55 gal drums/barrels?

[Mr P]

[edited to add]
What are you thinking for holding your holding-tanks during panic-swerves and bouncing over a topés ('dead cop') in Mexico?

Home fabricated brackets and straps made of steel. I'm guessing taking approximately the same time, effort, and materials as fabbing the same for rectangle tanks.

 

[nikitis]

I've put some steel ones under the bus, fit nicely between the skirt and frame. A lot of metal bracing. They've only gone a few miles, haven't finished converting the bus.
Gotta paint them something less ugly eventually. And make some shields.

This picture is a bad example of what not to do. You may have enough under support (Can't really tell from the pictures, but you likely do not have enough side support to prevent them from sliding out of your supports if you get in a head on collision or come to a sudden and abrupt stop.

Please don't drive the bus like this. Add some front and back rails at minimum to prevent any possibility of these sliding out forward at a minimum.

 

[Mr P]

So, any other folks got barrels.... ?

(For the sake of discussion, mine will be mounted so that if Godzilla holds my bus aloft by the tank and proceeds to violently shake the bus, the windows will shake out and the paint will start to shake off in places just before the tank mounts fail.)

 

[Tejon7]

This picture is a bad example of what not to do. You may have enough under support (Can't really tell from the pictures, but you likely do not have enough side support to prevent them from sliding out of your supports if you get in a head on collision or come to a sudden and abrupt stop.

Please don't drive the bus like this. Add some front and back rails at minimum to prevent any possibility of these sliding out forward at a minimum.

I like that you're preaching caution, but how can you possibly tell that this is a bad example? Everything is hidden under foam. He says that they are steel drums with lots of steel bracing. Could be stout enough to lift the bus and you'd never know. Let's give him the benefit of the doubt.

 

[nikitis]

I like that you're preaching caution, but how can you possibly tell that this is a bad example? Everything is hidden under foam. He says that they are steel drums with lots of steel bracing. Could be stout enough to lift the bus and you'd never know. Let's give him the benefit of the doubt.

Well again I can only judge from the pictures. There's no frontal rail I can see. If he covered the rail up in foam, then that's better, but I do not see a railing.

 

[Mr P]

I'm still interested in seeing/hearing more drum/barrel examples. Anybody?

 

[bluebird90]

Do NOT use steel barrels for your tanks. use the plastic ones. For fresh water, the steel will rust and contaminate the water supply. The grey and black water will corrode. Many medium and heavy trucks use round tanks. you can find some frame mounts from them to fit.

 

[Mr P]

Our plastic barrel tanks served us well until we moved up to water bladders. We like them better. We put 160 gallons of fresh water under our king bed, over the rear axle. There's room for a couple hundred gallons but, I like to have a little storage under the bed for shoes and the like.

What brand water bladder did you use? I suppose you fabbed a "box" to put it in?

And regarding the "bladder" tanks to keep sloshing from being as violent, how does the bladder act when it's 1/2 full (or is that 1/2 empty)?

 

[Rock-N-Ruth]

What brand water bladder did you use? I suppose you fabbed a "box" to put it in?

And regarding the "bladder" tanks to keep sloshing from being as violent, how does the bladder act when it's 1/2 full (or is that 1/2 empty)?

We used the Vevor brand bladders.
Actually, the bladder is more likely to want to roll when it is full. When half full it lies in place like a soggy rug.
However, even full, they might roll perceptibly, but not enough to call motion. We just put sides on them and left them exposed, under the bed. No problems with them trying to wander around.

 

[cborthub41]

Is anyone using drums or barrels as holding tanks? My bus has a raised floor and I think a 24" diameter barrel would have adequate ground clearance. I did a quick search here and didn't see anything. I'm looking for advice, though I am likely several weeks from focusing on that aspect.

You're smart to think ahead, getting your dimensions and layout sorted now will save headaches later when it’s time to mount everything.

 

[Mr P]

We used the Vevor brand bladders.
Actually, the bladder is more likely to want to roll when it is full. When half full it lies in place like a soggy rug.
However, even full, they might roll perceptibly, but not enough to call motion. We just put sides on them and left them exposed, under the bed. No problems with them trying to wander around.

Well, I'm getting more curious....I might be badgering you but....I find this to be a very interesting option.

What capacity, what dimensions, got any pics of your setup, what color/material, only for fresh?

 

[Rock-N-Ruth]

I don't remember the dimensions of the 160gal bladder, but when you search for them, they post the dimensions in the ad. They really do come in some varied dimensions, so be aware of the space you want to put them in before you order.
We are currently only housing bladders for fresh water.
We are considering doing a gray water bladder in the Eagle Coach build, but that is going to require some experiments. Grey water makes gasses. And will need to be vented.
I would have to disassemble the bed to post a picture of the install but maybe the next time we do a water run, I'll try to video a bladder freewheeling on a bus floor as we drive.

