What size fresh, grey, black water tanks do you have?

[karrlot]

I'm getting ready to purchase my water and holding tanks.

I'm looking for your experience with tank sizes.

For each of the three tanks: fresh, black, and grey, what size do you have? How many people use them? Do you shower?

If you had your 'druthers what size would you have or are you good with what you have?

Any advice on suppliers?

Thanks!

[cadillackid]

I think the first thing would be look at how you plan to travel... are you looking to go 1 day between dump n fill or 6? and then how many people are in the bus with you too.. are you the type to require a full shower every day? or will you be flushing the toilet more and showering less.. do you use paper dishes or plan to do a lot of washing dishes? (typically dish cleaning uses quite a bit of water if done alot)...

-Christopher

[FlyboyHPD]

For the wife and I we're going with 100 gal on both the fresh and gray water tanks. We'll be living in it full time and hope to go for 6 days at the very most when boondocking before we can dump and refill with fresh water. No black tank for us. I have no desire to mess with that "crap" literally . We'll be going with a composting toilet. We'll take army showers every other day, and use paper plates most of the time.

It all just depends on how much you want to conserve and how much you'll be hooked up to water at campsites or how much you will boondock.

[2kool4skool]

Our bus is a camping rig. 40g fresh, 37 grey and 17 black. Our trips are mostly 4 days with showers every other day for 2 of us. Never have run out or run over. No hookup.

Oct is our annual 2 week trip and I will refill/dump twice. Last year it was one dump on the road.

[Jolly Roger]

I salvaged my tanks from an older coachmen RV. When I pulled them out I ended up with a 60-gal-fresh water, 30- black and 30 grey.
So I asked questions and researched why,cause I thought it would be a different?
What I found out was that with 60-gal. Freshwater in normal daily use in an RV is that the waste tanks are designed to hold the exact amount of fresh water that you are holding/carrying so (in aspect you can't overflow)?
Even though you/we use more grey water than we do brown water. But in that aspect with 60-gal. Your brown water tank will use 20-gal. And solid/semi-solid waste and your grey will consume the other 40-gal. Unless you have an outdoor spigot/shower that goes on the ground/somewhere besides the tank. Cooking,cleaning,splashing,,,,drinking water if filtered and can be recycled ( could in the trees/bushes if available)
I plan on campfire cooking a hand sink outside that dumps under/away from the feet and thinking on an outdoor shower when possible.
Good luck.

[gbstewart]

grey 40 gal
black 40 gal
fresh is 40gal, but I will increase it to 60-80gal
gbstewart

[Stu & Filo. T]

I have a 100gal fresh I pulled out of a Bounder RV, my grey tank is a 112 gal steel fuel tank I pulled out of another bus, I bought a 37 gal black tank off eBay but it leaks so I'm taking another 112gal fuel tank I have & I'm going to cut it in half longways weld a Plate to it & use that for my black. It will fit right were the abs black tank I bought is sitting right now.Also I'm not using gravity dump I'm using Macerating pumps.

[karrlot]

Originally Posted by 2kool4skool

Our bus is a camping rig. 40g fresh, 37 grey and 17 black. Our trips are mostly 4 days with showers every other day for 2 of us. Never have run out or run over. No hookup.

This is great info - thanks!

Originally Posted by 2kool4skool

Oct is our annual 2 week trip and I will refill/dump twice. Last year it was one dump on the road.

Glad I wasn't driving behind you!

[turf]

my bus is used for week or weekend camping. the camping shower exists but is rarely ever used. although we could. we might use 20 gallons of fresh water in a weekend.

i have a 44 gallon freshwater tank, and a 48 gallon combined grey/black tank.

i have another fresh water tank the same size, but it just takes up too much storage space under the bed and never got installed.

[Offgr1d]

I have 110gal fresh, 110gal grey, 55black...
Waste tanks were used 55gal poly drums from a car wash at $10 each
The fresh were food grade drums that had flavoring in them for the food industry $20 each...
I may eventually change them - but I'm proof they can work as I've used my tanks for a year and a half everyday already...

[Iceni John]

65 gal. poo, 115 gal. grey, two 110 gal. fresh water, total 400 gallons, all made by Ronco Plastics in Tustin CA. And I didn't use any of my underfloor bellybins - I put the two fresh tanks on either side of the fuel tank, and to prevent any possibility of cross-contamination the waste tanks are ten feet away from the fresh ones. The poo tank is 24" high to help it drain quickly and forcefully - no stuck turds in the stinky slinky for me! The two fresh tanks are interconnected, and can be filled either from each tank's gravity fill inlet (some nice Whitecap 6125 stainless marine deck fills, much better than the usual plastic RV crap) or from the city water's hose inlets on either side. I made an eight-branch distribution manifold so each water appliance has its own separate line, using 1/2" PEX throughout. There are two water pressure gauges, one for incoming city water pressure and one for in-bus water pressure. I have two Shurflo 2088 pumps on quick-disconnect mounts on a pull-out tray, so a pump can be easily removed in less than a minute with no tools if it needs servicing. There's also a Watts 263A adjustable pressure regulator for city water set to 45 PSI, the same as the pumps' outputs, and a Watts 2-gal expansion tank, and a GE whole-house carbon filter to keep everything from tasting plasticky. There is a transfer pump to move grey water into the poo tank if needed, and to help flushing the poo tank. I put an extra dump valve for the grey tank on the right side just ahead of the rear wheels - it points straight down . . .

