I left a message about the water system which took me a very long time to compose even though it was short because I have to use voice to text to write and it disappeared. Do you know what happened? was it because I left an Amazon link? As usual great video. I look forward to watching your videos every week. I kind of would like to know what happened to my comment.
@@TannyOHaley Hi Tanny, I'm sorry your comment was deleted. We dont take down comments unless they contain threats or violence, but RU-vid does have some comments deleted automatically or hidden as spam until we approve them. Weve had comments automatically deleted before when the link pushes the user to leave the platform and YT doesn't like that traffic loss. :/
@@michaelgonzalez8863 There is a Duran Duran video that challenges that notion... Duran Duran - "The Chauffeur" from AS THE LIGHTS GO DOWN, in case you're interested...
Great video as always ! We use the same 12 volt pumps in our work vans connected to baffled tanks for window cleaning, we always mount the pumps the other way round ( so they look upside down) as this helps to prevent air locks caused from driving when the pump is higher than the tank outlet. Just a thought from us in the UK
Hi, given how thorough you have been with logging the items used during the build I think it would be really useful to track the performance, reliability and ‘break ability’ of said items. Great job by the way, keep up the good work.
I think this water system is so over complicated like basically with everything you do to this van - but I get it, It what makes people watch you channel and it is a good learning way for you two. 1.When thinking of heating your water while the engine is running: the best and the least complicated thing is just to use a voltage sensitive relay and a 12v heating element. When the car is running the alternator kicks in and the voltage rises - then the relay turns on and it starts heating the water - it takes a little longer but we have done this setup and a 15l is heated to 65C in about 40minutes. If you want to do it your way, try adding a disel water heater that warms your engine in the winter and automaticly warms your boiler. 2. Blowing hot air thrught that long pipe in the boiler. Its gonna have 2 side effects: Its gonna take ages to warm that water and its gonna take ages to warm the place up - try doing this when the water is cold and it is cold outside. You will be disappointed. 3. We were thinking about that sucking option you have mentioned for a long time. The problem with that is that you have to flush the whole system and change the water in your system everytime you suck water like that - the problem with alge, bacteria, dirt and debris is just not worth the hustle. 4. It is better to have a second tap at your sink that is a seperet line with a seperet small pump that you "plug" in the 5L water bottle that you buy in the store - and when the water bottle is empty, you just "plug" a new water bottle. It is such a space saver when you dont need to instal all those filters and you just need a little space for a water bottle with its own pump. 5. I cringe everytime I see those hose clamps on the lines (in any vanbuld) - you are doing a professional build - try finding another way to connect those pipes. There is a lot of systems that are more reliable. 6. oh... and I m pretty sure the boilers are meant to be cylinder by design - when the pressure rises in the boiler it needs to push to all the walls with the same force. I know it looks really cool the way you are doing things but on the long run when the thing start to break it is very crucial to have a simple system with easy access. Keep up the good work, I always learn something when watching your videos.
You're forgetting something really important. Everyone build the van according with their needs. They already travelled a lot in a Van so they created this van with all they need to resolve problems that they already experienced. There is no right way to build a van.
1. Sounds like a personal preference more than a better solution. This takes longer, stresses alternator more and requires massive cables especially for the length we would need. It’s not obviously better solution. 2. I’m open minded to learn this but 80 degrees hot air won’t come out cold and in my opinion won’t take much time to heat up the water. That will be tested for sure. 3. and 4. Sounds like a preference and I personally still like ours more. Sucking the water from any source, if suspicious than adding a chlorine tablet to our 150l tank. 5. Could you please point out what connections are much better we can use? We honestly don’t know anything better. Just please let’s not recommend the crimping system humble road uses, I’m not willing to spend that much money for few connection. I did not see a problem with these connections on 2bar system. 6. That’s right, they are cylinders for this reason. Very inconvenient shape when maximizing the space, isn’t it? 3mm stainless steel will hold it together, I’m sure. Thanks for the comment. Generally speaking we do thinks our best but nobody says we do them perfect. I like being challenged and educated, that’s the way to improve.
