I've missed having a fresh water fill portal other than the city fill connection on my 1998 U270. When we camp in National Forests there is often just a single community fresh water faucet which may or may not have a threaded connection for water hose. Some hosts and rangers take a dim view of stringing water hose to RV to refill storage tank. Most of the time moving the RV and hooking up a hose blocks the road to all traffic. I saw an interesting solution devised by a retired engineer who had a large popup camper with shower. He carried a couple 7 gallon Reliant water contains, filled them at the faucet and then transported them in the back of his SUV to his campsite, and then pumped water into his camper with an RV pump powered off his camper battery.
I recently cobbled together a similar system. It consists of an RV pump, 10 foot of reinforced 1/2" hose connected in 5' sections with connectors to pump inflow and outflow. The outflow is terminated by a male water hose connector, the inflow is terminated with a pex connector and 18 inches of 1/2" pex pipe with a 45 degree cut on the end. This is inserted in the water container. I set up a quick connect 12volt power cord that runs from our house battery to a 12 volt switch rated for 30 amps and protected by a 20amp fuse. I used it to sanitize the water system with a bleach solution, works well. It all stores in a plastic box.
Seems like overkill but I don't have to lift and hold water cans to pour in the water and required no modifications to the coach.
Already did something similar five years ago. Got the 12V pump from HF for $49.
Got 3/4" milker clear hose from Fleet Farm (like Tractor Supply but a lot bigger)
Put a "Y" fitting in the overflow line on our fresh water tank.
Garden hose ends (female) on the two hose pieces.
Permanently mounted the assembly up front under the small door on the driver's side.
Toggle switch for on/off.
Have 4 five gallon plastic water jugs that we fill at a water outlet and transport to our coach in our towed.
Works great.
One caveat for those in cold climates: Run RV antifreeze thru the pump to winterize or take out of the coach and put in the house where it is warm for the winter.
While in Mazatlan, Twig bought twenty five gallon bottles of purified water from Maria, our water lady. Hooked up his spare pump and had 100 gallons of drinkable water!!
We do the same-- have a spare water pump mounted on a board and 12 VDC outlet in wet bay to power it.
Like Brett we have a spare pump. We also installed a direct fill valve using a 3/4" uniseal. That way you don't have to push water through all that pipe into the bottom of the tank.
Bypassing the house piping with a direct fill line makes a big improvement in fill time but filling from the bottom of the tank, all other things being equal, should actually be faster than filling from the top. Filling from the bottom means low head pressure (max gpm) at the start. As the tank fills, the head pressure gradually increases with the level of the tank, reducing the gpm proportionally. Filling from the top means max head pressure (from the height of the hose) and minimum gpm for the entire fill, which would slightly increase fill time. However, filling from the top is a much safer option. In the event of a leaking direct fill connection, you'd lose the entire volume of your tank if filling from the bottom. So, direct fill at the top of the tank is a good compromise solution.
"One inch of water column is equal to a pressure of approximately 1/28 pound per square inch (psi). Stating this another way, a column of water 28-inches high produces pressure that is equal to 1 psi."
Your statement may be correct, but IMHO falls into the category of "splitting hairs". What is the height of the fresh water tank on most coaches? I seriously doubt there is even 1 psi
difference in "head pressure" between the bottom and the top of the tank. I put my quick fill at the top.
What did you do to your coach today VII (http://www.foreforums.com/index.php?topic=33153.msg301076#msg301076)
I've seen several posts over the years that suggest filling from the top is one of the reasons direct fill is faster. I totally agree that it's splitting hairs, but the opposite is actually true. Filling from the bottom should be slightly faster. The time is saved by avoiding the coach piping, not placement of the fill line. My quick fill is also at the top.