I have a factory built motor home and I can totally relate to a lot of these tips. It had carpet and the previous owner had to replace that with lino after a tank failure. It has no air vent, but we have an tank pump and the screw on lid where the wire goes in is probably the closest thing and that is going to end with water everywhere some day... Also, our fill gauge is shot, so adding an air vent is an amazing idea. I never considered having a pump outboard of the tank before. We also had a pipe crack on the shower unit that we didn't notice for literally a year. It only became apparent when someone used the tap while the oven was on and we started getting steam out of the hob vent! Fortunately it has through floor vents under every fixed unit (6 in total) which means that it drains fairly well. The water system is the biggest disappointment in that van, followed by the heater and the fridge, but we love it all the same. Problem is that it needs £2000 (2500ish usd) at least of work on it at the moment to make it road worthy again😕
I guess another cheap option for baffles is to install multiple smaller tanks, and connect them together with pipes. Another option for a noisy pump is to hang it instead! I did this with my diesel fuel pump, it worked AMAZING. I used some of my insulation under my pump but it didn't help as much as I thought it would. I've used the push to connect pipes, no problems so far! Another tip: Don't use corner joiners unless you really need to, just bend the pipe instead around a big corner. The fewer joins the better.
Hi Levi. And an awesome filmmaker you are! To minimize pump vibration on yachts, we mount our pumps on two lengths of sanitation hose, about 6" longer than where the pumps' mounts are. Then, cut the ends of the hose at a 45* angle. This gives you room to screw the bottom of the hose into a piece of wood. The two pieces of hose get laid next to each other and the pump gets through-bolted to the top side of the hose.take two lengths of sanitation hose, about 6" longer than where the pumps' mounts are. Then, cut the ends of the hose at a 45* angle. This gives you room to screw the bottom of the hose into a piece of wood. The two pieces of hose get laid next to each other and the pump gets through-bolted to the top side of the hose.
Hi Levi - a few water tips: 1. Tank heating pads: Never have them turned on unless you have liquid in the tank. The reason is that you can melt a hole in your tank. You'll want to have at least an inch of water in the bottom of any tank when the tank heating pad is on. I'd also suggest having separate power switches for each tank heating pad as there may be times you need to heat a tank but but only have liquid in 1 tank. 2. Fresh water tank vent line: This line is also for "air admittance" when you are suctioning water from the tank with the pump. As such, not that you mentioned it, but don't consider putting a valve on the end, outside the coach, though you may want to wrap some fiberglass screen over the end and tie-wrap it in place to keep insects out. 3. Fresh water tank fill. The fitting you showed looked like a shore water inlet (3/4" GHT female). This is good when you have a pressurized water source. My sense is there will be times where you may end up jug-filling your tank or using some other low pressure source. I suggest you use a standard RV gravity fill water inlet. You can still install the pressure-fill inlet, you'll just plumb that after your pump and valve the pump off when using a city water connection when at a campground, home etc.
Great thoughts! I’ve been using a secondary pump for filling from jugs or rivers. And yes definitely will have switches for heat pads. I’ll try my best not to burn a hole in it 😉
@@Levi_Allen You can test your secondary pump to see if it can push open the spring pressure of your city water inlet. Then you will know that will or will not be an issue when you hit the road. Enjoying your van build series.
Every idea is important. You seem to be a problem solver. This also is turning you into a inventor and this is great growth in your future. Thanking God every day for people like you. Your video is great. I will keep watching and learn from your channel. Remember mistakes is progress.
Van build is coming along nicely. I think you will be comfortable when your on the road. You ought to be happy now...…..your making stuff. Happy trails.
No Sir! You are now a van builder! And if you ever get tired of film you could probably make some good cheddar with custom builds. It turned out amazing!
Tip from me. Make sure you have a pump power off switch. So when your not in the Van switch power of pump off. So if there is a water leak after the pump. It won't continuing pumping. Nothing wrong with hose screw clamps. They don't loosen. Been used on car engine coolent systems for over 40years. They don't use them today as the crimp ones use less metal and cheaper. Also more easy to be fitted by machine. Cheers from George
Put your pump off switch where you can reach it when standing outside at the slider. I always forget to turn the pump off when I leave and being able to reach the switch while standing outside is great.
@@MyGoogleCZcams Great idea but my Talbot has the switch fitted as standard by the manufacturer directly above the rear door just above your head ideal as we don't use side door anyway. Cheers from George and Jane
worm screw clamps definitely loosen, and they will dig deeper and deeper into the hose with every heat cycle (which might be a bigger factor than vibration). A regular maint task if you use worm screw clamps is to check and tighten the clamps! Modern spring clamps are a LOT better because they expand and contract with the hose during heating and cooling cycles and maintain a near constant clamping pressure. For pex crimps I'm using the 'ear' (oetiker) style as they have some spring, and other reasons. The copper copper rings are a lot sleeker tho, and do have a bit of spring.