Starting a build soon and this is a serious non-confrontational question trying to educate myself. What is wrong with "those hose clamps" are they not the same ones used on every hose in the vehicles existing water coolant system?
My job is a "water operator". Basically, I filter and sterilize ground water that is distributed throughout my community for consumption (city water). While I know a lot of people have a negative view of chlorinated water, a naive view in my opinion, you can safely and completely sterilize all your water with just a few drops of chlorine. This would kill everything that may be harmful in your water eliminating the need for a UV system and the associated cost and maintenance. Combine this with your filtration system and all your water is potable. If you are really adverse to chlorinated water you can leave the water you will be consuming exposed to sun and air and the chlorine will basically disappear but this would be difficult in a van life situation. I do have a concern with pumping your water from the lowest part of the tank because that's where the sediment will settle. But on the other hand with all the sloshing around in a van the water may not be stationary long enough for everything to settle out. You are completely on the right track by shocking your tanks when they need cleaning. Feel free to reach out if I may be of any assistance on this matter.
As a Scoutmaster that has spent 1000s of days in the woods in my experience the simplest and old methods are best. For really questionable stuff boil then filter. If real bad distill water. Given the technological bent of these guys they need a solar still on the roof of their camper 😎
@@CreekRanger Boiling would certainly produce potable water. It would be a huge inconvenience and time suck to boil water every time they wanted a drink or to try to boil enough to fill their bulk tank. It is obvious from watching the progress of this build lLadi and Margaret want modern convenience while living full time in a van.There is no reason, in this day and time, one can't have water on demand.
@@CreekRanger The chlorine could be added after filtration. Filtration is to remove sediment and debris. Chlorine is for sterilization. It's two separate processes. Technically, the chlorine could be added before or after filtration. However, there is a danger of harmful nitrates being formed when adding chlorine to unfiltered water that is particularly high in organic matter. Especially in hot weather. Sanitizing the water after filtration would be my choice.
Very nice system. We use a standard kitchen vented propane tankless heater installed in a vented gas cabinet under the bed. Exhaust pipe to the outside supported by PC fan. No waiting or driving for hot water at all. To prevent wasting cold water in the 10-15 sek. until the tankless heater is actually producing hot water we installed an recirculation loop that circles water through the heater back into the tank until it's immediately hot out of the tab. Works like a charm for two year full time vanlife.
Killer video editing, great thorough explanation too. Nice one! A thought, might be cool to switch off the circulation from engine on hot days so you don't heat up the space with it.
ive had a similar hot water system for many years , you can simply buy a twin coil calorifier tank ,gives you quick hot water from your engine or diesel heater ,and a 1kw immersion element that can be either used from mains electric or dump your excess solar in summer , so much easier and off the shelf
Ladi probably already thought of it, but in the summer as you drive and for a while after you park you will have a big heater dispersing heat from under your kitchen. As a result it should be insulated and I recommend a bypass valve setup so you can have a refreshing cool shower on those scorching days we are getting more and more of.
Very curious and excited about build my van some day, with all the knowledge you're currently gathering! Soo cool ideas and successful realizations of them! Just wow.
You don't mention it in the video but will you be using the same Polyprop use used in the external tanks for the hot tank? Under the presumptions you are here my thouhhts: Your water will reach 90°C which is right at the limit of conventional PP or HDPE (again unsure of your thermoplastic used but it appears to be PP) excluding any internal pressure which you will also have unless your PRV is set to atmospheric and then you'll be losing all of your water to vapour. It might work fine initially but the material will likely fail via creep caused by elevated temperatures under internal pressure. I know this all sounds negative but I thought it was worth pointing out to avoid issues further down the line. Further reading can be done from searching "Simona design manual". Any thermoplastic tank questions hit me up 👍
Great ideas but you are likely to have a major problem if you fill your fresh tank with river water. You are essentially turning your fresh tank into a black water tank. This is because any dirty water flowing through your water pipes will leave bacteria and protozoa that will end up back in the fresh water tank. This is a really bad idea. Those risks will end up on your plates and mugs, which you will eat and drink off, will end up being used for washing which will end up in your mouth and nose and ears allowing for infections. Your clear water stream will have UV light from the sun helping keep issues down but in your dark water system they will be able to grow rapidly to dangerous levels.
