Fresh water and grey water tanksI installed two tanks under the bed of the trailer. One tank is about ten gallons, for fresh water.The other tank is about 13 gallons, and is for for grey water. My meaning of grey water is the water used for dish washing, rinsing food, and washing hands or brushing teeth. There is considerable space under the trailer bed, between floor and axle. If the road conditions are such that I do not strike the axle, I will not hit the tanks, either. Theoretically. At least, so far, anyway. I guess I could still bash the plumbing near the rear of the trailer, especially when backing into a campsite. |
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| In searching the
internet I found a supplier of ready made black plastic tanks
for grey water. The tank I chose has a stepped bottom, so part
of it will fit very nicely between axle and floor. The tank also
has a flange on its upper edge for mounting it. I used carriage
bolts long enough to reach all the way through the floor
insulation and the floor material. The linoleum will then be
defaced with a group of rounded carriage bolt heads, but they
will be hidden most of the time by the bedding. I should have ordered a mounting flange or socket attached to the greywater tank when I ordered it, or at least ordered the darn flange when I ordered the tank. It would have only cost a dollar more. I didn't. uffda! Shipping for this little item by itself was six dollars if I ordered it after the fact. Darn! I was not gonna do it! I happened to have some black plastic pipe of the right size in my basement collection of odd bits and pieces, so I decided to make my own flange. This is a thermoplastic. That means if you heat it up, you can shape it to your desires. I made a wooden form for the flange. I put a short piece of the pipe in the mold and then heated the pipe up with a heating element that is otherwise used for softening old paint for scraping. As I heated the plastic, I tested its plasticity with a bit of wood, to see how easily it would deform. When I was satisfied with the heat, I flattened out a flange on the exposed end of the pipe, and weighted down a board to hold the flange shape until the plastic cooled. I cut a hole in the tank where I wanted the outlet to be, and used the appropriate pipe cement to fasten the pipe flange over the hole. It looks just like it was done the regular way. |
 this flanged nipple is glued to the end of the grey water tank. This makes the connection point for the black colored drain line, seen in the top picture - another piece of the same kind of plastic was prepared with heat, to make a flat plate that was glued to the upper edge of the back end of the grey water tank, for attaching a vent line, as seen in the top picture - when the flat piece was glued into place, I drilled and threaded a hole for the brass fitting to attach the vent line |
| The fresh water
tank was ordered from another company. It is of heavy gauge
polyethylene and has two threaded connections on it, per my
specifications. One connection is at the top of the tank, and
the other connection is at the bottom, on opposite ends. The
connections are standard pipe thread, and there is a whole host
of fittings available locally for my choosing. I made a steel framework to fasten the tank to the underside of the trailer, using ordinary flat bar, about 1/8" thick, and about 1 1/4" wide. When I fastened the tank to the underside of the trailer, I shimmed the rear of the tank downwards, away from the trailer, about an inch. The forward end of the tank is in contact with the underside of the trailer. My thinking was that if the trailer is leveled, I wanted the rear end of the tank to be lower than the front, to be able to get more usable tank volume. The tank has a flat bottom, and the fitting is mounted at the lower edge of the tank end. No water will come out of the lowest inch or so, of the tank. If the tank is tilted somewhat, I will be able to get a bit more water out. Also a tilted tank insures that the vent is the highest point when the outlet is the lowest point. |
 this framework was given a coat of primer and a coat of gloss black paint suitable for metal rustproofing I squirted some foam into the space between the underside of the trailer and the top of the freshwater tank, to try to keep water and debris from accumulating in this space, and also to try to keep the tank from vibrating and rattling in the frame. |
Teardrop trailer plumbingSome details of the plumbing, showing the greywater plumbing on the left, and the freshwater plumbing on the right. The vent lines are 1/2" flexible poly tubing, left over from a household plumbing project of a few years earlier. (always save everything for seven years)In my opinion, there is a state of anarchy existing in the plumbing trade. The tubing is 1/2". The compression fittings for it are 5/8". One system uses outside dimensions of the tubing, the other system uses the inside dimensions of the tubing. I just bring a sample of the tubing with me to the hardware store, and get whatever will fit. Note the flex tubing in a full loop is for a hand pump which I have since removed. It was handy for getting a glass of water, but aggravating for filling a kettle... and it always dripped after the last pump stroke, leaving a wet spot to clean up. uffda! |
