Separating Fresh Water From Pump Toilet

[geraldooka]

Hi Folks,

New forum member here. We recently inherited an old Holidaire 1600 (approx. 1977ish) This trailer is equipped with a manual pump to fill lever flush toilet. Everything appears to be operational. During the install of new water lines I noticed that the fresh water simply T's off from the faucet supply line and goes to the toilet. I had my wife operate the pump to fill the toilet with the toilet supply line off the T and wasn't particularly comfortable with the way the water/air would seemingly come back towards the faucet and fresh water lines so I left it disconnected and just ran a line direct to the faucet. I'd like to get the toilet operational again and was thinking it better off that it have its own supply tank, Am I worrying about nothing here? I would have to imagine that this has been taken into consideration when they designed this toilet but the entry point for the water into the toilet is certainly in a location that can get messy so...

Thanks for your advice.

Michael

[hddecker]

Lynnmor wrote:
Just put a check valve in the line to prevent the reverse flow.

That's what I'd do if I was worried about it.

[westend]

geraldooka wrote:
Thanks for the advice folks. I believe there is a check valve of some kind installed now. It's a large unit with a ball valve shut off attached to it designed for residential plumbing I suspect though I can't be exactly sure as there are no markings on it as far as I can tell. I should note that unlike modern trailers our water system is not under pressure at all times when the pump is on. It's old school. Of course the toilet is so old I can't find any info on it on the net.

Do you have an air pressure water system with a pressure tank? I still have that system and like it so I'm not going to install an on-demand pump.

I would bet that the valve fitting on the toilet is a vacuum breaker valve. Look for a vent on the fitting to confirm.
If it was me, I'd confirm what type of fitting is on the toilet (you could do that by removing the upstream connection on the toilet supply line and see if water readily flows from the supply line, if it does, you don't have backflow prevention. If it doesn't all come out immediately, you're golden) and install another check valve upstream from the toilet valve. That should insure that if the system is pressurized once, there is still a small amount of water in the supply line if the system pressure is removed.

[geraldooka]

Thanks for the advice folks. I believe there is a check valve of some kind installed now. It's a large unit with a ball valve shut off attached to it designed for residential plumbing I suspect though I can't be exactly sure as there are no markings on it as far as I can tell. I should note that unlike modern trailers our water system is not under pressure at all times when the pump is on. It's old school. Of course the toilet is so old I can't find any info on it on the net.

[stickdog]

We've been drinking campground water for the last four years in 26 states and I don't know how many different campgrounds. The only place we drank bottled water was the one with a new water filtration system, DW thought the water was over softened and salty tasting and made lousy coffee.

OP, put in a check valve.

[westend]

Seems like a real good spot for a Backflow preventer.

[loulou57]

poncho62 wrote:
Also...Just me, but I dont drink campground water anyways. Never know if you can trust it or not. Bottled water around here is $2 for a case of 24.

We use bottled water for anything that goes into our body.

[DutchmenSport]

Lynnmor wrote:
Just put a check valve in the line to prevent the reverse flow.

When I read the original post this was my thoughts too.

[ScottG]

I would hook it up to the fresh water system but make sure the toity has a check valve in it. If it doesn't then you can easily install one using a SharkBite fitting in the supply line. Grey water can just get too nasty especially if it includes the kitchen sink.

[Lynnmor]

Just put a check valve in the line to prevent the reverse flow.

[poncho62]

pianotuna wrote:
Hi Michael,

If you are going to redesign the system, what about pumping from the gray water tank for flushing?

Gray water can get pretty gross too.

[poncho62]

Also...Just me, but I dont drink campground water anyways. Never know if you can trust it or not. Bottled water around here is $2 for a case of 24.

[Kirk]

If you look at the city water supply in your house you will find that the same water line splits to supply your kitchen sink, bath room sink & tub, the toilet, and even the water & ice in the refrigerator. The RV water system is no different. What you have in the toilet is a flush valve that works somewhat differently than your stick house because it does not use a tank first for flushing the way your house does but the supply is exactly the same.

[pianotuna]

Hi Michael,

If you are going to redesign the system, what about pumping from the gray water tank for flushing?