Looking at Tanks is Driving me to (not) DRINK!

[Ghaniba]

On and off for the past few weeks I've been looking at water tanks. Fresh, Grey, Black, Blue purple pink, my god, kill me now.

With safe measurements, I come up with this:

Drivers Side:
144" Length
23" Wide
14" Height

Passenger side:
75" Length
23" Wide
14" Height

A rendering, for those folks it helps



There are perfect tanks that will fit awesome, but I'll end up spending $1400 before shipping, which could easily push to $2k. That's just stupid. The tanks in the camper I bought (to salvage tanks/windows/etc from) are too wide to fit under the sides of the bus.

My hopes were to have 100G fresh, 60->100G grey, and 40-50 Black, attempting to stay at, or above the 60/40 rule.

I'm up in CT - I've reached out to a couple "roto molder" places within an hour or so from me, in hopes THAT is the answer.

I guess, this post is as much rant as it is hope for answers.
Dave aka Ghan

[Drew Bru]

Hopefully the Rotomold shop will be able to do something for you. We picked our tanks up at a RV surplus place in Indiana. I want to say the 100gal fresh tanks was around $175 and the 67 gal gray tank was a little less.....just for frame of reference.

Maybe there's a RV surplus place in your region? We drove a few hours to get the tanks but I can't imagine what shipping would be on big tanks like that.

[Ghaniba]

Originally Posted by Drew Bru

Hopefully the Rotomold shop will be able to do something for you. We picked our tanks up at a RV surplus place in Indiana. I want to say the 100gal fresh tanks was around $175 and the 67 gal gray tank was a little less.....just for frame of reference.

Maybe there's a RV surplus place in your region? We drove a few hours to get the tanks but I can't imagine what shipping would be on big tanks like that.

Prices for shipping I did see were near 30-50%!

[Drew Bru]

If you're able to go with 26" instead of 23", this is basically the tank we got. This place looks like it's got free shipping?
https://www.recpro.com/100-gallon-rv...-and-bpa-free/

[Willie_McCoy]

Originally Posted by Drew Bru

If you're able to go with 26" instead of 23", this is basically the tank we got. This place looks like it's got free shipping?
https://www.recpro.com/100-gallon-rv...-and-bpa-free/

Thats the tank I'm getting in the next week or so. Fits perfectly under the master bed in the rear and won't block the access hatch for the top of the fuel tank.

Plan to get the black + grey tanks there too, but not 100% sure of the dimensions yet.

The shipping is free as far as I can tell.

[Danjo]

Originally Posted by Ghaniba

On and off for the past few weeks I've been looking at water tanks. Fresh, Grey, Black, Blue purple pink, my god, kill me now.

With safe measurements, I come up with this:

Drivers Side:
144" Length
23" Wide
14" Height

Passenger side:
75" Length
23" Wide
14" Height

A rendering, for those folks it helps

Attachment 37392

There are perfect tanks that will fit awesome, but I'll end up spending $1400 before shipping, which could easily push to $2k. That's just stupid. The tanks in the camper I bought (to salvage tanks/windows/etc from) are too wide to fit under the sides of the bus.

My hopes were to have 100G fresh, 60->100G grey, and 40-50 Black, attempting to stay at, or above the 60/40 rule.

I'm up in CT - I've reached out to a couple "roto molder" places within an hour or so from me, in hopes THAT is the answer.

I guess, this post is as much rant as it is hope for answers.
Dave aka Ghan

That big one would be 200 gallons and potentially weigh 1600 pounds when full?

