How much water do you use? RV camping

[uncle sticky]

2 people. One of them thrifty with the water, one of them my wife. I'll be using the portolets, except for late night pees, which at my age are frequent. Wife will use the toilet, the shower, run water while brushing her teeth, etc. So, between the two of us, average usage for two people. No swamp cooler involved.

How much water do you bring? I don't trust the on playa suppliers, so I plan on bringing enough water for the two of us for a whole week. Grey water will be returned to one of the big containers. Black water will be dumped at one of those millionaire camps in a kiddie pool

[Captain Goddammit]

I bring about 100 gallons for two of us... but really, your wife needs to not waste your supply running the freshwater down the drain while brushing her teeth!
If she cannot have any sense, you better bring as much as you possibly can.
Or better yet, let her run out and learn a lesson.

[uncle sticky]

Some battles are not worth fighting, Captain.

[Captain Goddammit]

Well, the tank holds what the tank holds. There's no arguing that.

[Token]

I use all of it.

What is in the tank + ~ 20 gallons extra.

But here is the solution:

Get a hand crank pump to transfer the extra barrels into the main tank.

When the main tank is low, wrap bandage on wrist and ice hand often.

Much learning happens after that.

[Meat Hunter]

Uncle Sticky,

I am 71 and 8 years ago I had a TURP. My only regret is that I did not have the surgery sooner.

Now I can sleep all night without making one single trip to the toilet.

It was a simple procedure and I could have saved all ya'll young still-working folks and Medicare a good bit of money if they had allowed me to have Roto-Rooter do the job.

[mooserider]

After one stands in a cloud of vicious mosquitos for 20 minutes holding 40-pound water jugs at shoulder level to refill the RV water tank, one learns to be more economical with water usage. Good thing my family camps so far north that giardia hasn't found the rivers yet, so we can still drink the river water. Of course, the fact that I started RV camping in a small trailer over 40 years ago, where propane gas mantle lamps were used instead of battery power (with radioactive thorium in the mantles), and water was hand-pumped from the trailer tank into the sink (hard to brush your teeth and get a steady stream of water with a reciprocating pump handle on the faucet), got me used to minimal water usage at an early age.

These days, my family can have 10 people in the RV using the toilet plus brushing teeth and cooking, and get by for about 5 days, but the Moose has a 90-gallon fresh water tank, and we've all taken our turn on refill, so we know to not waste it.

Not sure how to teach your spouse to camp wilderness-style instead of KOA-campground style (with a full-service campsite with running fresh and black water). Maybe she'll have to be the one to wait and flag down an RV service truck when the blackwater tank fills up or the freshwater tank is empty.

[Captain Goddammit]

I carry extra barrels of water on my trailer, and I just use a Harbor Freight electric water pump to transfer it.
Works great.

[skippy3k]

Oh boy. Where do I begin. I really want to answer Sitcky's question about water, because that's what this thread is for. But Meat Hunter's post about TURP blew my mind. Ok, Uncle Sticky first;

Last year we had 4 people with a 100 gallon fresh water tank. One guy (me) and 3 girls (them). Not being sexist or anything, but they used more water because they had hair they wanted to wash. I have none. Also, I am a bit of a water nazi. They are not. They used the bathroom in the RV 24/7, I used it only at night for my multiple pees (this is where Meat Hunter's post will cause some severe thread drift in a second). After a week on the playa, I think we probably only used 30%-50% of that fresh water. Hopefully this helps you.

Meat Hunter - I had never heard about TURP, but when you said you don't need to make a single trip to the toilet in the middle of the night, my ears perked up. I go at least 2-3 times. At home, it's a minor inconvenience. On the playa in a hexayurt this year, it will be a fucking nightmare. I can't do a pee jug. I just can't. I know, I know....but I can't. I do have a short term solution in place for this year, but still it will be annoying.

