Water Tank ; How much when travelling between stops

[oilrag]

Hello ,just a straw poll type question
How much water do you carry when driving ?

50% or more
Just a little (to save fuel consumption.)

On a recent (sept) big carp fishing trip to central france i carried around 30 litres driving from caen to the venue ,my unit responded with almost a 5mpg bonus over a full water tank .

 

[Coastal Cruiser.]

We’ll Mark, it’s the one thing that I could kick myself for, for not adding it to the options list They are not exactly a light piece of equipment are they and I was thinking about payload at the time and trying to weigh (no pun intended) it all up. My bad.

Should be a standard fit Steve as I would think trying to stop 7.5t in a hurry with the disc brake’s fitted is a bit hairy

 

[TheAleMan]

Should be a standard fit Steve as I would think trying to stop 7.5t in a hurry with the disc brake’s fitted is a bit hairy

I can confirm

 

[scotjimland]

we use about 40L per day..

I know that because when we refill using a 10L water carrier it's generally four trips to bourne to fill up

also from tugger days when a 45L Aquaroll lasted about a day ..

At least two showers , sometime four a day..and we don't skimp.. that's what it's for.. not going back to the 'good ol' camping days' of basin and flannel .. lol

 

[davidbaldam]

I usually travel with a full water tank, 120lts, it seems to make no difference to my MPG the only problem is stopping distance.

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[zac]

Always a full tank of fresh (300litres) and empty grey. The less trips to fill up the better as I have better things to do when I'm on holiday . The tank will last about a week give or take. If a little careful can get 10days before refills but we don't usually scrimp on water.

 

[Niall B]

I used to try to make sure that we had about 3/4 of a tank (75 litres) most of the time. I didn't worry too much about the impact on mpg, then I read something (on here I think) about modern water tanks not having baffles to prevent excessive sloshing about and not being robust enough to handle all the movement from the water. I started to limit myself to 20-40 litres.

I was grateful for the tip as I was running out of things to be paranoid about, (added it to: Lithium going on fire, LPG being phased out, being overweight, needing additional locks, cam belt going, leaving the hook-up cable attached, getting fined in Portugal, leaving roof light open, mirror guards being insufficiently robust, having insurance refused because of a sticker, accidentally coiling up my hook up cable or worst of all parking incorrectly on a CAMC site.

 

[scotjimland]

modern water tanks not having baffles to prevent excessive sloshing about and not being robust enough to handle all the movement from the water. I started to limit myself to 20-40 litres.

I think there will be more sloshing from a small amount than full tank which cant really slosh

don't know where you read that, but it sounds like fake news

 

[Coastal Cruiser.]

I used to try to make sure that we had about 3/4 of a tank (75 litres) most of the time. I didn't worry too much about the impact on mpg, then I read something (on here I think) about modern water tanks not having baffles to prevent excessive sloshing about and not being robust enough to handle all the movement from the water. I started to limit myself to 20-40 litres.

I was grateful for the tip as I was running out of things to be paranoid about, (added it to: Lithium going on fire, LPG being phased out, being overweight, needing additional locks, cam belt going, leaving the hook-up cable attached, getting fined in Portugal, leaving roof light open, mirror guards being insufficiently robust, having insurance refused because of a sticker, accidentally coiling up my hook up cable or worst of all parking incorrectly on a CAMC site.

At least you don’t have to worry about reverse polarity on the EHU post

 

[Guigsy]

We use nowhere near that even when we have a shower.

A "ship shower" is about 10 litres.

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[PP Bear]

Full, plus up to 80 litres in the back, empty grey.

We like to park up when and wherever we want so lots of fresh is a winner.

As I’ve said lots of times when the same question is asked, you need to ready for the next zombie apocalypse

 

[Niall B]

I think there will be more sloshing from a small amount than full ..

don't know where you read that, but it sounds like fake news

I suspect you're right, when pondering it I decided there must be a sweet spot between more sloshing/less mass moving about.

