moving a sink

[jndonnelly]

I just bought a bus that was partially converted, and my intention was to move the sink from next to the shower to right across from it on the other side of the bus, but I came accross this statement in another post:

Originally Posted by SeanF

Consider that the shower drain can't really be much higher than floor level, so without pumping your gray water, your shower location will likely dictate where your graywater tank will be located. If that's the case, the graywater from your sink(s) has to get there by some path via gravity (1" of drop for every foot of horizontal travel, IIRC), and if you have to cross frame members or axles, it can get interesting. Freeze-proofing any exterior pipes might also be a consideration.

so, what are the problems with changing my layout, and how do I get around them?

[lornaschinske]

Can you drain into your black tank? Alternatively, can you run the drain under the bus into the grey tank? OR, put a small secondary grey tank in for your sink (smallest that you can get and then plumb into the main grey drain coming out of the tank... don't forget to put a shut off valve to where you can reach it for the small tank. This is one of those situations where a picture or two is worth a thousand words!


David said it's 1" drop for every 10 ft of run. And that's for residential. Did you know that you can drain into your grey tank from below. The sink will drain slower but water will seek it's own level. The reason for the drop is for the sediment in the water. The sediment will clog your drains. BTW, you can lose the "P" trap under your sink if you are making a "p" to avoid the beams when crossing over from one side of the bus to the other. You need to add a way to drain the crossover if you are planning on being in freezing weather or need to winterize. Also a good way to flush the crossover if need be. Or you can add a sump pump.

[jndonnelly]

I moved out the minifridge and this is what's behind it. Those pipes go up into the showerhead, and the lower pipe runs across the bottom into the fresh water tank:



Here's a shot of the grey tank, starts at the toilet, then off to the sink:


Moving the grey tank hose and the water pipe around seems pretty straightforward, so my main concern is disrupting the shower setup. Since I didn't build any of this I can only guess the previous owner put the pump up at the showerhead, which is why the pipes stop off there before going to the sink. If that's the case, would this mean I'd need a second pump if I move the sink to across from the shower (above the fresh water tank)? Or could I just extend the hot/cold leads under the bus? seams like the latter solution would decrease water pressure to the sink.

Also, I'm starting to think he didn't hook up the water heater correctly, because why would there only be one pipe leading from the tank?

Granted we haven't had the chance to fill up the tank yet to test out the sink, it's possible only one side of the faucet works...

[jndonnelly]

Btw, those black wires are leading to outlets, there's three outlets on this thing... and the copper lead is to the stovetop.

[bus-ted]

I second what Smitty said- especially regarding the electric box. That looks dangerous as hell. Aside from that, I cringed when I saw how they cut through one of the ribs in routing the plumbing under the bus. A classic case of poor planning. Yeah, rip it out and do it right.

[jndonnelly]

yeah, initially we were intending to buy an empty bus, bus since this had so much stuff already installed, I figured it would be a good deal to rip everything out and use the parts for my own design. I agree about the terrible decisions they made, though in their defense they were only using it to cook BBQs out of. that they had a shower and sink in at all is pretty impressive...

So I found the pump, it's resting on top of the water heater, which is directly under the fuse box. all those pipes needs to be replaced, and now I'm nearly positive only one side of the sink works.

Any recommendations on a book that's really thorough about installing RV plumbing? tell me if these are any good:

Select and Convert Your Bus into a Motorhome on a Shoestring by Ben Rosander
Plumbing for Bus Nuts by Dave Galey

in fact any books about anything skoolie that anyone can recommend would be awesome...

[Stuff]

scary! looks like someone did it the easy and simple and stupid way.

[jndonnelly]

fair enough... thanks!