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Old 05-21-2016, 06:48 PM   #1
Mini-Skoolie
 
Join Date: May 2016
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Thumbs up Plumbing overhaul

Newcomer with first post here. I'll try to keep this concise. So I have a bus that was partly converted when I bought it. I discovered that the plumbing system is not functional. Some of the pipes arein the right place, so I'm trying make minimal adjustments as I go about restructuring things.

Here's what I have:
- two fresh water tanks (55gal and 80 gal) are connected to a single shurflo 2088 pump and eccotemp on-demand water heater
- that hookup separates into a convoluted and incomplete network that includes a bathroom sink, toilet, kitchen sink and external faucet.

What I'd like:
-The 55 gallon tank to run through the shurflo to the bathroom and kitchen sink
-the 80 gallon tank to run through a (purchased, not installed) shurflo 4008 pump through the toilet and then through the (new, uninstalled) eccotemp in the exterior closet for an outdoor shower.

Questions I have:
- Is the water pressure from a shurflo enough to handle 3-5 forks in the plumbing with distances (from the pump) ranging from 10-15ft
-Would it be better to have the hot water leaving the eccotemp meet with the cold at a faucet/showerhead -or- to have one hose go to the eccotemp and to regulate the temperature on that unit alone?

That's it for now. Advice and ideas are gratefully accepted!

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Old 05-21-2016, 09:07 PM   #2
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It's kind of hard to picture that in my head. You're not talking about running hot through the pump are you?

How much the pump can handle depends on if you can use all three or four branches off your system at the same time.

I don't understand exactly what you're doing but it sounds like you've got it right. Reuse as much as you can and try to correct any obvious flaws. That's about all you can do.

Sorry, been mowing lawns too long today. No ideas here.
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Old 05-21-2016, 10:53 PM   #3
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I wouldn't be using more than two branches at once (hot and cold meeting at a faucet), but the plumbing network exists nonetheless. I'm new to the plumbing game so I don't yet understand how the approximate psi at the outlet point would be affected by a network of plumbing with 3 to 5 branches.
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Old 05-21-2016, 11:03 PM   #4
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The pressure is not affected by how many branches there are in your plumbing system. It is affected by how many of those branches you're using at the same time. You could have 100 branches and still maintain the same pressure. Think of two faucets as having half the pressure from the pump when they are both on at the same time. Three faucets have 1/3 the pressure if they are all open at the same time. So if you're washing dishes and someone flushes the toilet, you have reduced pressure.
I figure it's kind of like the electrical issues when using a 30 amp outlet. You get two 15 amp lines inside your bus, like the two faucets.
Does that make sense?
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Old 05-21-2016, 11:26 PM   #5
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The ecco-temp is after the pump. It's on demand hot water. My question is, and maybe I missed it in your post, but are you running one pump to the ecco-temp and then to the 2 showers and 2 sinks? Because if you do, it would have to tie into the other system.

If you ran a jumper from one tank to the other, you would only need the one pump, and it could feed both showers and sinks and commode. plus you would not have the draw of 2 pumps on your electrical system. What size ecco did you get, the L5 or L10?
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Old 05-22-2016, 11:27 AM   #6
Mini-Skoolie
 
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Thanks Robin for the help. I understand now.

My reason for having two pumps and two eccotemps is so that each pump can be within 6ft of the respective fresh tanks, as the manual recommends. It also makes it easier to wire in a switch that is right next to the outdoor shower faucet. That's the only shower we have, and it's got the L5 eccotemp.

On the inside, the eccotemp comes after the pump and runs only to the hot water side of the kitchen and bathroom sinks.
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Old 05-22-2016, 02:39 PM   #7
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That's good, cause I obviously didn't get that you had two pumps.
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Old 05-22-2016, 03:08 PM   #8
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the sure flow 2088 is only 1gpm. the 4008 is only 3 gpm.

i'd consider the first one too small, and the second one marginal.

a normal shower head needs about 2gpms to work. the sureflow 4008 will do it but not much more.

if you already have the pumps, maybe look at low flow fixtures.

you could configure both pumps together by having an outlet to each pump then connect the 2 outlets together. that give you 4gpms.... enough to run the sink and shower at the same time.

having 2 separate tanks serving separate fixtures complicates everything. you plan to only have hot water on the outside shower and toilet?

that doesn't sound simpler
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Old 05-22-2016, 03:19 PM   #9
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I'd delete the vanity sink. Why do you need two in reasonably close proximity to each other?
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