You are such a great teacher Margaret and your editing is awesome, especially for being rather new to this!! Can you recommend video equipment for me to start filing my 2024 build? Does your part list work for a Ram ProMaster and someone just starting out with only basic tools and no experience (no 3d printer or cnc or special sanding machine (-:)
As someone who had to work with UV (UVC/germicidal) tubes recently, I observed them to be a bit power hungry, which might have been an odd occurrence though. Also, they tend to warm up themselves and generally raise the surrounding temperatures to noticeable levels. (if you are working with UV tubes, use adequate eye protection - it is not a pleasant feeling for the eyes. Imagine diving on to sand on a beach with your eyes wide open...)
Instead of considering a UV filter you should consider an activated carbon filter. The filters you already have should be able get rid of the „living stuff“ (viruses, etc.). The concern that is left would be chemicals and heavy metals, in my view.
Make sure you have a level sensor that won't allow the element to turn on if there is no water in the tank otherwise the element will destroy it's self.
I would think the filtration system would work just fine for drinking water from creeks. People who backpack use filters or treatment tablets when they get water from natural sources and are typically fine even with the different microbes in different water sources. You can add bleach into the tank when you fill from natural sources as an additional treatment option.
Good point, but backpacking filters are not necessarily the same as what they have, also we often use UV light, iodine tablets, or chlorine drops, which are other options they could consider button anything they have now. Also, please don't use bleach to sterilize drinking water! That's definitely not good to ingest. You may be thinking about small amounts of chlorine which are used in most people's drinking water and do work well.
@@sorchaoconnor3750 Bleach has chlorine in it and can be used to treat water, at least the plain stuff. It's one of the things recommended in emergency situations and for storing water long term-- that and boiling. The filters should remove most of it. The EPA and CDC actually gives guidelines on how much bleach to use for the amount of water being treated. Bleach plus filtration is actually very effective for drinking water.
hello from argentina, excellent content, I have a popup camper made at home and in my opinion they should put a diesel water heater, in my case it is a webasto top c, with which I heat the water in a small tank and use it to bathe .....but I also recirculate it through an aluminum radiator to heat the interior.....my advice is that if they install one like this they could also heat the van's engine in extreme climates, have hot water, heating and defrosting of the engine (more heating in the front of the driver) a hug ....... I hate them with envy, do not change anything excellent
If connecting tap water you need to take pressure into consideration. My house has 6 bars pressure, but not all RV pipes and fittings are rated for this. So you might need to incorporate a pressure reduction step.
Very good point. On boats, when directly connected to the water tap on the dock, we use a very small brass pression reduction valve. A half inch diameter is perfect for the small water setup in a camper. Set up the valve about 2.8/3 bar and you are good.
Looks good. But you are reinventing the wheel. Most mid size boats, say in the range of 40 foot, have these sytems on board. Most of the components are avaliable since decades already. You will enjoy the result when traveling. Best regards from Switzerland, Silvano
Overall I think your plan is great. That said I see two points that could be problematic. 1. If your hot water tank is flat, and under pressure, it will need to be very strong or it will deform and leak. 2. You will need a lot of surface area for your diesel heater to heat up the tank. If the air is forced past heatsinks that are thermally connected to the tank, it might work. There are hot water heater tanks that are designed to be connected in the way you describe but I don't think they are flat. Search Elgena boiler, BNC100510.
How long can you shower whith your hot water thank of 15l ? What is the liter per minute rating of your pump ? If i am correct end your pump do 3l/min than you can only have for 5 minutes warm water ?
