Travel with water in tanks. (3 Viewers)

[6894]

Hi all,
Can anyone confirm as to wether it is safe to travel with tank full of half full? I'm wondering if the tank is constructed to withstand the forces and the weight of all that swishing water. Or should I be travelling empty and filling up at sites? It's an Elddis 194 btw.
I have looked at the Elddis website and there is a recommendation not to travel with water, but no reason given as to why. It just seems a bit daft if we're traveling for a few days without using designated sites.
Many thanks.

 

[poppycamper]

Hi all,
Can anyone confirm as to wether it is safe to travel with tank full of half full? I'm wondering if the tank is constructed to withstand the forces and the weight of all that swishing water. Or should I be travelling empty and filling up at sites? It's an Elddis 194 btw.
I have looked at the Elddis website and there is a recommendation not to travel with water, but no reason given as to why. It just seems a bit daft if we're traveling for a few days without using designated sites.
Many thanks.

Only thing to stop travelling with full tanks is payload..or lack of it.
The ammount of water is not going to do any damage by swishing around...
Yes in a large ships tanks they have baffles, but nothing to do with possible damage but more to stop instability of vessel.. and the ammount of water we talking about in a moho is not going to be even noticed by passengers..

 

[Jim]

I cannot say without knowing your tank setup. However, I can say, that it's only in the last ten years or so that makers have been mentioning that it's best to travel with just 20L, and that, happily for makers and their P' Poor payloads, coincides with them not having to include full tanks in their MIRO calculations.

I can also tell you that in 35 years I have never left home nor left a campsite without brimming my tank first.

 

[Two on Tour]

If we are touring, then we always fill up before we leave home and refill when we can and keep topped up as you never know were you can get your next lot of water from.
If we are going to a site for a few days or a rally where we know there is water than we travel with just enough water to flush the loo and make a cuppa. We are normally vertually empty for the last leg home.
Water takes up payload and would think that's why Elddis say not to travel with a full tank.

 

[PP Bear]

Tis all about the payload. They don’t make a special tank for Elddis, but about the next to zero payload they’ve left the owners to use.

Lots of us fill them up, brimming, plus I carry extra on top of that too, after all you never know when the zombie apocalypse will come and you need to be prepared

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[6894]

Only thing to stop travelling with full tanks is payload..or lack of it.
The ammount of water is not going to do any damage by swishing around...
Yes in a large ships tanks they have baffles, but nothing to do with possible damage but more to stop instability of vessel.. and the ammount of water we talking about in a moho is not going to be even noticed by passengers..

Thank you.

 

[Otter Spotter]

Tank should be fine but it is the fittings holding the tank to the underside of your van that you have to think about, I think Elddis have had issues with tanks pulling brackets from chassis members. As a rule I try with just enough water to flush and wash cups enroute and then fill up on site or get 5 Litre bottles from Tescos. I always make sure Grey water is either empty as we set off or empty as we travel under rear tyre so not carrying extra weight.
There is no point in carrying loads of water which in turn could reduce MPG.

 

[meanders]

Just remember that a 100lts of water weighs 100kg. If you only have 500Kg payload, two people at 70kg each, plus a couple of gas cylinders doesn't leave much for anything else. However I rarely travel with no water, and if I expect water to be difficult at the far end, will take on half a tank at home in the knowledge that we can do a couple of days. Certainly no problem with the tanks though. They are pretty robust.

 

[PP Bear]

Thank you.

Best pay the subs and join, it’ll be the best investment you can ever make

 

[PP Bear]

Just remember that a 100lts of water weighs 100kg. If you only have 500Kg payload, two people at 70kg each, plus a couple of gas cylinders doesn't leave much for anything else. However I rarely travel with no water, and if I expect water to be difficult at the far end, will take on half a tank at home in the knowledge that we can do a couple of days. Certainly no problem with the tanks though. They are pretty robust.

I fail miserably with this calculations, I’m around 110kgs of pure lean muscle and SWMBO is around 80-90, so we’ve failed there and many can only dream of 500kgs

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[nicholsong]

Another one here for travelling with full tank because we do not go on campsites.

When we go to weighbridge before a trip we weigh with full water and diesel and are 75kg under our 3850kg max weight.

 

[meanders]

I am OK with full tank and diesel, us and the cats and electric bike. Only did the weighbridge once with this van and we were just over 150kg light. Daren't weigh it when carrying all the sound and lighting gear as well though. Fortunately I can take the lighter weight gear. My original three 6 way at 15a dimmer packs are 27kg each. The new ones are under 2.5kg but are only 4 channel. at 5a! The technology has improved massively but it doesn't have the capacity to run my 1500W and 2kW spots so I have to keep the old ones. Same with the sound gear. My old speakers are many times the weight of the newer ones.