 

[scotjimland]

I suspect you're right, when pondering it I decided there must be a sweet spot between more sloshing/less mass moving about.

think on it as a bottle of beer ....
Full, no sloshing, .. half full it sloshes..

empty .. you slosh about

 

[dunnah01]

Always full fresh and empty grey if possible. If I could gain 5mpg by losing half the fresh water then I'd travel with no fresh water and a nearly empty diesel tank to get a 15mpg improvement.

 

[scotjimland]

to get a 15mpg improvement.

dreaming now... lol

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[nicholsong]

We are off-grid mostly so full tank when possible.

Figures of 30/40lt p.d. or 300lt p w. blow my mind. We use 10-12lt p.d. for two of us including a shower each.

 

[Antique]

Full(ish) fresh and empty grey specially when abroad

 

[funflair]

Normally 100L for us.

I always forget to fill when we arrive somewhere, or I am more concerned with bagging a spot so we tend to travel over 75%, if there is not much in i.e less than 50% the theory is that it would slosh about too much in the tank and wouldn't be good for the fixings etc.

 

[Abgs]

Probably about 50% so 50 - 60 litres, Unless .... we are heading out of France on the last 24 hours of a trip. Then we drop to the bare minimum and replace the water weight with bottles of wine.

 

[WESTY66]

I always forget to fill when we arrive somewhere, or I am more concerned with bagging a spot so we tend to travel over 75%, if there is not much in i.e less than 50% the theory is that it would slosh about too much in the tank and wouldn't be good for the fixings etc.

You and me both Martin

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[Nirvanauk]

Very little due to weight but no difference in mpg.

 

[Thornebt]

If I know I can fill up with fresh water where I'm going I travel with an empty tank. A cubic metre of water weighs a metric tonne. So if you're carrying 100 litres it weighs 100kg. Surely that must make a significant difference to fuel consumption?

 

[VXman]

Always full (120 litres) as I never know where we will be next.

 

[Stealaway]

Never more than 25%
We only fill to 50% on shower days and hopefully near a grey tank drian so we can empty it immediately after the showers.
We always stay off grid but Park4night will always find a water stop when you need one

 

[GoldenVision]

Full. Always.

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[gus-lopez]

Full always as we don't use sites. Plus I carry 6 x 5litre water bottles inside the van for tea & coffee & to use in the tank in the event it gets too low.

Always full fresh and empty grey if possible. If I could gain 5mpg by losing half the fresh water then I'd travel with no fresh water and a nearly empty diesel tank to get a 15mpg improvement.

I'd do the same except I'd forgo the extra mpg for upping the speedI'm travelling at

Figures of 30/40lt p.d. or 300lt p w. blow my mind. We use 10-12lt p.d. for two of us including a shower each.

same here.

 

[autorouter]

Many factors can cause varying fuel consumption, for example a stiff breeze in the wrong direction can have a big effect on an aerodynamically pessimised structure like a motorhome.

As for water, it depends. If it's a long driving day, at least 50% if I'm not sure if water will be available. 25% if it's probably available. If the next stop is not very far, less than 50 miles, then 100% if I'm not sure if water will be available. 25% if it's probably available.

 

[Mzracer]

Hello ,just a straw poll type question
How much water do you carry when driving ?

50% or more
Just a little (to save fuel consumption.)

On a recent (sept) big carp fishing trip to central france i carried around 30 litres driving from caen to the venue ,my unit responded with almost a 5mpg bonus over a full water tank .

Full tank, got plenty of payload.

 

[Barti Ddu]

Always like to fill the fresh to the brim and empty the grey and toilet cassette before we set off. Then we're ready for anything - free parkup / wilding / broken tap at an aire, etc.

On our van the weight of a tankfull of fresh water is around 1.75% of total vehicle weight. Any detrimental effect on MPG is so negligible as to be immeasurable. Certainly it's not going to be in the region of a 5mpg (approx 15%) improvement by ditching it.

 

[Ray-Vic]

We used to travel with around 30-50l, but following a weight scare now travel with nothing.

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[Skez]

Fresh water - always full (110lt)
Grey and Black always as empty as possible.

A fuel consumption increase of 1 or 2 mpg really doesnt bother me. Running out of fresh water would, especially as we very very rarely grace a campsite with our presence. And with our van at 4250kg, payload isn't an issue.