Do you drive with Full Water Tanks?

Do you, more often than not, travel with water in your tanks?

  • No, I always travel empty

    Votes: 34 4.3%

  • Just a few litres for a brew and flushing the loo

    Votes: 188 24.0%

  • Half Full

    Votes: 207 26.5%

  • Completely full

    Votes: 353 45.1%
  • Total voters
    782
Jim

Jim

Ringleader
Joined
Jul 19, 2007
Posts
37,807
Likes collected
139,839
Location
Sutton on Sea, UK
Funster No
1
MH
Adria Panel Van.
Exp
Since 1988
Since EU regulations allowed makers to quote payloads without water, it is rare to find one that recommends travelling with water.

The MRO is calculated with the fresh water tank empty. It is not recommended that you travel with water in the fresh water tank but if you chose to do so then the available payload will reduce accordingly.
Click to expand...

So why is it not recommended. Are water tanks causing accidents, are they failing and dumping water? How many water tanks have failed on you? Has water you are carrying ever caused you problems?
 
It depends on where I'm going.

A site with water, normally just enough to get us there and top up at site.

Festival/motor racing/field, top up at home but sometimes by the time we get to the other end we're down to 70% anyway with it coming out of the vents
 
A lot depends on where we are going and how we will be camping. If going to a place with facilities we will travel with enough water to cover the water pump so it doesn't get turned on by accident and burn out. If wilding for a night or two we will put more in the tank before we set off.

We usually have a 5 lt container of water for drinks as I am wary of drinking water from the tank. Tank water is for washing bodies and dishes and laundry not for drinking.

We have even bought bottled water for the tank in an emergency :)
 
If we are driving down to Portugal or Spain in winter full tanks but driving to a campsite in the uk half full knowing I an get water on site .

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Jim said:
Since EU regulations allowed makers to quote payloads without water, many makers now offer an excuse as to why it is missing with something that reads like this



Suddenly it's not recommended. Are water tanks causing accidents, are they failing and dumping water? How many water tanks have failed on you? Has water you are carrying ever caused you problems ?
Click to expand...
No it's because they are building 3.5 tonne vans with no payload.They wontcount diesel next.BUSBY.
 
Dependant on the final destination, and the ability to fill on arrival, I may leave with a full tank. Otherwise I only put in enough to have the brew/wash while travelling. While stability is a bit of a side issue any "slack" tankage will have some marginal effect.
 
busby said:
No it's because they are building 3.5 tonne vans with no payload.They wontcount diesel next.BUSBY.
Click to expand...

busby I'm a bit dense... can you go into more detail please? I do worry about being overweight in my Burstner. Do you mean they building them with no allowance for clothes, dishes, tv, and all basic necessities?

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I travel with around a third of a tank. Im pretty new to it and last year before we set off to Spain filled it right up and found it made a lot of difference to the handling. I have experimented and settled on a third for ease of handling. I am considering rear air and if I go ahead I would then try it full again to see if the handling has altered or not. We mostly visit sites with water so its not a major problem.
 
So a motorhome meant for travelling but not expected to carry water:unsure:
Send wife and kids on ahead on train and collect from station.
oh no, that won’t work, get them to take taxi to your location 👍
 
More problems caused by lack of water if travelling with little water in tanks,
we always fill fresh, and empty waste at every opportunity, and batteries kept fully charged,
Surely that's why we have on board tanks

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Nearly always drain tanks before going into the storage, then fill up with water to 100% at the storage before leaving. Normally fully fuelled as well. Payload? Over a tonne and not much in the garage so no problems

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movan said:
busby I'm a bit dense... can you go into more detail please? I do worry about being overweight in my Burstner. Do you mean they building them with no allowance for clothes, dishes, tv, and all basic necessities?
Click to expand...
at the end of the day, what matters id weather you're over the MTPLM (and axle limits)....how the manufacturer calculates 'payload' is a bit irrelevant.
however, for marketing purposes its great to say van X has 100kg more payload than van Y...but on checking the small print you find that van X states its MIRO with an empty water tank whereas van Y states its with a full 100 ltr tank.
in reality, the vans are identical with identical payloads, one van has been made to 'appear' to have 100kg more.
Busbys point re fuel was to illustrate that yet another 100kg of payload can be 'claimed' if the MIRO doesnt include any fuel....currently its 90% full...
 
gpat said:
I can't believe anyone would be daft enough to carry a full water tank when travelling. Think about it
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What is there to think about, we use our MH for touring, so a tankful of water is necessary, what do you suggest we do, knock on a stranger's door and ask for some water. ??
There is nothing in our handbook about full tanks being dangerous.
One minute the reason for having a MH is to be self-contained, then we are being told to run with empty tank, how is that being self-contained ??
 
DuxDeluxe said:
Go on then, tell us why?
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Well its 100kg of extra weight to lug around. The manufacturers instructions on our van advise not more that 25% full when travelling. Obviously it OK to travel a short distance but 100's of miles, it just doesn't make sense. I had a friend who I cycled to work with. He loved diluted fruit juice. He used to add the concentrate at home and top up with water BEFORE cycling to work. I asked him why he didn't just take the concentrate on the bike and then fill with water once he got to work. His answer?....

"I never thought of that"

Being a cyclist I apply the same theory to the motorhome. It goes a lot faster when there is less weight in it and water is the biggest weight of all.

Just my view and I see I am well outvoted :rolleyes:
 
When we leave home we always have:

full water 110 litres

full diesel 90 litres

full food

full cellar

Saves a lot of faffing about during the first few days,or the whole trip if just a weekend.

I wouldnt trust any of the manufacturers to build a motor home with a decent amount of storage at the moment,they seem to have lost the plot. :rolleyes: :rolleyes:
 
gpat said:
Well its 100kg of extra weight to lug around. The manufacturers instructions on our van advise not more that 25% full when travelling. Obviously it OK to travel a short distance but 100's of miles, it just doesn't make sense. I had a friend who I cycled to work with. He loved diluted fruit juice. He used to add the concentrate at home and top up with water BEFORE cycling to work. I asked him why he didn't just take the concentrate on the bike and then fill with water once he got to work. His answer?....

"I never thought of that"

Being a cyclist I apply the same theory to the motorhome. It goes a lot faster when there is less weight in it and water is the biggest weight of all.

Just my view and I see I am well outvoted :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
I take it that you buy all food, toiletries and clothing when you reach your destination as well
 
gpat said:
Well its 100kg of extra weight to lug around. The manufacturers instructions on our van advise not more that 25% full when travelling. Obviously it OK to travel a short distance but 100's of miles, it just doesn't make sense. I had a friend who I cycled to work with. He loved diluted fruit juice. He used to add the concentrate at home and top up with water BEFORE cycling to work. I asked him why he didn't just take the concentrate on the bike and then fill with water once he got to work. His answer?....

"I never thought of that"

Being a cyclist I apply the same theory to the motorhome. It goes a lot faster when there is less weight in it and water is the biggest weight of all.

Just my view and I see I am well outvoted :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
and uses less fuel too.
You can fill up with water practically anywhere where there is a fuel station at the same time

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