Fresh water pumps used in factory conversions?

[Seangie]

Daveola, this is why I am using flotec house pumps. Worked for 6 years of full timing. And we used ours a lot! Even parked at the park with water hookup, I had an auto shut off water fill to fill my fresh tank through a water filter and the pump supplied the bus water pressure. So even parked with full hookup we used the pump. Can't go wrong with those


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Scott - but you always need 110v for that.  We can drive across the country and never have to turn the generator on unless we need heat or AC.   

It's nice to pull over, cook dinner, wash dishes, have dessert, make some popcorn, take a hot shower, watch a movie, open the windows and listen to the ocean without ever having to start the genny.

Just saying...

-Sean

[Scott & Heather]

^ true. Good point. We are heavily tied to 110v. electric 40 gallon water heater, electric a/c, electric washer, water pump. We are entirely 110v. Basically a nice little studio apartment on wheels. So yeah we need gennys running. But we love the comfort.  With 150 gallon holding tanks, my wife can do laundry in the bus while we are parked at a truck stop for the night. We can take house pressure and volume hot showers and we haven't run out of hot water yet (water heater thermostats set to 150 degrees, with a safety valve that only lets 120 degree water through it) and we love a nice powerful flush out of both of our toilets. It's as comfortable as a house but totally mobile. Trade offs. If you really like complete silence, and off gridness, totally go with 12 volt stuff. It really does make more sense. If you just want your house on the road, good gensets, and all 110v systems make sense. We love our cool dehumidified air from our a/c's, we love our house pressure and flow water, we love our full size front load washer and dryer, we love our huge holding tanks, but yes, definitely a trade off. I'm super tied to gendsets and can't boondock comfortably like shanks.


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[sledhead]

did this not start as a camper at one point . not trying to be a dick but you must carry a lot of gas if your genne's are on all the time . its time for a battery bank and a inverter . we only turn on the genne when needed and that is not very much  

dave

[Oonrahnjay]

Like Tom C, I like redundancy.   I have two water pumps, and also have more than one way of heating water, ...

... I also use two 10 gal electric water heaters straight from Home Depot. One is plumbed into the next with the final one wired through the inverter for hot water going down the road. ... 

       I like what you have done, but I'd add that there's nothing like "free hot water".  I have an Attwood 10-gal 3-way water heater; it has a 1500 watt 110 element, a propane heater unit, and a coil off the engine coolant/ antifreeze.  With a little planning, it's wash dishes and shower when I park.  Breakfast is boiling water from an electric kettle and a 4-cup coffee maker ("The Management "is *very* unhappy if she doesn't start the day with good, hot coffee).  During travel weeks, I never "turn on" the water heater -- it's all off engine heat and I feel like I have all the hot water I need.
       The Attwood unit has a thermostat set for 180 deg for the coil and a "tempering valve" at the outlet.  You get a lot of water at the faucet or shower head at 110 deg when your unit is safely mixing 180 deg from the heater with ordinary temp water. 
        Just my way, but it works well (and I'm not traveling with a washing machine and a 9-month old baby -- things are different for us all).
       BH  North Carolina

[Scott & Heather]

Dave, this was never a camper...we are full timers and have been since 2010. And there really is a huge difference in lifestyle and comfort level between using your bus to camp and living in it 365 days a year in temps ranging from -21°F to 114°F in snow, rain, hail, wind, a hurricane or two and sometimes just plain nice weather. This is our second coach conversion we've done and we know what we like now. Most new high end coaches are all electric now. So it really isn't out of the norm. And our gennies do run 100% duty when we are on the road. We go through 5 gallons of gas every 24 hours. Gives us plenty of juice and we live super comfy in hotel parking lots, walmarts, truck stops for 6 months out of the year. Usually the rest of the year we are parked at a nice little rv resort somewhere. It's our way. Again, this is polar opposite of those of you who like to boondock without genny running, but that isn't our game play. So our setup is absolutely perfect for us. You've had a few buses Dave so you know all about making it custom just the way you like it. Even if that means adding a slide out which is something we have never wanted :-/

Edit: how are we power hogs when we run successfully on 6000 watts of genny power and many times just 3000 watts? Many many times we run our life on one of our honda gennies. The only time I have to run both is if the roof ac is running. So I honestly don't characterize us as power hogs at all. Most of you guys have anywhere from 8kw to 14kw generators. I have no need for that. My water heater has twin 2000 watt elements. I usually just run one unless I'm plugged in. It runs for an hour or so and then shuts off and I don't turn it back on for a day or two depending on the showers/laundry. It keeps the water hot for three days. My interior lighting and luggage bay lighting is all LED. My samsung fridge uses 1amp when running. My dryer is propane and uses only power to turn the drum. My washer is the new LG inverter technology washer and also uses little power. Power hogs? Nope.


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[brmax]

I remember when I saw a shallow well pump installed and thought there's a great idea. I wasn't aware of all the benefits so couldn't mention the many one could have but somehow new it was a smart choice.  I stand by that and had planed to look farther into implementing one, not a big deal just thought it was brilliant!
In the Midwest here finding a small 12v shur flow or a shallow well pump is like finding a bag of dog food, we use pumps of many kinds around agriculture and the like. Something I'm not familiar with is looking for them at the truck stop, but will say they wouldn't be at the "truck shop" cheaply so have to go a store or two away, of course stop for coffee, whatever at mickey d's.
At the present a gen setup is for me the power source, and maybe in the future a $2k inverter will be looked at. Anyway with some consideration for the $1k of battery types and about $3benjiman for a tray setup that has to include some more switching. That's no doubt some future planning. But for the smart present option, planning quiet time is pretty easy.

Getting back on trac! pumps,  ya at present the requirement power supply for 12v, 24v or 120v is whatever is connected in the setup, we all get use to it pretty quick.
Its all better than a steel pot! and that can be nice. tough to imagine

So 3300. / red roof inn@100. = 33 nights with pool and umbrella drink, maybe a bagel when ya get ousted. not so bad!
I need to mosey around the Ag/hardware store today probably ; )

Good day
Floyd

[luvrbus]

John and Steve installed 2 -5.5 GPM DC voltage water pumps on the MCI we have plenty of water pressure and flow for the washer and demand hot water,but I did add a 10 gal water heater to use the engine heat and pole power for making hot water with out the demand system.
FWIW Tractor Supply and Northern Tool have a good selection of pumps both DC and AC types for less than a RV supplier,CamperWorld wanted $ 119.00 for the water pump on the Trek I paid $69.00 for the same pump @ Tractor Supply  

[daddysgirl]

My set up is mostly like Dave describes. I have 2 75 gallon tanks, one behind and connected to the other, insulated and enclosed on three sides. It's also plumbed to take water directly from a hose and has a pump that can fill the tanks anywhere.

And of course, the grey water sits above the black so I open the valve on the black first, rinse with the grey, and clean them both before I'm done. I also have a pipe connection added to the main line of the house septic system so I can dump at home if I have no other option...JFYI

[daddysgirl]

I really like this concept, especially for those in cooler climates.
http://www.durastill.us/about.html

[John316]

....but I did add a 10 gal water heater to use the engine heat and pole power for making hot water with out the demand

The Oasis was set up to circulate the engine heat and use it when rolling down the road. And it has two electric burners in the Oasis to make heat when on pole power. FWIW

[luvrbus]

The Oasis was set up to circulate the engine heat and use it when rolling down the road. And it has two electric burners in the Oasis to make heat when on pole power. FWIW

I know that John and works good I just wanted storage to go with the demand hot water system for the wife's tub   and I didn't like the system firing up every time you needed hot water