Rock-N-Ruth
Senior Member
I just realized that as a subject all it's own that this should be in the Conversion Discussion forum, however, we may as well start our Eagle bus build diary here as well. This is one of the technologies that we feel is tried and true for our (probably final) bus build.
Over the years we have tried a number of things to avoid buying expensive fresh water holding tanks. We never wanted to buy used, and like ingenuity.
One of our better experiments that ran for a few years was a couple of 50 gallon plastic corn syrup barrels laid on their sides. While these worked as well as commercial tanks, their roundness took up some space. We keep the tanks onside to not have to deal with freezing, since we are full timers.
The one issue that always niggled us a little is: tanks need an air vent. When water is added to the tank air has to get out and when water leaves the tank, then air has to get in. Along with the air comes micro contamination. That's why it is recommended to flush and sanitize your RV tanks occasionally.
Most algae and things that might cause your water to taste or smell a little funny need some light to grow, but not all. And full tanks will almost never start growing things, but once you've got a bunch of air and the right temperatures, life will find a way.
A couple of years ago we met a guy at Schooliepalooza who was hauling water in his pickup in a vinyl water bladder. We thought the idea was splendid, and it appeared that it would solve the air and contamination issues.
They start our flat and if you fill them through the same orifice you draw water from, they are a closed system. No air ever gets into the system. The low tech way to check the level is with a potentiometer and a "float" on top of the bladder to send a signal to a fuel type gauge. We just use the, look at the bladder to guesstimate how much water is left, method. I do have a limit switch that stops the fill if the bladder is reaching limits. But we rarely trip that because we pretty much know how long it takes to fill.
We have two 140 Gallon Bladders under our King bed. we also have a standard 100W heating pad under each of them that we turn on in the winter time for the thermal mass. It is incredible how comfy it makes our bed once the tanks are warmed up. That does take a couple of days.
One of the best things about a water bladder is how easy it is to replace if it fails and how little they cost. We got ours for about 80 bucks apiece, so we bought four. Two for backups. The backups are still in their original packaging two years later.
Before we put a bladder in the bus, we filled a bladder outside and left it in the weather for a whole year plus a month, in the south west New Mexico Chihuahua desert. We figured if those harsh conditions didn't kill it, it was safe to put a few hundred gallons of water under our bed. And so we did.
Amazingly, the bladder was filthy, but cleaned up nice with warm water and dish detergent, and was no worse for the wear. It is indeed one of the bladders under our bed. I personally expected one of two things to cause it to fail: sun damage or freezing. Neither seemed to have any effect.
Like I said we like ingenuity so we have multiple valves set up with our pump to allow us to do things like, suck water out of an external water source that has no pressure, draw water from a pressurized system, or attach a hose to our water "inlet" and wash the dogs.
Here is a diagram of how our basic system works:
If you are going to be boondocking and you have a pickup as a toad or a trailer you are hauling, you can always haul water to your boondocking site and then just fold up and stow the bladder once you have transferred the water to your storage.
Over the years we have tried a number of things to avoid buying expensive fresh water holding tanks. We never wanted to buy used, and like ingenuity.
One of our better experiments that ran for a few years was a couple of 50 gallon plastic corn syrup barrels laid on their sides. While these worked as well as commercial tanks, their roundness took up some space. We keep the tanks onside to not have to deal with freezing, since we are full timers.
The one issue that always niggled us a little is: tanks need an air vent. When water is added to the tank air has to get out and when water leaves the tank, then air has to get in. Along with the air comes micro contamination. That's why it is recommended to flush and sanitize your RV tanks occasionally.
Most algae and things that might cause your water to taste or smell a little funny need some light to grow, but not all. And full tanks will almost never start growing things, but once you've got a bunch of air and the right temperatures, life will find a way.
A couple of years ago we met a guy at Schooliepalooza who was hauling water in his pickup in a vinyl water bladder. We thought the idea was splendid, and it appeared that it would solve the air and contamination issues.
They start our flat and if you fill them through the same orifice you draw water from, they are a closed system. No air ever gets into the system. The low tech way to check the level is with a potentiometer and a "float" on top of the bladder to send a signal to a fuel type gauge. We just use the, look at the bladder to guesstimate how much water is left, method. I do have a limit switch that stops the fill if the bladder is reaching limits. But we rarely trip that because we pretty much know how long it takes to fill.
We have two 140 Gallon Bladders under our King bed. we also have a standard 100W heating pad under each of them that we turn on in the winter time for the thermal mass. It is incredible how comfy it makes our bed once the tanks are warmed up. That does take a couple of days.
One of the best things about a water bladder is how easy it is to replace if it fails and how little they cost. We got ours for about 80 bucks apiece, so we bought four. Two for backups. The backups are still in their original packaging two years later.
Before we put a bladder in the bus, we filled a bladder outside and left it in the weather for a whole year plus a month, in the south west New Mexico Chihuahua desert. We figured if those harsh conditions didn't kill it, it was safe to put a few hundred gallons of water under our bed. And so we did.
Amazingly, the bladder was filthy, but cleaned up nice with warm water and dish detergent, and was no worse for the wear. It is indeed one of the bladders under our bed. I personally expected one of two things to cause it to fail: sun damage or freezing. Neither seemed to have any effect.
Like I said we like ingenuity so we have multiple valves set up with our pump to allow us to do things like, suck water out of an external water source that has no pressure, draw water from a pressurized system, or attach a hose to our water "inlet" and wash the dogs.
Here is a diagram of how our basic system works:
If you are going to be boondocking and you have a pickup as a toad or a trailer you are hauling, you can always haul water to your boondocking site and then just fold up and stow the bladder once you have transferred the water to your storage.
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