 

[JJ]

No water... no life.

I fill as often as possible...

JJ

 

[Barclaybasher]

Once lived on a small boat, having to fill the water tank from 20L containers I've learned to use water sparingly - even at home but I usually carry full tanks of water in the van.
My tanks have large inspection lids - they have to be tight!

 

[PeterCarole29]

If we are touring, then we always fill up before we leave home and refill when we can and keep topped up as you never know were you can get your next lot of water from.
If we are going to a site for a few days or a rally where we know there is water than we travel with just enough water to flush the loo and make a cuppa. We are normally vertually empty for the last leg home.
Water takes up payload and would think that's why Elddis say not to travel with a full tank.

Thats interesting about useing your tank water for tea. I have wondered if people do or how many dont

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[Lenny HB]

Always travel with a full 150 Lt tank and use the water for drinking.

 

[fred_jb]

Our van has the 90l grey water tank under the van but the 100l fresh water tank is next to and partly over the right rear wheel arch, so if filled there would be quite a lot of weight relatively high up and on one side which is not great for handling. I have sometimes felt that the van is a bit more understeery on fast right handers than left handers which might be due to this, so we now generally only fill it between 25 and 50 as shown by the half full light flashing even though we have plenty of spare payload. That is sufficient for us as we mainly stay on campsites with full facilities.

 

[dunnah01]

Valuable drinking time lost if you have to spend the first 10 mins filling the tank when you get to a site - always travel full (if payload permits)

 

[MisterB]

We also use water from the tank for brewing up ......and top up regularly if we know we're going to be wandering around or will have to pay for water .....

I hadn't considered the zombie apocalypse scenario, but it does make sense to include it in any planning for long term travelling along with water being affected by radioactive contaminants or even by some UK water suppliers ....

 

[BikerGraham]

Always travel with fresh water tank at least half full, preferably full though.

Even going to Spain. Arrive at ferry terminal and have a brew while waiting to load. Same water means no need to worry at al en route.

Use tank water for most things including brewing up and cleaning teeth. But the boss has bottled water for when drinking pure water. Some people are strange I suppose

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[Richard n Ann]

Usually travel with water tank full, doesn't make any noticeable difference to the van

 

[Tonks]

Always leave home with fresh water on board. The last thing I want to do when I arrive somewhere is start to have to mess about filling up with water. It makes negligible difference to my fuel economy.

 

[Two on Tour]

Thats interesting about useing your tank water for tea. I have wondered if people do or how many dont

I installed a water filter, so we take all of our water for drinking and hot drinks direct from a seperate tap from our fresh water tank via the water filter.
It's really nice not having to buy bottled water, cart it around and store it somewhere on the van.

 

[Skez]

Fresh - Grey - Black
Full - Empty - Empty
Whenever possible.

Payload is the only consideration. MPG difference is tiny in the grand scheme of things.

 

[WallaceandGromit]

I always have a full tank from my caravan days Van Masters always towed better with a full tank being situated right above the axle so weight was centre of the van

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[JJ]

A Berkey filter solves the "making tea from the water in the tank" dilemma.

JJ

 

[Brains]

The Hymer blurb says no more than 25% full when travelling.

I found out the hard way they are correct.
Travelling with a full tank means the bottom of the tank flexes as you go over bumps.
This was enough to disengage the rod between the drain tap and the valve.
Which meant I was unable to drain the tank until I had figured out what was wrong and then using all my contortionist skills managed to fix it.

 

[hja]

Leave home full. Return home as empty as possible except for some for flushing loo on the way home. Filling between sites depends on ease of filling. Use tank water for everything we would at home, include cup of tea.

 

[Hedgewitch]

I installed a water filter, so we take all of our water for drinking and hot drinks direct from a seperate tap from our fresh water tank via the water filter.
It's really nice not having to buy bottled water, cart it around and store it somewhere on the van.

Any recommendation for the water filter you fitted, please?

 

[poppycamper]

The Hymer blurb says no more than 25% full when travelling.

I found out the hard way they are correct.
Travelling with a full tank means the bottom of the tank flexes as you go over bumps.
This was enough to disengage the rod between the drain tap and the valve.
Which meant I was unable to drain the tank until I had figured out what was wrong and then using all my contortionist skills managed to fix it.

Well that tells me only one thing...
Hymer fresh water tanks are:--
"Not Fit For Purpose"