My criteria was to have enough to comfortably support one person for at least a month or two people for at least a fortnight - that means taking a quick shower every night, cooking, using the crapper normally, etc. Along with my 2kW of solar power I should be good for extended time off-grid.

John

[somewhereinusa]

I have 100 gl fresh, 100 gl grey, and about 30 gl black.
Fresh is in three tanks between frame rails, grey is in two tanks in luggage bay, black is also in luggage bay. All like tanks are plumbed together. I used a Maniblock manifold for water distribution.

Not sure why some say they use grey and composting toilet because they don't want to deal with the black tank. It all goes out the same hose with the same connection into the same hole in the ground. I don't see it, smell it, or taste it, I just have to pull two handles instead of one.

[T-Bolt]

Originally Posted by Iceni John

65 gal. poo, 115 gal. grey, two 110 gal. fresh water, total 400 gallons, all made by Ronco Plastics in Tustin CA. And I didn't use any of my underfloor bellybins - I put the two fresh tanks on either side of the fuel tank, and to prevent any possibility of cross-contamination the waste tanks are ten feet away from the fresh ones. The poo tank is 24" high to help it drain quickly and forcefully - no stuck turds in the stinky slinky for me! The two fresh tanks are interconnected, and can be filled either from each tank's gravity fill inlet (some nice Whitecap 6125 stainless marine deck fills, much better than the usual plastic RV crap) or from the city water's hose inlets on either side. I made an eight-branch distribution manifold so each water appliance has its own separate line, using 1/2" PEX throughout. There are two water pressure gauges, one for incoming city water pressure and one for in-bus water pressure. I have two Shurflo 2088 pumps on quick-disconnect mounts on a pull-out tray, so a pump can be easily removed in less than a minute with no tools if it needs servicing. There's also a Watts 263A adjustable pressure regulator for city water set to 45 PSI, the same as the pumps' outputs, and a Watts 2-gal expansion tank, and a GE whole-house carbon filter to keep everything from tasting plasticky. There is a transfer pump to move grey water into the poo tank if needed, and to help flushing the poo tank. I put an extra dump valve for the grey tank on the right side just ahead of the rear wheels - it points straight down . . .

My criteria was to have enough to comfortably support one person for at least a month or two people for at least a fortnight - that means taking a quick shower every night, cooking, using the crapper normally, etc. Along with my 2kW of solar power I should be good for extended time off-grid.

John

I hope to start my build soon and this sounds like what I have been planning. I have never heard anyone say that the 'wished they could carry less water'.

[rjnye79]

Originally Posted by Offgr1d

I have 110gal fresh, 110gal grey, 55black...
Waste tanks were used 55gal poly drums from a car wash at $10 each
The fresh were food grade drums that had flavoring in them for the food industry $20 each...
I may eventually change them - but I'm proof they can work as I've used my tanks for a year and a half everyday already...

I'm looking to use a food-grade, plastic drum (55gal) for my fresh water also. What kind of pump do you use? Any issues?

[Tango]

I have 45 gallons of fresh water and a 44 gallon gray tank. I went with a composting toilet so no liquid poo to deal with (been there, done that...never again).

[Offgr1d]

I have A Shurflo 4008-101-A65 12v. The fresh tanks are about 12-15ft away and the shower is about total of 8ft head from pump. No issues so far. I am planning to add a pressure tank and double the pump in parallel with another Shurflo (same model which I already have) just for redundancy... These diaphragm pumps can dry prime from my tank too.

[TrailLifeBill]

Originally Posted by Offgr1d

I have 110gal fresh, 110gal grey, 55black...
Waste tanks were used 55gal poly drums from a car wash at $10 each
The fresh were food grade drums that had flavoring in them for the food industry $20 each...
I may eventually change them - but I'm proof they can work as I've used my tanks for a year and a half everyday already...

How difficult is it to plumb the drains so that they don't leak?? I like the re-purposed plastic drum idea, but am more proficient at electrical than plumbing fabrication.

[Dilly]

We are going with 2 100 gal potable water tanks, one for tap water only and the other for rainwater and tap. A small greywater tank and no black water tank (composting toilet) check out my blog for more details and the reasoning behind it: Saoirse Bus Blog: Water tanks
Good Luck~Dilly

[Sweetpea rambling]

Originally Posted by Dilly

We are going with 2 100 gal potable water tanks, one for tap water only and the other for rainwater and tap. A small greywater tank and no black water tank (composting toilet) check out my blog for more details and the reasoning behind it: Saoirse Bus Blog: Water tanks
Good Luck~Dilly

Really interested in your rainwater collection! How are you doing this on the bus?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Dilly]

I plan on using 2" steel c-channel, capped with a hose fitting, I go into detail on my blog: Saoirse Bus Blog: Rain gutter
good luck with your project