So I looked up what TURP was. I didn't make it past the first sentence, specifically "....an instrument is inserted up the urethra to remove the section of the prostate...." when I believe I might have fainted. HOWEVER...not having to pee in the middle of the night multiple times? I am so conflicted. It does bear further research on my part, so thank you for mentioning it.

I love eplaya. The shit you learn here.

[Captain Goddammit]

I just fainted

[uncle sticky]

Yeah, the idea of having something stuck up my urethra drove me to wear condoms.

[CaffeineGirl]

While you guys are wincing.....

Not all women waste water. I use about a liter per shower, including washing shoulder length hair. Tricks include standing in a plastic wash tub (with a nice shot of vinegar added it it) to collect shower water, then reusing that water for washing with a wash cloth. Use minimal soap, shampoo and conditioner. Overall rinse with clean water. Save wash tub water for foot washing until full, then use a funnel to pour back into water containers for packing out. Also use wash tubs in the sinks, one for washing and one for clean water for rinsing. Clean water then gets demoted to the wash side. Have never come close to needing either water refills or pump outs with about 10 days on the playa for 2 people.

[Mojojita]

So, to fix your anticipated problem of wasting water, be sure to turn off the RV water pump. Only turn it on to fill containers. Use dishwater or cooler melt to flush your toilet - if you leave your pump on, your fresh water will be going down the drain.

[skippy3k]

While you guys are wincing.....Not all women waste water.

I totally agree. My disclaimer about not sounding sexist was more to say "in my obvious ridiculous and extremely inaccurate sampling size of 4 people, 3 were women who just happened to have more need for water, and one man who didn't." It was more of a self-deprecating joke on the fact I was bald and anal retentive. If that didn't come across very clear, my apologies.

[dragonpilot]

Yeah, the idea of having something stuck up my urethra drove me to wear condoms.

You people obviously know nothing about BDSM.

[uncle sticky]

Yeah, I'm not lumping all women in there either, just the one I share my life, and my water, with. she's chock full of wonderful attributes, but she also places a high value on being able to wash regularly, a characteristic I appreciate, but which does not lend itself to water thriftiness.

Oh, and I know about figging, but poking the urethra? Jeeze, I'm going to stick with my little vanilla world, thank you very much.

[pink]

We had a class on sounding (putting things up the urethra) last year

I tried to wash my hair two years in a row. Looked worse than before I tried. Now I don't bother until I get to Reno.

[GreyCoyote]

We had a class on sounding (putting things up the urethra) last year

A *class*? As in "hi, my name is fred and today I am going to show you how to smuggle 15 lbs of kitchen flatware inside your penis?"

I must be doing it wrong. It would figure that I spent fifty years of my life trying to put Mr. Winkie *inside* something, instead of something inside Mr. Winkie!!!!

Kinda puts a new spin on "pack all the things!!!"

[Drawingablank]

So, to fix your anticipated problem of wasting water, be sure to turn off the RV water pump. Only turn it on to fill containers. Use dishwater or cooler melt to flush your toilet - if you leave your pump on, your fresh water will be going down the drain.

This! it prevents the casual waste of water by forcing you to think about water use before accessing it,

Keep a garden pump sprayer in the bathroom and use it to flush the toilet. Also useful tool for washing dishes. The problem is less about using up the RV water supply and more about filling up the black and grey water tanks.

Showers should be wet, soap, rinse shutting water of between each step but if the above steps are used, you won't have a water shortage for hygiene.

[pink]

We had a class on sounding (putting things up the urethra) last year

A *class*? As in "hi, my name is fred and today I am going to show you how to smuggle 15 lbs of kitchen flatware inside your penis?"

I must be doing it wrong. It would figure that I spent fifty years of my life trying to put Mr. Winkie *inside* something, instead of something inside Mr. Winkie!!!!

Kinda puts a new spin on "pack all the things!!!"

Well, not kitchen flatware, lol! Some of our campers are really into sounding. One in particular.

