Off-grid water tank filling: 2 questions

[Peter Clark]

Hi Guys - will rarely visit campsites and wondering about how to fill water tank - have a some ideas but don’t know how practical they are in real life.

Q1: Is the Rheinland water filler cap as useful as it looks to be?
Is the Hozelock type connector universal throughout Europe?
(I’m thinking friendly householders would let me use their garden hose more happily if I didn’t have to take their Hozelock end off - and old Hozelocks often disintegrate when messed with)

Q2: Submersible water pumps - Whale vs Reich
Reading threads on the Whale pump, it seems to have a special plug that needs a special and expensive socket - can the plug simply be replaced with a standard 12v socket-friendly plug?

Has anybody used the simple - and cheap - Reich pump? (Or one of the similar submersibles)
Looks like it’s comes with wires and no plug, so you can put what you like on.

PS: is a collapsible water carrier a viable emergency option to hose connector caps and submersible water pumps?

 

[Vanderek]

I bought a whale pump and put a 12v car plug on it ,use it to fill tank from Jerry can

 

[Peter Clark]

I bought a whale pump and put a 12v car plug on it ,use it to fill tank from Jerry can

Glad to hear plug can swapped easily

 

[kevenh]

On a pitch, I’m exclusively using a flexible 20L bucket with a portable whale pump. Luckily my Motorhome has the right 12v outlet on the side near the fresh water inlet.

At home I use the hozelock pass through connector, like your pic, that PaulandChrissy make (& sell here) with their 3D printing skills.

NB. My fresh water tank is only 72lt and I think that includes the 10lt hot water

 

[Roby2008]

I have one of these joining pieces, just pop it in the end of a hose that has a hozelok or something similar on, no need to dismantle anything.

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[Peter Clark]

I have one of these joining pieces, just pop it in the end of a hose that has a hozelok or something similar on, no need to dismantle anything.

View attachment 761877

Aha! Thank you for that Top Tip

 

[ctc]

You need every type of connector, your most awkward fill-up will need the connector you don't have.

 

[rb62]

I have found an in line tap invaluable on some of the aires with quick coupling connectors,push coupling on water comes out,sometimes at quite high pressure!

 

[Oldrat]

Water widely available too often free, or just a Euro from a machine in Sostas, Aires etc.



Plenty of Hozelock connectors about but the most common fitting we found in France Germany Belgium and Italy etc is the 3/4” screw thread on the tap (I’ll have to double check size)
I use an adaptor similar to this with different screw sizes.

 

[steve69]

I bought a whale pump and put a 12v car plug on it ,use it to fill tank from Jerry can

Me too. Very handy if you only have a small tank (like mine) too.

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[L' Hobo]

For the vehicle end of pipe I just use a foot long piece of stiff garden hose that bends that wedges in filler. For emergencies, I use a collapsible clear watering can.

 

[Dramfineday]

Another Vote for PaulandChrissy who do some very useful water filling stuff from them so have a look there first, the stuff is top notch.

To Answer your questions: 1) yes, 2) don't know no experience / use of it, the PS) Yes but as part of the solution of supply.

In remote areas of Scotland (can't speak for E&W) households still depend on the local burn to provide water. You may have seen blue pipes running up some burns if you've wandered around the hills up here. So as an emergency supply you could, at a push, use the local burn water BUT not near grazing animals (or car parks (in case of illegal dumping of black waste) and you'd need ensure you filtered and treated it.

Other people have mention garages and cemeteries as water sources and carrying watering cans to charge their systems.

Another point, if water is metered in E&W are you sure you're going to get householder to give you large amounts?

Good luck with your adventures

 

[rod_vw]

We've always used a simple length of hose with Hozelock type connections and filled by inserting the hose into our vehicle filler. We carry an inline tap as rb62 says above also the adaptor threaded fitting to fit the unusual size tap threads. On the rare occasions that we cannot access the tap with the hose we also carry a clean plastic watering can.

On the vehicle that we are having converted at present there will be a push on connector which will connect directly to a hose (with Hozelock type fitting) but I have insisted on having a water filler on the side to allow gravity filling for the occasions that we may need it.

 

[RowleyBirkinQC]

10m supposedly food grade blue hose and some hose/tap connectors. I doubt we treat/store the hose consistently with ‘food grade’ though.
14L watering can for topping up little and often when necessary.

