Water tank

Submitted: Wednesday, Aug 17, 2005 at 13:08

ThreadID: 25663 Views:2470 Replies:4 FollowUps:5

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Chop Suey

I've got a Coleman camper trailer. It's pretty good on dirt roads, but find that the water tank almost half empties out the overflow. I am hesitant to plug the overflow just in case the pressure of the water being tossed around pushes the inspection plug out which would in turn flood inside and the seats would act as giant sponges.
Any suggestions?

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Reply By: flappa - Wednesday, Aug 17, 2005 at 13:25

Wednesday, Aug 17, 2005 at 13:25

Sounds like you need some sort of baffle system.

I'm assuming that the run from the tank up the pipe to the exit , is almost a straight run ?

Its the slopping of the water in the tank that causes the water to run up the pipe ?

PUtting something into the line , like an "S" bend , so it doesn't have a straight run should work ?

Would still allow it to breath , and to overflow (no physical restriction)

AnswerID: 125558

Follow Up By: Chop Suey - Wednesday, Aug 17, 2005 at 16:01

Wednesday, Aug 17, 2005 at 16:01

Many thanks flappa.
Sounds like an excellent idea. I'll make a few adjustments.
The tank is under one of the seats and the overflow pipe is at the top on the front and goes straight down through the floor with quite a bit of sealant around the exit hole. So I guess just from driving downhill, the water would have been pushing against the front of the tank and straight out the overflow pipe, so I probably lost quite a bit before I even got out of the city. Many thanks again.
Cheers
Sue

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Follow Up By: Member -Dodger - Wednesday, Aug 17, 2005 at 17:38

Wednesday, Aug 17, 2005 at 17:38

Or make the overflow longer and have it exiting the camper higher than the the tank at the filler if it is on the outside.
Could be that when the canper has the overflow lower than the rest it syphons out until the fluid is at the tank exit level.

I used to have a handle on life, but it broke.

Cheers Dodg.

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FollowupID: 380311

Follow Up By: Chop Suey - Thursday, Aug 18, 2005 at 08:04

Thursday, Aug 18, 2005 at 08:04

Hi Member-Dodger
Yet another excellent suggestion. I'm glad I stumbled onto this website.
Cheers and happy travelling.

FollowupID: 380394

Reply By: Shaker - Wednesday, Aug 17, 2005 at 17:42

Wednesday, Aug 17, 2005 at 17:42

When you say 'overflow', do you mean air vent?
If that is what you mean, could you raise it higher?

AnswerID: 125596

Reply By: Jimbo - Wednesday, Aug 17, 2005 at 21:23

Wednesday, Aug 17, 2005 at 21:23

Beef Chow Mein,

The tank in my camper was the bane of my miserable life. Constantly leaked despite my every effort to fix it. I had the bloody thing in and out of the camper more times than I care to remember.

I could remove it, hook it up to a tap with a hose clamp securing the hose to it and pressurize it with water until it bulged out of shape without a leak. I would then refit the mongrel thing, take it for a drive and the bastard leaked.

In the end I ripped it out and now carry 20L jerries of water. I simply pop the hose from the kitchen sink into a jerry and pump from there.

I now know exactly how much water I have (the jerries are light blue/clear) and fill them with clean fresh water each time. No chance of old, residual, comtaminated water in the "tank".

It's simple, cheap and effective. In addition, you are not relying on one source of water. If your tank goes, you've lost the lot. If one jerry leaks you still have the others. This can be a factor in remote areas.

Cheers,

Jim.

AnswerID: 125657

Follow Up By: Chop Suey - Thursday, Aug 18, 2005 at 08:10

Thursday, Aug 18, 2005 at 08:10

I must admit, It doesn't fill me with confidence that I can't see what's in the tank. Who knows what gunk has accumulated at the bottom of the tank. I would prefer a light / clear tank so I can see what's going on in there. I might end up doing what you've done if the other approaches don't work. I've always got the jerry can as a back up. Many thanks for your feedback.
Cheers

FollowupID: 380396

Reply By: adsy - Wednesday, Aug 17, 2005 at 22:44

Wednesday, Aug 17, 2005 at 22:44

it shouldnt be a problem to plug the over flow as water wont pressurise and cause it to explode water only expands when it freezers so plug her up cheers

AnswerID: 125672

Follow Up By: Chop Suey - Thursday, Aug 18, 2005 at 08:02

Thursday, Aug 18, 2005 at 08:02

The hose had previously been pinched closed, so when I filled it, the pressure of the water popped the inspection hole and flooded the inside of the van. I wondered why it took so long to fill.
When I say pressure, I mean the force of the weight of the water slooshing backwards and forwards. The inspection hole has a plug like cap that just sits in the hole and it wouldn't take much for it to pop out.
I do take a large jerry can just in case the large tank springs a leak or runs out prematurely like it did last weekend.
I don't think it's a very good design, because whenever I'm on any downhill slope, gravity pushes the water out the overflow. It would be much better if it was light blue (not black), there was no inspection hole (the cap just sits in the top of the tank) and it had a removeable screw on cap (for travelling), then replaced with another cap fitted with the outward hose (if that makes sense).
Thank you all for your helpful suggestions. I might take everything off the floor, fill the tank, pinch the overflow shut and take it for a whirl and see what happens. If it leaks, then I'll try the S bend approach. Something's gotta work.

FollowupID: 380393