Fresh water tank filler pump...

[yvrr]

A question was asked under the General/Technical section on an easy way to fill the fresh water tank other than through the City Water connection, i.e., via a funnel, etc. I did the funnel thing for several years until I came up with the idea of adding a water pump to move water directly from our jerry cans to the fresh water tank. After I posted the following solution in response to that question, Joe suggested that I also post it under this section of the Forum.

Basically, I used a Flojet Quiet Quad II water pump from Camping World ($70) because it was easily available, designed to pump water, and is self-priming. We have an EB-50 with a water heater so I mounted the pump inside the water heater cabinet. The piping configuration was based primarily on the availability of various couplings available at the hardware store. The inlet to the pump is connected to a female water hose fitting which extends through the water heater cabinet. From that fitting, I can attach a 2' long piece of reinforced water hose and to that, a piece of 1/2" PVC. That lets me insert the PVC pipe into the jerry can and suck water from the bottom of the jerry can.

To use the setup, I hook up the 2' long hose and PVC pipe to the connection at the rear of our van, turn the SMB valve on the water tank to the "fill" position, and turn on the pump.

Here are some photos of my installation. The first photo shows the rear of the van. The white box is the cabinet for the hot water heater. The connection to the water pump is the brass fitting on the lower right. (There is a female cap on the fitting to keep dust out.) The switch for the pump is in the upper left.



Here is the same view with the hose hooked up. The short hose connects to a piece of PVC which is inserted in the jerry can. The PVC has a valve on the upper end which allows it to be "turned off" to keep dust out; there is a PVC cap on the other end when stowed.



Here is the system ready to pump:



This view looks inside the water heater cabinet. The pump is bolted to the rear wall of the cabinet. Power is fed from a 12v source with the hot lead wired into the toggle switch. The inlet side of the pump is connected, via flexible hose, to the brass fitting visible in the first photo. The outlet of the pump connects to a flexible hose which snakes through the cabinets to the water tank under the sofa.



Here is the connection to the water tank. I removed the SMB-provided cap and replaced it with a 90 degree street elbow fitting. The hose from the pump attached to this elbow.



Although not directly related, here is the jerry can basket after the locking bracket is back in place:

[Joanna]

Very elegant solution, Jack.

[jlrray]

Nice installation. Funny thing, when I ask for help from my friends, they almost always look at "hacks" instead of something elegant and clean. Nice work. Thanks for the pics.

Joe

[cranny]

Jack
nice work. I had the same problem with filling but because we're always in Mexico we're always filling from big cylindrical 5 gallon containers. I had been placing them on the roof and syphening into my water fill port but it was taking over 30 mins to fill the tank and I had to move the van to raise up the ass end because of the way my intake line is positioned. Because its easiest to fill the 5 gal tanks from the ground I had GTRV add a second pump then run a line through the floor of the van with a fitting under my rear bumper. Then I fashioned a stiff 2 foot long hose which I just drop in the bucked, flip the switch and fill my 15 gallon tank in about 10 minutes. I was thinking about just using 1 pump and reversing the direction for filling but this gives me a spare pump when my first breaks down while away. I like your idea of the rigid tip to your suction hose - I think I'll rig up something like this for myself. Thanks for posting the pics.
james