@@Sylvan_dB totally agree but they dont work loose due to vibration. My 1954 Morris and my Supercharged 1968 Morris have screw type clamps on rubber hoses. Hoses perished over time but screw clamps good. My only problem with crimp hoses is when things need to come apart for access and repairs. I dont own crimp tools. So always replace with screw clamps. Unless its high pressure such as oil lines to oil coolers. Cheers from old George
I am building my own travel trailer and I am working on the water plumbing right now. I will pick the water from the top of the tank instead of from its bottom. I used to be a sailor and they do that for fuel tanks. In case of a leak anywhere in the system, only the content of the line will spill on the floor. For the same reason, I don't have a drainage tap at the bottom of the tank.
Water storage can be tricky especially if your moving around with it. I'm not a van customizer but I've been in a shitload of trades long enough to know enough people to solve problems like yours. I did however build a tiny house on wheels and I might see you on the road some day this coming year. Ok, to the tank. I'm using a 46 gal. Tank myself and its laying flat.... not on its side like yours so your results may be different then mine. I used a similar hack to yours except I only filled the tank half way and I thought that was too much. Yes it works but it cuts down on the amount of water you were hoping to carry. As for the check valve, or tank air line for over flow. I bought an RV mount and customized it so my over flow comes out next to my inlet. I did this so when the tank is full it shoots a stream on water out telling me to turn off the flow. "That way I'm not bending over or on my knees waiting to see it shooting out of the bottom. The water pump cushioning is a great idea and everyone that isn't doing that mush love noise. I did do something else that I saw on a youtube video, I hooked my pump to my water filter and the filter to the tank so that any and all water going to all outlets gets cleaned before it ever leaves the tank. I used a three stage 5 micron filter like the kind you'd use in a 2500 sqft. house. And no I'd not the size of a freaking water heater. The three filter cylinders are about 5 inches across and 10 inches long, with a reverse osmosses filter which I guess makes it a four stage....Doh! anyway, your on the right path although I suspect you'll be headed for a 3.1 redo of some of your choices. Good luck.
I'd rather use LLDPE tubes (with some stents for the hot water lines). The push-on fittings are plenty secure, in my opinion. Stuff like the John Guest speedfit stuff. Nothing wrong with Pex I guess. I also want the tank under the vehicle. That has its issues for winter camping - you need a way to heat it if you want to use it, as well as heating the plumbing going to it - but at least a water leak means it goes on the ground. And you save a lot of precious internal space.
Awesome video, Levi! I liked your plastic pipe pieces idea and I know that the inside of the pipe is for potable water, but what about the outside of the pipes? There's all that printing on the outside and all that dirt. I'm sure that you washed the pipes first? Thank you so much!
Good question. I can’t confirm for sure. Pipe manufacturer in the phone said it should be fine. I don’t have a way to test exactly, which is why I don’t really recommend this method. I’m not worried about a little dust. We ran a cleaner through the tank and have flushed it out twice. We will clean it each year
Hi guys, van's coming along nicely. I'd maybe think about mounting the tank vertically to minimize slosh, if you have the location. Or two or more smaller tanks in tandem which would allow you to spread the load. Thanks for sharing. Stay safe and keep up the good work. 👍🖖😎
I am one of the simple solutions. Why use a pump? If you hang the tank higher than the tap, for example a flat tank on or against the roof, the water just runs down. Yet I am impressed by your installation. This way you have more water pressure. I like to watch your videos informative, fun and well made.
Peter Palm - if you want to go as simple as possible that’s an idea for sure. In our case I really don’t want to raise my COG just to avoid a pump. Our water tank is 400lbs full. Not too interested in having that much weight high up. I’ve seen people make gravity fed water systems out of 6” pipe with two end caps on. A smart system of you don’t want much water and don’t want pressure.
@@Levi_Allen I think the water pressure is ok with a tank on the roof. You are right that a water tank on the roof can cause problems with the balance. You would then have to make a stainless steel water tank with partitions like in an oil tanker. that will probably be more expensive than your solution. I hope you don't find it annoying that I think along with you. After all, I am an artist and inventor.
You can get a small three to 5 gallon pressure tank, and put that inline, and have more than just a few small squirts of water, before the pump turns on.
