Question about best side for water and electrical hookups

musigenesis · 10-11-2019, 09:20 AM

I understand that RVs typically have electrical and water hookups on the driver's side, and that RV parks are usually set up for this. Is this also true for the water dumps (gray and black water tanks)? Should these tanks generally be placed on the driver's side as well?

My current plans include having a gray water tank on the passenger side, and I'm wondering if I should invert my layout and have it on the driver's side instead. It wouldn't matter except I have a side emergency exit door and my overall layout is kind of affected by that.

PNW_Steve · 10-11-2019, 09:31 AM

The majority of the campgrounds and RV parks will have all of your hookups on the drivers side.

Or if you want my auto-correct's version you will have all of your hookers on the drivers side

Gotta love auto-correct

The ideal location would be on the drivers side forward of your drives.

I carry enough water and waste hose as well as power cord to accommodate the rare occasion that I needed to hook up on the passenger side. I never used it at an RV park. I ran into dump stations and hooked up at someones house.

musigenesis · 10-11-2019, 09:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PNW_Steve

The ideal location would be on the drivers side forward of your drives.

Forward of my wheels? Hmm, my plan is to have my shower just behind the rear wheel, and then have the gray water tank underneath the bus and behind (or possibly underneath) the shower, so the tank would be more towards the back of the bus. Is this likely to cause problems?

I should have thought about this more earlier, but I wasn't expecting to have my floor repair happen so quickly (after lunch today).

Drew Bru · 10-11-2019, 09:45 AM

Dump stations seem to be universally set up for having the grey water on the driver's side, but our tank and drain are on the passenger's side. My solution is to chuck the drain hose under the bus and put the rock (there's always been a rock to hold the drain cover open I guess?) over the handle of the hose to anchor it in case the rush of water pushes it out of the drain. I've only had to use the extra extension hose once, otherwise the single hose has been long enough. We only dump once every 10 days or so, so it's not really a big hassle and the trade-off of having the layout we want is worth it to us.

musigenesis · 10-11-2019, 09:49 AM

Man, I've been settled on one particular layout in my head for six months now - so hard to suddenly have to adjust to flipping it.

Drew Bru · 10-11-2019, 09:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by musigenesis

Man, I've been settled on one particular layout in my head for six months now - so hard to suddenly have to adjust to flipping it.

That was the case with us as well, it would have been an ordeal. Maybe you could run a 3" PVC line under the bus to the driver's side? We've been fine with just using the stinky slinky though.

Gustav · 10-11-2019, 10:30 AM

You will be fine running your grey water under the bus like Dry Brew suggested. It's only @ 8 ft farther. Rest easy and get your floor done.

musigenesis · 10-11-2019, 10:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gustav

You will be fine running your grey water under the bus like Dry Brew suggested. It's only @ 8 ft farther. Rest easy and get your floor done.

I'm actually going to flip it and put my shower on the driver's side, no biggie. It will also have the advantage of not having the fuel pipe in the way of anything.

ol trunt · 10-11-2019, 11:25 AM

My layout is much like you propose in that the shower and it's separate 7 gal grey tank and the 27 gal black tank are all behind the axle centered between the frame rails. I've never had a problem with the tanks catching on anything but I am careful about entering steep drive aprains at an angle to allow one set of tandems to help boost the tanks upward as soon as possible.

My water inlet is on the drivers side but the electric hookup and tank discharge are on the passenger side. Rather than use a stinky slinky I installed a macerator and use a 5/8" garden hose to drain the tanks. The garden hose is much easier to clean out and store than the nasty slinky and makes worrying about where to park a non issue.
Jack

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o1marc · 10-11-2019, 12:09 PM

The only difference is 8' of hose.

musigenesis · 10-11-2019, 12:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by musigenesis

I'm actually going to flip it and put my shower on the driver's side, no biggie. It will also have the advantage of not having the fuel pipe in the way of anything.

Actually, I just checked and the exhaust pipe runs over on the driver's side and is right in the way of my shower/tank combo plan. So back to the passenger side it goes.

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