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Old 06-07-2016, 05:28 PM   #1
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Water pump, AC or DC?

Hello everybody! It is time to start installing the water system! I have my freshwater tanks and greywater tank but as I sit down to order my water pump, it hits me.. Should I get an AC or DC pump? What are the pros and cons to each? The water system is the first thing I am doing to the bus so I do not have an AC electrical system yet. My water system will only consist of one sink and the shower (tankless water heater to be added later) so I'm hoping I would be able to use the engine batteries as a VERY temporary setup to have running water until I get the AC system up and running. Good Idea or get and AC model and wait to us it until my electrical is in? Thanks in advance for your advice.

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Old 06-07-2016, 05:50 PM   #2
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There are very few RVs, if any with AC water pumps.
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Old 06-07-2016, 06:08 PM   #3
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Maybe I'm not understanding the pumps. when I see them for sale, they say 12V or 120. I'm assuming the 12V is DC and the 120 AC? I'm not an electrician so I really don't know what those numbers mean....
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Old 06-07-2016, 06:32 PM   #4
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For one thing, and not to belittle you, if you touched 120 VDC, you'd never have to complain again. It would definitely light your fire.

12 V is usually an abbreviation for 12 VDC.

Go with the DC pump, You can always recharge your batteries; you can't always find AC power.
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Old 06-07-2016, 08:47 PM   #5
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If you are considering a propane tankless water heater you will need a pump capable of 3 at least gpm at 40+ psi. There are several mfg's who make 12 volt pumps that meet those requirements. The tankless heaters require flow and pressure minimums to remain ignited. I went a step further with mine and added a re-circulation circuit which provides a seamless flow of hot water. I also added a thermocouple to control the upper water temp thereby avoiding over heating my pvc water lines (again), Jack
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Old 06-07-2016, 08:52 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Chevydude01 View Post
Maybe I'm not understanding the pumps. when I see them for sale, they say 12V or 120. I'm assuming the 12V is DC and the 120 AC? I'm not an electrician so I really don't know what those numbers mean....
Do you have a link?
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Old 06-08-2016, 06:46 AM   #7
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I went with an AC pump from shurflo. Mostly because I didn't have the time to mess with my DC electrical system before we hit the road. We camp in places with electrical hookups, so it doesn't really affect us very much. Except that we have to pack a water jug to flush the toilet with when we're on the road.



This is the pump I bought:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
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Old 06-08-2016, 07:14 AM   #8
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Why not just rough it in for both types? One never knows...
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Old 06-08-2016, 07:50 AM   #9
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I went with AC, everything runs through my inverter besides Airconditioning. Solar/isolator/genny all are more than enough to juice the batteries with my needs boondocking.
If I could do it again I'd probably run the water pump off the 12v starting system just to seperator some loads.
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Old 06-08-2016, 05:12 PM   #10
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I have 12volt, better for boondocking , my bus has a converter set up 12volt and 120volt.
everything runs on 12volt, except the outlets. my fridge is a 3way, and we are mostly on propane.
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Old 06-09-2016, 08:04 AM   #11
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i'll vote for 12VDC.

trying to build a camper, with no knowledge of electricity or camping, is going to be a challenge.

my coach is all electric. the only 120v stuff built in is the air conditioning and my kitchen stove. (actually the stove is 240)

sounds like another zeephod

good luck
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Old 07-11-2016, 07:26 PM   #12
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I can see how different situations require different setups, but if you're like me you'll need 120VAC all the time anyway (my fridge and outlets are 120). In my case, the water pump's distance from the batteries would be awkward and inefficient to run at 12VDC.

Obviously, if you don't need to be running an inverter all the time then you shouldn't, and in that case a 12V water pump would be fine as long as the wiring you run to it is sized correctly (it is very common to undersize DC wiring) to avoid gross inefficiency.
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