Yeah, if you have a pressurized system, you need a tank like that. Otherwise the motor will run constantly on/off, on/off, as the pressure inside the system drops as it inevitably will. With a pressure tank, the pump will still run spontaneously to raise the pressure on occasion but with a pressure tank that will be far less often. This Shurflo or something like it should get the job done www.amazon.com/SHURFLO-182-200-Pre-Pressurized-Accumulator-Tank/dp/B000N9VF6Q
I added a back up pump into my system and put a long siphon tube on it so I can pick up water right from a river or lake for showering and save my drinking water for cooking and drinking. Aslo just incase my primary pump dies.
rvwaterfilterstore.com and get one of their filter systems and you can easily pump water from a river and a lake and drink it safely. For a few hundred bucks. Although everybody should have such a filter system for *any* water that goes into the van/RV, even water marked potable. It keeps any microorganisms out and keeps particles that form sediment over time from getting into the tanks.
Good tip on the fresh water tank breather pipe, do you have a breather pipe on your waste tank too? You need one that goes up to the same level as the bottom of your sink then loops back down to exit the van. Interested to know if you had any issues filling your fresh tank with all the offcuts - do you have to watch how fast the water goes in when it gets over half full?
Another thing with filling up the tank with all that plastic, you just gave bacteria/algae a loooot of surface area to nest on... Also, however perhaps not needed with your build as you did your isolation properly, but I actually insulated my watertank in order to get rid of any condensation forming on the outside of the tank. My watertank would sometimes cool down a lot at night and then when it was a hot day, the van would warm up quite rapidly in the sun, much faster than the cold watertank. Resulting in condens forming on the tank and leaving water on floor basically. But yeah, i guess you won't have issues with that as the inside van temp will be way more stable.
Yeah, people don't seem to realize this but even fresh water tanks need to be cleaned periodically. Especially in vehicles where people don't use proper dual-canister filter systems on the water intake; any water you add will have some level of particles in it, and those particles land on the bottom of the tank and form sediment. A proper filter system cuts that to almost nil so cleanings don't have to be as frequent, but you still need to do it.
We loss hardly any tank volume, about 5 litres, which is fine by me seeing as it’s 46 gallons. It was a process that just took way to long and was a waste of time in my opinion. I wouldn’t suggest someone else do it because it’s a bit of a hack method and the pipe adds unnecessary weight.
So here's what I did Levi, I installed my three tanks under my rig, but before I did that I taped temperature probes to them, then I added those heat pads you had to each tank. The problem with them is that they literally have a mind of their own, while you can turn them off whenever you want, it will decide when to turn on, so I can't rely on that temperature probe and an Arduino to turn the heater pads on and off at pre determined temperatures, But I wasn't going to rely on them alone in the first place so that's not too big of an issue, the main heat is coming from heat tape, wrapped around each tank - this I can completely control with the temp. probe, a relay, and a Arduino. I then wrapped all that up in reflectix to reflect the heat in, and then wrapped all that in rockwool (for it's fire and water resistance) insulation as the main way of insulating them. Then I sprayed them with truck bed liner to keep rocks from destroying them. I sparked up a joint and marvelled at my creation, "No Canadian blizzard is going to keep me from a hot shower." Then I realized, they make antifreeze for this. So my grey and black tank will have RV antifreeze in them as well. Felt a little like ⅔ of what I did was in vain. But now I have more options to keep those tanks from freezing. I smoked a bit more, and realized I could put a 3-way valve on the source side of the pump and choose to pump from the tank OOOOOR if I don't have access to a hose with potable water to fill the tank I could go into a Walmart fill a Culligan (18L) bottle AND PUMP DIRECTLY FROM IT!!! I was so stoked at this idea, then I realized I could run a line off the main branch coming from the water pump to a T-joint on the water tanks' gravity fill line. This would allow me to pump water from a Culligan bottle directly into the water tank. *Another realization:* if that 3 way valve is set to pump from the water tank and back into the water tank, it would be recirculating the water(duh), but that means I could run a hot and a cold line into that T-joint via a mixer valve, and in the winter recirculate warm water through my tank keeping it from freezing. I'm really looking forward to a harsh winter so I can put all of this to the test.
The best ideas come when we slow down. Totally agree, don’t plan to leave the heat pads ‘on’ unless we are on shore power and it is indeed freezing. The cabin air heater will keep ambient temp high enough that I should be fine never using them. (Which is why I put tanks inside as I really didn’t want them hit by rocks underneath.) sounds like you’ve got a wicked setup. I have 110v heat tape on my main water lines, but not the ones that drain beneath the van. What kind of heat tape did you use? I should get into arduino stuff. Seems really practical for certain implementations. I have an auxiliary pump I use for filling my tanks from jugs or a river. Not as fancy as a three way valve, but does the trick. Let me know how this winter goes!
