Remote RV Water & Sewer Solution

While I certainly appreciate Dana showering me with praise for assembling a water and sewer solution; what was not included are the details. For anyone in/from the corporate world and familiar with the DiSC assessment Dana is a DI and I am a VERY solid C…aka Dana presents the big picture and I provide the details. 😊 It works for us!

Once we settled on moving to our acreage, I set out designing a solution that would satisfy our water and sewer needs and for those that don’t know me, I subscribe to the KISS mantra – Keep It Simple, Stupid and in times like this I'll recall a saying from one of my uncles – make it functional then make it pretty (for any of my family that reads this I hope I recall it correctly) – so, here is my tackling of the problems.

Problems to solve:

1. Fresh Water Source

2. Fresh Water Transportation

3. Fresh Water Storage

4. Dump Station for Black & Grey Tank Wastewater

5. Black & Grey Tank Wastewater Transportation

Problems 1 & 4 are easy. As previously mentioned, we purchased this acreage eight years ago and are familiar with what is available in the area; within five miles we have free access to a community well and a dump station that charges $10 per use.

The community well allows for 50 gallons per day per parcel and considering we own two parcels we could extract 100 gallons per day – more than plenty for us. A fill of our RV’s freshwater 60 gal. tank allows us to go a week if used conservatively – YES, there is a shower or two in there.

As for Problem #2 I looked at 100-gallon water tanks that are often used in farming/ranching but found these to be $200+ without shipping. While this was doable, we also need a sewer solution and water storage so something less expensive is ideal and through much research I discovered a local company that specializes in repurposing food grade and non-food grade 55-gallon barrels/drums, along with IBC totes.

Through this company I procured the following:

Qty. 2 White Food Grade 55 Gal. Plastic Barrels – transport freshwater

Qty. 2 Blue Non-Food Grade 55 Gal. Plastic Barrels – transport black and grey tank wastewater

Qty. 1 Blue Non-Food Grade 55 Gal. Steel Barrel – trash storage…there are bears in the area and the top is removable and seals very well

Qty. 1 275 Gal. Plastic IBC Tote – water storage

Qty. 1 Narrow Threaded Adapter - allows connection of standard garden hose to the IBC tote

Qty. 1 Bung Tool – facilitates easy removal of the bungs from the bung hole…chuckling as I type this

Total Cost: $185

All these items new would have been $650+; this repurposed route provided a significant cost avoidance

These items solve Problems 2, 3 & 5 and subsequently presented new problems:

1. Transfer freshwater from white barrels to IBC Tote

2. Transfer black and grey tank wastewater to blue barrels

3. Transfer black and grey tank wastewater from blue barrels to dump station

Problem #1 – Solved!

We purchased a 4 GPM (Gallon Per Minute) water transfer pump

Problem #2 – Solved!

Purchased a macerator pump. The pump connects directly to the sewer drain of the RV and when the wastegate on the RV is open it chops the contents into small pieces and pumps the ‘mulch’ through a standard garden hose to the blue barrels.

Problem #3 – Solved!

Per blue barrel, we purchased a 2” threaded PVC adapter, 2” to 3” PVC adapter, 2” & 3” PVC pipe, standard RV 3” wastegate valve and with a little cutting and gluing we have a connection that mimics the sewer connection of the RV

How does it all work together? Quite well in our opinion. I really wished I had taken some pics but perhaps when we are at the property in 2021 I will and insert them into this post.

Below is the process for obtaining freshwater:

1) Load white barrels in truck bed and strap them in

2) Drive to the community well, attach standard garden hose to the spigot and place the other end into the barrel through the bung hole

a. Fill time is less than 15 minutes

3) Return to the property and connect water pump between the barrels and IBC tote.

a. Transfer of water to the IBC Tote takes about 20-25 minutes

4) Complete

…and below is how we get rid of our black and grey tank wastewater

1) Load blue barrels in truck bed and strap them in

2) Attach macerator pump to the RV sewer valve and connect the standard garden hose between the pump and the barrel through the bung hole

a. This process usually takes about 20 minutes

3) Drive to the dump station and connect a standard 3” RV sewer hose to the barrel’s wastegate valve and connect to the sewer connection

4) Pull the valve and let it drain

a. 5-10 minutes at most

5) Complete

To move water from the IBC Tote to the RV freshwater tank we utilize the water transfer pump, standard garden hose, 2 stage water filter and an approved drinking water hose. This process takes an hour or so due to the water filter being a 1 micron sediment filter and a 0.5 micron carbon filter - for reference an average human hair is about 50-90 microns. I've already decided that for 2021 we'll upgrade our water transfer pump from a 0.5 HP to a 1.5 HP to cut this time by 50% - at minimum.

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