Drawing water from creek

[Howezit]

The latest specs on the TT website reveal that we can "Draw water from an external source; such as a jerry can or creek" .. standard across the models.
For fear of sounding like a tourist, is this a feature that is on my Mk4?... What are they referring to? Maybe a hidden pulley system that will drag the jerry cans up from the creek to my Tvan? [emoji848]

[thewelshgang]

G'day Graham,

I can't directly answer your question.

However I have modified my MKII to pump from an external source such as a creek etc. for use with showers and washing up. At first I used one pump with changer over taps to draw from potable tank water or from an ext source. I ended up getting a weird algal bloom in my tank that I think started from the pump diaphragm/lines etc.

It had me a bit stumped as I included a non-return valve inline to protect the tank, so I still can't figure how the tank became contaminated.

What I have since done is install a separate pump that just pumps creek water etc. for showers. This ensures that the other pump only ever pumps potable water from the tanks.

I have had this 2 pump setup for a numbers of years now and have not had a contamination problem since.

Cheers Nige

[Gumb]

It's an alternative inlet on the plumbing where you can feed a line in to an outside water source on the new Mk 5 model. There was some info on one of the new videos I've seen somewhere, possibly on their website.

[Howezit]

Ahh.. it's a Mk5 thing..
Thank you

[three1four2]

Has been available on the Topaz for a while.

[chris_a]

Definitely an option with the new MK5 - check it out on the Track Trailer web site.


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[Cruiser 105Tvan]

Just relying on the pump in the Tvan or Topaz.
Would mean the water has to be both close and not a much lower level than what the Tvan Topaz is sitting on.
Those pumps would have a hard time pulling water from more than 1.5 to 2M. below the height of the pump.
And you would need a filter on the pick-up side to stop the solid lumps, sand/gravel/boulders.

[AllanK]

Graham,
It was an option on the Mk4 when we got ours earlier this year.
Look under the TVAN below where to hand pump is on the left hand side. You should see about 4 clear water pipes servicing the trailer (going to/from) the pump and the tank/shower etc. if you have one pipe there which ends and has a hose connection on it it is already plumbed, if not most probably not. Also plumbed for external water we have two water levers next to the hand pump even though we only have the one tank. The 2nd is to connect the external water flow to the trailer whilst you turn off the water tank with the other (hope that makes sense).
Allan

[Landy]

We had the option retrofitted to our 2017 MKIV Murranji late last year.
We use it only to run the shower from an unknown water source, Ie. tank, trough, creek, bore etc.
A decent size bucket will do the job without having to be frugal on your water supply

[Phil G]

On the Mark 1 you walk down to the creek, fill a bucket and walk back.  Heat the water on the fire (or stove) to the right temp and have a shower.  Not sure why it has to be more complicated than this 

[Gumb]

Heating water is easy with a Kelly Kettle and you save on gas.

[monktm]

Iam happy with my diesel heater . No need for kettles no need for buckets no need for a fire [emoji91] all equals happy camper [emoji1360]

[Wetjala]

I guess this is still a valid and current topic even though the thread was started almost a year ago! Here's my five cents . . .

My T-Van is a MarkIV so it doesn't draw water from an external source which I believe the MkV can. As a previous post noted the Shurflo pumps only have a low head capability which is not much good if you are trying to pull water from a river into the T-Van tank(s) when the T-Van is parked on higher ground.

In my case I purchased a 12Vdc stainless steel bore pump with a 70m head capability to which I attach 30m of hose and a twinax power cable connecting to the Anderson plug on the car. I plonk the pump directly into the river, plug into the car and when water starts coming out from the hose I then feed it into the tank(s). It produces around 10L/min so the tanks are filled quite quickly. I've used this quite a few times to replenish the tank water when we have been away from other "normal" water sources. This is what I use: https://www.scintex.com.au/collections/submersibles/products/submersible-well-bore-pump. I'm now in the process of sourcing a low pressure inline sediment water filter to help clean up any dirty water we may need to draw from (and then boil it if I need to drink it since the Wabasto only heats to 55degC which is not enough to kill the buglies!). If you are interested I can post some details of the cable and connectors that I used - just let me know. I store the pump in 100mm PVC pipe with a screw cap on one end, the cable gets wrapped up and tucked away into my camp oven while the hose gets shoved into one of the holes at the front of the storage box.

[Young Nomads]

Heating water is easy with a Kelly Kettle and you save on gas.

Exactly!..John made ours!...The 7 litre big one we use to boil our water for showers..the smaller 3L one, we also use to boil potable bore water in..for coffee!
Whilst the kettles are excellent, we can't use them in a caravan park, if we left our gas kettle, home..LOL

[chris_a]

We have a Mk5 with the plumbing that supports drawing water from an alternate source. We travel with a Jerry can of water (not necessarily potable) stored near the alternate source inlet found below the hand pump fitting. A short length of hose with an inline filter draws water from the Jerry can for showering. The Jerry can is filled with whatever is available including river and bore water. This allows us to preserve our precious drinking water and avoids placing undue strain on the water pump. Once showered it is recommended to run the sink tap to clear the poorer quality water from the plumbing before drinking. No water from the alternate source ends up in the water tank.


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