@@krimke881 When we first tried it it did create a feedback loop type of affect just heating the water until it was just hot water(an oversight for sure) so we are now using an Arduino to control the water temperature recirculating. Keeping it between 5°C-10°C. The antifreeze is poured down the shower drain and down the toilet after each tank dump to keep the black and grey tanks from from freezing.
What adapters did you use for the schrader blow out valve? Has it worked well now that you have had it for a while? I am thinking of doing the same thing and was just thinking of how my bike tires slowly lose air and I want to make sure the valve won't slowly lose water.
I didn’t do any water locations on the outside. I don’t want to put holes in the vehicle for no reason. Electrical is through rubber gaskets in the wall of my van.
@@Levi_Allen I've got rust holes all over my van. The driverside had 7 patches welded in. I could of used some of these for ports, but can't decide where. Probably because nothing is in the vehicle yet, no shower, stove, sink, etc. Just got the epoxy on the driverside today and still have the bodywork to go on top of the epoxy. I have to get the epoxy on before I don't have a vehicle left. This takes a lot of paint. It took me 3 days to strip from mid line to the rocker area. Then 2 days to sand blast the pits. I still have the passenger side and all the doors and hood. Getting back to my original question....If you were going to cut holes for ports, lol. I really need to get these first because I heard they're all different sizes and I don't know what I need just yet. It's a learning process
I picked up this tip... Don't put a metal male fitting into a plastic female fitting. I tried the above and couldn't get it to seal. And then there is the risk of splitting the female fitting.
Did you mean to leave an extra 87 seconds of nothingness at the end of the video? (The new CZcams Studio allows cutting out portions of a video, fyi, in case you didn't know)
Original slacklife series was 1-5. All those are released. Is that what you are referring to? I find raised for a trip last fall by selling a story telling webinar. Which are you referring to?
@@Levi_Allen I love your movies since ever. You have started two series yet, and, for what you talked about, no series ever got finished. It is unique and great in many ways. Just my perception...stuff is missing alot you announced. Back then i paid for more than 5 episodes. But either way. The movies are great, and keep doing it. Next episode with world record of Mia Noblet was in pipleline....you teased....what happened?
@@Levi_Allen only pex leaks I have had is where I have joined push fit pex to flexible nylon braided food grade hose, no issue joining pex to copper or pex to pex, maybe our fittings are a different design in the UK. I'll have a vid on them by Tuesday.
Hose clamps loosening as you go down the road... You mean like the billions and billions of them that have been on countless vehicles for over 3/4 of a century???
That is a fair point. They do work great when installed properly. As an amateur water installer I feel much more confident with the crimped connections. I had two connections with barbs and clamps that leaked on my first test setup. I don’t think there is inherently a problem with clamps. But a plumber did urge me not to use them and I’m trying to relay that in this video. All my Deisel tank connections I redid are with worm clamps, so I guess there is a hole in the logic. And I’m sure the coolant loops in peoples vehicles are just fine.
I have a factory built motor home and I can totally relate to a lot of these tips. It had carpet and the previous owner had to replace that with lino after a tank failure. It has no air vent, but we have an tank pump and the screw on lid where the wire goes in is probably the closest thing and that is going to end with water everywhere some day... Also, our fill gauge is shot, so adding an air vent is an amazing idea. I never considered having a pump outboard of the tank before.
We also had a pipe crack on the shower unit that we didn't notice for literally a year. It only became apparent when someone used the tap while the oven was on and we started getting steam out of the hob vent! Fortunately it has through floor vents under every fixed unit (6 in total) which means that it drains fairly well.
The water system is the biggest disappointment in that van, followed by the heater and the fridge, but we love it all the same. Problem is that it needs £2000 (2500ish usd) at least of work on it at the moment to make it road worthy again😕
I guess another cheap option for baffles is to install multiple smaller tanks, and connect them together with pipes. Another option for a noisy pump is to hang it instead! I did this with my diesel fuel pump, it worked AMAZING. I used some of my insulation under my pump but it didn't help as much as I thought it would. I've used the push to connect pipes, no problems so far! Another tip: Don't use corner joiners unless you really need to, just bend the pipe instead around a big corner. The fewer joins the better.
Hi Levi.
And an awesome filmmaker you are!
To minimize pump vibration on yachts, we mount our pumps on two lengths of sanitation hose, about 6" longer than where the pumps' mounts are. Then, cut the ends of the hose at a 45* angle. This gives you room to screw the bottom of the hose into a piece of wood. The two pieces of hose get laid next to each other and the pump gets through-bolted to the top side of the hose.take two lengths of sanitation hose, about 6" longer than where the pumps' mounts are. Then, cut the ends of the hose at a 45* angle. This gives you room to screw the bottom of the hose into a piece of wood. The two pieces of hose get laid next to each other and the pump gets through-bolted to the top side of the hose.
