Filling up your water tank?

Hi Val

Don't take this as gospel as I've never had a new Autotrail, but I strongly suspect they'll come without a hose. We use a blue food-grade flat hose which rolls up onto a reel, but others use normal garden hoses without any apparent ill effects.

A watering can comes in handy for when you just need to top up without all the faff of driving to the tap, unwinding the hose etc etc.

Hope that helps, and that a proper Autotrail expert comes along shortly. Enjoy your new van, by the way!

MaxandPaddy said:

Hi all you Autotrail owners,
We have just ordered an Scout and we are picking it up in a couple of weeks time.
We currently have a Autocruise Motorhome which has its own hose with an attachment that fits onto the water filler for the fresh water tank.
This may be a daft question,but I believe the Autotrails are different,do they come provided with a hose or do you have to buy a seperate food grade quality hose?
Do you need a special attachment to fit onto a hose?
I am sure I have seen people filling them up with a watering can!
I know the dealer will explain this when we pick it up but I just wondered what you need to fill up an Autotrail and what is supplied with a new van?
Thanks,

Val

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We bought ours in 2007 and it didn't come with any water hose. We usually fill up at home with the normal garden/car washing hose. We also have a couple of the food grade 2 metre hoses with a selection of tap adaptors for filling when on site. I also carry a water butt (the type you see in offices dispensing water) and have manufactured a cig plug powered water pump/tube to fill up it I can't be bothered moving to fill up on site.

Regards

Keith

Thanks,I had my suspicions that they did not come supplied with a hose.
Does a hose just fit into the fresh water filler or do you need any attachment?

Val

MaxandPaddy said:

Thanks,I had my suspicions that they did not come supplied with a hose.
Does a hose just fit into the fresh water filler or do you need any attachment?

Val

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Yes, the water filler is wide enough to take standard hoses. I am careful how far I push the hose though as the tubing is the plastic corrugated type and I don't want to wear a hole in it.

Good choice of nickname by the way. Our van is called Max after the TV series. We can't wait until I retire and we can shoot off in it for months on end.

Regards

Keith

PS - Oh and good luck with the new 'home

Thanks Keith,
We have been Motorhoming for a couple of years now and,like you,we cannot wait to go off for long spells somewhere warm!
We are away most weekends and look forward to sprawling out with a glass of wine in the end lounge!
Looks like we had better get a hose organised and a large watering can for top ups!

Cheers,

Val

ps. We are big Peter Kay fans as you have probably guessed!

Forgot to ask,would a flat hose do the job or would it need to be the rigid hose type?

MaxandPaddy said:

Thanks Keith,
We have been Motorhoming for a couple of years now and,like you,we cannot wait to go off for long spells somewhere warm!
We are away most weekends and look forward to sprawling out with a glass of wine in the end lounge!
Looks like we had better get a hose organised and a large watering can for top ups!

Cheers,

Val

ps. We are big Peter Kay fans as you have probably guessed!

Forgot to ask,would a flat hose do the job or would it need to be the rigid hose type?

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Yes, flat hose should work just as well - in fact some people say it's better as they sqeeze all the water out when you roll it up. I just let the water run for a few seconds before putting it in the water point to make sure any nasties are flushed away.

Oh and you making me feel like shooting off to France talking about warmth and wine ;o)))

Keith

In our Hymer C640 the Water tank is internal and has a wide screw cap accessible from the locker. I use a 1 gallon "Squashy" bottle and fill the tank from this directly into the tank.The "squashy" bottle can be stuffed anywhere when not in use. We also have a 5 Litre Supermarket type bottle for drinking purposes which can also be used.
Hovis :wink:

On site the watering can has to be the best option for topping up, or if it's difficult to get close to a tap, or if the tap fitting is a weird one etc..

Take the can with you to the shower or for a wee, two or three times per day and bring it back full, and that should keep you tank topped up. (Opportunity for mirth here - just noticed! 8O :lol: )

Don't know where to get a food grade watering can though! :lol: :lol: :lol:

(Doesn't bother us at all. We fill up at home with the garden hose after running a drop through first and we drink straight from the M/H tap. Others would disagree - it's personal choice.)

