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Water: The Simplest System

When I was thinking about fresh water, hot water, cold water, city water, water storage, water pump, water heater, etc., I was feeling a tad overwhelmed. It seemed like so much.

Turns out it was one of the simplest parts of the whole build. And it really is due to the ease of working with PEX-B.

Get a decent clamp tool, a couple of pieces of blue pipe, a piece of red pipe, a huge supply of pinch clamps, some elbows, tees, valves and swivel fittings and before you know it the job is done.

I was skeptical at first, but I have to say the PEX-B pipe system is pretty awesome.

A few notes:

• I put my fresh water tank on a short ramp base. I wanted the business end to be lower than the rest.
  
• I used the bottom 1-1/2 inch outlet for the drain. Right through the floor and under the trailer. Outside is plugged with a threaded plug. I unscrew that and screw in a piece of hose I built up to move the water away from the trailer.
  
• I wasted money on a 0.75 liter accumlator tank. I threw that one away and bought a 2 gallon accumulator. It actually works right.
  
• I learned you don't need to use the pipe tape on every kind of joint. I suggest researching that before starting.
• I discovered I could remove mistake clamps with a pair of diagonal cutters. Not by cutting, but by prying up the end, grabbing it, rotating the end away from the pipe until it came free and then unwinding it.
  
• Then I used a small hot air gun to heat the pipe. It returned to its original shape and slid right off the fittings. I then could re-use the pipe if I chose.
  
• The most important considerations for me were:
  
  • a valve to start/stop city water flow.
    
  • filtering all water before it gets to the end use.
    
  • having valves to isolate the pump and accumulator from city water.
    
  • having a fill valve to allow the option of direct city water filling of the tank.
    
  • having a working vent to prevent pressurization of the tank.
    
  • valves to turn off water to and from the water heater.
    
  • a pressure gauge to see how much pressure I was applying to my system.

I bought this water hook-up inlet. It's light plastic, but I think they all are pretty much. It seems sturdy enough, and I've used it enough to feel comfortable with it. The lock is a nice touch.

I use the gravity feed primarily. The pressurized feed is an option, but it's slower. Just stick the hose in the gravity side and in no time it's full.

I have not used this pressure regulator yet, although I did test it along with a pressure gauge to see if it worked. It did.

This is the fluids level panel I bought. I like it just fine. These sensors need to be installed per instructions in each of the three tanks.

I really like the water heater. It works great, and is very simple to operate. Installing it was no harder than any of the other things this build presented. Careful planning and a slow steady pace resulted in a nice install.

The 12VDC pump works well. It was part of the fresh water tank package. The Bluetti powers it with no effort. All of my hot water uses so far have worked as expected. They have all been using the pump.

Here is the Water Micro-Gallery

Plumbing still isn't my favorite thing, but this turned out well and it was a learning experience. I always like those (well most of them).

The plumbing works. Nothing more to say about that.