Fresh Water Tank fill ideas?

[DiskDoctr]

Looking for ideas to attach a funnel or something to assist pouring water (or bleach) into fresh water tank.

I'd like something removable, and the non-funnel opening will support a hose with the vinyl tube adapter on it so I can walk around and inspect the camper while it fills.

Ideas? Hooks, hangers, adapters?

I am open to replacing the entire water fill door- for the right one 😉

Thanks!

[DE88ROX]

DiskDoctr wrote:
Sorry for the confusion. Here are some pics, maybe I can explain it better?

Here's the setup I have (not my camper)



I use a similar vinyl tube with shutoff like in the pic.

Two things I want to improve.

1. The weight of the drinking water hose pulls down on the tubing and can kink or pull the vinyl tubing out of the fill spout.

2. When filling with portable water tanks like Aquatainers, I need a way to attach a funnel to the fill port to pour water into the FW tank

Number 2 above would answer the bleach pouring for sanitizing the tank and water system.

Is that a better explanation? 🙂

Thanks!

Upon arrival at my destination, I simply attach the Drinking water hose to my filter and stick the end into the fill valve. when I do it at home I do the same thing, sans the filter. the brass hose end fits perfectly into the fill valve. when water starts running out of my overflow i know im full.

[DE88ROX]

DiskDoctr wrote:

mobeewan wrote:

Years ago I needed a couple
replacement aquatainers caps and spigots. I bought a couple extras. The large cap and spigots have 3/4 inch pipe threads. I took one of the large replacement caps and added a plastic 3/4 inch male npt x 1/2 inch male hose barb fitting to it along with about 3 feet of clear tubing. This is more than enough tubing to push through the 1-1/2 tank fill tubing so that what ever is being added goes straight into the tank. I use this cap and tubing assembly as one of several methods for adding water to the fresh water tank using aquatainers?. I'll also use this method for adding bleach to the fresh water tank when sanitizing. I'll put a gallon of water in an aquatainer and add a cup of bleach, swish it around and use the cap and hose to pour it in. No funnel needed and no worrying about overflowing the funnel when pouring.

As far as using a garden hose to fill. I use my own made up fill hose that attaches to the end of a white garden hose. It is made up of a female garden hose x male garden hose ball valve, plastic female garden hose x 1/2 inch male hose barb fitting, 6 inches of clear tubing, 1/2 inch 90 degree male x male hose barbed elbow and 2 more feet of clear tubing. I shove the 2 foot section of hose through the fill hose until the elbow stops it. Then I can leave it hanging while the tank fills without the tubing kinking.

Aquatainers have a horrible track record with spouts and caps. I have several broken ones 😞

Sounds like you have an interesting gadget made up there. Any chance of a few pics?

Thanks!

Thats a great Idea! Eliminating the need for a funnel. Love it. Thanks for sharing!!!

[DE88ROX]

SoundGuy wrote:
Can't imagine why you'd bother manually pouring water into the trailer's gravity fill when simply transferring it with a 12 vdc pump is SO much easier. 😉

I use a funnel. The only time I need to add water is during our 2 week 4th of July trip. Fill a couple 5 gallon water jugs a few times and im good to go. I have a big funnel with flexible tubing.

[DiskDoctr]

mobeewan wrote:

Years ago I needed a couple
replacement aquatainers caps and spigots. I bought a couple extras. The large cap and spigots have 3/4 inch pipe threads. I took one of the large replacement caps and added a plastic 3/4 inch male npt x 1/2 inch male hose barb fitting to it along with about 3 feet of clear tubing. This is more than enough tubing to push through the 1-1/2 tank fill tubing so that what ever is being added goes straight into the tank. I use this cap and tubing assembly as one of several methods for adding water to the fresh water tank using aquatainers?. I'll also use this method for adding bleach to the fresh water tank when sanitizing. I'll put a gallon of water in an aquatainer and add a cup of bleach, swish it around and use the cap and hose to pour it in. No funnel needed and no worrying about overflowing the funnel when pouring.

As far as using a garden hose to fill. I use my own made up fill hose that attaches to the end of a white garden hose. It is made up of a female garden hose x male garden hose ball valve, plastic female garden hose x 1/2 inch male hose barb fitting, 6 inches of clear tubing, 1/2 inch 90 degree male x male hose barbed elbow and 2 more feet of clear tubing. I shove the 2 foot section of hose through the fill hose until the elbow stops it. Then I can leave it hanging while the tank fills without the tubing kinking.

Aquatainers have a horrible track record with spouts and caps. I have several broken ones 😞

Sounds like you have an interesting gadget made up there. Any chance of a few pics?

Thanks!

[mobeewan]

DiskDoctr wrote:
Sorry for the confusion. Here are some pics, maybe I can explain it better?

Here's the setup I have (not my camper)



I use a similar vinyl tube with shutoff like in the pic.

Two things I want to improve.