[BeeWeeDee]

Really? How does this start out as a conversation on conserving water and end up with talk about sticking things up your pee hole?

Aside from that.... wouldn't this thread have wider meaning if it were -

How much water do you use? Living in California

[Major Krash]

simple - switch to a camp trailer towed by this

one carries fresh water too the burn, the other carries grey water back!

[Zubeneschamali]

Word on the pump. In 2013 I regrettably forgot to turn off my pump on Day 1. There was jaeger and a blonde involved in that distraction, otherwise I'm really good about managing my shit.

Someone decided to use the outdoor shower (seriously on Day 1?) and didn't close it off completely. Buy the time I got back to camp on Day 2, I had 1/8 left in the fresh water tank and an overflowed evap pond.

That's the only time I ever filled up on the playa, which was mistake #2. That is not good water, its very dirty and silty. It took a half day to clean out at home, was worried I was going to have to drop the tank but finally got cleaned after multiple flushing.

[666isMONEY]

I bring a six-gallon jug and bottled water. Wash hair (every day) in a dishpan and use that water for "sponge" (bandanna) bath, after that, the water remains in the dishpan for washing feet and socks. I use spray-in conditioner.

[Captain Goddammit]

About RV water management: It's your rig and you know how to use it. The big problem is other people.
As described above. Or you'll get some well intentioned guest who washes all your dishes for you, to do you a favor. And runs all your freshwater into the grey tank.
Security is paramount. Lock your rig up when you aren't in it, not because of thieves but because of friends who don't know any better.

[mooserider]

Now you're tempting me to pull the water pump fuse when I leave the RV, just in case.

[pink]

I only turn on my pump when I'm using it. That said, one year my toilet stuck in 'open'. Yep, 3/4 of my only 20 gallon tank gone in 2 days....literally down the toilet.

[soona]

We are a couple in an RV with similar habits as you, Uncle Sticky.

Last year we brought 72 gallons and returned with 27-40 gals unused (hard to be more exact because the RV gauge has three lights that measure thirds of the 40 gal holding tank). So we used only 15-20 gals pp.

This year the one of us that didn't shower figures she can and will, so we'll bring 30 gal per person assuming that will be plenty. Like overkill.

This assumes you have lots of bottled/canned beverages to help hydrate, not just water. Use the portapotties except when sleeping and you don't want to leave the RV.

We have the garden sprayer (not the one that had old Round-Up in it!) for minor washing like feet, in the shower. Have a spray bottle like a plant mister at the sink, good for rinsing dishes and wiping the counters. Also to clean dust off the bike chain before re-applying graphite lube.

We have a 1-gal container we kept at the sink for daily use instead of the rental-RV holding tank of questionable cleanliness, and refilled it from our supplemental 6 gal jugs.

We never filled our gray water tank (25 gals) but if necessary our plan was to drain off into the 6-gal jugs as they became empty. And even to drain off then pour into the 25-gal black water tank that was going to have lots more room. Buy an aftermarket holding tank drain cap that has a garden hose bib, and bring a short piece of garden hose to drain off gray water tank.

[Captain Goddammit]

That's one of the benefits of bringing extra water barrels and a pump. An unintended incident like that won't drain your entire supply.

Here's my system: My camper has a 30-something-gallon tank. I bring two more 30-gallon containers, plus a pair of empty 50-gallon containers.
As the water gets used in the camper, I use a Harbor Freight electric pump to refill it. As the grey water fills up (mostly from the shower) I find it quickest and easiest to just drain it into a 5-gallon bucket that I dump into my waste barrels. Do that a few times and good to go

Plentiful supply, no evap pond hassle.

I don't see why everyone is so crazy about water conservation to the point of barely washing, when you don't really need to be.
Live as well as possible on the playa!

[uncle sticky]

I've got a 67 Gallon spare, plus a 50 gallon backup, which I will also be using for grey water storage. Plus whatever is in my R.V., about 36 gallons. So I think I can be taking baths all day.