The only minor "mistake" I can see is the location of the temperature sensor and heating element in the fresh water tank - I know you wanted it to work even with little water, but water has the highest density at ~4 degrees centigrade, which means if you had the tank full and it would be freezing outside, your temperature sensor would show 4 degrees, but the water on the top would be already frozen. You could theoretically install one more temperature sensor on the top part of the tank, but it's probably easier to just set the heating element to start warming the water already at let's say 10 degrees (do your maths) and waste a little bit of energy more than necessary.
Sucking water doesn’t work. Problem is the pump only can suck around 1m height difference. This is the problem. I‘ve a pump for the accu drill, sucking side short hose, other side can be so long as you wish.
They would need to bring the pump to the water. The pumps can push better than they can pull. Can they push up a steep creek bed? Depends on how deep that creek bed is.
We use water from a stream in our house. It passes through a washable 80u filter that takes the 'larger' bits out to lengthen the life of the second filter which is a 10u. It then goes through a uv filter. All good. Personally I would definitely get a uv filter - making sure not to get one with glass components for a van. If you fill up from even the cleanest looking stream I would guess the 20u filter would clog if thats your first filter and reduce the water flow. I see what you are trying to do with the 1u filter, but uv is better. I would filter and uv any water coming into the tank and use it for showering and washing dishes. Much safer to have bug free water in your eyes and on your dishes. I don't see any reason not to filter all water, the filter cartridges will last a long time - especially if you put a washable one as the first. I don't understand why someone said you would need different uv light for different water sources, but then my house doesn't move continents.
I have engine heated hotwater in my van, im using the ATI Boat boiler as the hotwater tank/heat exchange. It works awesome, piping hot water after 20min of driving. Its well insulated and has a mains power element inside. These have been around for ages in the boating community, you could try just buying this off the shelf
My system is is not perfect and it's not for everyone. I had my van built when I did not have health insurance so..... ALL water going in the tank, pump, and plumbing, regardless of source, goes through 3 filters - not unlike yours. Periodically the tank and lines get a chlorine treatment. Water at the sink (cooking, drinking, washing up, etc) goes through a 4th filter. Indoor and outdoor showers do not get additional filtration. The 3-stage filter system is portable. Its stowed in the garage and weighs about 39 lbs with residual water in the canisters. Being portable, I can help other travelers, I can fill and leave it at home for trips of ~3 weeks or less and if I had a pump, I could filter surface water - though I would never do that without additional UV filtration before the tank. My fresh tank fill inlet is in the garage to prevent anyone tampering with my water supply - same reason I don't have a ladder on my van (I carry a collapsible ladder in the garage if I think I'll need it). Not as elaborate as your system but it works for us. And yes, I think a UV system would be a good idea especially if you put river water in your tank.
Here's the total system that I'm using since 2010 for the water recycling: Sink and Shower have drain strainers with 1/8" (3 mm holes) . Then shower uses a marine shower bilge pump to run water across the two drawer strainers under the kitchen sink that just get dumped as needed. First drawer is stainless with 1/16" (2mm) holes, second is No-See-Um 20 mesh (841 micron) , then to the 40 gallon grey water tank. From grey water tank water pumped (through 50 mesh pre filter) at 1 gpm thru the following filters back to fresh water tanks. Rusco "Spin-Down" 100 mesh (152 micron) strainer, 500 mesh (30 micron), 1000 mesh (15 micron), 2 gallons VITROclean crushed glass inside 3' length of 4" diameter stainless tubing (5-10 micron), 0.2 micron ceramic, Granulated activated carbon (3' x4") , powdered activated carbon (3'x4"), finally passes UV water purifier. The washer/dryer comb has a Filtrol 160 lint filter before running through the rest of the filters. It has a sock filter that gets turned inside out and cleaned about every 4 loads. It's probably overkill but full time use would have us changing the crushed glass, and carbon once a year for about $50. I installed pressure guages between each stage to monitor changes and cleaning schedule. We have 220 gallons of total capacity and we usually fill that before parking at a festival or race for a few days because our inflatable jacuzzi needs 135 gallons. Sometimes to get rid of it we run the water cooling misters under the awning that needs about 5gph.
