Holding Tank Capacity?

[belfert]

My dump is on the passenger side because the tanks are there.  The tank dumps straight down so I can run the hose to either side as necessary.  I gnerally have been able to pull up on the curb side to dump stations, but that might not work if there is a line unless I back up.

I really do care what the regs say as this isn't a safety issue.

[John316]

I have a tank manufacture recommendation. I will try to do the short story here. We first ordered from Plastic-Mart. DON'T use them!!! They didn't ship on time. Finally they shipped them, and one of the tanks leaked. Of course, they didn't use virgin polyethylene. It was PIPE GRADE!

Anyways ended up driving two hours (one way), to get the tank fixed. Since it was a cruddy plastic, the welder wasn't able to weld to it very well. He tried to fix the leak, but it was just a bad job when they built the tank. Finally we decided that he would build us a new one. He then built it on the spot, right then (he gave up his motorcycle ride to the lake to build us this tank!).

I will post more about today in a new thread, however I want to recommended the guy. If anybody want's a good tank manufacture (that was 200 less than plastic-mart), PM me. I will send you his phone #.

He is very good, and thorough. It was amazing he was in town, because he usually works government contracts.

God bless,

John

[bobofthenorth]

Maybe somebody has already mentioned how handy it is to separate your fresh water and your drinking water - if so I apologize for repeating it.  When we got this coach it was set up that way and I thought "what a stupid setup".  Now I wouldn't have it any other way.  There's times when you have good water in the main tank that you don't mind drinking but there's a lot of times where the water is barely fit for a shower and you sure as hell don't want to drink it.  For those times we have a 20 gallon (Canuck gallon - 25 of your Yankee gallons) dedicated drinking tank with a completely separate pressure system.  I have it rigged so that I can suck a 5 gallon blue bottle directly into that tank which is what we do whenever the water is suspect. 

[cody]

Bontragers and RV Surplus both have tanks in a lot of sizes at a discount, at Bontragers the tanks range from 50 bucks up, I bought one from them that I believe was 80 gallons for 65 dollars and it came complete with the end drain, they are all new tanks but surplus, problem is that shipping tanks you get hit with the over size rate, to UPS the tank to me cost 80 bucks, it was more than the tank cost.

[TomC]

On the west coast, buy from El Monte Plastics.  They make the tanks for Ardemco, so buying direct will save money.  I had my tanks made 15 years ago and haven't had any issues with them.  My fresh water tank is under my bed and I have a halogen puck light to illuminate it so I can see the level.  Once I left it on and it burnt a melted divit into the top of the tank.  I welded it back close-easy to do with a propane torch.  Good Luck, TomC

[BG6]

There's times when you have good water in the main tank that you don't mind drinking but there's a lot of times where the water is barely fit for a shower and you sure as hell don't want to drink it.

I NEVER put water into the culinary tank without running it through a good filter.  All water coming into the water system goes through another filter (for sediment removal and taste improvement).

[Melbo]

I have a double filter set up on my bus and still got some pretty funky water.

Had to drain the tanks and replace the filters.

Even with the double filter set up and watching what we put into the tanks I would not drink the water out of my fresh water tank ever.

We carry separate drinking -- ice --- cooking water.

Melbo

[viento1]

I just spent the last year having my new tanks made, I started with Aluminum but after 5 years the bottom of the 1/4 plate was so porous I could push a screwdriver through it. I decided to make my own plywood tanks - bad idea and quite expensive. I found Stainless tanks but they were the wrong size (I have them for sale if anyone is interested) I then researched plastic tanks and found them for about 400 each but the sizes are never quite right AND the hidden cost of the fittings was kinda crazy.

I found a local guy who made them for 375 each. They are perfect custom sized with 1/2" Polyethelene!!!!! that is some crazy heavy duty stuff. I put a 130 gallon fresh under the bed and 150 gallon black/grey in the bay. The plumbing is super simple and easy to trouble shoot. I left space for a grey water diverter valve if I should choose to dry camp for extended periods. For me is the perfect setup.

The best thing I installed was a simple hand pump fed into a 5 gallon water jug that uses up that useless space under the kitchen sink. I great system and easy to manage the fresh drinking water. I ultimately agree with Bob on this point!

[buswarrior]

We also practice separate drinking water from the big tank down below.

We like those water cooler units with the hot/cold/room temperature choices.

You can choose to power it up or choose to leave the switches turned off, depending on your current power availability.

5 gallon water cooler jugs may be brought from home, purchased locally, or re-filled from known good sources. Those with smaller kids, if you didn't know, changing their water is the surest way to change what comes out the other end, so carrying water from home keeps their internals working the same as home!

So, keeping drinking separate from sink/shower/toilet, we may fill the big tank down below with a certain degree of carefree, and add some chlorine for psychological satisfaction, we aren't drinking it anyway, so a little overdose on the bug killer isn't harming the digestive processes.

as always, do it your way!!!

happy coaching!
buswarrior