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Old 09-12-2017, 07:35 PM   #1
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Smile What size water tank to get?

Does anyone have any suggestions on what size fresh water tank and grey water tank to get? We are planning on traveling full time and were thinking 55gal would be big enough, but we are still unsure. There will be a shower and one kitchen sink in our bus. Any tips would be helpful! Thanks

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Old 09-12-2017, 08:09 PM   #2
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Does anyone have any suggestions on what size fresh water tank and grey water tank to get? We are planning on traveling full time and were thinking 55gal would be big enough, but we are still unsure. There will be a shower and one kitchen sink in our bus. Any tips would be helpful! Thanks
Someone said 7 gal/person/day, but they could get down to 5 gal ea/day.

Dish washing eats a lot, so paper plates, etc.
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Old 09-12-2017, 08:17 PM   #3
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alot depends on your usage as mentioned and also how often you plan to be near civilization where you can fill it up.. (and deoends on your waste tank sizes too..).

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Old 09-26-2017, 09:27 PM   #4
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..and whether or not you have a clothes or dishwasher on board.
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Old 09-26-2017, 10:25 PM   #5
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If you base your calculation on 3 gallons per day, per person ...

85 Gallons would allow a couple to be off-grid for two weeks.

Juggle that figure up or down to account for your own patterns of usage, travel and number of people. If you have kids you will use more, but there is plenty of slack in that number to accommodate water saving techniques.
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Old 09-27-2017, 10:42 AM   #6
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While boondocking in my last bus we were conservative but not crazy so and we used 5 gallons per person per day. That includes daily showers.

Edit:Oops...
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Old 09-27-2017, 10:53 AM   #7
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Put in the biggest that will fit. Easy! When have you ever heard about an RVer or vandweller complaining they had too much water/waste/propane/electricity/etc. Nah, didn't think so either. If you have space for a 100-gallon tank, do it. Anything much over 100 gallons should probably best be split into two tanks to avoid problems with sloshing and with straining the walls. FYI, I have two water tanks totaling 220 gallons, plus 180 gallons of waste tanks - big is good! I plan for at least a month's self-sufficiency for one person off-grid.

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Old 09-27-2017, 11:23 AM   #8
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Put in the biggest that will fit. Easy! When have you ever heard about an RVer or vandweller complaining they had too much water/waste/propane/electricity/etc. Nah, didn't think so either. If you have space for a 100-gallon tank, do it. Anything much over 100 gallons should probably best be split into two tanks to avoid problems with sloshing and with straining the walls. FYI, I have two water tanks totaling 220 gallons, plus 180 gallons of waste tanks - big is good! I plan for at least a month's self-sufficiency for one person off-grid.

John
Good advice.

I carried over 200 gallons in my last bus.
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Old 09-27-2017, 11:47 AM   #9
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I would calculate at least 5gals a day per person. You might not use it but water keep humans healthy and clean.

It really depends for me what kind of water sources I have at a camp. I like to camp by rivers and creeks then I will use that water for much of my washing and bathing.
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Old 09-27-2017, 12:17 PM   #10
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i like to camp by rivers and creeks then i will use that water for much of my washing and bathing.
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Old 09-27-2017, 12:25 PM   #11
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well, when you reach a certain human density in water it is not washing anymore. but it is water.
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Old 09-27-2017, 04:40 PM   #12
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My 2c, You said your going to be traveling a lot, does that mean your going to be staying at places with hookups or boondocking? If hookups or water spigots will be avail then small tanks are ok, when traveling no matter how big of tanks you have you would only want to carry enough to get you to the next area & then top off just before going off grid, 100 plus gallons is a lot of weight to carry down paved roads if you don't need it, nice capacity once you get there.
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Old 09-27-2017, 10:07 PM   #13
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As you may know we had a a hurricane hit us here in FL recently. I filled up several containers and we were without power for just under a week. I know how much water we used and divided it by the days we were without power. I figure we used about 6 gallons of water a day (two people and two dogs). So we can use that in our calculations on how big our tank should be.
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