[Ghaniba]

Originally Posted by Drew Bru

If you're able to go with 26" instead of 23", this is basically the tank we got. This place looks like it's got free shipping?
https://www.recpro.com/100-gallon-rv...-and-bpa-free/

Yep, this one has been on my short list for Fresh water. Anyone have any concerns of contamination mounting a fresh water near to a grey/black? In a perfect world, I'd like to have -all- the water tanks on one side, so the weight balance with the fuel tank would be semi-near. Putting the black tank on the passenger side (the smaller section) would be fine for balance and easier for space, however the drain situation to be built would be way more funky, and I do believe, not worth the effort. Putting two of those 100G tanks on the drivers side (144" area) would still leave 63" for a black tank and piping, which might be perfect. Thoughts? Obviously, venting of the tanks would be completely separate (grey/black may be shared, I'd expect) but any other concerns of localized contamination?



Dave aka Ghan

[Drew Bru]

I can't think of any reasons cross contamination would be an issue, they're separate systems altogether. We had to run the fresh water line (PEX) across the bus to be able to feed the sink and the shower. We also put the grey tank on the opposite side of where the dump station insists the drain be (ours is on the passenger side), so I run the drain hose under the bus to the correct side. All this to say, I'm aware of funky pipe routing issues, they go with the territory.

[alpine44]

Originally Posted by Drew Bru

If you're able to go with 26" instead of 23", this is basically the tank we got. This place looks like it's got free shipping?
https://www.recpro.com/100-gallon-rv...-and-bpa-free/

recpro sells the tanks from Elkhart Plastics Inc. (EPI), including special order items.

Here are the links to EPI's products:

Fresh water tanks

Holding tanks

[Ghaniba]

Well, I pulled the trigger. 2 100's for Fresh and Waste, and one 32g waste.


This should all fit on the drivers side, keeping the weight on the opposite side of the bus as the fuel. Still to be determined if it'll fit vertically or if I can figure out to lay them horizontally, but that's minimal and will be determined during fabrication!

I waited until this morning, to give the roto molders a chance, but got nothing but crickets over here. I'm sure I'll hear from them 2 months from now, eager to help me!


Dave aka Ghan

[Drew Bru]

Originally Posted by Ghaniba

Well, I pulled the trigger. 2 100's for Fresh and Waste, and one 32g waste.

Attachment 37494
This should all fit on the drivers side, keeping the weight on the opposite side of the bus as the fuel. Still to be determined if it'll fit vertically or if I can figure out to lay them horizontally, but that's minimal and will be determined during fabrication!

I waited until this morning, to give the roto molders a chance, but got nothing but crickets over here. I'm sure I'll hear from them 2 months from now, eager to help me!


Dave aka Ghan

You're on your way to the exciting adventure of plumbing a school bus! We have no black tank, as we us a composting toilet. But our grey tank has a 3" drain that a standard waste valve connects to, like on the 32gal tank that you ordered. Is your intention to plumb waste water to the 100 gal grey tank, then drain that into the 32gal waste tank when you dump at the dump station?


FWIW a lot of people get concerned about weight distribution and water, but we drive with a full 100gal tank on the driver's side (opposite the fuel tank) and it hasn't shown any performance issues. Biggest concern to be was making sure the tank was boxed in well and secured so that in the event of a very sudden stop, 800lbs of water doesn't sweep me away!

[PatrickBaptist]

Maybe search CL for some tanks, I parted out 2 RVs and sold a set out of one RV and kept the other. Funny the young couple that bought my 2 tanks were converting a bus as well. Sold the tanks for $60 for the pair, they were just 20gal black and grey tanks but if you find someone parting out RVs they will be much more affordable.
I was very eager to get rid of them as I'd imagine anyone else would too especially if they have no use for em.

[kazetsukai]

I used an array of 6x 13 gallon tanks for fresh water for 78 gallons total. I wanted 100gal, but I ended up doing this because like you, I couldn't find the "perfect" sized fresh tank. These together had the "perfect" dimensions, and I also will not suffer _as much_ from moving water if my tanks aren't full in transit (they act as baffles). They fill pretty evenly, and I've installed two sensors, one on each opposing tank to get an average fill level.


For grey, I went with 2x 45 gallon tanks joined by a Tee. I always figured grey capacity has to be > fresh capacity to account for all drainage. If I refill or run out of fresh, that's a signal to drain my greys.