Pump to fill caravan tanks.

meetoo · Guru

Pump to fill caravan tanks.

Dougwe · Chief one feather

I use one of these. No priming needed. I pump from 20/10lt plastic containers into van tank fill inlet.

rockylizard · Guru

Gday...

I have rigged up a funnel wif a long-ish piece of plastic tubing that goes into the van's tank filler hole.

I then decant from the 20litre water 'jerry can' into a 9litre bucket - one with a nice little pointed spout.

I then hold the bucket - hardly any weight - and pour it gently into the funnel. Then repeat the decanting from the 20litre 'jerry'.

I am not in a hurry for things these days ... and saves a lot of mucking about trying to figure out a 'pump.

cheers - John

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

meetoo wrote:
If I put a hose each side of a normal caravan water 'pressure pump', will it suck up firstly the air then the water through the inlet hose without the pump being primed? then continue to pump water till I turn off the power?

Yes, it will work. I have used one like this for many years to fill from rivers and such like.

It would also be possible with the addition of some Ts and taps to rig your existing van pump to do that same job, if you can plumb it to be convenient to use.

Cheers,

Peter

dazz49 · Senior Member

A 12 volt bilge pump as used in boats are ideal cheers daz

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

Bilge pumps will not self prime, so need to be below the waterline of the source water.

Cheers,
Peter

Radar · Guru

Only the other month we were camped over a week down the South Coast of NSW where there was a large tank of good water for the campers to use, so every so often I would go over with a 20 litre drum in the car fill it up and drive back, on reaching the camp I would use my normal water hose to syphon the water into our caravan water tank.

I have since then cut my good water hose into 2 lengths (1/3, 2/3) making it a little easier to syphon the water though.

Heaviest lift was from the water tape to the tailgate of the ute, parking near the fill point of caravan was very easy job.

Just an idea.

jules47 · The Happy Helper

We sometimes use a small portable shower pump, with the shower rose removed, to pump water from a bucket into the water tank of our MH - bit slow, but works well. Possibly the slowness is good, because we don't get any air bubbles. Usually available under $30.

Baz421 · Guru

Plenty of 12V marine pumps will simply drop into container and prime and pump.

Used them for years. Here's an example John,, most marine shops have other brands, but Whale is reliable, had my current on 10 years.

https://www.ebay.com.au/p/?iid=221655553264&&&chn=ps

Possum3 · Guru

Any 12 volt camp shower will do what you want just cut off shower rose. www.bing.com/images/search
Less than $20 outlay.

OutbackMK · Senior Member

I have a small centrifugal pump that runs off a portable electric drill got it from Aldi for a song also available from Bunnings. For long lengths to a river you will need a foot valve but from a 20Lt jerry it works fine.
Thinking about permanently mounting on rear bar to save holding it while pumping.
Brian

meetoo · Guru

Thanks for all your replies, some good ideas there. By the way I just posted in the for sale section, that I have 2 new 110 amp batteries for sale, going cheap.

Cheers, John.

Jaahn · Guru

Hi smile

I have a shower pump that I purchased off ebay for a reasonable price. I took the shower head off the hose and use that for filling the tank. Just plug it into a ciggy type socket and it pumps a 20 ltr drum in a couple of minutes. I just drop it into the drum through the hole for the lid. The hoses and wires are included in the deal too. Easssy ! biggrin

Jaahn

Bass · Senior Member

Buy the sound of it you guys can fill your caravan water tanks quite quickly from normal hose. I have to almost drip feed the water into the tanks ( rear not so bad ) but forward tank wow.... just crack tap and leave for 2hrs. I've pulled the system apart and buggered if I can see the problem. (Yes its a crusader) unless more than 12 hrs of daylight could not empty from 20lt container straight into tank. ( ha ha.

Cheers bass

Baz421 · Guru

Bass wrote:
Buy the sound of it you guys can fill your caravan water tanks quite quickly from normal hose. I have to almost drip feed the water into the tanks ( rear not so bad ) but forward tank wow.... just crack tap and leave for 2hrs. I've pulled the system apart and buggered if I can see the problem. (Yes its a crusader) unless more than 12 hrs of daylight could not empty from 20lt container straight into tank. ( ha ha.

Cheers bass

I ran 2 hoses from tank breathers (on top of tanks) up to gas cylinder area (about 1100mm off ground) so tanks can breath while being filled. Fitted snap on connectors and can fill from the front with click on hose connections as well.

If you fill from hoses to tank direct (as I'm doing) be careful NOT to over pressurise tanks as they approach full. Reason 90% of filler hoses in skin of van are non pressure rated ie thin walled and often convoluted hoses not designed for pressure use.

Hope this helps.

Bass · Senior Member

Thanks mate, from what I understand you can / do fill from the breathers i'll give that a try.

Bass

Bill B · Guru

Jaahn wrote:

Hi
I have a shower pump that I purchased off ebay for a reasonable price. I took the shower head off the hose and use that for filling the tank. Just plug it into a ciggy type socket and it pumps a 20 ltr drum in a couple of minutes. I just drop it into the drum through the hole for the lid. The hoses and wires are included in the deal too. Easssy !
Jaahn

+2

vanman · Senior Member

Jaahn wrote:
Hi
I have a shower pump that I purchased off ebay for a reasonable price. I took the shower head off the hose and use that for filling the tank. Just plug it into a ciggy type socket and it pumps a 20 ltr drum in a couple of minutes. I just drop it into the drum through the hole for the lid. The hoses and wires are included in the deal too. Easssy !
Jaahn

What he said.

Too easy.

Chris biggrin

Dolly · Veteran Member

The old symphon method is the easiest by far, as long as you have a vehicle with a tailgate. I carry 3 x 25 ltr square plastic containers that never leave the vehicle. I fill up with a hose and then symphon into the van without lifting a thing. Very good idea for saving the back. So find a way to make your tug do all the work.

Happyjack · Veteran Member

I recently fitted a bracket to hold 2 x 15, 20, or 25 litre square containers (removable) in the A-frame. They have the large diameter openings through which I can drop a 12v submersible pump, much like the one Baz421 linked to. Drop it in with a length of hose fitted along to tank filler, plug in to 12v and transfer to main tank.
Incidentally I have a 100l bladder I can set up so that I can fill it either from some water source using the same pump, or from some other source such as a tap.
I have a 19,000l capacity Lifestraw to filter said water, if necessary, by gravity in to the tank or containers.
Also a small personal one for drinking straight out of suspect or dirty sources.

Symo2540 · Veteran Member

I use my caravan pump to suck the water out of the jerry straight into the drain hole of the tank. A little bit of plumbing but saves the back.