eliz65
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Post by eliz65 on Jul 21, 2013 9:47:47 GMT -8
Can anyone give me any advice about my old water tank? I have a 1963 Osage (whatever that is), and it has a pump handle sink. The water tank is not connected to the sink now, but could easily be. Should I reconnect it? Will the tank be gross inside if I do? Should I buy a new tank? Is there a way to figure out whether the tank is gross? I have no idea when it was last used. Any thoughts? Thanks in advance for any help.
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Post by bigbill on Jul 21, 2013 10:14:12 GMT -8
In my opinion it should be visually inspected either through an opening or with a scope camera checking for any thing from a dead mouse to dog poop, if it appears to be clean and empty I would then add water checking for leaks if no leaks then I would add a very strong mixture of chlorine bleach and water allow it to sit for three days then drain and rinse. I personally like a new tank if I am going to drink or cook from it and I recommend sanitizing the new tank also.
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eliz65
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Post by eliz65 on Jul 21, 2013 14:22:24 GMT -8
Thanks, bigbill! I felt like that was the solution, but wanted to check. If I have to buy a new tank... it leads me to another question. Is there another way to do this? For example, could I just directly hook up my sink to an outside water source? We won't be doing any primitive camping, so maybe I should just skip the water tank altogether (making the camper lighter, which is important to us), and just hooking up to the water at the campsite?
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Ten
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70 Shasta 16SC + 1964 Airflyte
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Post by Ten on Jul 21, 2013 15:57:41 GMT -8
Personally, I would not even check an old metal tank for reuse. I just removed the one from my 1964 Airflyte and found it to be totally perforated along the edge seams. Even a clean bill of health with a scope may not show up the potential of a catastrophic failure of the tank when you fill it, leaving you with a large puddle to dry up. The interior of a galvanized tank is likely to look like galvanized pipe that has been used for years in an old building. There is a reason that copper is used rather than galvanized...just sayin'.
The fact is there are plenty of places to source out a new plastic tank that not only will be new but can be made to fit your exact space. They generally will range well under a hundred bucks, depending on size and capacity, and for a hundred bucks, I would not risk the health issues.
If you replace the tank you can always re-engineer it to bypass filling the holding tank and run a direct line around it to the sink faucet, but leave intact the possibility of onboard water holding. One thing I always try to consider is keeping all options open, as well as the fact that I may not be the last one ever owning my camper, so the more options the better.
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eliz65
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Post by eliz65 on Jul 21, 2013 18:03:00 GMT -8
Wow. Thanks so much, Number Ten! That was the PERFECT information. I never considered bypassing it so that we could potentially put in another one later. I do want to leave more options open. However, since you mentioned the low cost, I will look into that as well.
Thanks again! This forum is amazing.
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Post by vikx on Jul 21, 2013 21:16:44 GMT -8
Here's a neat way to use your hand pump: The clear tube goes to a gallon jug below: The tube is only inserted in camp. The bottle cap keeps things dry: Very easy to re-fill and always clean...
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eliz65
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Post by eliz65 on Jul 22, 2013 6:41:19 GMT -8
Oh! This looks like a great idea, too. Thanks so much! I have a lot to think about now.
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keri
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Post by keri on Jul 22, 2013 15:54:45 GMT -8
I love that idea!! And if you wanted more water at a time you could get the bigger jugs at one of the big box stores (I'm thinking of the huge rack of the water cooler bottles I saw today at Lowe's--there were two sizes). That would work too right?
This is a much cheaper solution to replacing the water tank and infill spout!
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Post by bigbill on Jul 22, 2013 16:36:27 GMT -8
I built a truck camper back in the 60s and we used a 5 gallon plastic jug for our water and a pump faucet at the sink it worked great and we always seemed to have plenty of water. The jug sit in the bottom of the closet and we drilled a hole in the cap just large enough for the plastic hose to go through, this prevented it from sloshing out while traveling.
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cowcharge
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Post by cowcharge on Jul 24, 2013 17:56:25 GMT -8
You can also go whole hog and use valves to set it up so that you can switch between tank and city water, and even fill the tank from city water.
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