A Beginner’s Guide to Your RV Water System
Your RV's water system is a vital component of your home on wheels that keeps you clean, hydrated, and comfortable while on the road.
However, many RVers don't fully understand how their water system works or how to properly maintain it. In this blog post, we'll explore the basics of RV water systems and provide some useful tips and tricks for keeping your system running smoothly. Whether you're a seasoned RVer or brand new to the lifestyle, our guide to RV water systems will help you avoid common pitfalls and ensure a safe and enjoyable journey
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Supplies
Zero-G Water Hose- You want to make sure it is rated for drinking water. Bonus points if the dealership will include this!
Water Pressure Regulator- You never know what the pressure will be at a campsite. Your lines in the RV are only rated up to a certain pressure and it can blow your line!
Water Filter- This is used to reduce contaminants and sediment. We recommend this Camco filter for starting out!
90-degree Hose Elbow- These help to avoid damage to the hose & connection port to the RV.
Would you rather watch than read? No problem! ⤵️
Things To Know
Each RV has knobs to turn when configuring its water system. In our Grand Design fifth wheel, we have the P1 Nautilus System! You can check out your “wet bay” area for comparison or check your manual so that you can reference it as we go along!
P1 Nautilus System in Grand Design RV
Vocabulary Check: When you see the term City Water, it refers to the spigot water that comes straight into lines and out of your faucet.
Fresh Water means that it comes from your tank within the RV. You can fill this with a connection to carry water with you when you are not connected to hookups or boondocking! Be sure not to overfill your tank, we rarely ever fill it due to fuel economy when towing. It’s also a good idea to use a water filter when filling your fresh tank, we mentioned the Camco basic filter- but this is a good time to also mention ClearSource. We recently upgraded our rig to this filter and it takes care of all the water coming into the camper- yes, even shower water!
Onward to our last few terminology lessons...
Your Grey tank is all the dirty water from your shower and sinks! Lastly, the notorious Black tank: This is all of the waste from your toilet. Alright, so now you’re an expert in RV lingo!
Want to know more about RV tanks? Watch here or check out our blog post!
RV AirFlow Systems
Don’t spend another summer fighting your RV’s AC unit! Get the most out of your unit by installing RV AirFlow!
The way you get water into your fresh tank is by a 12-volt water pump- there is a screen inlet filter and if you don’t filter your water, this filter will get clogged. Unfortunately, the Hanks know from experience and our first tell-tale sign was a big decrease in pressure!
What about drinking water? This all comes down to personal preference. Bottle waters, Brita filters, and reverse osmosis are all great options! We don’t drink water from our freshwater holding tank, just to be precautionary. As we mentioned above, we recently upgraded to ClearSource. When we are connected to water, it filters the incoming water so that we are able to fill up our reusable water containers to take on the road with us!
Thanks Hanks Tips: Water Edition
Don’t plan on filling your fresh tank all the way up! As we mentioned above, the reasoning is simple- fuel economy and weight! One gallon of water is equivalent to 8.8 pounds.
When we get to a campground with connections we always put a little water in our fresh holding tank- why you might ask. There have been several occasions where a campground has to cut the water supply to the park for various reasons, and if you don’t have any stored in your fresh tank there isn’t a whole lot you can do!
We mentioned our 12-volt inlet filter being clogged, and for this third tip we experienced a similar situation with our water pressure regulator- there was no fluctuation of the gauge when turning the water on. It turns out our gauge was clogged due to mineral buildup. We were able to fix this easily by cleaning it out with a needle and everything worked as good as new!
One thing to mention here is that it’s very important to sanitize your RV water lines. If you aren’t sure how to do this routine maintenance, no sweat! We have a video on that, too!