Dave

It's worth buying a filler cap with a hose connector on it. It lets you get on with something else while the van is filling. I bought one from Outdoor Bits last year but don't see it on their site now but I'm sure they're widly available.

Bob

We use a hose if near enough to the filling tap along with a cap with a hose point on for the hose to connect to.( brought from Charles and Son in Poole, but I think Cak tanks sells them) If not near water tap we fill our aqua roll up and pump it in with a hose and submersible pump.
Lin

I have not got a hose pipe

Just a watering can with a detachable spout :wink:

9 cans of water fills the tank from empty to full and I use it at home and and away

Hovis,in our present Autocruise we can fill up the tank internally as there is a hatch to the screw cap in the tank under the lounge floor and it has always been a handy way of topping up but alas I do not think the Autotrails have this.

Dave,If I took the watering can with me to fill up everytime I went for a wee the fresh water tank would be overflowing ! But I get your drift....dump the handbag and carry a watering can around with you !

Bob, I have seen a hose connector on the internet and I think I will try and get one because when we fill up at the moment we just plug it in and leave it to fill.

Oh and Keith,I do not think sunshine is on the cards for the next few days so I am afraid you will have to do what we do.......have that glass of wine in the rain........and pretend your in France!!

Val

MaxandPaddy said:

Oh and Keith,I do not think sunshine is on the cards for the next few days so I am afraid you will have to do what we do.......have that glass of wine in the rain........and pretend your in France!!

Val

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That made me laugh............

Looking at the weather forcast the bank holiday weekend may be a wash out. But keeping my fingers crossed and the wine glasses clean.

Off to France 2nd week in June for 2 weeks so looking forward to that ..... and the French wine. Lazy days ahead......

Keith

re-hose

hi,i use a tile/glass lifter and a funnel,put the funnel in, then place the lifter over and press the two arms down to hold the funnel in place,this gives you freedom to hold the water container with both hands,i use 20 litre containers and never spill a drop.i think there is a photograph of this lifter/funnel on this site somewhere.

We've got one of these universal fillers, c/w the top up cap.
http://www.gillonsgadgets.co.uk/watercoupler.htm

However I replaced the yellow cap with the outer cup of a thermos flask to allow more water to be collected if/when we fill up using a water container rather than the hose pipe.

Another advocate of the ubiquitous watering can

We have 2 x 10 litre cans with removeable spouts so they store nicely behind the passenger seat.

We always take a 5 litre bottle of water in the truck and travel with the tank empty,unless we anticipate some wild camping,then I just put 20 litres in the onboard tank.

On site we do the same as Zeb and take a can with us every time we go to the toilet block and keep the tank topped up.

Works well for us,we did use a filler pipe when we first got the van,but changed to watering cans after blocking the entrance to a site once whilst filling up at a stupidly positioned service point.

We use a self-coiling nylon hose (the type that is used for compressed air tubing) with hose fittings on each end. It stretches out about 3m to reach most taps, or you could connect two lengths together to reach further.

I think it is about 9mm diameter.

When not in use, just drain it and connect both ends together to keep dirt out.

It's worth buying a filler cap with a hose connector on it.

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If anyone wants one of these connectors please send me a pm as I have an unused one.

It apparently fits "most" water connectors but not the Fiamma one on my AS Symbol

Peter

I have a length of hose about 18'' long that snaps onto the hose we use for filling. I keep it clean so I can stick it into the filler tube on the Hymer. Seems a simple solution, that lets me walk away while it fills and any overfill just runs out.

One should have a supply of different size fittings for the various size connections one finds. In Croatia last summer I bought some extra plastic tubing and connected to shower head in the little camp ground we were in as there was no normal hose connection. Maybe I'm too lazy to carry tanks of water back and forth. But now I think I will make an adapter to fit the short hose onto a collapsible tank.