First trip done-more questions!

Movin up · 05-29-2013, 12:43 AM

We had a great first done and had a great time! We learned a lot...Like bring a hose! Which brings me to our first post-trip question: how long should a full tank of water last? I know that depends on how conservative we are with the water, but I thought we were pretty sparing. We thought we had a full tank when we left, but ran out of water on the first day. I found the drain on the bottom, and am pretty sure it was in the closed position. Some friendly campers with a hose helped us out, and even closed that drain. I may have opened it when I was checking. But it was for sure closed after we filled it at the camp ground. That was Friday afternoon. By Sunday morning it was empty again. We had washed dishes a few times, made a couple pots of coffee, and used water in the sink twice to thaw food. Other than that, it was quick hand washes and brushing teeth. No showers! Does that sound about right, or could we have a leak?

h20ski · 05-29-2013, 01:07 AM

When I was in the Army, our bare minimum for planning was 5 gal per person per day. We did not get showers with this. Only drinking and basic hygiene. I don't know what size of tank you have but you can go thru some water pretty quick.

When you ran out of water on Sunday did you by any chance open the drain valve to see if any water was left in the tank? It could be a pickup problem any your not able to pickup all the water in the tank. Good luck.

rkuffler · 05-29-2013, 07:51 AM

First trip we used the water (3 adults) and we did not use it sparingly, it lasted us 2 1/2 days. I had a couple of showers. I then added another 4 gallons and that lasted us the last day. Oh forgot to mention that I used probably 4-6 gallons trying to get the water pump working. Ended up they removed the gasket when they winterized it from the factory.

It holds quite a bit of water. Not enough for a week obviously but enough for a long weekend. I would say that either you forgot to close the valve or you have a leak somewhere.

handbuilder · 05-29-2013, 07:54 AM

Was it wet under or around your trailer? I imagine that 26 gallons of water leaking/dripping under your trailer would be noticeable. I do 3 days at the dog shows with two people & 2-3 dogs and still have 1/2 tank of water by end of weekend. We hose the dogs down, wash hands and dishes & bring bottled water for our consumption.

Oakman · 05-29-2013, 08:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Movin up

We had a great first done and had a great time! We learned a lot...Like bring a hose! Which brings me to our first post-trip question: how long should a full tank of water last? I know that depends on how conservative we are with the water, but I thought we were pretty sparing. We thought we had a full tank when we left, but ran out of water on the first day. I found the drain on the bottom, and am pretty sure it was in the closed position. Some friendly campers with a hose helped us out, and even closed that drain. I may have opened it when I was checking. But it was for sure closed after we filled it at the camp ground. That was Friday afternoon. By Sunday morning it was empty again. We had washed dishes a few times, made a couple pots of coffee, and used water in the sink twice to thaw food. Other than that, it was quick hand washes and brushing teeth. No showers! Does that sound about right, or could we have a leak?

Just how big is the fresh water tank in your A122S hard side pop-up? with a 12 foot box I wouldn't think your tank holds very many gallons of water. Since this was your first trip with a new trailer six gallons of the water from your holding tank probably went to filling the six gallon water heater.

Pooneil · 05-29-2013, 08:04 AM

The water will always run out faster than you think and the collection container will fill long before it "should." Doing many of the little things you like you mention, using water to defrost food that we are so accustomed to doing at home, will drain the tank quickly. One of the joys of camping is changing roles relative to our lives at home. Part of that is learning to conserve, plan ahead and make due with less. So there is a learning curve like any other new experience. On top of being fun, camping is a great activity to help us appreciate the abundance we have in this life, both materially and in relationships. Your story is a great example of both.

If you have a leak, you will hear the pump cycle or see water under the tank. If you did not observe either of those, it was just regular usage. You can always fill the tank at home to check for a leak in the drain. The other question is what happened to all the water? If you didn't cart it off to the dump, then perhaps the tank was not as full as you thought.

rawlus · 05-29-2013, 06:56 PM

You'll only get 15-18 gal into the fresh tank and 6 additional into the hot water tank for a total of the advertised 25gal, reality is a few gallons less. It's pretty easy to use that up without thinking in small uses you think may not mean much but add up quickly. Although 20-something gallons in a day seems rather fast, my guess is perhaps the valve may not have been adjusted closed the entire time... If you were losing pressure through a leak either the pump would be cycling or you'd be seeing water somewhere in the camper or on the ground.

I don't think there's anything wrong, stay mindful of it next time and see if you can count the ways you use water and estimate how much you're using as you go, break that down into a per person count and you can get to your daily per person avg and then decide if you need to make changes.

Lugging a blue water tote from Walmart makes an easy, portable 6gal way to get water and refill the onboard tank partially if needed.

Movin up · 05-29-2013, 07:25 PM

Thanks for all the responses! Based on the comments about others people's consumption, it doesn't seem lke we should have run out. It looks like we have to get the trailer to the house for a weekend to check it out. It does seem like we should have noticed watr on the ground, but I can't say for sure. It had been raining before we got there, but it didn't rain while we were there. Still, if the leak was slow and the drainage good, maybe we wouldn't notice. We did keep hearing a noise that I thought was the water pump when we were not using the water, but my husband disagrees. Is there a separate pump for the heater? My husband seemed to think the sound did not come fromunder the sink. I must admit we mostly wrote the sound off since we are pretty unfamiliar withe whole set-up. Still, we know what we need to do next, so on to the next question!...
Has anyone removed the microwave? We don't normally camp where there is electrcity, and it seems like we could have some good storage if it was gone. We used t for storage anyway, and it seems like the space would be so much bigger if the actual microeave and the ousing was gone. Not sure what we would use for a door, but that's a detail we could work out. But we don't know what the space looks like behind the microwave.
Also, has anyone successfully used a magic screen for the door? We thought it might be a good idea, but the dimensions look a little tricky. Might require some cutting (off the magic screen), and some other jigging.