This is fantastic. I wish I had done that method. Really solid tip
Hi Levi - a few water tips:
1. Tank heating pads: Never have them turned on unless you have liquid in the tank. The reason is that you can melt a hole in your tank. You'll want to have at least an inch of water in the bottom of any tank when the tank heating pad is on. I'd also suggest having separate power switches for each tank heating pad as there may be times you need to heat a tank but but only have liquid in 1 tank.
2. Fresh water tank vent line: This line is also for "air admittance" when you are suctioning water from the tank with the pump. As such, not that you mentioned it, but don't consider putting a valve on the end, outside the coach, though you may want to wrap some fiberglass screen over the end and tie-wrap it in place to keep insects out.
3. Fresh water tank fill. The fitting you showed looked like a shore water inlet (3/4" GHT female). This is good when you have a pressurized water source. My sense is there will be times where you may end up jug-filling your tank or using some other low pressure source. I suggest you use a standard RV gravity fill water inlet. You can still install the pressure-fill inlet, you'll just plumb that after your pump and valve the pump off when using a city water connection when at a campground, home etc.
Great thoughts! I’ve been using a secondary pump for filling from jugs or rivers. And yes definitely will have switches for heat pads.
I’ll try my best not to burn a hole in it 😉
@@Levi_Allen You can test your secondary pump to see if it can push open the spring pressure of your city water inlet. Then you will know that will or will not be an issue when you hit the road. Enjoying your van build series.
Every idea is important. You seem to be a problem solver. This also is turning you into a inventor and this is great growth in your future.
Thanking God every day for people like you. Your video is great. I will keep watching and learn from your channel. Remember mistakes is progress.
Appreciate that Traci
Van build is coming along nicely. I think you will be comfortable when your on the road. You ought to be happy now...…..your making stuff. Happy trails.
No Sir! You are now a van builder! And if you ever get tired of film you could probably make some good cheddar with custom builds. It turned out amazing!
That was actually a pretty smart way to baffle the tank... albeit very hard to clean out.
Tip from me. Make sure you have a pump power off switch. So when your not in the Van switch power of pump off. So if there is a water leak after the pump. It won't continuing pumping. Nothing wrong with hose screw clamps. They don't loosen. Been used on car engine coolent systems for over 40years. They don't use them today as the crimp ones use less metal and cheaper. Also more easy to be fitted by machine. Cheers from George
Put your pump off switch where you can reach it when standing outside at the slider.
I always forget to turn the pump off when I leave and being able to reach the switch while standing outside is great.
@@MyGoogleCZcams Great idea but my Talbot has the switch fitted as standard by the manufacturer directly above the rear door just above your head ideal as we don't use side door anyway. Cheers from George and Jane
worm screw clamps definitely loosen, and they will dig deeper and deeper into the hose with every heat cycle (which might be a bigger factor than vibration). A regular maint task if you use worm screw clamps is to check and tighten the clamps! Modern spring clamps are a LOT better because they expand and contract with the hose during heating and cooling cycles and maintain a near constant clamping pressure. For pex crimps I'm using the 'ear' (oetiker) style as they have some spring, and other reasons. The copper copper rings are a lot sleeker tho, and do have a bit of spring.
@@Sylvan_dB totally agree but they dont work loose due to vibration. My 1954 Morris and my Supercharged 1968 Morris have screw type clamps on rubber hoses. Hoses perished over time but screw clamps good. My only problem with crimp hoses is when things need to come apart for access and repairs. I dont own crimp tools. So always replace with screw clamps. Unless its high pressure such as oil lines to oil coolers. Cheers from old George
I am building my own travel trailer and I am working on the water plumbing right now. I will pick the water from the top of the tank instead of from its bottom. I used to be a sailor and they do that for fuel tanks. In case of a leak anywhere in the system, only the content of the line will spill on the floor. For the same reason, I don't have a drainage tap at the bottom of the tank.
loved this video! awesome job! thanks for showing the fails too. We're all human
Great to see you again - the baffles are a hilarious tribulation and I hope they work great. Warmest regards Jennie
Water storage can be tricky especially if your moving around with it. I'm not a van customizer but I've been in a shitload of trades long enough to know enough people to solve problems like yours. I did however build a tiny house on wheels and I might see you on the road some day this coming year. Ok, to the tank. I'm using a 46 gal. Tank myself and its laying flat.... not on its side like yours so your results may be different then mine. I used a similar hack to yours except I only filled the tank half way and I thought that was too much. Yes it works but it cuts down on the amount of water you were hoping to carry. As for the check valve, or tank air line for over flow. I bought an RV mount and customized it so my over flow comes out next to my inlet. I did this so when the tank is full it shoots a stream on water out telling me to turn off the flow. "That way I'm not bending over or on my knees waiting to see it shooting out of the bottom. The water pump cushioning is a great idea and everyone that isn't doing that mush love noise. I did do something else that I saw on a youtube video, I hooked my pump to my water filter and the filter to the tank so that any and all water going to all outlets gets cleaned before it ever leaves the tank. I used a three stage 5 micron filter like the kind you'd use in a 2500 sqft. house. And no I'd not the size of a freaking water heater. The three filter cylinders are about 5 inches across and 10 inches long, with a reverse osmosses filter which I guess makes it a four stage....Doh! anyway, your on the right path although I suspect you'll be headed for a 3.1 redo of some of your choices. Good luck.
