Plumbing Questions

[buddydawg]

Lately I have been working on some maintenance issues with the bus and am ready to get back to work on the conversion aspect of the project.  Inside the bus is gutted and cleaned out and is ready to receive a new interior beginning with the layout for the plumbing system.  What i am looking for is some advice on the items I will be using.

What type and size tanks to buy and where to get them. I am planning on using one freshwater and one black/gray tank.
I am also looking for opinions on pumps, accumulator tanks, water heaters, pex, toilets, showers, and so on and so forth.

A few notes:
I am wanting to keep everything electric.
I am really leaning to tiling the shower.

I have gone through the archives for some info but I find it much more satisfying to have my own thread.

[Nick Badame Refrig/ACC]

Hi Buddy,

My advice on tanks is always the same. Install the biggest tanks that you can fit.

Why, Because it just makes good sence. You will Thank me when you are at a Rally for 6+ days with no dump station

Good Luck
Nick-

[FloridaCliff]

Buddy,

Let me 2nd what Nick said.

We like to stay and visit the state parks.  The vast majority have dump stations, but no hookups at

the sites.  With 4 people on board we can almost use all the water we want with 200 gallons of

underneath tanks, 80 black/120 gray.  I can send the contents of one to the other if needed via valving.

A lot of your decisions will depend on YOUR use plans.

Cliff

[maria-n-skip]

Water tanks size........from our history 2 adults 2 teenagers (w/ friends) no showers  10 gal of water/day as an average.
Our kids learned real quick to conserve but when they would bring friends over conservation goes out the window.

  FWIW

  Skip

[buddydawg]

As far as my supply tank goes I am leaning towards locating it underneath the bed.  Size wise I was planning to go with as much capacity as possible with a matching wastewater tank. Initially I had considered building my own tanks but have decided to just buy them if I can find ones that are close to the size I need.

[niles500]

Just remember - Beer drinkers NEED bigger tanks - FWIW

[Jerry Liebler]

Brandon,
    I certainly second the 'you cant have tanks that are to big' thought.  I built my own, sort of following Gumpy's web site (hot air welded 3/8" polypropylene).  It took about a man week for my 3 main tanks and it's not a way to save money, just to get as much capacity as the space will allow.  My fresh water is under my twin beds and totals a bit over 180 gallons, I have a single waste tank that's about 220 gallons.  Definitely use PEX, it's very fast and easy.
Regards
Jerry 4107 1120 

[TomCat]

Definitely PEX, and might I also suggest Sharkbite fittings... http://www.cashacme.com/sharkbite.php

Jay
87 SaftLiner

[DrivingMissLazy]

The rear bay of my Eagle was devoted to primarily water tanks and two water pumps. The tanks were sized so that the valves to drain the gray into the black drain and to connect the drain hose inside the compartment. If the drain goes thru the floor, it is too low to connect to many of the dump stations. I has a total of six tanks, stacked three on three with the top three for fresh water, two on the bottom for gray and one for black. Each tank was 70 gallons. With proper drain valves it is possible to drain the black, then close it and drain half of the gray into the black, then drain the black again and repeat this flushing action until all tanks are empty. A total of four drain valves were required but it was one of the best arrangements that I have ever seen. And never a worry about running out of water or having to dump my tanks.

The tanks were approximately 18 inches square and about 7 feet long. The bottom three tanks were about flush with the passenger side and the top three water tanks were about flush with the driver side.
This allowed for space on the bottom for the drain plumbing and water pumps and space on the passenger side for some storage like bbq tools etc.

Richard

[cody]

In my opinion the only place to buy what you need is Bontrangers, they have a website and I've had great luck with them, they buy surplus new rv stuff and are located just 12 miles from Elkhart. I bought my water pump from them, a flowjet for 55 bucks and only paid 65 dollars for my 80 gallon black water tank brand new with the factory plugs still installed.  Their inventory changes all the time with whatever they can get a deal on but are great to work with and have a huge bunch of stuff in stock.  Just send them an email and a list of what you need and they'll give you an idea of what they have and the prices, thats what I did and within an hour or so I had the prices and was ordering, they even took some digital pics of some of the stuff, so I could see it.

[PlumCrazy]

Buddy,

I have a 1982 T6H5307 and have been through stage 1 of my plumbing system which works well enough for now.
I say stage 1, because it Will be changed/upgraded as time/money permits (there's no such thing as a FINISHED conversion ).

I found a used 40Gal fresh water and 40Gal black/grey water tank for about $100 for both.
I put the fresh water tank under the rear bed and the black/grey directly under the toilet in the bathroom.
I have enough tank capacity for 4 adults and 4 kids for a weekend (no shower).
This is bare minimum capacity, but it gets me by for now.