Heads Up your channel is being targeted by someone pretending to be you in the comments and asking posters to reach out on What’s App you may want to warn your viewers not to respond to these scammers
I had a thought that might be right up Ladi's alley. I've seen other builds that dump excess solar through the water tank. Basically, when you're batteries are topped off, the 1500w heater in your tank turns on to siphon off energy and utilize the excess solar being generated. Would love to see how this is accomplished and can't think of anyone better to work it out than you and Ladi.
I’m a superyacht engineer and currently designing my own bus conversion. The design is good, it’s similar to what we use at sea in its basic form and bypasses are common for many systems. I also have a design similar to this with the addition of a recirculating shower as I’ll have some extra room that I can play with compare to this van
I’ve been waiting for you guys to get to the water, you really think of everything. You guys work so hard to make these videos and get them out. Love the editing Margaret! ❤️
You forget very important. When using presher feed directly. You need presher reduce. A lot of water supplies have too much presher. Can blow system apart.
Wouldn’t drawing water from a stream to store in your fresh water tank, affect any fresh (clean) water you store afterwards. I would assume you have to treat your tank after each time you draw from a stream.
I was considering doing a coolent loop to heat my water tank in my 4wd but decided i’m just going to put a 250a alternator on instead and a 600w water heater. That way if the cars running it automatically heats the water and when my battery reaches 99% it will turn the heater on and turn off when my battery goes below 97%. I also have a manual switch to turn it on if I want. Would think with your massive battery you wouldn’t need the coolant loop. My only decision is whether I make a custom tank that can reach 95 degrees as others only reach 70 degrees.
In boats, heating water from the engine is quite common, and you might find an of the shelf heater that is more efficient in a marine store. That said, I hope you do not, looking forward to the build 😉
I have seen quite a few boats that even had in-floor heating or radiators using the heat from the engine and a diesel water heater. I’m from Norway, so heat in the boat extends the season for us 😉
Another great video. It makes our Sunday morning. One comment and one question. Comment: Unless your quick disconnect has a good cover on it, where you have it located almost guarantees that it is going to be caked with dirt and mud making it one, difficult to connect to and two - well - dirty. Question: Is the heating loop from the engine to the water tank going to be a glycol system? Keep up the good work.
What coolant will be going through your tank? The engine coolant? RU-vidr and builder humble road has a few good points on the risks of using the engine coolant itself to heat water. You should have the engine coolant heat something else that will then heat your tank to prevent loss of coolant, risk of getting water into your coolant, and possibly poisoning yourself with coolant.
Awesome video, thanks a lot for sharing. I can't comment from a van perspective as I'm still planning my built, but I went on trekking trips for many years and totally rely on my portable uv filter to make water from all kinds of sources ready to drink. I used water from creeks, lakes, springs and if nothing else was available even larger puddles and not once got sick. As the system is pretty sore I really wonder how there would be different types of uv filters required 🤔. Only disadvantage is, that even though the water will be okay to drink, uv filters will do nothing about the taste, so depending on the water source you won't get sick but the taste can be really terrible. To avoid this you indeed need an additional filter system, but that's not an issue in a van and you already have it in place. For my build I intend to stick to the system that I know worked well from long term experience but I'll for sure add at least one additional filter based on charcoal for the taste. And put a filter in front to remove larger particles. Vanlife is so much more comfortable than trekking 😂
I know it's an old topic and it's to late, but... There is an idea for one more water heating option. Only for the summer time. It's a tiny coper pipe system collecting heat directly from the car's walls under the thermal insulation. In the summer time the walls can get very high temperature. The heat pipe has to touch the wall's surface. This solution needs also 3 thermical sensors, 2 for the 2 side walls and 1 for the hot water tank. An easy elctronic comparator (f.g. based on Arduino) can activate one of two valves (1 per wall) and a small circulation pump. With this solution you can pump up water directly "thro the walls". Or... more expensive you can add a small heat exchanger, second pump and run the walls system separatelly with a glicol loop. I just wonder how much the people loose of the solar/heat energy during the summer time and use a lot of the other energy to heat up the water in the same time ;)
@6:48 - I am studying the layout; As I'm laying out mine, if my goal is to be able to fill the FWT with the same hose as I'd use for shore water pressure, then wouldn't I need a way to bypass the pump and FWT when I'm on shore pressure?, So if Shore Pressure = True then bypass pump, accumulator, and FWT; If Shore Hose Fill, then FWT = Open and Pump Circuit = Open... Wouldn't I need at least one more valve to shutoff the FWT tank completely when on shore water pressure?
