Freshwater Tank Refilling - What Do You Do?

[katet78]

When in a campground without potable water (either none at all or the spigots aren't turned on yet for the summer) what do you do to manage your water use and/or refill your freshwater tank as needed?

We have a travel trailer with a 20 gallon freshwater tank. We find that with "normal" use (dish washing, toilet flushing, filling the coffee pot, etc.) it lasts about 24 hours. We carry bottled water and a rubbermaid jug (I think it's a 5 gallon) for drinking and dog water (a giant St. Bernard need lots of water). If we conserve by using paper plates we can maybe go about 1.5 days. We carry along a 7 gallon potable water jerry can to refill our freshwater tank and it has a wonderful spout that makes it easy to pour directly into our freshwater tank. We'd like to purchase a few more but haven't been able to find them in stock. We have some of the basic plastic jugs that you would find at say a Wal-Mart, but those aren't as easy to pour into the camper and they tend to crack pretty easily. We'd love to find a solution to lugging along 10 jugs or being worried about running out of our water when there isn't a spigot to refill from at the campground. If you have a solution to using less water, or have found great products for hauling water from home, I'd love to know.

Thanks!

[searfoss]

We found that if we use the bath house to shower and do dishes we can go about 5 days on our 40 gallon tank, however 20 gallons is a small tank.

[mosseater]

It takes some time to become comfy with reducing your water usage. So many are used to letting the water run for no apparent reason. I find myself trickling the water in the stick house just like I'm camping now adays.

I use the 6 gal. greenies to refil the trailer. I can get one in the tank in about 45 seconds with the vent stopper pulled out of the hole. Now, of course they're heavy and you have to support the spout so it doesn't break off, but once tipped up into the fill tube, it makes a nearly perfect seal. I fill them as soon as we're set up and store them under the trailer. Seems like the tank runs empty about midnight almost every time. Don't like running to the spigot at that hour.

[2oldman]

katet78 wrote:
I think our biggest strategy will just be conserving, which will take practice.

If you want to live like you're in a tent, yes.

[pianotuna]

Hi,

Dollar stores often have funnels such as the one in the previous post. I keep one as a spare.

I pour from a ten liter (2.5 gallons) potable water container into an ice cream pail. Then I hold the funnel and pour from the pail into the water tank.

[wannavolunteerF]

I found the funnel like barlett was talking about in Lowes near the lawnmower maintenance stuff. sure beats trying to hold a standard one at the correct angle. since I have my new TT with a 92 gal FW tank I haven't had to use it, but did use it before with my old TT and my folks used it on their small Class C

[bartlettj]

I fill mine from a 7 gallon jug with a funnel that has a plastic bendy straw style hose extension. Got it for $5 or so at Walmart.

[Carluvr]

I have two of the 7 gallon totes from Walmart. I removed the spigot on one of them (it unscrews easily) and replaced it with a nipple and attached an 18in length of water hose. I can use this setup on either of the two totes and use it to refill when needed. It's a little heavy but works well and gets 7 gallons in quickly.

[Huntindog]

I have 16, 6 gallon jugs and 6, 5 gallon ones. The sixes are easy to fill the TT with. The fives are for the dogs.
I have tried different methods, but this one seems to be the most flexible and reliable.
This past Jan, at a trial we had a severe cold snap. We ended up bringing a lot of the jugs inside to thaw them out.
There were a LOT of 55 gallon drums in camp that couldn't be used as they were to heavy to move to a warm place and were to cold to use a pump on them.

With smaller portable containers, my refill options are much greater.

[MontanaCamper]

2oldman wrote:

MontanaCamper wrote:
and might still be more ways to skin a cat.

Nobody's going to be skinning any cats. Yuck.. I wish that expression would go away!!

peel a banana????

pianotuna wrote:
Hi,

Yes, where do you get the water to fill the totes to fill the fresh water tank?

MontanaCamper wrote:
Pianotuna, the question has been answered multiple different ways, and might still be more ways to skin a cat. Or do you want step by step instructions?

Pianotuna, I fill them before I leave..and then on the road, stop off at a local truck stop.

[jwstewar]

If in a campground, most campgrounds have potable water somewhere that you can fill your tanks from. If boondocking somewhere...you are on your own.

[pianotuna]

Hi,

Yes, where do you get the water to fill the totes to fill the fresh water tank?

MontanaCamper wrote:
Pianotuna, the question has been answered multiple different ways, and might still be more ways to skin a cat. Or do you want step by step instructions?

[aarond76]

I just don't understand running through 30 gallons of water a day. We have a 38 gallon tank. We wash dishes daily and conserve the best we can. Use water to flush the toilet and wash hands. There are 4 of us. We shower in the camper with Navy showers. We can get thru a 3 day weekend easily with water to spare. Someone has to be leaving the water on when showering, filling up the sink for dishes, letting the water run while washing hands etc...., basically treating it like they are at home to go thru 30 gallons of water in a day. Fill the tank up again and next problem will be that the grey tank is full and needs to be emptied.

Regarding the concerns over minimal water in the black tank, fill it half way with water when you fill up the fresh tank, then you will have plenty of water in the black tank to start and not need to worry about adding alot when you flush the toilet. Wash your dishes in a basin in the kitchen sink if you are still worried about it, and dump the basin down the toilet to add more water.

You can find fresh water tanks on ebay for cheap in the 12 to 20 gallon sizes. Bigger are available but again there is a balance before you run into the issue of needing to offload the grey tank. I have considered adding one to our camper for additional capacity but so far have not had water issues. Our first camper had a 30 gallon tank and now we have 38. 8 gallons does not sound like alot but is better than 25% more capacity and has made a huge difference for us.

Oxygenics shower wand also makes it easier to conserve water in the shower. It puts out a nice forceful spray as opposed to the factory shower wand that had no pressure at all. I imagine someone with long hair would require an awful lot of water to rinse the soap out of their hair with the factory shower wand.

[2oldman]

MontanaCamper wrote:
and might still be more ways to skin a cat.

Nobody's going to be skinning any cats. Yuck.. I wish that expression would go away!!

[MontanaCamper]

jwstewar wrote:

Jack_Diane_Freedom wrote:
I have a 25 gal plastic tank that I put into the back of the pickup and just drain it into the fresh water fill using only gravity. Works fine.

I've heard of other folks doing this, but I can't. Our fill location is above the floor of the bed of my truck therefore I have to use a pump.

Had to add two of the blue containers to my fresh water tank this weekend...was a bit of a challange, good thing I'm 6-6..the water fill was right about my chest when standing next to it...lifting the 5-6-7 gallon container (not sure what I have-they are the blue ones) and then holding the funnel...that was a challenge. Going to look into a 10-15 gallon tank and just keep it in the bed of the truck and use a pump like most.


Pianotuna, the question has been answered multiple different ways, and might still be more ways to skin a cat. Or do you want step by step instructions?