1. The weight of the drinking water hose pulls down on the tubing and can kink or pull the vinyl tubing out of the fill spout.

2. When filling with portable water tanks like Aquatainers, I need a way to attach a funnel to the fill port to pour water into the FW tank

Number 2 above would answer the bleach pouring for sanitizing the tank and water system.

Is that a better explanation? 🙂

Thanks!

Years ago I needed a couple
replacement aquatainers caps and spigots. I bought a couple extras. The large cap and spigots have 3/4 inch pipe threads. I took one of the large replacement caps and added a plastic 3/4 inch male npt x 1/2 inch male hose barb fitting to it along with about 3 feet of clear tubing. This is more than enough tubing to push through the 1-1/2 tank fill tubing so that what ever is being added goes straight into the tank. I use this cap and tubing assembly as one of several methods for adding water to the fresh water tank using aquatainers?. I'll also use this method for adding bleach to the fresh water tank when sanitizing. I'll put a gallon of water in an aquatainer and add a cup of bleach, swish it around and use the cap and hose to pour it in. No funnel needed and no worrying about overflowing the funnel when pouring.

As far as using a garden hose to fill. I use my own made up fill hose that attaches to the end of a white garden hose. It is made up of a female garden hose x male garden hose ball valve, plastic female garden hose x 1/2 inch male hose barb fitting, 6 inches of clear tubing, 1/2 inch 90 degree male x male hose barbed elbow and 2 more feet of clear tubing. I shove the 2 foot section of hose through the fill hose until the elbow stops it. Then I can leave it hanging while the tank fills without the tubing kinking.

[budwich]

I use the "standard pressure regulator fitting" (one of those "cheap ones" :-)...) on the water hose end. The regulator body fits well into the fresh water port and because it is "regulating", the water "back pressure" isn't enough to force it out of the fresh water opening or fall out.

[boosTT]

Try a different hose. Thicker/stiffer hoses will stay in place when filling.

[Devocamper]

I feel it is never a good idea to walk away from anything your doing with an RV what your trying to do is how you end up splitting water tanks , stay focused

[ADK_Camper]

eb145 wrote:
I added an extra valve or two to my rv antifreeze intake so I can use my on board water pump to fill through a 25 foot hose. The other end of the hose I put in a 7 gallon jug of fresh water.

I leave the 7 gallon water jug on my wagon or truck bed and let the pump transfer the water.

If you buy two additional rv antifreeze kits you should have enough parts to do this.

Ed

If you already have an antifreeze bypass (or install one) and an outside shower located near your fresh water fill, that is all you need to transfer water or water/bleach to your fresh water holding tank.

Here's how to do it:

Unscrew the shower head and place the shower hose into the freshwater fill.

Open the shower cold water faucet.

Set your pump to bypass mode and insert its hose into the portable water container,

Turn on the pump and the water will be drawn from the portable container, sent to the outside shower which feeds into the fresh water fill.

[drsteve]

Ditch the wimpy vinyl for a stouter piece of garden hose that won't bend. For a funnel, look around at auto parts stores. They have all sorts of funnels in various sizes.

[DiskDoctr]

Ivylog wrote:
I think you are approaching this from the wrong end.

Is that a regular spout? I thought the SS...er...I mean EPA outlawed those? LOL.

Better to SPILL fuel on vehicles and people than have a little vapor escape.... 😞

I could use a few of those for my gas cans 😉

[DiskDoctr]

wnjj wrote:
For water fill, I built a 90 degree connection out of 1/2" PVC. It starts with a 5" long piece of pipe, into an elbow then to a ball valve before adapting to garden hose thread. With the 5" piece stuck in the tank fill, the hose hangs straight down. The valve allows for adjusting to an ideal flow rate and/or a quick shut off.

It really saved me when the fill hose barely reached. The elbow meant the hose could hang in the air between the faucet and the fill.

That could be helpful! Hose pulling out, kinking, etc is the big problem with filling.

But I haven't seen any way to hook the funnels up to the camper.

I'm going to check out putting something on the side of the camper, into which I can hook a funnel or a strap from a hose...

[DiskDoctr]

pfidahospud wrote:
I pre-dilute the bleach in a gallon so of water, then add it using a PVC funnel I made:
Funnel parts
Finished product
The funnel mainly gets used when I'm filling the fresh water tank with portable containers. Just another idea to add to the suggestion box maybe.

I have that pic saved in another browser window! It's brilliant 🙂

I need to work out a way to hook it to the side of the camper to keep it upright while inserted.

Why use a vinyl hose or funnel? The opening of the water fill would only let a very small bit of the hose end to meet the opening and spill water or whatever and then I'd have to stand there and hold it the whole time.

The valve on the vinyl tubing allows me to control water on/off for fill, rinse, whatever from the camper end after turning on the spigot 😉

[Ivylog]

I think you are approaching this from the wrong end.