I'd rather use LLDPE tubes (with some stents for the hot water lines). The push-on fittings are plenty secure, in my opinion. Stuff like the John Guest speedfit stuff. Nothing wrong with Pex I guess. I also want the tank under the vehicle. That has its issues for winter camping - you need a way to heat it if you want to use it, as well as heating the plumbing going to it - but at least a water leak means it goes on the ground. And you save a lot of precious internal space.
Accumulator tank is a brilliant idea. I didnt even know they made them that small
I'm pretty sure they need to be mounted vertically with the hose tpiece at the bottom.
I'll get a bigger water tank tee hee...your an honest genuine guy
Awesome video, Levi! I liked your plastic pipe pieces idea and I know that the inside of the pipe is for potable water, but what about the outside of the pipes? There's all that printing on the outside and all that dirt. I'm sure that you washed the pipes first? Thank you so much!
Good question. I can’t confirm for sure. Pipe manufacturer in the phone said it should be fine. I don’t have a way to test exactly, which is why I don’t really recommend this method. I’m not worried about a little dust. We ran a cleaner through the tank and have flushed it out twice. We will clean it each year
I bet you had the best street hockey net in the neighborhood!! I wish I had one that nice growing up!!
It was my land lords
Hi guys, van's coming along nicely. I'd maybe think about mounting the tank vertically to minimize slosh, if you have the location. Or two or more smaller tanks in tandem which would allow you to spread the load. Thanks for sharing. Stay safe and keep up the good work. 👍🖖😎
I am one of the simple solutions. Why use a pump? If you hang the tank higher than the tap, for example a flat tank on or against the roof, the water just runs down. Yet I am impressed by your installation. This way you have more water pressure. I like to watch your videos informative, fun and well made.
Peter Palm - if you want to go as simple as possible that’s an idea for sure. In our case I really don’t want to raise my COG just to avoid a pump. Our water tank is 400lbs full. Not too interested in having that much weight high up. I’ve seen people make gravity fed water systems out of 6” pipe with two end caps on. A smart system of you don’t want much water and don’t want pressure.
@@Levi_Allen I think the water pressure is ok with a tank on the roof. You are right that a water tank on the roof can cause problems with the balance. You would then have to make a stainless steel water tank with partitions like in an oil tanker. that will probably be more expensive than your solution. I hope you don't find it annoying that I think along with you. After all, I am an artist and inventor.
You can get a small three to 5 gallon pressure tank, and put that inline, and have more than just a few small squirts of water, before the pump turns on.
Yeah, if you have a pressurized system, you need a tank like that. Otherwise the motor will run constantly on/off, on/off, as the pressure inside the system drops as it inevitably will. With a pressure tank, the pump will still run spontaneously to raise the pressure on occasion but with a pressure tank that will be far less often. This Shurflo or something like it should get the job done www.amazon.com/SHURFLO-182-200-Pre-Pressurized-Accumulator-Tank/dp/B000N9VF6Q
I added a back up pump into my system and put a long siphon tube on it so I can pick up water right from a river or lake for showering and save my drinking water for cooking and drinking. Aslo just incase my primary pump dies.
rvwaterfilterstore.com and get one of their filter systems and you can easily pump water from a river and a lake and drink it safely. For a few hundred bucks. Although everybody should have such a filter system for *any* water that goes into the van/RV, even water marked potable. It keeps any microorganisms out and keeps particles that form sediment over time from getting into the tanks.
"In that case we are allegedly thinking about that concept"🤣😅
Great tips Levi!
Milwaukee Home!! Thanks for the tips, Levi!
Just in time. Been waiting for your uploads
The beginning of that last song reminded me of an iPhone alarm clock. The discomfort lol
Great stuff! Thank you for sharing!
Good tip on the fresh water tank breather pipe, do you have a breather pipe on your waste tank too? You need one that goes up to the same level as the bottom of your sink then loops back down to exit the van. Interested to know if you had any issues filling your fresh tank with all the offcuts - do you have to watch how fast the water goes in when it gets over half full?