we're having 550+610 L tanks .. We ll have 1 battery driven and 1 AC driven pump to take from the river. Pumps need te remain wet or they will ll stop. the 1" pump will split in 2 1/2" hoses filling the tanks. By then it will have passed a spin filter. Once the tanks are full, they will autorotate through the 2 stage sediment Backwash based filter system ( 1Mcn and Iron ) ... then it should be ready for Showers and sink. To drink we have high capacity Ultra filtration system. We're now considering putting a UV filter on it to kill the microbes to keep tanks clean and debug before the ultrafiltration system... great job you did on that space. top ! .. I am a little worried about the tank at the back for weight distribution and that gardena looks pretty vulnerable... :)
Love all the thought your putting into the water system . BUT DO NOT PUT YOUR AUX WATER INPUT UNDER THE BUMPER , that is THE WORST possible POSITION . Better to combine it with your other water input in the side wall of the van. There are already NICE looking pieces made for the RV industry. Under the bumper will get knocked off on a curb or scrubbed off exiting a gas station, not too mention filled with mud from a rut in a rough road or just spray from both tires on the that side of the vehicle , that will make keeping it clean a nightmare. The plastic units made for RV's can be behind a keyed door or just out the side with a plug to screw into the fitting [ not all that great, they get broken when you drag a tree branch along the side and even from walking into it with a shoulder when your not paying attention, ask me how i know ] Check out the raw stream or lake water system from the channel LIVE AND GIVE 4X4. they have an independent briefcase style filter system with it's own pump that takes out all debris and bacteria ,virus, you can copy or adapt something like it to make it your own. It takes up little space and emptys into your gravity fill so is very uncomplicated and is out of the way when you don't need it, which is 95% of the time. CHEERS AND SAFE TRAVELS Steve h.
I live on a boat, I buy 6 X 5lt bottles of drinking water 1Euro a bottle. My water tank is for showers & cooking. No filters are required, safe bottle water to drink. The engine heats the water for showers. KISS system always works.
Hotwater system is awsome. We use similar tech on superyacht, heat from engine, cascade hotwater vessels- different temp, when needed. Additionally possibility to electrical heat, when vessel stops engine and if needed. For the fresh water from creek and other sources. Keep in mind bacterias etc start to grow. On membranes every system, should at least every two weeks in operation, otherwise fouling on membrane. Ultrafiltration more safe. But keep in mind. no organics in the water, it will pass membranes and your micron filters for sure. Chlorine destroys membranes. But you have to keep your system clean. UV will help in front of filters, after a first strainer. That's probably the best position for UV. It works only correct by low turbidity. Nice videos.
Who told you that you need a special light filter for each bacteria? When I go hiking I carry a 2 micron filter which gets rid of parasites and silver tablets to kill off the remaining bacteria. The other way to kill bacteria is to use UV light which disrupts their ability to breed. It's just wrong that this person told you you need separate UV lights to filter your water otherwise UV light cleaners in Hospitals would not work.
The waterheater systems of the engine are widely availible example: Isotherm Basic 40 (40L) Marine Hot Water Heater with Thermostatic Mixing Valve Fitted- 240VAC 750W Electric and Heat Exchange (KTH604031B000003) - U can use this to futher improve your design, i am just buying this for 1500 AUD and save myself the trouble and get 5 years warranty. Also i am not a big fan of the 3 inputs of your water, the river water you will never and should never use, you say u use your pump to get the water out of the river but every time you do this you have to fully rinse your system to be able to use the system for drinking water again, bacteria grow, even in your water pump and specially your water tank. I honestly see no improvement over the standard systems with 2 oneway valves.
