Water question

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Water question

July 20, 2012, 04:02:17 pm

It sounds to me, after reading the posts on the water tank vent hose, that all fresh water comes through the fresh water tank. Is that true? Our mpg has a fresh water tank and a city water attach point. When we're in a campground with fresh water the hose runs from the faucet to that point, and not a drop of water enters or leaves the tank. Is that how the water system in a mid-90's Foretravel works?

I can see the advantage of all water flowing through the fresh-water tank if one is able to carry that much weight. The advantage of the other system would seem to be at least a bit of redundancy. That's a good thing for us because the tanks are out in the open, exposed to road hazards. Yes, they are pretty tough, but not indestructible. That's usually not the situation for a motor home.

So, how is a Foretravel plumbed?

Re: Water question

Reply #1 – July 20, 2012, 04:30:02 pm

My understanding is that the FT is plumbed like your MPG, i.e., shore water will provide pressure to the house system and provide water to the faucets. One can open a valve (mechanical on some, electric on others) that will allow shore water into the fresh water tank. The 12VDC water pump can provide water to the house from the fresh water tank when shore water is not available.

The water tanks are in the basement. They are protected from freezing and damage if the heating systems remain on at a level that keeps the basement above 32F. Having fresh water in the basement is valuable for dry camping and in freezing conditions when external hookups don't work so well.

I have added an RO filter system that connects to shore water and fills the fresh water tank through an additional port. We get all of our house water from the fresh water tank via the 12VDC pump. I will leave the filter system in place, but I don't recommend it for most people. It adds complexity without adding as much benefit as I expected. We can fall back to conventional water hookups by adjusting two valves.

I do recommend that you have a good filter and softener for the fresh water that comes from shore hookups.

Re: Water question

Reply #2 – July 20, 2012, 04:46:00 pm

Yes, a good filter and water softener are "must-have" items. I left them out for simplicity.

If I understand you correctly, then, there is only one place for fresh water to enter the coach. Filling the fresh water tank would be the same as filling a sink in that I would open a valve (faucet) and water from the campground's water supply enters the coach via the white hose, through the filter and softener, and then flows into the fresh water tank. I then close the valve when the tank is full.

That makes a lot of sense.

Thanks.

Re: Water question

Reply #3 – July 20, 2012, 05:50:21 pm

Love to have a gravity fill on my u320 just for the gee whizzes. Or the flag goes up....

Any ideas?

Re: Water question

Reply #4 – July 20, 2012, 05:56:14 pm

One other wrinkle that is on newer FT coaches is an auto shut for the water fill. We have left the "fill" switch on for extended periods (by mistake) and we have never found water under the coach. Our coach also has an overflow hose from the fresh water tank, but its main purpose appears to be to bleed off air and to provide an overflow if the automatic valve fails.

Re: Water question

Reply #5 – July 20, 2012, 06:15:56 pm

Bob, Access may be different on yours but on mine I took off the short panel in the left water bay, drilled a hole in the tank near the top, siliconed in an adapter with a barb fitting, led clear hose to hard panel on left . Now I can fill in about 15 minutes instaed of 45.
Gary B

Re: Water question

Reply #6 – July 20, 2012, 06:50:22 pm

Quote from: Caflashbob – July 20, 2012, 05:50:21 pm

Love to have a gravity fill on my u320 just for the gee whizzes. Or the flag goes up....

Any ideas?

Here is a few ideas that have been done for that.
Water Tank Gravity Fill

Re: Water question

Reply #7 – July 20, 2012, 07:21:29 pm

My 1990 U280 has a comment that I can fill the fresh water tank by turning off the 12V pump and bleeding pressure out. I have not located the pressure bleed, so turned off the City Water with the hose valve, and opened the two valves that lead through the floor of the basement, until nothing more came out. When I turn the water back on, I still have nothing in the tank. Does anyone really know how it should be done? I'm not opposed to the gravity fill operation pictured in this thread, but would like to know how it's supposed to work...

Re: Water question

Reply #8 – July 20, 2012, 07:25:08 pm

Re; Filtering the water filling the tank. Filtering for sediments or sand is a good idea but you don't want to remove chlorine from the water unless you add some other sanitizing solution after you fill. Softening is always a good idea if you can but it is for utilitarian reasons. Any time you are cleaning or washing including yourself the soft water will be nicer. As for the RO I would be concerned about low PH as the PH will drop and the water will be aggressive. You could add stabilizer but I don't think it would be worth the hassle. If you have a AquaHot the RO water could cause rapid deterioration. I always fill at my house where we have low TDS and soft water so I like to a least leave with my tank full.

