Hi
As im new to touring i have a question about the on board water tank that is on my model van.How often do people use these and in what circumstances ? if im on a site with water is it best to just keep using it out of the aquaroll .I can understand if you are going to a place with no water but then you would have to lug 40ltrs of water around .Im struggling to understand its major use and the likely hood of me using it .
cheers
Onboard water tanks were introduced mainly for winter caravanning because if the outside temperature drops to freezing point then the Aquaroll, the inlet pipe and the water inlet connector need to be insulated to avoid the fresh water from freezing. An onboard water tank is beneficial due to being surrounded by internal heat therefore no insulation required. However, some caravanners were using the onboard water tank much in the same way as a motorhome by filling up with water before departure which caused some major stability issues. However, motorhomes having four wheels are much more stable to carry large volume of water in a holding tank than that of a caravan with just two wheels so manufacturers were encouraged to abolish the idea merely because it was a risk of danger in the wrong hands.
Quote: Originally posted by tango55 on 22/2/2020
Onboard water tanks were introduced mainly for winter caravanning because if the outside temperature drops to freezing point then the Aquaroll, the inlet pipe and the water inlet connector need to be insulated to avoid the fresh water from freezing. An onboard water tank is beneficial due to being surrounded by internal heat therefore no insulation required. However, some caravanners were using the onboard water tank much in the same way as a motorhome by filling up with water before departure which caused some major stability issues. However, motorhomes having four wheels are much more stable to carry large volume of water in a holding tank than that of a caravan with just two wheels so manufacturers were encouraged to abolish the idea merely because it was a risk of danger in the wrong hands.
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Oh i see so do new model caravans not have on board water tanks these days then ?
I'm not sure but not heard of anyone with a new caravan having an onboard water tank fitted as standard. Perhaps someone can shed some light on this as to whether onboard water tanks are fitted to some new caravans or not as some caravan manufacturers may still fit them.
we use ours every single time we are away. we never fill it from home, it is only filled once we are on site, ok that means I have several trips to the tap with the aquaroll, but what it does mean is that we don't have to have 2 of them, only one is needed.
the point being is that you can top up the water without having to wait, it means less chance of running out of water halfway thr a shower, less chance of anything freezing. we have left a very small amount of water in ours for when travelling, approx. 10 liters max but this is rare for us
Quote: Originally posted by marg6 on 23/2/2020
we use ours every single time we are away. we never fill it from home, it is only filled once we are on site, ok that means I have several trips to the tap with the aquaroll, but what it does mean is that we don't have to have 2 of them, only one is needed.
the point being is that you can top up the water without having to wait, it means less chance of running out of water halfway thr a shower, less chance of anything freezing. we have left a very small amount of water in ours for when travelling, approx. 10 liters max but this is rare for us
We had an onboard water tank in a previous 2009 van (Compass Rallye) which we used as above.
We have one too, fitted as standard in Bessacarr - just 30 litres.
There are 2 ways to use it:
-fill up the onboard, but use the Aquaroll, so keeping the onboard as a reserve
-use the onboard, then top up from the AR until that's empty which again means you never run out
We do the latter, as the onboard has a water level indicator.
Its a shame though that Swift didn't match the AR capacity, which is always in a part full state.
Travelling, we keep just a couple of litres in the onboard for drinks / handwashing / the dog.
I do miss the whopping 80 litre underslung onboard we had on the old Bessacarr, which was more convenient and kept the water cold, besides not occupying a bunk space. Used to take 3 trips to the water tap to fill and prime the system!
I do miss the whopping 80 litre underslung onboard we had on the old Bessacarr, which was more convenient and kept the water cold, besides not occupying a bunk space. Used to take 3 trips to the water tap to fill and prime the system!
with no kids, guess whose job that is in our caravan! mine
Had one on our old Elddis Crusader and we've got an under slung one on our Coachman . I just prefer filling it and a couple of aquarolls when we arrive and that does for a couple of days, just empty the wastemaster when it's over half full.
If we're on a site with serviced pitches then that's the way we go if there's one available, even easier on the brain.