trailer, I also have 60+ gallons of gray available between the gray tote and camper. We have an outside shower tent that helps reduce what is captured to only gray sink water and a separate black tank for toilet. The outside shower is fed by the TC with hot and cold taps and has more room than our wet bath. I can also clean off our off-road toys before stowing them since the transfer pump has sufficient pressure to drive a hose and nozzle (I haven't had a need to try using my powered pressure washer with just gravity feed).

[BradW]

Lot of different ways to skin a cat. 🙂 🙂

[jimh406]

If you have horses or take outdoor showers, I understand, but otherwise, what are you guys doing with the extra water?

Or are your tanks that small. My water tank is 60 gallons which is enough for a week for the two of us, but would fill up the black/grey tanks even if it wasn't.

[AnEv942]

Ha ha---500 gpm would be 30,000 gph-I dont know the fire hydrant out front does that:)corrected my post

[JoeChiOhki]

rexlion wrote:
IMO the lower GPM rate, the better. Too much flow just splashes everywhere and wastes water. This summer I washed dishes and hands using a collapsible 5 gallon water container. The spigot is so small, the water dribbles out pretty slowly. I was surprised to find that I only needed about half the container (2.5 gallons for 2 weeks of camping. (Drinking water was in the cooler, btw.) When using the 12V pump on my previous trailer, I'd blow through 10 gallons in 3 days.

These pumps are rated in GPH, not GPM 🙂

I got tired of lugging the barrels over and over and went this route:

The Journey of the Redneck Express wrote:

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Project #15 - 30gal Auxiliary Water Tank

I originally got my water tank refilling idea from BradW's handy 7 gallon portable water filling solution a long time ago.

7-Gallon Water Jug With Pump


BradW 'From 7-Gallon Water Jug with Pump' wrote:






I’m sure someone else has done this before me, but I thought I would posts some photos anyway. We sometimes camp at places that don’t have water, so we carry along some extra water jugs. Some other places we camp have water, but no way to hook up a hose to refill the supply tank on our truck camper.

I got tired of standing with a 7-gallon water jug on my head trying to refill or supply tank, so I added a $17 12 volt bilge pump to the water jug cap. Both have a 3/4” pipe thread fittings and just screw together. I can now empty the 7-gallon water jug into the supply tank in under 2 minutes.

It is also useful for putting RV antifreeze into the supply tank for the annual winterization. I just pour all the pink stuff into the 7-gallon jug and pump it in.

The jug and pump are available at Walmart.

Brad




I liked this project quite a bit, and built my own version of it after a fashion, substituting a 10' standard RV hose for the black marine hose that BradW used.

However, as handy as this was, doing this 4-5 times in a row to refill the onboard tank got old, really fast. Not to mention, I could never get the pump to stay in put, it would always try and turn when you unscrewed the lid from the jug.

So, a long while back, I started a couple threads asking about details on those big 30 gallon plastic barrels. After gathering the information I needed, I wound up waiting a couple years until I eventually had built my front cargo rack (next project thread to be posted).

I did a search on Craigslist and found a used Peach Flavoring barrel from Kerry Foods for $25 that came with twin bung plugs that had 3/4 threading in them for the attachment of pipe.

I wound up building this, using the pump I had originally been using with my jugs:

(Click Image to view enlarged)




The tank has two ball valves, PVC because I couldn't find an affordable brass one. The upper one is the breather and is raised up above the top of the tank to facility a full fill. The lower one has a male garden hose thread on it, which the modified pump assembly attaches to.

I use a double-female coupler to fill the tank via regular RV hose, simply screw on double female, attach RV water hose in normal fashion, then open both ball valves and turn on the faucet. Your standard water pressure is more than sufficient to bottom fill the tank 30 gallons. When it reaches full, I close the bottom ball valve and then turn off the spigot.

The other advantage of the auxiliary is I can take it, an RV hose and a water thief to the filling spigot in most USFS campgrounds and fill the tank while leaving the camper behind at camp, which allows me to refill the tank from bone dry in one trip.

With both tanks full, I start out with 60 gallons of fresh water to work with. This came in rather helpful while I was touring Whidbey Island with my wife-to-be, Dawn. The Washington SPs shut off the water spigots at the campsites during the winter to prevent freeze damage. The only water supply is the potable water faucets back at the dump station. Depending on the park, the dump station is a mile or so away.

[Tom_Anderson]

mkirsch wrote:

Tom_Anderson wrote:
I use a siphon hose. I set the jug on my kitchen counter, then run the siphon hose out the window to the fresh water fill outside. Much easier, in my opinion.

Who's going to lug 60lbs of water and jug up the steps into the camper, and lift it up on the kitchen counter?

Me.

[mkirsch]

Tom_Anderson wrote:
I use a siphon hose. I set the jug on my kitchen counter, then run the siphon hose out the window to the fresh water fill outside. Much easier, in my opinion.

Who's going to lug 60lbs of water and jug up the steps into the camper, and lift it up on the kitchen counter?

[Geewizard]

Tom_Anderson wrote:
I use a siphon hose. I set the jug on my kitchen counter, then run the siphon hose out the window to the fresh water fill outside. Much easier, in my opinion.

Very good and simple solution. Thanks.