Re: Water question

Reply #9 – July 20, 2012, 08:23:46 pm

I have a second fresh water pump. It is mounted on a board with male and female hose fittings, electrical connection is cigarette lighter plug.

Installed a cigarette lighter receptacle in the compartment immediately in front of the wet bay.

That allows us to pump from a zero pressure water source through the coach's regular potable water inlet.

Been there, done that-- in fact have used it to fill several coaches where no pressure water was available.

Brett

Re: Water question

Reply #10 – July 20, 2012, 08:29:29 pm

Quote from: wolfe10 – July 20, 2012, 08:23:46 pm

I have a second fresh water pump. It is mounted on a board with male and female hose fittings, electrical connection is cigarette lighter plug.

Installed a cigarette lighter receptacle in the compartment immediately in front of the wet bay.

That allows us to pump from a zero pressure water source through the coach's regular potable water inlet.

Been there, done that-- in fact have used it to fill several coaches where no pressure water was available.

Brett

Good one. I do have an extra high capacity pump. And my 97 u320 has a cigarette lighter plug in the water bay. Was that standard?

I have filled by pump 20 years ago. And poured water into rv's. Any ideas on additional water capacity for the coach. Dry camp and a group it would help to carry alot more once in a while.

Re: Water question

Reply #11 – July 20, 2012, 08:56:43 pm

FWIW We always run off the water in our fresh water tank, gosh we live in an RV not a stick house. We only ever hook up to a water spigot to fill the tank. We run off the internal water pump, if we "spring" a leak while we are in the coach the pump lets us know. When we leave the coach we turn the pump off...almost always.

We have an RO system for drinking and cooking, not a lot of money or time to install and saves a bundle on bottled water. We also have an extra water pump to fill our fresh water tank from a bladder when we are dry camping. This has worked for us for quite a few years. The coach we have now has a much bigger fresh water tank than did our fifth wheel and we really like the extra capacity.

However, because of the posts that I have seen as to the runoff from the overflow in the Foretravel we only fill the tank 3/4 until I get a chance to reroute the overflow hose.

Roland

Re: Water question

Reply #12 – July 20, 2012, 09:01:03 pm

Quote from: Roland Begin – July 20, 2012, 08:56:43 pm

FWIW We always run off the water in our fresh water tank, gosh we live in an RV not a stick house. We only ever hook up to a water spigot to fill the tank. We run off the internal water pump, if we "spring" a leak while we are in the coach the pump lets us know. When we leave the coach we turn the pump off...almost always. We have an RO system for drinking and cooking, not a lot of money or time to install and saves a bundle on bottled water. We also have an extra water pump to fill our fresh water tank from a bladder when we are dry camping. This has worked for us for quite a few years. The coach we have now has a much bigger fresh water tank than did our fifth wheel and we really like the extra capacity. However, because of the posts that I have seen as to the runoff from the overflow in the Foretravel we only fill the tank 3/4 until I get a chance to reroute the overflow hose.

Roland

Interested in the bladder idea? Any info?

Re: Water question

Reply #13 – July 20, 2012, 09:11:18 pm

Quote from: Caflashbob – July 20, 2012, 09:01:03 pm

Interested in the bladder idea? Any info?

I bought the bladder, 45 gallons, from Camping World. Don't usually do business with them, everything kinda pricey, but it was the only source I could find.

Roland

Re: Water question

Reply #14 – July 20, 2012, 09:20:29 pm

sgywnn You need to close the 2 valves that you opened as they are the low point drains for your water lines. There should be a valve under the bathroom sink that you open to allows the water from the water fill hose to flow into the tank.
that valve should be like a single lever that turns 1/4 turn

Re: Water question

Reply #15 – July 20, 2012, 10:41:07 pm

Quote from: philtravel – July 20, 2012, 07:25:08 pm

As for the RO I would be concerned about low PH as the PH will drop and the water will be aggressive. You could add stabilizer but I don't think it would be worth the hassle. If you have a AquaHot the RO water could cause rapid deterioration.

The aggressive nature of RO water is one of the reasons I don't recommend the whole house RO system, even though we have one. I would definitely NOT use RO through an Aqua-Hot. To the best of my knowledge the only metal in contact with the water in our coach is in some of the fixtures and the water heater. I am not aware of any copper water pipes in the coach.

We have found that soft water feels better than RO water for bathing. We prefer RO water for drinking.

The RO water has cleaned up a few fixtures in the coach and I am not aware of any damage caused by the pure water.