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The funnel is from
the local hardware store. I heated the end and screwed it into a
plastic hose fitting female/male adapter, which then screws into
the female hose fitting shown in the above picture. When pouring
water into the funnel, there is a small amount of leakage from
this fitting, but it accumulates in the well shown above. I
clean it up with a sponge. When the tank is full, the water
overflows into this well... and I clean it up with a sponge. The
brown stain in the upper picture is some discolored epoxy around
the female hose fitting, in the well. I have since removed the
stained epoxy, for a much cleaner looking appearance. I have another funnel for dumping dishwater into the grey water tank. The well for this is similar, except there is no threaded hose fitting. The end of the funnel is plain, and shrunk down to fit snugly into the drain pipe. When I need to dispose of grey water, I just remove the cap and set up the funnel. The funnels can not be mistakenly interchanged. The grey water funnel can not be accidentally used for filling the fresh water tank. The funnels are also kept in separate resealable plastic freezer bags. I made a "key" for removing the covers of the respective tank wells. The lids are two different sizes also, so they won't be accidentally interchanged. The wells are made from standard plastic pipe caps and plugs, modified for my needs. |
| This is a PVC pipe
cap, slightly modified. I drilled and filed as needed, to get a
hole in the bottom of the cap. The fitting is sealed in the hole
with epoxy putty. On the side of the cap is a street ell, which
is an elbow with female threads on one side and male threads on
the other. In this case the size is 1/2". I drilled and threaded
the side of the cap to take the ell. I did a test fit of the
ell, to see how far into the cap it went, and filed some notches
into the end of the ell, to match the threads inside the cap.
When the plug is screwed into the cap, it goes in far enough to
block the end of the ell. This minimizes the amount of water
that can slosh into the cap, back through the vent line, when
the trailer is moving. I used a pipe plug to close this cap. Pipe threads are tapered, and I had the pipe plug reversed to present a flat surface on the floor of the galley. This meant a considerable amount of filing, to allow the pipe plug to screw into the cap, reversed. The threads are a loose enough fit to allow air to seep back into the tank whenever water is drawn off . |
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| I first tried
screwing the various threaded plastic pipe fittings together
dry, but there would be weeping leaks, so I took things apart
and then used joint sealing compound to make sure the joints did
not leak. Not all sealing compounds are chemically the same. Make sure you use something compatible with plastic. I ordered my plastic pipe fittings online. This was good for me, because I do not speak plumber's language, and my local shops do not carry much in the way of what I needed. The website I used was http://www.plumbingsupply.com/pvc.html and I like this site. It has plenty of explanatory material for the layman like me to be able to order what I needed. There are plenty of good illustrations, plus many hot tips and helpful hints - like the one about compatible thread sealing compound. I have nothing to gain from posting this link, it is just a good and useful site. Delivery was prompt and reasonable, too. |
There are two
valves for the fresh water tank. One valve is for filling the
tank. It is a ball valve with a red handle on it. A quarter turn
opens the valve completely. When the tank is filled, I shut the
valve. I need to reach under the bed of the trailer to do this,
but it is not a long reach, so is no problem. The other valve is used for draining the tank. I also use this valve if I want to get some water or fill a kettle or saucepan or other container. I keep a pipe plug in the outlet of this valve when it is not in use. If for some odd reason the valve is not completely shut, the plug will keep the tank from draining. The plug also keeps the outlet of the valve clean. It is just finger tight in camp, and a little bit tighter when traveling. At first, this valve was also under the bed of the trailer, but it was an aggravation for my wife to reach for this valve — and she was right in wanting the valve moved to a more convenient position. |
| The 2 inch slide
valve on the left has a threaded pipe plug in it. This is a
standard kind of valve for draining trailer tanks, just smaller
than usual. When I want to drain the grey water tank, I remove
the plug and attach an 8 foot length of shop vac hose which has
a male thread fitting on it, and then pull open the slide valve.
This hose really needs to be 3 or 4 feet longer. The red-handled valve on the right is a 1/2 inch PVC ball valve. I can drain the fresh water tank with this valve, or use it for filling pots and kettles, or whenever we want some water. The valve has a threaded pipe plug in it, to keep it clean. |
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