Yeah I have a vent on the grey tank as well.
Filling the tank has been no issue. Fills up really easily
Love your van build videos!!!!
Nice Milwaukee shirt!!
Levi don't Forget to put à vent truth the floor for your gray water to avoid smell in the van
Totally! Our grey water is air vented as well
Install a Hepvo trap after your sink.
Great video as usual Levi
Another thing with filling up the tank with all that plastic, you just gave bacteria/algae a loooot of surface area to nest on...
Also, however perhaps not needed with your build as you did your isolation properly, but I actually insulated my watertank in order to get rid of any condensation forming on the outside of the tank. My watertank would sometimes cool down a lot at night and then when it was a hot day, the van would warm up quite rapidly in the sun, much faster than the cold watertank. Resulting in condens forming on the tank and leaving water on floor basically. But yeah, i guess you won't have issues with that as the inside van temp will be way more stable.
Yeah, people don't seem to realize this but even fresh water tanks need to be cleaned periodically. Especially in vehicles where people don't use proper dual-canister filter systems on the water intake; any water you add will have some level of particles in it, and those particles land on the bottom of the tank and form sediment. A proper filter system cuts that to almost nil so cleanings don't have to be as frequent, but you still need to do it.
Levi, What water heater are you using
amzn.to/2NFRzu7 - you can get a 5 gallon as well
Was it any ratling and noise from the watertank baffles? Did you get to try it out now?
I thought the pvc offcuts in the tank was a good idea. What made you change your mind? Just time spent? Or more?
H. Luck personally I’d rather minimize my water contact with PVC. Not to mention they’re losing a bunch of tank volume.
We loss hardly any tank volume, about 5 litres, which is fine by me seeing as it’s 46 gallons. It was a process that just took way to long and was a waste of time in my opinion. I wouldn’t suggest someone else do it because it’s a bit of a hack method and the pipe adds unnecessary weight.
Hey Levi, can you link this shower head that you use?
EPIC brother 🤗🤗🤗🤗🙏
Nice1 man 💪👍
So here's what I did Levi,
I installed my three tanks under my rig, but before I did that I taped temperature probes to them, then I added those heat pads you had to each tank. The problem with them is that they literally have a mind of their own, while you can turn them off whenever you want, it will decide when to turn on, so I can't rely on that temperature probe and an Arduino to turn the heater pads on and off at pre determined temperatures, But I wasn't going to rely on them alone in the first place so that's not too big of an issue, the main heat is coming from heat tape, wrapped around each tank - this I can completely control with the temp. probe, a relay, and a Arduino. I then wrapped all that up in reflectix to reflect the heat in, and then wrapped all that in rockwool (for it's fire and water resistance) insulation as the main way of insulating them. Then I sprayed them with truck bed liner to keep rocks from destroying them.
I sparked up a joint and marvelled at my creation, "No Canadian blizzard is going to keep me from a hot shower." Then I realized, they make antifreeze for this. So my grey and black tank will have RV antifreeze in them as well. Felt a little like ⅔ of what I did was in vain. But now I have more options to keep those tanks from freezing.
I smoked a bit more, and realized I could put a 3-way valve on the source side of the pump and choose to pump from the tank OOOOOR if I don't have access to a hose with potable water to fill the tank I could go into a Walmart fill a Culligan (18L) bottle AND PUMP DIRECTLY FROM IT!!! I was so stoked at this idea, then I realized I could run a line off the main branch coming from the water pump to a T-joint on the water tanks' gravity fill line. This would allow me to pump water from a Culligan bottle directly into the water tank. *Another realization:* if that 3 way valve is set to pump from the water tank and back into the water tank, it would be recirculating the water(duh), but that means I could run a hot and a cold line into that T-joint via a mixer valve, and in the winter recirculate warm water through my tank keeping it from freezing. I'm really looking forward to a harsh winter so I can put all of this to the test.
The best ideas come when we slow down.
Totally agree, don’t plan to leave the heat pads ‘on’ unless we are on shore power and it is indeed freezing. The cabin air heater will keep ambient temp high enough that I should be fine never using them. (Which is why I put tanks inside as I really didn’t want them hit by rocks underneath.) sounds like you’ve got a wicked setup. I have 110v heat tape on my main water lines, but not the ones that drain beneath the van. What kind of heat tape did you use?
I should get into arduino stuff. Seems really practical for certain implementations.
I have an auxiliary pump I use for filling my tanks from jugs or a river. Not as fancy as a three way valve, but does the trick.
Let me know how this winter goes!