Hi, we are more planning on adding a chlorine tablet to the system together with creek water. That will do the trick. Thanks for pointing out finished solutions. We did not find any reasonable shape but we could go around it. The main issue was the need for 48V heating element. We don’t want to convert DC-AC unnecessarily. We make a lot of custom things anyway so no need not to make a hot water tank as well.
Check out Guzzle H2O for a low power shock resistant UV light solution that is flow activated. It may fit your needs. I am using their stealth set up. Good luck.
Hi, Really good videos and some great innovative features. One thing I do like is the position of the fresh water output pipe which takes water to the van. From the video looks like you have brought the pipe into the tank from the top surface of the tank, which is different to the normal position of low down on the side of the tank. Obviously I want to do the same! How did you fix this pipe to the tank and does it work ok? Thanks Ron.
Just some feedback on the editing - the transition/emphasis sound effects (pops, whooshes, boops, etc.) are super, super annoying and distracting. It'd be fine if they were subdued and very occasional, but once you notice them they become really grating. Feel free to ignore this if you've already tried editing with both and found these to be more successful per "the algorithm," but your content is good enough to stand on its own.
I love the idea of using the engine heat ("cars are just heaters on four wheels") - maybe you could even benefit more from the motor, charging the battery by the light machine and even by regaining power by the brakes. And I wonder if a little aircon might also save a lot of heating energy.
Just one thing that stood out was a corner case regarding the heater in the fresh water tank to prevent freezing. I don't know if you have resolved it already but if for some reason you run out of fresh water and the air temp is low the heating element will turn on and without water in the tank it will likely melt the fitting and destroy your tank as the temp sensor likely won't pick up the temp change fast enough. So a water leak on a cold night will result in a ruined tank and possibly even a fire. A couple redundancy checks that would help would be a water level sensor that disables the heating element, a local temp sensor to ensure the heating element isn't getting above a safe temp for your plastic or some additional logic on the heating element control to modulate its run time and sample the temp sensor to ensure the expected feedback is happening.
@@NathanYsp If it is a manual switch then there is still a concern that either someone will forget to turn it off or the tank runs dry while they are away or sleeping. Having a heating element in a tank that isn't heat tolerant just requires an automatic fail safe to avoid unpleasantness.
Why not use check valves to hold water pressure instead of three ball valves? My RV has a check valve where the city water hooks up and the water pump has a check valve. The water pump and the city water can supply pressure to the system simultaneously without a problem. Then you just need a single valve to fill the freshwater tank. What about the quick connect? Pumps are usually better pushing than pulling water. That means that you have better results when the pump is lower than or closer to the source of water. Using the onboard pump may work, but having a separate pump near the source would greatly improve the water flow.
thanks for sharing. this is nice technical challenge! giving this thought myself, resources engineering of Tesla can make this heating of water efficient. potable water can be solved by many countertop solutions.
Please check out Mels blog showing his ceramic water filter he will be installing. That would allow you to use different water supplies and have drinkable water ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-qLgYfOuUOI4.html
Advice from experience, if you still can, install a extra non electronic way to empty your grey water tank. Thank god you are building the van and you know how and where everything goes. You are putting in it so much electronic stuff that will stop working in the future. That will be a hell van for someone that does not know all that stuf.
add an ozone bubbler into the tank to kill any bacteria, viruses, and fungi and to oxidize any toxins in the water. Ozonated water is great for laundry and dishes. To be extra safe you might want a way to distill lake or river water into a drinkable water tank. Distilling ozonated water would remove the ozone.
Great plan on the water heater. Looks like you built the tank from plastic, What did you use to install the lines through the tank from the engine? sealing the metal lines into the tank?
