Filling the fresh water tank .. how do you ?

[myvanrodney]

Hi,

Im just thinking about the best way to fill the water tank. How do you do it?

... blue hose straight in from a site tap (is 10m long enough - dont want to carry loads of awkward pipe around!),
..pour manually from a container (25 litres might take a while),
... do you use one of those custom caps with the quick release fitting?
..how about an inline filter of some sort (is it really necessary!)
.. any other tips and tricks to make life a little easier while travelling

Thanks all !

 

[myvanrodney]

Hi,

Im just thinking about the best way to fill the water tank. How do you do it?

... blue hose straight in from a site tap (is 10m long enough - dont want to carry loads of awkward pipe around!),
..pour manually from a container (25 litres might take a while),
... do you use one of those custom caps with the quick release fitting?
..how about an inline filter of some sort (is it really necessary!)
.. any other tips and tricks to make life a little easier while travelling

Thanks all !

... and!
what maintenance regime (if any) do you follow to ensure the tank remains suitable for drinking water?

 

[Scapa]

... and!
what maintenance regime (if any) do you follow to ensure the tank remains suitable for drinking water?

Hiya to fill the water tank I just use a ‘Colapz’ 7 litre watering can which when collapsed takes up hardly any space and is easy to carry back and forward to any tap. I just fit a short length of hose pipe (about 4-6 inches) onto the spout so that it pushes into the water filler hole in the van. As the van only has a small tank this always seems more than adequate. I have the full hose pipe, special inlet cap etc left over from previous Motorhome but it’s a bit overkill for the Cali.

as for keeping the tank in a healthy state, I use Aqua sterilising tabs once a year, and make sure I only use ‘drinking water’ sources and the above Colapz container for filling (as in never used for anything else) that said we use the Cali all year round so tank frequently in use and water drained and changed if not drawn for a week or two.

cheers

 

[ThomasHJ]

Depends on where you fill it up. Be careful with filling up at sites. People might (mistakenly) use the provided hose to rinse their portapotti's / chemical toilets.

We fill the tank at home, using the garden hose. There's a filler cap you can use to connect the hose to the tank's opening. At sites we usually fill it with a 1.5L plastic bottle. Which works surprisingly well. A few bottles and we're fine for quite a while. But we use the water mainly for brushing our teeth, washing hands, making tea. etc.

To keep it clean, we add a full tube of steradent tablets. (The ones you would use to clean your false teeth). Drop 'm in the tank and add water untill its 3/4th full. Keep 'm there for 24h and drive around a bit. Drain the tank after that. Water tastes like mint for a short while. This is not something I conjured up myself. It was tested by NL's biggest camper club and proven to work well.

There's also solutions where you hang a big bag of water from the van and fill the tank that way, but it always seemed like a hassle to me.

 

[ArunAlec]

Hi,

Im just thinking about the best way to fill the water tank. How do you do it?

... blue hose straight in from a site tap (is 10m long enough - dont want to carry loads of awkward pipe around!),
..pour manually from a container (25 litres might take a while),
... do you use one of those custom caps with the quick release fitting?
..how about an inline filter of some sort (is it really necessary!)
.. any other tips and tricks to make life a little easier while travelling

Thanks all !

At home I use a 25litre water carrier and a 12v submersible pump …..

 

[sidepod]

OH GOD NO, not again!!!!

 

[BeeBee]

At home we use a ‘food quality hose’, from outside tap to van, 10 metres is plenty for our situation on driveway.
At sites we use a Collapsable carrier , when necessary as our fill up at home normally suffices for our trips.
We always empty the tanks after every trip and refill and an annual clean out ( usually Spring time ) with a recommended agent. ( Some use Milton, there are several threads on process. Not difficult to do )

 

[myvanrodney]

OH GOD NO, not again!!!!

yeah sorry, ... didnt do my 'site homework'

 

[Steve1]

Hi,

Im just thinking about the best way to fill the water tank. How do you do it?

... blue hose straight in from a site tap (is 10m long enough - dont want to carry loads of awkward pipe around!),
..pour manually from a container (25 litres might take a while),
... do you use one of those custom caps with the quick release fitting?
..how about an inline filter of some sort (is it really necessary!)
.. any other tips and tricks to make life a little easier while travelling

Thanks all !

We use a normal plastic watering can. The tank is quite small and so we would have to refill about once a day (for 4 of us). Moving the van near a tap once a day is more of a pain than walking a can of water back a few times a day for us.

Because it's a can you can fill directly from the tap (removing any other pipes from it first) and running the tap a bit so you get clean water out.

For cleaning the tap, we empty it out between trips and use puriclean once a year (if I remember).

For cleaning we

 

[dspuk]

Hi,

Im just thinking about the best way to fill the water tank. How do you do it?

... blue hose straight in from a site tap (is 10m long enough - dont want to carry loads of awkward pipe around!),
..pour manually from a container (25 litres might take a while),

These two. 10m is long enough. 5 for most sites. The container does not take that long. We have a 10L one and it takes 5 goes. The tank is 50, not 25L.

We now fill up before we go. 50L weighs 50kg. No great shakes.

Annually just use a Milton or one of the available sterilising powders for caravans.

 

[Steve1]

These two. 10m is long enough. 5 for most sites. The container does not take that long. We have a 10L one and it takes 5 goes. The tank is 50, not 25L.

We now fill up before we go. 50L weighs 50kg. No great shakes.

Annually just use a Milton or one of the available sterilising powders for caravans.

Do you have a different van ? Standard T5, T6 California tank is 25L. Takes just under four 7L watering cans to fill up from completely empty.

 

[dspuk]

Do you have a different van ? Standard T5, T6 California tank is 25L. Takes just under four 7L watering cans to fill up from completely empty.