So what I get from this is, you'd either be drinking anti-freeze, or hot water 🤔
@@krimke881 When we first tried it it did create a feedback loop type of affect just heating the water until it was just hot water(an oversight for sure) so we are now using an Arduino to control the water temperature recirculating. Keeping it between 5°C-10°C. The antifreeze is poured down the shower drain and down the toilet after each tank dump to keep the black and grey tanks from from freezing.
great tips
What adapters did you use for the schrader blow out valve? Has it worked well now that you have had it for a while? I am thinking of doing the same thing and was just thinking of how my bike tires slowly lose air and I want to make sure the valve won't slowly lose water.
Not a scaric of ridiculous in your water tank idea...great job!!
Do you have links for the water pump setup you are using?
How much power do need to use that type of shower? My van has 1000 w inverter and 100ah battery, do you think will work?
Are you talking heater or pump? Heater no way. Pump yes. I’d go propane if you wanted heat with your setup.
Where did you decide to put the electrical and water ports on the outside of the vehicle? What reasoning did you use for their locations?
I didn’t do any water locations on the outside. I don’t want to put holes in the vehicle for no reason. Electrical is through rubber gaskets in the wall of my van.
@@Levi_Allen I've got rust holes all over my van. The driverside had 7 patches welded in. I could of used some of these for ports, but can't decide where. Probably because nothing is in the vehicle yet, no shower, stove, sink, etc. Just got the epoxy on the driverside today and still have the bodywork to go on top of the epoxy. I have to get the epoxy on before I don't have a vehicle left. This takes a lot of paint. It took me 3 days to strip from mid line to the rocker area. Then 2 days to sand blast the pits. I still have the passenger side and all the doors and hood. Getting back to my original question....If you were going to cut holes for ports, lol. I really need to get these first because I heard they're all different sizes and I don't know what I need just yet. It's a learning process
hey do you have the link to your water tank on amazon ?? thanks love your videos
What water pump did you use?
Hi Levi! Have you thought about something like "Moto Foam" as an alternative to the PVC Pipes in your watertank?
Whatever you use has to be food safe, so that should be taken into account.
I use a 6 gal eemax water heater in my van
Awesome!!!
I dont have any water tips other than make sure you have enough other you wont be able to make stuff ....
Got a url to the water tanks?
It's cheaper to get steel braided lines from home Depot than that shurflo kit
Nice tricks, the water tank trick to avoid waving, not very good.
MILWAUKEE HOME!!!
I picked up this tip...
Don't put a metal male fitting into a plastic female fitting.
I tried the above and couldn't get it to seal. And then there is the risk of splitting the female fitting.
Did you mean to leave an extra 87 seconds of nothingness at the end of the video? (The new CZcams Studio allows cutting out portions of a video, fyi, in case you didn't know)
I did not mean to. First I’ve heard there is blank space at the end. I’ve been on my phone so I’ll deal with it later
Hot water..... If your running your engine... Add ... Hot water loop...... It almost fee heat....... Peace
Still waiting, since a long time, for you releasing the announced last slacklife series ep! i paid for it, and dont feel, its gonna be finished.
Original slacklife series was 1-5. All those are released. Is that what you are referring to? I find raised for a trip last fall by selling a story telling webinar. Which are you referring to?
@@Levi_Allen Ah, now its one to five. I get it
It was always 5 episodes
I have recorded more material since then. Not sure if that will be season 2 or not. But either way original series was always 5 episodes.
@@Levi_Allen I love your movies since ever. You have started two series yet, and, for what you talked about, no series ever got finished. It is unique and great in many ways. Just my perception...stuff is missing alot you announced. Back then i paid for more than 5 episodes. But either way. The movies are great, and keep doing it. Next episode with world record of Mia Noblet was in pipleline....you teased....what happened?
i was fearful of the push fit joints after the horror stories, weird there the only things i've not had leak, i'm a convert to push fit.
Youved has pex crimp fittings leak?
@@Levi_Allen only pex leaks I have had is where I have joined push fit pex to flexible nylon braided food grade hose, no issue joining pex to copper or pex to pex, maybe our fittings are a different design in the UK. I'll have a vid on them by Tuesday.
Filmmaker: 10/10,
Van maker: Um ah eh... shhh, he's having fun let him go.
Oh wrong kind of Tip. 😉
Hose clamps loosening as you go down the road... You mean like the billions and billions of them that have been on countless vehicles for over 3/4 of a century???
That is a fair point. They do work great when installed properly. As an amateur water installer I feel much more confident with the crimped connections. I had two connections with barbs and clamps that leaked on my first test setup. I don’t think there is inherently a problem with clamps. But a plumber did urge me not to use them and I’m trying to relay that in this video. All my Deisel tank connections I redid are with worm clamps, so I guess there is a hole in the logic. And I’m sure the coolant loops in peoples vehicles are just fine.
=0)
👍🇨🇦😃
2nd