 

[Mr P]

Thanks for the tips.

 

[shreky52]

Is anyone using drums or barrels as holding tanks? My bus has a raised floor and I think a 24" diameter barrel would have adequate ground clearance. I did a quick search here and didn't see anything. I'm looking for advice, though I am likely several weeks from focusing on that aspect.

You got to remember to every gallon it's 8 lbs so if you got that 55gallon on one side of the bus you need something to equal the weight on other side of bus you put that in !!

 

[Rock-N-Ruth]

You got to remember to every gallon it's 8 lbs so if you got that 55gallon on one side of the bus you need something to equal the weight on other side of bus you put that in !!

Not to be nit picky, but a gallon of water weighs 8.34 lbs. So our 160 gallon bladder weighs 1334.4 lbs when full. About the weight of a fully dressed motorcycle. Which is why it is under our king bed, dead center, right over the rear axle.

You are correct about the need to be concerned about weight and balance to some degree.

 

[shreky52]

Not to be nit picky, but a gallon of water weighs 8.34 lbs. So our 160 gallon bladder weighs 1334.4 lbs when full. About the weight of a fully dressed motorcycle. Which is why it is under our king bed, dead center, right over the rear axle.

You are correct about the need to be concerned about weight and balance to some degree.

Do you have one or two barrels one for freshwater and other dark water if it in the middle of bed on axle so 458.7 + 458.7 =917.4 lbs

 

[Rock-N-Ruth]

Do you have one or two barrels one for freshwater and other dark water if it in the middle of bed on axle so 458.7 + 458.7 =917.4 lbs

We have one 160 gallon freshwater bladder under our bed, right over the drive axle.
The bed I am talking about is the bed we sleep on.

 

[Mr P]

As far as the fittings I used on the original fill holes (believe it or not) a Bung Buttress adapter to adapt the Bung holes to standard NPT PVC pipe.

Amazon.com

On the round sides, I used UNISEALs, they were a pain to get the PVC pipe through, try dish soap, but have worked great for the last 5 or so years.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00A8HWLYS?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_3

Peter

I'm looking at your pictures and wondering....the bungs, the large ones...what NPT comes of that "buttress adapter" (I looked at the link but didn't see that spec)? Do you have any flow problems out of that?

The top bungs, those look much bigger than the about 1" bung on the barrels I've seen. What diameter are they? Is that grey water inlet through those?

 

[peterbylt]

I'm looking at your pictures and wondering....the bungs, the large ones...what NPT comes of that "buttress adapter" (I looked at the link but didn't see that spec)? Do you have any flow problems out of that?

The top bungs, those look much bigger than the about 1" bung on the barrels I've seen. What diameter are they? Is that grey water inlet through those?

On my drums there were two different 2 inch Bung holes on each drum, the bottom one in the picture is a course thread, the top is a fine thread, the adapters that I bought adapted them to 2 inch standard NPT thread, the same thread you would find on a 2 inch PVC pipe in any Big Box store.

The drum on the left is for Grey water, the pipe coming into the top bung from the left is Grey water, there is also a grey water inlet/vent going into the top left side using a 2 inch Uniseal.

The elbows, Tees and valves connecting the two top Bungs are for flushing purposes, the valves are normally closed, when a hose is attached to the center hose fitting and turned on and you open either side valve it dumps water into that drum to flush them out. It could also serve to dump grey or black water from one to the other if one became too full, I have not used that feature yet.

I have never had any flow problems, with the Stinky Slinky attached when I pull ether of the drain valves the tanks empty in moments, due to the location of the Bung holes there is always a small amount left in the bottom of each tank, but it has never been an issue, neither of the tanks smells particularly nasty, I flush them on a regular basis until the water runs clear and we always use Happy Campers tank treatment on the black tank.

On the fresh water tank the Bung caps that came on the drum had punch outs in the center that were ¾ inch NPT standard threads.





Peter

 

[Mr P]

Thanks for all that info. I got a tank for fitment testing, measuring with it in place(s) is verification that it (they) will fit. I'm really leaning that direction....I'm pondering about the space vs $$$ saved. I think the barrels will be pennies on the dollar, and offer the best starting point. If I really want to dump $$$ to gain space in the future, I won't be wasting much money if I throw all the barrels away.

Oh, I'm leaning toward potable water in a bladder, and an empty barrel for filling at the camp site to solar heat it for my warm/hot water source for showers.