Filling Water Tanks From Drain Outlet

jbell6660 · Veteran Member

Filling Water Tanks From Drain Outlet

KFT · Guru

G'day JBell6660

All up when I did that to our van I used a barbed tee piece, a plastic inline c o c k and a barbed hose to click adapter plus a few cable ties to tidy it up. I can also use the same connection to suck water out of a bucket using the van pump(with a filter)

Frank

rockylizard · Guru

jbell6660 wrote:
For those that fill their on van water tanks from the drain outlet, can you elaborate or link to what fittings used. Want as few connections as possible. Thanks all. Cheers.

Gday...

Jim, just to clarify please. When you say "...from the drain outlet,..." do you mean the outlet on the outside of the van that lets the waste water leave the van?

If not, which "drain outlet" do you mean confuse

Cheers - John

jbell6660 · Veteran Member

John the outlet at the bottom of the water tanks that let's you drain the tanks. Cheers.

KFT · Guru

Hi John, I took him to mean the tank outlet. Which is where I made the changes mentioned.

If I am off the mark I will have to wait for a reply to your question.

Frank

Possum3 · Guru

I must be missing something; Why would anyone want to climb under van and attach water hose direct to tank/ then muck around re-fitting bung against the flow of water from a full tank of water?
Hasn't the van got a water inlet fitted?
Are you asking for a method to quickly fill tank/s because of air returning up filler tube?

KFT · Guru

Mine is plumbed to the side of the van next to the mains water inlet.

just hook up to it and turn the tap on to fill my tanks.

jbell6660 · Veteran Member

Yes the standard Jayco problem of water returning up filler tube. A lot of people rig up a connection for fast filler via the tank outlet connection. Photo attached of 18mm thread outlet. I just wanted to know what connectors adapter etc they used. Cheers.

Possum3 · Guru

I have 12 mm clear plastic tube attached to water hose with male adaptor (snap connector) and I just shove it down the throat of the filler tube into tanks (approx 25mm in diameter) and turn water on full - air bypassing between the two tubes. total cost$1.50 for tube + $1.90 male adaptor. connector.

spida · Guru

If you make sure the pump is off on the Jayco then turn on a tap before filling. That way the air can escape. I found a brass hose fitting in the filler hole caused an airtight fit so then the air would be out the little vent which is supposed to prevent 'blowback' problems

Delta18 · Guru

rockylizard wrote:
jbell6660 wrote:
For those that fill their on van water tanks from the drain outlet, can you elaborate or link to what fittings used. Want as few connections as possible. Thanks all. Cheers.
Gday...
Jim, just to clarify please. When you say "...from the drain outlet,..." do you mean the outlet on the outside of the van that lets the waste water leave the van?
If not, which "drain outlet" do you mean
Cheers - John

Considering that pushing water up the Waste Outlet will not achieve a water tank fill and using a bit of logic I'm going with 'the drain ON the water tank' as what he means. hmm

jbell6660 · Veteran Member

Delta18 wrote:
rockylizard wrote:
jbell6660 wrote:
For those that fill their on van water tanks from the drain outlet, can you elaborate or link to what fittings used. Want as few connections as possible. Thanks all. Cheers.
Gday...
Jim, just to clarify please. When you say "...from the drain outlet,..." do you mean the outlet on the outside of the van that lets the waste water leave the van?
If not, which "drain outlet" do you mean
Cheers - John
Considering that pushing water up the Waste Outlet will not achieve a water tank fill and using a bit of logic I'm going with 'the drain ON the water tank' as what he means.

"John the outlet at the bottom of the water tanks that let's you drain the tanks. Cheers."

Correct - as per my clarification post reply to John earlier as above!

-- Edited by jbell6660 on Tuesday 5th of January 2016 05:38:54 PM

rockylizard · Guru

Gday...

Thanks for the advice Delta

I just wanted to make sure what 'drain outlet' before I opened my mouth and firmly planted my foot into it - my mouth I mean

The 'point of clarification' was due to the strangeness of doing anything about filling the water tanks from a waste outlet. hmm

Additionally, I am still somewhat confused as why one would connect to the watertank 'drain c o c k' to make water go INTO the water tank or even into the inlet hole on the wall/side of the van.

Not to worry, it all seems to have been solved by others much quicker and smarter than I - that's what the forum is about.

Cheers - John

Bushpie · Guru

jbell6660 wrote:
Yes the standard Jayco problem of water returning up filler tube. A lot of people rig up a connection for fast filler via the tank outlet connection. Photo attached of 18mm thread outlet. I just wanted to know what connectors adapter etc they used. Cheers.

Ahhhhhhh so Jayco have another issue .......apart from all those on Jims nice new van .......another curly question for them at next caravan show....

Delta18 · Guru

rockylizard wrote:
Gday...
Additionally, I am still somewhat confused as why one would connect to the watertank 'drain c o c k' to make water go INTO the water tank or even into the inlet hole on the wall/side of the van.
Cheers - John

It is not an unusual thing to do actually. Some vans develop bad airlocks filling from the proper filler and this is a simple way to alleviate that problem.

As a bonus it gives an easy to get at drain point for those times the tank needs to be emptied without crawling under the van to get to the tap(s)

Cheers.

greyhoundtom · Senior Member

For those people with a Jayco van it is possible with a little care to screw a hose connector to the fill pipe, and then use full water pressure to fill the tanks until water comes out of the breather pipe.

