Simple efficient fresh water system design on van/skoolie
My overarching design philosophy on this school bus build is to keep $hit simple. Simple designs have fewer ways to mess up.
Plumbing systems in mobile homes (vans, skoolies, trailers) can be divided into several parts. One logical part is the water tank (including fill, dump, supply), strainer, water pump, and accumulator. This is common among all builds, whereas beyond the accumulator, there is at least some variance.
In this video I show my modular freshwater design for the water tank + pump + accumulator, which utilizes only 2 (of the 4) exit ports of the tank, and provides venting, fill, and supply functionality. The design also utilizes few fixtures/attachments/adapters, keeping costs way (!!!) down.
Note: I chose this seaflo pump with variable flow via bypass valve. When you turn on the faucet only a little bit, usually pumps cycle on/off to give that small amount of flow, causing an unsteady trickle of water. This is improved by adding an accumulator, but the variable flow in addition to the accumulator should give a smooth, low gpm flow. This is especially critical to me because I plan to add a low-flow, aerator to all our faucets, to lower our water usage. So even fully opening the faucet will only give ~0.5-1 gpm, whereas the pump gives 3 gpm. The variable flow along with the accumulator will make this flow stead and not over work the pump.
Link to pump: amzn.to/3IqO1X8
Пікірлер: 10
Like the simplicity of this, great idea. Wondering if the hose fill-up from the bottom worked out or did you end up using the top fill ?
@brutally_honest
Жыл бұрын
absolutely using the hose fill up from the bottom. works perfect
hey how is this working so far? anything you would do differently now?
Great planning! Question - How do you deal with the effect of the movement of water inside the water tank during travel? Are there any partitions in the water tank? is it divided into small compartments (like a truck for transporting fuel)?
@brutally_honest
2 жыл бұрын
Thanks man! There are no partitions.. I actually wasn’t aware of this issue, and didn’t know how fuel tanks were made. I was worried about putting it as far forward as I could, close to the rear axle, and centered side to side. So I looked into it and it seems it’s an issue, but not huge in the amount I’m carrying (75 gallons), on a truck chassis. But I did turn the tank 90 degrees so it’s now perpendicular to the bus, so less front to back sloshing.. although who knows maybe side to side is also important 🤷🏽♂️
Hey, how does the pump know when to turn on? I have a water system in my bus but I'm not sure if it works, all the piping is there but no sink because I removed it
@WideAwakeTravels
5 ай бұрын
When you turn the faucet on, the pressure in the water system drops, and the water pump detects that drop, and turns on to maintain the pressure.
Since your channel is Brutally Honest, I will reciprocate. Unfortunately your wood “Bands” are not strong enough to handle the dynamic loads 75 gallons (almost 625 lbs) will put on them. One mild hard stop and the tank will join you in the cab area, destroying everything in it’s path including you. Hope you found someone to run your creative ideas by before deeming it all road worthy. 🤞
Talk about tooting your own horn over something stupid....
@brutally_honest
8 ай бұрын
😅