Water research for RVs

[polish_texan]

Hello Im a grad student from Lamar University doing research on water. I wanted to know how water is used in RVs of all sizes. Refilling, disposal, cost and problems if any!
Best!

MB

[Groover]

You might want to check other forums. For example, my class A carries 150% more water than my old truck camper did and you don't even feel the weight in the class A with its centrally mounted tank and auto leveling suspension. In the truck camper I had the holding tanks were behing the back bumper under the 4ft out the back overhang. When they were full the vehicle was not very comfortable to drive. I was much more concerned with finding places to dump while driving it. Many small campers have even more limited water facilities.

[Groover]

The main issues that I have encountered with fresh water are:
1) It doesn't taste good, largely because all public water has to be laced with toxic stuff to kill any germs

2) So much pressue that it will explode things in the RV.

3) Limited availability. For example, I stayed in a 400 unit campground in Yellowstone that as far as I could tell only had one tap. But this generally is not much of a problem

I solve all three of those issues by leaving home with a full tank and with rare exceptions I make that last the entire trip.

Waste water is another issue since I mostly boondock and don't have a sewage hookup at home. Fortunately, I often pass through Alabama on the way home and most of their rest stops have dump stations which I do take advantage of. While I don't dump grey water on the ground in a campsite I have been known to occasionly find a deserted area on the side of a road to take a dump, but only the grey water. Since I live on a farm anything still in the tank when I get home gets dumped in the yard. Any black water that makes it home I have to dump into a bucket and transfer it to a toilet in the mud room. My dogs enforce this policy, they find even rinse water from the black tank to have desirable odors. Needless to say, I really try to avoid bringing much home. Some truckstops have dump stations for a nominal fee that I have used when there are no better alternatives. Love's comes to mind.

[Dutch_12078]

polish_texan wrote:

Another question I have is that does the water storage/carrying issue prevent people from traveling to certain areas? Like because of the cost of carrying a lot of water or proximity to a camp site determine where you can go?

Where we go has never been based on our water storage capacity. If we're off grid with no local fresh water source available, we take a couple of 7 gallon water carriers as needed to the nearest source with our car and fill them up. Our motorhome's water system is setup such that with the twist of a couple of valves we can use the onboard pump to transfer the water from the portable jugs into the storage tank. With that setup, we can stay indefinitely subject only to our waste tanks capacity. And the waste tanks have their own portable container solution.

[Tinstar]

I usually sanitize my 90-gallon water tank once a year. I don't mind using my onboard water supply for drinking as my filter is (this is a copy and paste) "granular activated carbon filter that reduces bad taste and odor of chlorine as well as bacteria, viruses, cysts, asbestos, mold, algae, sediment, dirt, rust, limescale, sand, silt, and other common impurities. The Everpure EV959206 is also enhanced with bacteriostatic media to limit the passage of bacteria that may already exist in the incoming water plus inhibit the growth of bacteria within the filter". Most of the time, I use bottled water and use my onboard water for washing, bathing, etc.

After my water is gray or black, I will dump into a park septic or my home septic. I also spray clean the inside of my black tank about once a year.

[msmith1199]

polish_texan wrote:

jplante4 wrote:
Most travel trailers, fifth wheel campers and motor homes have a fresh water tank and a "city water" hookup. If you pull into a campground site that has water available at the site, most people use that water through the city water hookup for at least washing and bathing. Most campers will use bottled or filter campground water for drinking and cooking. Some people install an in-line particulate filter on the campground water.

Carrying water in the fresh water tank is expensive. At 8 pounds per gallon, that's 600-800 pounds that you need to haul up hills etc, so most people in the above group just put a small amount or water in the tank to use for flushing the toilet on the road.

I would say 60-70 percent of people RVing use water in this manner.

The rest fill their fresh water tank and stay at sites that have no city water available. These campers are very cognizant of their water usage, and have adopted habits to make the amount of on-board water last as much as 2 weeks.

Thank you jplante4! So a lot of what you said is what I was wondering about and you cleared it up. A few RV owners Ive spoken to in person also said they only drink bottled water instead of campground water.
Another question I have is that does the water storage/carrying issue prevent people from traveling to certain areas? Like because of the cost of carrying a lot of water or proximity to a camp site determine where you can go?

I usually don't drink the water out of the RV for a variety of reasons. Mostly because you don't know the quality of the system you are getting it from. And if I get it from home we are on a well and have crappy water that we don't drink even at home, so I don't drink it in the RV.

Carrying water can be an issue depending on type of RV. My first RV was a 32 foot gas rig and had a 100 gallon water tank that was under the bed at the back of the motorhome. Meaning it was entirely behind the rear axle. When I filled that tank the steering became a lot less stable because of the weight removed from the front, and I could feel the loss of power in having to carry the 800 pounds of water. Now I have a 35 foot diesel motorhome and it has a 100 gallon tank located between the axles and I try and always keep it full when on the road as the extra weight makes for a smoother ride and I can't detect any loss of power. I know people who tow travel trailers with half ton trucks and they also carry very little water because of the weight issue.

[4x4van]

We camp in both full hookup campgrounds and boondocking (no hookups). In both cases, I always carry a full tank of water (full hookup campgrounds may have a failure of their water system and I don't want to be caught without any). The difference in gas mileage carrying an extra 6-700 pounds is not even measurable in my 20,000 lb class A RV. If the hookups exist, I will use them. We bath, cook, and drink either from our fresh tank or from the campground hookup, whichever is available.