-- Edited by greyhoundtom on Wednesday 6th of January 2016 06:35:31 AM

wasn_me · Guru

My solution to the problem.

I think it's the same as Possum3 has already described. The hose is approx 600mm. The filler tubes on the van run close to horizontal before dropping to the tank. This extension allows the water to enter close to the drop to the tank, eliminating back flow.

Using this extension I can fill the water tanks faster than any previous van I've owned.

Cheers Pete

Possum3 · Guru

Yep Peter - Same as mine 'cept mine's prettier (clear hose and purple snap connector. LOL

Hylife · Guru

Super flexible braided hose with a click on fitting works a treat.

$10 from Bunnings

$3.80 from Bunnings

-- Edited by Hylife on Wednesday 6th of January 2016 05:52:00 PM

Treecrest14 · Senior Member

The usual Jayco slow fill problem is that the Air Release hose is either kinked or squashed, so the air cannot escape as fast as the incoming water.
I'd suggest you fix the problem rather than having to get under the van to fill the tank. check that there is an air outlet and that it is not kinked/squashed or air pipe has a bend down so that water could be in the pipe and stop air from escaping! Had that in my previous Jayco!

Trust that assists.
Glen

greyhoundtom · Senior Member

Hylife, just noticed that the 12mm to 25mm fitting you posted a picture of, has two O rings instead of the usual one to seal the connector.
Brilliant idea, about time too as leaking at that point in the connection is a major problem in a lot of fitting I have used.

-- Edited by greyhoundtom on Friday 8th of January 2016 08:21:17 AM

PeterD · Guru

wasn_me wrote:
My solution to the problem.
Cheers Pete

I use a similar solution. The difference is I only use one fitting on the end of the hose instead of two. tank filler.PNG

The fitting is available from Bunnings -

wasn_me · Guru

Appreciate your comment PeterD. I posted that photo to keep the reply simple.

This is the set up I actually use. When I fill the tanks at home I'm a fair distance from the supply tap. Having a tap at the van allows me to control the flow & turn the water off to change between tanks, without running back to the supply tap.

It works well in most situations.

Cheers Pete

rockylizard · Guru

Gday...

Like wasn_me, I have found the need to have a tap on the 'business' end of the filler.

Almost every time I have had to fill the tanks I am a fair distance from the tap providing the potable water, so I devised this "filler tap".

I use Hoselink fittings - but substituting 'click-on' fittings would not be a problem.

Filler Tap 001.JPG

Of course this is no solution to what appears to be a problem with some vans (Jayco?) that causes the water to 'back-fill' the filler pipe not allowing the water tank to fill completely thereby requiring 'venting/breathing'.

I just thought I'd share it.

Cheers - John

jbell6660 · Veteran Member

Thank you to everyone that replied. I cleared the breather tube by removing it from the breather pipe and rerouted it over another pipe so it was a fraction higher. I definitely knew it was clear of any water but the water still came back out the filler tube even though I poked the hose almost all the way down into the tank!!! I will try again today with a bit slower flow and see if it that makes any difference. I also tried Tom's suggestion which worked quite well. Thanks Tom. Did yours actually screw on Tom or just clip on over the filler neck?? I think an extra washer inside the tap fitting will improve the seal as well as pushing the fitting in against the white filler tube neck slightly while filling. Few options to try from all your replies. Thanks all.

aussie_paul · Guru

Am I correct in saying that you can only add water to a tank at the same rate as air can get out of a tank?

Aussie Paul. smile

PeterD · Guru

Not quite Paul. Air is compressible but water is not. If there is a difference in the volume of water being forced in than air is escaping then the air pressure in the tank will rise. If you are forcing too much water in and not enough air is getting out then the pressure can build up to such a high pressure that the tank will split (it has happened.)

I like the idea of a short length of hose down the filler pipe to assist in forcing water into the tank. If you get too boisterous then there a safety valve in that water will back flow past our adaptors. There are a number of examples above of how to construct an adaptor, all suit the builder equally (I like the stop-koks in the line, probably easier to manipulate than kinking the filler hose like I do.)

I don't like the idea of solid connections, you are likely to split your tanks if you are too gung-ho.

PS, why will not the forum let us use technical terms? I had to use the misspelt word kok, I refuse the ward tap because they are not taps.

-- Edited by PeterD on Saturday 9th of January 2016 05:15:52 PM

-- Edited by PeterD on Saturday 9th of January 2016 05:16:56 PM

-- Edited by PeterD on Saturday 9th of January 2016 05:19:39 PM

aussie_paul · Guru

I understand Peter. This is my filling adapter.

Aussie Paul. smile

Radar · Guru

When I brought my second hand 3 year old caravan the previous owner showed me how to fill the water tank by a system he had thrown together up in Central Qld when he was away from his home base, he explained the 80 litre tank never seemed to fill hence he made this quick mood. Then I had same time up my sleeve pulled the tank out from underneath fixed the crushed breather but I thought having a method of hooking the garden hose up was cool so I tidy his job up and it also gives me a place to quickly drain some or all the water out. If say I need 8 litres to have a shower for the 2 of us, place a bucket under and let it run.

The other thing I did was while under the caravan I rerouted the hook up for onsite water to the rear as most times thats where the electrical and water points are along with the grey water.

Filling by this method takes approximately 5 going on 6 minutes for 80 litres.

Hope this helps.