Filling is very slow, but that has not been a problem in our style of camping. The automatic fill control has operated flawlessly (so far).

Re: Water question

Reply #16 – July 22, 2012, 10:51:17 am

Tell me about the Auto fill Valve. I want to install one, only thing can think of is a Swamp Cooler Fill Valve installed in the tank.

Re: Water question

Reply #17 – July 22, 2012, 11:30:47 am

Quote from: Steve Snow – July 22, 2012, 10:51:17 am

Tell me about the Auto fill Valve. I want to install one, only thing can think of is a Swamp Cooler Fill Valve installed in the tank.

We use the "Automatic control including electronic solenoid and single tank float switch" shown here: RV Water Filter Store: Standard Filter Canisters for Whole RV It works well with the filter system we use.

A picture of a direct port fill system is here: Water Tank Gravity Fill The direct port could include a valve controlled by the float switch. A float switch combined with a direct port into the fresh water tank would make an excellent system for filling the fresh water tank. Rich at the RV Water Filter store could probably help you get a control system that would work well with a direct port fill system. A similar control valve could be used on the conventional connection for shore water.

I think newer coaches have automatic fill switches. Those of us in the Poortravel Club must improvise.

Re: Water question

Reply #18 – July 22, 2012, 01:40:42 pm

@J.D. Installed a whole house RO system last year. Couldn't be happier with it. Water tastes the same (great) everywhere we go. It is slow going to fill the fresh water tank. I did install a bypass for the RO part of the system. That way if we are in a hurry I can fill with fresh water just going through the filters. We generally just do campground to campground so system works pretty well for us. Got everything except the sharkbites and pex from RV Water Filter Store. Highly recommended.

see ya
ken

Re: Water question

Reply #19 – July 22, 2012, 03:11:17 pm

Quote from: kenhat – July 22, 2012, 01:40:42 pm

@J.D. Installed a whole house RO system last year. Couldn't be happier with it. ...
see ya
ken

That's the same system we use. We also used the sequential RO filter pair. We normally leave shore water turned on and dump effluent from RO filters on the ground. The float switch controls the high pressure pump and input valve. We keep a full tank of RO water and are set for about four days of dry camping starting at any time. If conditions require, we can route effluent through the sewer hose. By changing two valves, shore water will flow through the three canister filters and into the house system. That allows relatively fast filling if required.

Re: Water question

Reply #20 – July 22, 2012, 03:18:22 pm

Where did you install the accumulator tank? I installed a similar system in my house from Watts Premiere which has a tank about a foot in diameter and 18" high...
Don

Quote from: kenhat – July 22, 2012, 01:40:42 pm

@J.D. Installed a whole house RO system last year. Couldn't be happier with it. Water tastes the same (great) everywhere we go. It is slow going to fill the fresh water tank. I did install a bypass for the RO part of the system. That way if we are in a hurry I can fill with fresh water just going through the filters. We generally just do campground to campground so system works pretty well for us. Got everything except the sharkbites and pex from RV Water Filter Store. Highly recommended.

see ya
ken

Re: Water question

Reply #21 – July 22, 2012, 03:57:13 pm

Quote from: J. D. Stevens – July 22, 2012, 03:11:17 pm

We normally leave shore water turned on and dump effluent from RO filters on the ground.

Because we do a lot of boondocking I have the effluent hooked up such that it returns to the fresh water tank. That water is still good for showers etc.

Roland

Re: Water question

Reply #22 – July 22, 2012, 05:59:20 pm

Quote from: acousticart – July 22, 2012, 03:18:22 pm

Where did you install the accumulator tank? I installed a similar system in my house from Watts Premiere which has a tank about a foot in diameter and 18" high...
Don

Don,

The system that I installed filters all the fresh water that goes into the fresh water tank. It looks like Ken's system does the same. The "accumulator tank" would be the BIG fresh water tank. When full, we have about 100 gallons of RO water.

Roland,

We use the RO filter on ALL the water coming into the coach. The filtered water goes into the fresh water tank, the effluent waters the local vegetation. If you are filtering only drinking water, putting the effluent into the fresh water tank would work well.

Based on my experience so far, my preference for water treatment would be to: 1) filter through two fiber filters and a charcoal filter; 2) soften all water entering the coach; 3) include an RO filter for drinking, cooking, and ice. (FWIW -- your preferences and experiences are likely to be different -- my preferences may change)

Re: Water question

Reply #23 – July 23, 2012, 10:19:33 pm

Red Tractor: Thanks. It's a regular hose-bibb but it's under the bathroom sink, and clearly labeled. I would not have looked there.
I like this Forum.

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