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Old 06-17-2018, 08:30 AM   #1
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Name: Bill&Laura
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fresh water tank fill port question

Does anyone know why the designers of these FG campers have used this silly fresh water fill port idea that requires you to stand at the fill port and manually pour water into a large holding tank? This process seems incredibly stupid to me.

I would think that it would seem normal to use a secondary fill port that would accept the garden hose fitting so anyone could simply attach a hose, fill the tank, stow the hose and drive off. The effort and inefficiency of attempting to fill a 26 gallon tank using the standard fill port is just ludicrous.

If we were going to be using this tank for any real camper adventures, I'd be considering switching this fitting to a standard fill port to simplify use.
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Old 06-17-2018, 09:28 AM   #2
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Originally Posted by TheWanderers View Post
...

I would think that it would seem normal to use a secondary fill port that would accept the garden hose fitting so anyone could simply attach a hose, fill the tank, stow the hose and drive off. ...
I just keep this "Quick fill"on my hose, hook up hose to campground supply and turn it on, stick the "Quick fill" in the fill port, turn it on, twiddly my thumbs until its full, then shut it down, disconnect from campground supply and stow the hose. Its about as you describe.

And the fill port can still be used for manually filling from a container when a hose supply is not available


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Old 06-17-2018, 09:37 AM   #3
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A garden hose connector can be installed on the drain and the fill area is the vent.
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Old 06-17-2018, 09:39 AM   #4
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Depends on the brand of trailer. Both my Escapes had fill ports large enough to fit the end of a hose, and deep enough that it stayed in (most of the time) while filling.
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Old 06-17-2018, 07:14 PM   #5
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I put a water pump bypass valve in my camper. This valve connects the inlet and outlet side of my water pump. When I am connected to city water I just open the valve and my water tank magically fills!


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Old 06-17-2018, 07:45 PM   #6
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The type shown below is now the most common OEM.
It accepts the device that Gordon showed and it also makes a water tight seal with the tapered spout from the plastic jerry can sold at Walmart.
Either allows for a fast spill free tank fill.


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Old 06-17-2018, 11:52 PM   #7
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Have to agree with you Bill. 20 or so years ago I replaced the water supply lines to our washing machine (a few houses ago) and cut it down to around 24". Screws onto the white hose and I can run it all the way into the tank. Basically the same as what Gordon suggested but what else do you do with an old supply hose .
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Old 06-18-2018, 04:31 AM   #8
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PVC pipe and a hose fitting. Or skip the PVC and use the fitting with a piece of vinyl hose and a hose clamp.
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Old 06-18-2018, 07:36 AM   #9
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Thanks to everyone who has responded. I was really wondering the "why" of this issue and I have been able to discern the answer to my question through your participation. I appreciate the suggestions for an alternative and will probably make some modification at some point just to make this task easier.

However, for the time being, we don't use the fresh water tank at all and I have disconnected it after flushing it clean and sanitizing the tank and then draining it...

Happy Camping!


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Old 06-18-2018, 07:49 AM   #10
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If you use one of the devices that Gordon showed, hang on to the clear tube! It's not fixed with a hose clamp and may end up down in your fresh water tank. I was warned when I purchased this device at Curtis trailers. The gal that sold it to me... told me the story of 'fishing out' the tube.
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Old 06-18-2018, 09:08 AM   #11
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If you use one of the devices that Gordon showed, hang on to the clear tube! It's not fixed with a hose clamp and may end up down in your fresh water tank. I was warned when I purchased this device at Curtis trailers. The gal that sold it to me... told me the story of 'fishing out' the tube.
Interesting.. you prompted me to take a hard look at mine. True, its only glued in place from what I can tell. I can see how it might come loose after years of use, or the tube could split from over use, but for now mine is very secure.

One could get fill hose with connector (sans the shutoff valve) from an old washing machine hose when they are due to be replaced.
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Old 06-23-2018, 01:43 PM   #12
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Personally I would not own an RV that required a hose fitting to fill the fresh water tank. We frequently (mostly) boondock which means we are always filling our tank by pouring water in from a 6 gallon jerry jug. We have owned several motorhomes that had the hose fill and it was a PITA to fill the tank while boondocking.

If you really must use a water hose to fill you can add a filler adapter made for this purpose to the end of a hose and get'er done.You can also do what many folks do and make up an extension to your tank drain with a valve and a hose bib on the end. That way you can fill the tank from the bottom which pushes all of the air out through the fill port and get your tank really full.
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Old 06-23-2018, 03:37 PM   #13
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Small trailers like my 13' or any other trailer that uses a hand pump the tubing going from the tank to the pump is attached to the pump with a low pressure barbed fitting. Connecting directly through a hose and to a municipal water system takes a big risk of blowing hose off and filling the trailer with water.
I think I would rather have the bulk fill rather than a pressure fill.

One of the things I've always been aware of for everything there's usually a reason, just because I didn't think of it doesn't mean the reason not there. Attempting change things without understand is foolish.
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Old 06-23-2018, 06:16 PM   #14
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Easy & inexpensive solution...

Necessity is the mother of invention! Frustration led to purchase of a plastic funnel, about a foot of clear tubing, a self-adhesive cable tie mount, a wire tie, and an S-hook. All in one trip to the hardware store.

Tubing should be a snug fit onto the bottom of the funnel. You may need to trim the end of the tubing to make a good "spout". Then place it into the port, hold up the funnel so it is level enough to accept water poured from your jerry can. Hold the handle of the funnel so it nearly touches the wall of the RV above the filler port. Our Casita fill port accepts the tubing just to the top of the interior pipe (it cannot fall into the tank!)

Now loop the wire tie onto the self adhesive cable-tie mount and snug it down to about 1/2" diameter, allowing room for S-hook to drop in. Affix the mount to the wall, then bend open the S-hook just enough to fit onto the wire tie.

Fill your water tank, stow the funnel and it's done. This is what we use for dry camping / boondocking when there is only a faucet down the way in a campground.
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