A few offers of advise in regards to tanks and placement in the limited space available.

Fresh water:
My floorplan also allows me to place a large fresh water tank under the bad at the back of the bus.
Keep in mind the added weight of this much water so far back behind the rear wheels.
You need to keep an eye on the axle weight of rear vs front.  Too much weight in the rear can cause problems that others more knowledgable may explain better.

Black/grey tank:
you are limited on the size and placement given the limited room (no bays).
If you decide to turf the over-the-road heating system, take your time to totally gut it out including all ducting underneath.
You'll be surprised how much more room there is (as well as how much weight there is in the large blower motors, rads and baffling).
Have a good look underneath at bulkheads etc which will determine the location of your black tanks, which in turn will determine the location of your toilet.

Take some measurements of the maximum area that you have to place the tanks and go search for surplus tanks.
Making your own tanks will probably give you more efficient use of space available, but can be expensive and certainly time consuming.


If I had waited and planned for the perfect installation of any system in by bus, I would still not have this thing on the road and using it.  I would also be scared of removing and changing things after so much time and effort was spent.  I have an open mind that this thing will be a work in progress for a long time, and the next few years will be "shake down" trips to help me decide what works and what doesn't for me.

Sorry for the rambling post from a Newbie, just my 2 cents worth
Mike.

[FloridaCliff]

Sorry for the rambling post from a Newbie, just my 2 cents worth
Mike.

Mike,

Maybe a newbie by post count, but sounds like a seasoned, well thought out plan to me.

Glad your here!

Cliff

[Lee Bradley]

Just remember - Beer drinkers NEED bigger tanks - FWIW

Well a bigger holding tank but less supply. 

[Slow Rider]

Cody mentioned a place bontrangers.....I have to help my speeeling challenged buddy out, it is actually Bontragers

http://www.bontragers.com/



Frank

[TomC]

I have an AMGeneral 40ft x 102wide transit, so its' design is very similar to yours.  In the back I installed a 130gal water tank that fit between the wheel wells.  I built the bed frame around the tank and made floor platforms on either side of the bed over the wheel wells so that when you step up onto the floor platforms, the elevated bed is at the right height to sit on.  Also under the bed (the bed raises up with the help of gas shocks) are two 10gal elec water heaters bought from Home Depot.  One feeds into the next with the final water heater wired through the inverter for hot water going down the road.  Also is a cold and hot water brass ball valve manifold that has individual valves for each faucet.  Feeding this are two Shurflo whisper quiet pumps that can be used one at time or both used if for instance one of us is washing dishes and the other is showering for extra pressure (no ping tank). To fill the tank, I have a T coming off the pressure hookup from the campsite with a valve.  I can also pour in the water through the 1.5" vent hose.

As to the sewage tanks, I removed the central heat/A-C unit and in its' place had plenty of room to install a 85gal gray tank right behind the fuel tank and a 45 gal black tank on center line behind that.  My bathroom is on the right side of the bus around the rear door (enclosed bathroom) so you can enter the bathroom from outside without having to go through the rest of the bus.  The Sealand toilet is right behind the rear door with about a 3ft x 3" ABS pipe connecting it to the black tank.  It works fine, maybe with a little more water than directly down, but 45 gal is easily enough for two people for a week.

The 36" x 36" enclosed shower stall is to the rear of the toilet and had to use a Kohler shower pan that had the drain in one corner since my floor slopes up slightly at that point.  My bathroom is 48" deep and the extra 12" between the shower stall and the wall is the linen closet.  The bathroom measures 48" wide x 84" long.  I didn't like walk through bathrooms when I built the bus and still don't like them. The shower stall is lined with Kemlite and works very well (I am 6'3" and over 300lbs).  Besides the door from the outside, there is a door from the inside hall to the toilet section and another door from the hall directly into the shower so two can use the bathroom at the same time.  Actually, both my wife and I can fit in the toilet section together without to much problem.

I used a 32ft motorhome floor plan and stretched it to 40ft.  As already said, have a larger than normal bathroom, my kitchen counter top is 9ft long, and have a 78" x 42" convertable dinette, also made a sofa/bed that is partially over the front wheel well-so it is higher than normal-which both of us like since some sofas are like getting up off the floor they are so low.  My home made sofa/bed makes into a regular 80" x 60" queen size bed.

Don't try to squeeze to much in. It is nice to have a little move around room.  The first thing most people say when coming into my bus is how big it feels, especially with the huge windows.  Good Luck, TomC