 

[Oldrat]

If you are using that water for drinking, just be aware of hosepipe hygiene.

I’d not want water from a hose that was attached to a source and been lying/ hanging around for a while without flushing it thoroughly.

We always use our own and dry it after by hanging it up.

For drinking we use a removable 15L container piped to a tap with a submersible pump.

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[WillH]

We find a watering can fits all taps and can even be filled from streams and burns.

 

[A S R]

Have you tried https://www.mylpg.eu/ , or asking on a local Facebook Group where to get Autogas near you in Derbyshire?

I certainly won't be going back to expensive cylinders.

Cheers,

Jock.
P.S. Just seen that it's you first post, so

Hi Guys - will rarely visit campsites and wondering about how to fill water tank - have a some ideas but don’t know how practical they are in real life.

Q1: Is the Rheinland water filler cap as useful as it looks to be?
Is the Hozelock type connector universal throughout Europe?
(I’m thinking friendly householders would let me use their garden hose more happily if I didn’t have to take their Hozelock end off - and old Hozelocks often disintegrate when messed with)

Q2: Submersible water pumps - Whale vs Reich
Reading threads on the Whale pump, it seems to have a special plug that needs a special and expensive socket - can the plug simply be replaced with a standard 12v socket-friendly plug?

Has anybody used the simple - and cheap - Reich pump? (Or one of the similar submersibles)
Looks like it’s comes with wires and no plug, so you can put what you like on.

PS: is a collapsible water carrier a viable emergency option to hose connector caps and submersible water pumps?

View attachment 761770 View attachment 761771

I have one of those exact same blue caps that I use on my motorhome. The fit was that tight when installed it wouldn’t let any air back out of the tank when it was filling so I drilled a couple of holes at the top ( when fitted ). It works perfectly now.

 

[rb62]

We find a watering can fits all taps and can even be filled from streams and burns.

You'd struggle to get anything out of this

 

[Nigel L]

This is our method of filling. Note, it is fitted with the multi adaptor

 

[headlight]

I have a food grade hose with several different tap fittings and 2 x 10 Jerry cans. To make gravity filling from the Jerry cans easier and quicker I have a PaulandChrissy funnel which is brilliant.
I also have a PaulandChrissy filler cap remover as my cap is very tight, again brilliant.

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[Mad dog]

Both sizes of hose connectors ared in Europel, but this I've used occasionally & it's been a godsend!

 

[Folkranger]

Lots of connectors in a bag. Move on often and fill before moving when a tap is available. You never know the availability or difficulty at the next stop.

 

[dawsey]

This is all you need, plus a 20m length of hose with a female hozelock coupler on one end. A jubilee clip is useful to hold the rubber one onto taps (eg in public WC). The tie wraps are used to hold open all those pesky auto switch off buttons.

 

[Peter Clark]

Both sizes of hose connectors ared in Europel, but this I've used occasionally & it's been a godsend!

View attachment 761933

I can’t find that item - do you have a pic showing the code number?

 

[Bonsaiman]

I have extendable hose and this set, covers just about every situation.

Amazon product ASIN B013DLLFFQ
Also have a jerry can and funnel if hose won't reach or to far away from tap

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[rod_vw]

I can’t find that item - do you have a pic showing the code number?

HOZELOCK 34 X 43MM MIXER TAP CONNECTOR (3485T)​

 

[Kannon Fodda]

You'd struggle to get anything out of this

View attachment 761916

And what are you supposed to do with that?

 

[Peter Clark]

I can’t find that item - do you have a pic showing the code number?

I can’t find that item - do you have a pic showing the code number?

I can’t find that item - do you have a pic showing the code number?

HOZELOCK 34 X 43MM MIXER TAP CONNECTOR (3485T)​

Thanks - found it.

 

[rod_vw]

And what are you supposed to do with that?

You plug a hose directly into the and simply by doing that the water flows, as someone else said, it can be quite high pressure! It works very like a standard workshop compressed air hose connection.

 

[Calamaster]

I use one of those rolling Barrel things which has a BIG Opening at the top for rapid Tap Filling. I then fit a 12V Whale Pump type thingy I made that pumps the water out and into the tank via hose.