There could be one problem with your water heating system. If you do not drive before you need the water for a day, the water will be cold. If it‘s not cold outside you will not need or want to use the diesel heater to heat up the cabin. So the only source of heat for the water that is left, is electric heating, which will draw a lot of power to heat up the whole tank. If you are not connected to the grid, you need a lot of solar energy only to keep the water warm. Depends on your „lifestyle“, how much you are driving and if you have times with not much sun, but also not cold enough to need the diesel heater. Not sure what you are doing to power your kitchen, are you also using electricity for cooking? Diesel or gas? Maybe you should evaluate an additional way of heating the water - probably gas would be a good option for that, or you need to think of improvements to heating only the water with the diesel heater in an efficient way. And not sure if you have something to protect the inlet for water which is on the rear underfloor of the van. Otherwise dirt could accumulate there. Otherwise pretty nice setup 👍🏼
Great job 😎 only problem I see is the heating element on the tank turning on when it’s empty. Assuming you guys have thought of this and have got the thermostat looped in the with the tank level switch?
Your van build is very interesting and innovative but it is very very complicated. Do you really expect someone to follow and copy any of this? You have a fully equipped carpentry shop with every possible machine. Ladi is a combination of at least 5 different specialists. To have a van like this you need an engineer on board on all travels "just in case something goes wrong".
Travelling through Europe there are many springs by the side of the road where you can fill up drinking water. They often have a low flow rate but the water is lovely. I'm thinking of having a 20 litre dedicated drinking water tank as well as a 100 plus litre fresh tank for dishes, laundry, showering or cooking. You could fill the larger tank from a stream with your method and keep the drinking water circuit sanitised with only spring or town water. I have a small submersible 12v pump with a 10m 12v cigarette extension lead. It's easy to keep this clean for the drinking water. Put a bowl under the spring water pipe, let it fill, turn on the pump, wait and repeat.
didn't read the previous comments ... but whay not put a oneway valve after the pump and then the quick connect and will be no need to turn any faucet on or off ...
Love It! "Humble Road" RU-vidr has a similar set up, may be watch it. He has been fitting it to vans far a little while now and the tank is different. Might be good & useful to see a tried and tested model, It's great to see new ideas develop and change with new perspective.
Love the complexity and over-engineering as always! Heating from the engine is such a good idea. I think I saw someone mention this, but one concern I'd have with sucking water from creeks or other water sources is the algae, bacteria, and sediment which would then contaminate your whole system. You'd have to flush with chlorine each time, and even then, I'd worry that sediment would build up. Having the drawing hose be in the lowest point of your tank means it will draw water from where the most sediment collects. If you really filtered all the water coming in (which now I think of it, you are, but I don't know how thorough the non-drinking filter is) this would address the problem, but it will likely still mean more maintenance. I also don't know who said you need different UV for different locations, and they could be right, but in my experience UV treatment or chorine droplets work in all contexts (mostly thinking of backpacking) and it might be nice to include one of those options to be absolutely safe. Excited to see what you end up with!
Margaret, you do such a great job on these explainer videos! So good. You and Ladi are the camper van power couple of all time. Seriously, you’re the BEST. 😊
If i had planned this, i would have had the fresh water in front of the axle instead of behind it, because think about it, you're leaving for a trip, you're leaving with a full fresh tank and an empty gray tank. Now you've got a whole bunch of extra weight behind the axle, you. might feel some weird handling around turns, bumpy roads.
I’m very aware of this. It was the tradeoff for compact and neat tanks placement and big amount of fresh water. We fill the tank in the final destination, you don’t want to drag extra 150kg on highways.
Very well done. For UV filter we have been using Guzzle H2O Stealth UV system on our cold drinking line for the past year. Compact - easy install and turns on with water pressure sensor.
Hey guys, can you tell me how is the water sucking from a creek going? I am interested in doing this in my van, but I think that those small van pumps are not made to suck water from more than roughly 2m away. That doesnt leave a lot of hose length. How did it work for you?
Great video, my only concern still the moment is the pressure in the hot water tank, especially with the box design of it. If there is any pressure it will distort and possibly fail, if its going to be vented with a header tank then that should be OK.
