Good Heuristic for water tank calculation?

NotSoShortBus

New Member
Joined
Jan 23, 2020
Posts
6
Hi all, I'm in the final planning stages of my build, trying to figure out if there's a good way to calculate my water tank needs.

Some basic useful items:
-Solo rider
-No black tank, I am planning to use a composting toilet to avoid that gunk
-I plan on using low-flow taps for both my shower head and sink faucet
-I am planning to use a recirculating filter system for my shower
-I want to be able to go two weeks on this supply, marine showering every third day or so and cooking meals that don't make a ton of mess
With the two items above, i imagine my shower's water consumption will be very low
Is there some way I can guestimate in advance what sort of tank I will need? Maybe a resource online I can be pointed to?
 
-I am planning to use a recirculating filter system for my shower


This sounds very cool, the commercially available options I have seen for sprinters are very expensive (but that crowd burns a lot of cash).


Have you looked into how you will accomplish this? I am very curious about this solution.
 
One thing that will determine your tanks is where you have room for them. What bus do you have?

I think the short answer is, as large as you can safely fit.

I tried to get tanks from cheaper sources, but I was not able to find ones that would maximize the available space, so in the end, I went to tank-mart.com for black and grey and to ronco plastics for the fresh tank.

I found direct experience from Rolling Vistas on YouTube for fresh water tank size. They have a good video on dry camp water usage.

I’ve been looking at a trigger sprayer for the shower. While looking for other things for a construction job I came across bidet sprayers to use for a hand shower. I think that this is a good solution to conserve water

 
In the video they noted they drink canned water a lot, and I don't think they are counting how much of that (like cases of beer for other people..) they are also carrying.
 
What bus do you have?

I'
I've got a 12-window GMC B-series from Blue Bird
I went to tank-mart.com for black and grey and to ronco plastics for the fresh tank.

I found direct experience from Rolling Vistas on YouTube for fresh water tank size. They have a good video on dry camp water usage.

I’ve been looking at a trigger sprayer for the shower. While looking for other things for a construction job I came across bidet sprayers to use for a hand shower. I think that this is a good solution to conserve water

[/QUOTE]
 
One thing that will determine your tanks is where you have room for them. What bus do you have?

I have a 12-window 2001 Blue Bird built off a GMC B-series, just purchased.

I went to tank-mart.com for black and grey and to ronco plastics for the fresh tank.

I'll keep those companies in mind.

I found direct experience from Rolling Vistas on YouTube for fresh water tank size. They have a good video on dry camp water usage.

I love these two, can't believe i missed this one.

I’ve been looking at a trigger sprayer for the shower.

That's an interesting idea, I'll keep it in mind.

In the video they noted they drink canned water a lot, and I don't think they are counting how much of that (like cases of beer for other people..) they are also carrying.

Yeah, that can play into things, and I plan on having a lot of arnold palmer on board so this will definitely be in consideration :)
 
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You should have lots of real estate under that big bus for tanks. You’ll have no problem. Look for cheaper options on eBay. You can use those HDPE water tanks for grey. Just be careful for those listings that say they have a liner. You’ll also want to make sure they are thick enough to support water when full and thick enough to accept a spin weld fitting should you need to add one.
 
My concern with that is that I want to be able to winter where I can go skiing, so I'd like to keep my tanks within the insulation envelope, unless there's some way to sling them under the floor without worrying about freezing my supply
 

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