Water storage for this year

Jiva · Post by **Jiva** » Sat Jul 04, 2009 1:14 pm

I just got one of these:

http://www.aquaflex.net/aquatank2/

It should fit nicely under the bed platform I'm going to build for the back of my van. It has garden hose fittings, so I also bought a drinking water hose, as well as the only on-off hose valve in the entire hardware store that didn't have dire warnings about carcinogens (what the hell? People put water on their gardens for stuff they will later eat. Why is is that all garden hoses and fittings are chock-full-of-toxics?).

I will probably try to find some secondary containment for it until it proves its leakproofness.

Thoughts?

Token · Post by **Token** » Sat Jul 04, 2009 1:52 pm

Looks good.

The only sticky point is the sales office in Rochester, NY; everyone I know from Rochester is pretty much just a hair below penile cheese but no worse than taint lint.

Oldguy · Post by **Oldguy** » Sat Jul 04, 2009 2:20 pm

FWIW...RV supply stores have potable water hoses, and supply line fittings, and filters; even Wallyworld has an RV aisle.

dragonpilot · Post by **dragonpilot** » Sat Jul 04, 2009 2:54 pm

Does that mean the dump line hose fitting I got for my RV gray/black water drain makes the water potable?

Oldguy · Post by **Oldguy** » Sat Jul 04, 2009 3:54 pm

No, waste water needs to be cleaned first.

Like computers: garbage in, garbage out. What you get out of someting is often related to what you put into it.

I believe the poster was asking about clean water tanks not gray/black water tanks. Astronauts recycle their gray water but I really don't think that is what he intends. If you want to drink waste water that's up to you, but I would not reccommend it.

phil · Post by **phil** » Sat Jul 04, 2009 7:14 pm

> It should fit nicely under the bed platform I'm going to build for the
> back of my van.

Please remember that water weighs a little over 8 pounds a gallon.

Jiva · Post by **Jiva** » Sun Jul 05, 2009 1:02 am

Oldguy wrote:FWIW...RV supply stores have potable water hoses, and supply line fittings, and filters; even Wallyworld has an RV aisle.

Cool, will check it out. I need to make two hoses out of the one.

Phil wrote:Please remember that water weighs a little over 8 pounds a gallon.

Yup. I got the 60 gallon one, and I probably won't fill it full. I think it will be well within the working load of my van.

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SilverOrange · Post by **SilverOrange** » Sun Jul 05, 2009 6:15 am

Hey Jiva, It might be safer for traveling to either travel with it empty and find somewhere close to the burn where you can fill your tank, or travel with it full. Depending on the suspension of your van it could be more dangerous to travel with it only partially full. (Do a search for "slack tank". This phenonmenon has killed a lot of boats.) The weight of the water moving around in the tank could be dangerous when taking corners, changing lanes, etc. if the suspension on the vehicle you are driving is even close to being questionable for the amount of weight that you are carrying. Picture something weighing hundreds of pounds sliding around in the back of your van unsecured and you'll get a pretty good approximation of what it could be like. Might not be too big of a deal if that was all you had, but I assume that you will be bringing a lot of other stuff with you as well.

Ugly Dougly · Post by **Ugly Dougly** » Sun Jul 05, 2009 8:11 am

Is this a water bed? Remember that it can get cold at night.

Jiva · Post by **Jiva** » Sun Jul 05, 2009 9:42 am

SilverOrange wrote:Hey Jiva, It might be safer for traveling to either travel with it empty and find somewhere close to the burn where you can fill your tank, or travel with it full. Depending on the suspension of your van it could be more dangerous to travel with it only partially full. (Do a search for "slack tank". This phenonmenon has killed a lot of boats.) The weight of the water moving around in the tank could be dangerous when taking corners, changing lanes, etc. if the suspension on the vehicle you are driving is even close to being questionable for the amount of weight that you are carrying. Picture something weighing hundreds of pounds sliding around in the back of your van unsecured and you'll get a pretty good approximation of what it could be like. Might not be too big of a deal if that was all you had, but I assume that you will be bringing a lot of other stuff with you as well.

It won't be unsecured--I will be building a platform to sleep on, and there will be a hollow underneath that will be pretty much the exact size of the water tank.

I should have lots of leeway in terms of weight--the van is a full-size cargo van. I haven't been able to find the owner's manual for my year, but other similar years have capacities of near a ton.

edit: I intend to fill the tank in Reno. No sense in hauling water from the bay area.

Ugly Dougly wrote:Is this a water bed? Remember that it can get cold at night.

Oh dear god no. Strictly fresh water stowage. The tank is only 3' x 4'.

SilverOrange · Post by **SilverOrange** » Sun Jul 05, 2009 10:27 am

I wasn't implying that it would be unsecured. What I was refering to was a partially filled tank of water. Picture what happens to the water in a partially filled tank of water when you take a turn, put on your brakes, swerve, etc. I'm talking physics, inertia, etc. The water in a partially filled tank is, in essence, an unsecured load and can and has led to disasterous consequences.

Jiva · Post by **Jiva** » Sun Jul 05, 2009 10:36 am

SilverOrange wrote:I wasn't implying that it would be unsecured. What I was refering to was a partially filled tank of water. Picture what happens to the water in a partially filled tank of water when you take a turn, put on your brakes, swerve, etc. I'm talking physics, inertia, etc. The water in a partially filled tank is, in essence, an unsecured load and can and has led to disasterous consequences.

Ah, understand. Which means that I should fill the tank at least to the limits of the space around it, if that space is rigid--at that point it's just a rigid container with a liner.

And that's what I'll do.