water tank angle?

[turf]

i decided to redo my water tank. if move the tank, i can free up some extra storage space, So this afternoon, i cut the lines and pulled the tank out of the bus.

i should pull the tank out once a year, there were lots of dirt and bugs in the bottom of the tank. here is 5 years of dirt and flies.



so after i cleaned that out, i was looking at the fill, vent, and drain holes on the tank.

if i mount the tank at a bit of an angle, the drain is lower than it is now, the fill is higher than it is now. it looks like i could use a few more gallons than i get now, and it will pump more water out of the tank at the end of the season.

has anyone mounted a tank like this? bad idea? why bother? good idea? share your opinions please!

[Iceni John]

That should work. Why wouldn't it? I've slightly tilted my 115-gallon grey tank to help it empty fully, even if the bus isn't level. Whatever you decide to do, just mount it as securely as you can - water is heavy!

Why do you have dirt and flies in a water tank? How are they getting in?

John

[turf]

the only way into the tank is through the gravity fill. i have been forgetful on replacing the tank cap more than once. i'm lucky that my fill cap is chained to the inlet or i would have lost the cap a long time ago.

i also live a mile off of a paved road, so my first and last mile of driving is always dusty.

here's my fill cap - dirt and bugs courtesy of a forgetful owner.

[turf]

made some progress on it today. thankful for all the scrap i have around here and didnt have to go to the hardware store. yet.

i found a water filter to add to the system, and i'm going to be more careful of that cap! no more flies for this year!

did i say i love my kreg jig? you can build anything!

I padded the boards with an old inner tube to cushion the tank a bit. then i traced out the profile for the uprights that will hold the tank. when i put screws in the floor and joists, i think this will hold the tank pretty solid.

[Robin97396]

You've talked about that Kreg jig enough that I bought one since then.

[turf]

glad you got a Kreg jig Robin! i hope you find it as useful as i do.

gratuitous Kreg jig shot




my water pump has been ungodly loud and this is a good time to do something about it. i googled "how to quiet a water pump" and came up with this trick. to add some flexible tubing on either side of the pump in a loop, to absorb the percussion of the pump.

it works! holy crap! it works! the water pump used to compete with the engine for noise, now you can barely hear if it runs or not.



it's not done. just hooked together for trying out.



and i made a trip to the hardware store and got all the right parts! that never happens. but all is well because I broke one of the plastic fittings over tightening it requiring another trip to town tomorrow.

[Robin97396]

You can NOT be fixing things with one trip to the store. You'll make everybody else feel bad.

Nice job. That's what's so cool about skoolies. Each little part come from your choices. My pump is loud too, but I ignore it like so many other things in my life.

[turf]

i didn't do a before vid of the water pump but trust me, it was bad!

now with 10' of vinyl hose in the loop the noise is almost gone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epS4HPsibDE

[Jolly Roger]

Depending on your pipe size at your pump 1/2"-3/4". The big box stores sell stainless steel braided hoses that are 10-12" long for water heater connections that cost a little more than the vinyl tubing but way outlast the tubing and the pump.
And I don't know if the box stores sell anything like them but a commercial supply store for refrigerant piping sell something called a cush clamp (cushion clamp) that is a split ring style anchor to secure the piping that has rubber in the clamp to absorb vibration from pumps and equipment

[turf]

the pex is hard and was vibrating against the plywood. like a guitar sound box, the vibrations against the plywood really made some noise.

here is the what it looks like now. the coil of vinyl tube was 10'. almost 3' are on the inlet side of the pump, the rest on the outlet side. the transition from 1/2" pex to 1/2" id tube was easy with a 1/2" pex x barb fitting.



the uprights are solid and the tank isn;t going anywhere.



i still have some finishing touches to work on. at least one more trip to the hardware store. i cut out a cover for the tank to dress up the area a bit.

moved the water tank, quieted the pump, and installed a filter! all big improvements from before.

[turf]

nothing to do with plumbing, but everything to do with the back door area.

i switched tv mounts and now have indoor / outdoor tv

[PNW_Steve]

Good job on quieting the water pump!

I did something similar on my last bus. Made HUGE difference. I did also carry it a step further and installed a 1 gallon accumulator tank at the end of the flex tubing. That made it just a bit quieter and reduced the short cycling of the pump.

As far as the water tank bugs, I would suspect that they could be coming down the vent.

[turf]

thanks

after i boxed the pump in with the last board, the pump is almost undetectable when it kicks in. I'm amazed at the difference. so much better!