Adding Fresh Water While Dry Camping

[Campwell]

The title of this thread may seem obvious as most rigs have an opening that you can pour water into and gravity takes its course. This is how I have always added water when dry camping. My dad even made a special funnel that fits nicely into the fresh water hole and makes pouring water in much faster and easier.

We recently traded our pull trailer for a 5th Wheel and found no such hole for pouring water into. While dry camping, I was trying to figure out how to get our extra 5 gallon jugs of water into the gravity/city water hose connection when the following trick jumped into my brain.

I used the winterization tube and valve that sits in front of the pump to pull water (instead of pink antifreeze) into the rig's water system. Then I used the outside shower - in our rig this is a coiled hose - turning the cold faucet on full. The trick is that the outside shower hose has a hose fitting at its business end, and I simply connected it to the gravity/city water hose connection. I put the valve in the gravity water fill position and the water went into to the fresh water tank.

Just to make the water path clear - it went from the 5 gallon jug (placed in the storage compartment next to the utility bay - no holding up heavy water jugs) through the winterization intake tube, through the pump, through the water system, through the outside shower faucet, through outside shower hose, through the gravity water fill and into the fresh water tank. This all happens at the rate of our water pump of about 2 to 3 gallons per minute. Not a drop of water lost.

Happy dry camping!

[Herk7769]

Originally Posted by Campwell

The title of this thread may seem obvious as most rigs have an opening that you can pour water into and gravity takes its course. This is how I have always added water when dry camping. My dad even made a special funnel that fits nicely into the fresh water hole and makes pouring water in much faster and easier.

We recently traded our pull trailer for a 5th Wheel and found no such hole for pouring water into. While dry camping, I was trying to figure out how to get our extra 5 gallon jugs of water into the gravity/city water hose connection when the following trick jumped into my brain.

I used the winterization tube and valve that sits in front of the pump to pull water (instead of pink antifreeze) into the rig's water system. Then I used the outside shower - in our rig this is a coiled hose - turning the cold faucet on full. The trick is that the outside shower hose has a hose fitting at its business end, and I simply connected it to the gravity/city water hose connection. I put the valve in the gravity water fill position and the water went into to the fresh water tank.

Just to make the water path clear - it went from the 5 gallon jug (placed in the storage compartment next to the utility bay - no holding up heavy water jugs) through the winterization intake tube, through the pump, through the water system, through the outside shower faucet, through outside shower hose, through the gravity water fill and into the fresh water tank. This all happens at the rate of our water pump of about 2 to 3 gallons per minute. Not a drop of water lost.

Happy dry camping!

I have used this trick before but I don't understand the need for the shower part. The Antifreeze suction port will pressurize the entire system with water from the 5 gallon jug without tying up the outside shower hose.

I made up a LONG vinyl tube when we need to do this and just replace the shorter one I use to winterize with the special one I made that I keep in a 1 gallon ziploc bag. It stays clean and I can put the jug where ever I need it.

[Campwell]

Lou,

You are absolutely correct. I could have just used the tube in the 5 gallons, but I wanted to get the water into our fresh water tank. Your method will work fine and if I needed less than 5 gallons of water to tide us over until we left, I would not need to go the extra part. The advantage of using the outside shower (to put it into the freshwater tank) is that I don't have to have the winterization tube out for more than a few minutes, nor do I tie up the outside shower, because once I pump the water into the fresh water tank I put the entire setup back to normal - in less than 5 minutes I have 5 more gallons of water in my fresh water tank for use any time. It also frees up my 5 gallon jug to go get another 5 gallons of water if I want. With one jug I could fill up the entire 75 gallon fresh water tank if I had a remote source of fresh water. It really does not tie up the outside shower.

Having a dedicated longer tube is a smart addition to this trick. It also lets you keep the tube with the pink stuff from being used to add water - smart.

Thanks for the opportunity to make this clarification. It is also nice to know I wasn't the only one with this trick. Say hello to Bella for me - I had German Short Hairs growing up and my folks still have one, she is 12 now and still going - great dogs!

[Herk7769]

"I See!" said the blind man,as he picked up his hammer and saw.

You use the shower wand to fill your fresh water tank. Won't work in my case because my gravity fill is on the OTHER side of the camper!

I DO use a shower wand to hose adapter (Watts A-663) when winterizing my Turboflush and the city water check valve.

NOT my photos (and I use a hose check valve).