You are completely right - my bad. I got the numbers wrong. Even better. Only 25 kg to carry from home ;-)

 

[Steve1]

You are completely right - my bad. I got the numbers wrong. Even better. Only 25 kg to carry from home ;-)

Yeh 25kg is insignificant compared to the other weight, I always fill before I leave too.

 

[Viktorgeorge]

These funnels make filling, easier: however you do it (hose, watering can, water bottle etc):

Water Tank Filler Funnel

WE ARE AWAY FOR THE WINTER UNTILL MIDDLE OF MARCH. This is for all those people I see fighting with a flexible funnel in one hand and a container of water in the other. This will hopefully make the whole water filling job a lot easier. 3D printed in...

www.motorhomefun.co.uk

Best camping gadget

We are camping with our fiercely competitive but fun friends in a few weeks. My friend has suggested a competition for the best camping gadget (and I’m cheating by asking for your help). It can be the smallest thing, as long as it doesn’t come as standard with the van (they are not...

vwcaliforniaclub.com

Make sure you get the correct one for your California - there are two options depending on model year.

 

[altvic]

Depends on where you fill it up. Be careful with filling up at sites. People might (mistakenly) use the provided hose to rinse their portapotti's / chemical toilets.

We fill the tank at home, using the garden hose. There's a filler cap you can use to connect the hose to the tank's opening. At sites we usually fill it with a 1.5L plastic bottle. Which works surprisingly well. A few bottles and we're fine for quite a while. But we use the water mainly for brushing our teeth, washing hands, making tea. etc.

To keep it clean, we add a full tube of steradent tablets. (The ones you would use to clean your false teeth). Drop 'm in the tank and add water untill its 3/4th full. Keep 'm there for 24h and drive around a bit. Drain the tank after that. Water tastes like mint for a short while. This is not something I conjured up myself. It was tested by NL's biggest camper club and proven to work well.

There's also solutions where you hang a big bag of water from the van and fill the tank that way, but it always seemed like a hassle to me.

The blue water carrier and filler has a gizmo to hang from the top rail. It does work but pita to faff around. Also, the container does not collapse well so takes up space along with the flexi hose and hanging ‘belt’. Your solution with collapsing water can seems ideal and not extortionately priced.

 

[myvanrodney]

These funnels make filling, easier: however you do it (hose, watering can, water bottle etc):

Water Tank Filler Funnel

WE ARE AWAY FOR THE WINTER UNTILL MIDDLE OF MARCH. This is for all those people I see fighting with a flexible funnel in one hand and a container of water in the other. This will hopefully make the whole water filling job a lot easier. 3D printed in...

www.motorhomefun.co.uk

Best camping gadget

We are camping with our fiercely competitive but fun friends in a few weeks. My friend has suggested a competition for the best camping gadget (and I’m cheating by asking for your help). It can be the smallest thing, as long as it doesn’t come as standard with the van (they are not...

vwcaliforniaclub.com

Make sure you get the correct one for your California - there are two options depending on model year.

brilliant thanks!

 

[flying banana]

I find a tap,fill it. Then use it. This isn't really a question is it?

 

[myvanrodney]

I find a tap,fill it. Then use it. This isn't really a question is it?

well I seem to have received plenty of very helpful answers, so yes it is a question.

 

[Justinitus1972]

We have a 7.5m magic extending hose from EBay (about £6 iirc) that we use for initial tank filling, then a Colapz 7L watering can for top ups.

Our Colapz watering can came with a rubber extension piece for the spout and fits very nicely into the tank filler with no spills.

 

[RockinNRollin]

I carry a short length of food grade blue hose with a hose lock tap connector fitted and adaptors; I can always connect directly to the tap on the campsite then without worrying about where the site’s hose has been. There’s usually a tap somewhere where you can pull up next to, either on the pitch or near the toilets (for tent campers). I fill up and find with three of us that’ll last 3 days. I have a longer length at home which stretches to our outside tap so I can fill up at home easily too. I always whizz the hose around my head after to make sure the water has been removed before storage. Don’t use your garden hose - I cut ours recently to “borrow” a short length for a project and the inside of the pipe was covered in slime, probably expected as water sits in it through the year.

 

[andrew bazeley]

Whatever the filling device, I have a lot of trouble with the lockable tank filler lid. They may have changed (mine is 2008), but locking it takes four or five attempts to get it right. It's like a petrol filler cap, with an ignition-type key (kept under the dashboard)

 

[ThomasHJ]

I find a tap,fill it. Then use it. This isn't really a question is it?

I'd say this isn't really a (useful) answer. You have the option of not responding if you are irritated by the question and feel you have nothing to add. Try it!

 

[ALTYGEZZER555]

Hi,

Im just thinking about the best way to fill the water tank. How do you do it?

... blue hose straight in from a site tap (is 10m long enough - dont want to carry loads of awkward pipe around!),
..pour manually from a container (25 litres might take a while),
... do you use one of those custom caps with the quick release fitting?
..how about an inline filter of some sort (is it really necessary!)
.. any other tips and tricks to make life a little easier while travelling

Thanks all !

I've tried a few different ways including lengthy hose etc but not wanting to take up valuable space I tried a clear 10L collapsible water carrier which has a handle and a small funnel with a short tail pipe. I got these from TEMU.com. The carrier cost £2.47 and the funnel £1.27 and take up next to no space at all! Well worth a try. The TEMU site is superb, you could spend hours looking at the vast assortment of very inexpensive gadgets!

 

[jts46]

Just use normal garden hose

 

[GranddadBeattie]

We have a 1 gallon water bottle that fits between the units and passenger seat. A funnel with 6 - 8 inch hose attached does to aid filling.
Fill at home, top up as and when then drain down when we hit home again. Never treated a tank in 55 years, don't make life more difficult than it already is.

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