[femailyetti]

My house in Florida has a septic tank and a 130 foot deep well. I fill the tanks with the well water, camp and drain into a pipe that has a screw in plug in to my septic tank. I only have three people living in the house or using the motor home. the house has a 15.k gallon septic tank and a 30 by 40 foot above ground drainage field, The water table is fairly high where I live

[polish_texan]

jplante4 wrote:
Most travel trailers, fifth wheel campers and motor homes have a fresh water tank and a "city water" hookup. If you pull into a campground site that has water available at the site, most people use that water through the city water hookup for at least washing and bathing. Most campers will use bottled or filter campground water for drinking and cooking. Some people install an in-line particulate filter on the campground water.

Carrying water in the fresh water tank is expensive. At 8 pounds per gallon, that's 600-800 pounds that you need to haul up hills etc, so most people in the above group just put a small amount or water in the tank to use for flushing the toilet on the road.

I would say 60-70 percent of people RVing use water in this manner.

The rest fill their fresh water tank and stay at sites that have no city water available. These campers are very cognizant of their water usage, and have adopted habits to make the amount of on-board water last as much as 2 weeks.

Thank you jplante4! So a lot of what you said is what I was wondering about and you cleared it up. A few RV owners Ive spoken to in person also said they only drink bottled water instead of campground water.
Another question I have is that does the water storage/carrying issue prevent people from traveling to certain areas? Like because of the cost of carrying a lot of water or proximity to a camp site determine where you can go?

[polish_texan]

RLS7201 wrote:
I can't help myself. What do you polish? Cars, furniture, RVs, air planes, etc. Or could it be your of the same heritage as my European born wife? But that would be with a capital "P". GRIN

do widzenia
Richard

lol yes I am Polish and czesc!

[polish_texan]

wa8yxm wrote:
There are different answers, I will try to give a few

Myself
I bring park (City or well) water in via a home made activated charcoal filter. This (And the filter floos) take care of most of the bad stuff in the water. (But not all) Water for drinking and ice making is then run through a PUR filer in the fridge.

Water for dish washing, Showering, Toilets, Other cleaning is not additionally filtered.

Fresh water storage is sanatized occasionally by adding bleach 1/4 cup er 15 gallons, and then rinsing with baking soda and water and then clear water.

Some folks. Only drink bottled water.. Some folks do not filter.

Waste (Disposal) Excess fresh Well I no longer have that issue but back when I8 did Dumnp on well drained ground. Very few restrictions on dumping fresh water

"Used" water is divided into 3 categories
Black This is from the toilets
Gray Other waste (non toilet) INCLUDING the Kitchen sink
Wash Other Waste NOT including toilets or the kitchen sink

Regulations vary but in some places WASH can be dumped on the grass.. IN a much smaller number of places Gray can too but I don't.

Black ALWAYS goes into a sewer system (or a pump out truck from Porta-potties-R-Us) No place allows you to dump black on the ground.

How to dump:
Many (Most I suspect) use what we call a "Stinky Slinky" it is a 3" hose specifically designed for the job. Fast, Efficent. but some don't like dealing with it.

Also sometimes you have issues such as a HOLE that sticks up out of the ground (Sewer inlet) so high it's ABOVE your dump connection... So. I also have a macerator pump. this is a 12 volt electric pump that feeds a common 3/4 inch hose coupling,, that in terns goes to a far Distant (up to 50' in my case) or elevated hole in the ground.

Treating the tank with chemicals... I do not, Many do. Found the only real advantage to the chemicals is to the seller's profit figures.

Thank you so much!
I understand a lot more from your post now and I absolutely love the term "sticky slinky"! That made my day!

[polish_texan]

jwoods61us wrote:
So seriously OP, what is your research question? Your query seems more like that of an undergrad than a grad student. This forum could be a wealth of information, but it could also become a black hole of conflicting opinions without a more specific query. Please, share more detail per your project and I'm certain the members of this forum will be more than happy to help.

Sorry for not phrasing the question in a more clear way. So I'm from Lamar University doing a joint research project with Rice University on water quality and management. We are working with a team of engineers to look into different segments of the population where water quality/management is an issue. We hypothesize that RVs are a possible segment where we can make some improvements.
I want to know what are the problem if any people have with water quality/management when it comes to their RVs.
What are the costs of equipment, water, maintenance?
Also just want to hear peoples stories of their issues, solutions and best practices!
Thanks again for all the feedback and my apologizes again for not being clear!

[Passin_Thru]

I give my chickens a bath as they live in mine.

[polish_texan]

valhalla360 wrote:
A little more framing of the question would be useful.

Your question is equivilent to "I'm researching medicine. Tell me about it."

...are you researching, cancer, heart disease, ancient medical techniques, folk medicine, dermitology, protctology...you don't give us enough info to give you a meaninful answer.

Sorry about that, I only have experience with toy haulers and conversion vans. I don't have much knowledge about RVs and the process of how water is utilized and disposed of etc

[jwoods61us]

So seriously OP, what is your research question? Your query seems more like that of an undergrad than a grad student. This forum could be a wealth of information, but it could also become a black hole of conflicting opinions without a more specific query. Please, share more detail per your project and I'm certain the members of this forum will be more than happy to help.