ThunderRoad · 05-29-2013, 07:35 PM

Here's something I found. When you fill with a hose, you can get air trapped in the tank giving the illusion that it's filled. I picked up the following item on recommendation and it's an inexpensive helper to filling the tank. It makes filling the tank a dream.

Valterra A01-0031VP Quick Fill with Shut-Off : Amazon.com : Automotive

This past weekend, we camped for three days, did dishes several times (using the hot water). Our grey-water holder needed to be emptied once, and was filled a second time when we left, so about 10 gallons total. We did fill the coffee and hot chocolate pots from the campsite well. Generally we just use the on-board water for washing dishes, cleaning, showers, etc. While it is potable, we just avoid it for drinking.

rawlus · 05-29-2013, 07:40 PM

Magic screens been used, Hamguy on here has some posts on it and I think another user as well.

Removing microwave is not a problem, it's just a regular cabinet. Could probably get some drawer parts from ikea or elsewhere and put in a set of drawers, or figure out other ways to segment the space. It's not massive since the sheel fender is under there too, but there are options and I'm sure I've seen pics in this forum as well of people who have removed the micro and come up with nice DIY solutions.

DGrissom · 05-29-2013, 08:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rawlus

You'll only get 15-18 gal into the fresh tank and 6 additional into the hot water tank for a total of the advertised 25gal, reality is a few gallons less.....

I second that. I think that air may get trapped in the tank when filling it. My crackpot theory is that the angle of the trailer and how much I want to get wet from "blow back" can keep the gallon totals down. Its kind of depressing when you hear the pump start sucking air.

I have Coleman collapsible container that I keep filled whenever we are camping where water is scarce.

ko777 · 05-29-2013, 09:26 PM

I do get only 16 gallons out and my theory is when the fresh water tank empties the water pump does not push the water out from the HW tank thus loosing 6 gallons there plus air.

JTHale13 · 05-29-2013, 09:40 PM

Our first time out with our new camper last year we were hearing a noise like the water pump every once in a while and it turned out to the water pump but the reason was because we didn't have the drain valve for our hot water heater tight enough and water was leaking out. My brother in law just happened to walk by and noticed the water dripping and brought it to my attention. We hadn't thought much about the noise but it did stop after tightening the drain. We weren't new to campers but we were new to water heaters and water pumps.

Jsusluvsyou · 05-30-2013, 05:02 AM

All good advice, thanks Thunder I ordered that part. Any other must have's you can think of?

Top B · 05-30-2013, 06:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Movin up

How long should a full tank of water last? I know that depends on how conservative we are with the water, but I thought we were pretty sparing. We thought we had a full tank when we left, but ran out of water on the first day. I found the drain on the bottom, and am pretty sure it was in the closed position. Some friendly campers with a hose helped us out, and even closed that drain. I may have opened it when I was checking. But it was for sure closed after we filled it at the camp ground. That was Friday afternoon. By Sunday morning it was empty again. We had washed dishes a few times, made a couple pots of coffee, and used water in the sink twice to thaw food. Other than that, it was quick hand washes and brushing teeth. No showers! Does that sound about right, or could we have a leak?

Things to remember:
1) If you started off with an empty water heater and lines, then you already used a lot of water from your tank. Pump water through the water heater and lines, then refill your tank. 2) I'm not sure how you did the dishes, but if you did them like you do at home, you use lot of water. Wipe them off with a rag or paper towel, then wash them using as little water as possible (paper plates and plastic silverware are our choice if water is limited). 3) When showering, only have the water on get wet, turn it off, soap up, then turn it back on and rinse off. 4) Use wet wipes for minor cleaning of counters, hands, faces, etc. 5) When waiting on hot water from faucets/shower, catch the cool water in a container. This can be used to flush toilets, wash dishes, etc.

The more you camp the more you will figure out how long your water will last. Good luck!

Pooneil · 05-30-2013, 06:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Movin up

We did keep hearing a noise that I thought was the water pump when we were not using the water

There is really nothing else on the camper that could cycle and sounds like the water pump when dry camping. It sound like your investigative plan is the way to go.

Glad you had a good time. After a few shakedown trips you will be able to set up and camp worry free.

D-mo · 05-30-2013, 07:23 AM

Basically i think most of these trailers have a little problem when filling up .. the air hose attached to the fillup receptical seems to get a little overwelmed when adding water at a quick pace. I allow the tank to fill, stop the process, and allow the excess water to burp out of the tank. I can do this three or four times until the tank is full ... burping it each time. We are not huge water users, but have found that doing this prevents a fillup during our stay. A water hose, with a water thief and a aquatainer, lets me off load water from the back of my truck via gravity ... to the watertank ... i think thats why the fresh water imput is put so low on the side of the trailer .. just for this purpose.

d-mo

handbuilder · 05-31-2013, 10:55 AM

Top B - good advice for dry camping! We do that too! Wet wipes are also part of the permanent supplies we maintain in the trailer. We dont wash many dishes, and altho the dishes are in the cabinet, we tend to gravitate to the disposable plates (unless we have water hook ups)If the grounds have shower facilities, we use them. We also carry a case of bottled water in the truck (for our drinking) and aquatainer for the dogs.

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