# stupid question - filling van with water



## MissMills (Apr 15, 2009)

I just spent about £40 in a 30 m lenght of 'drinking' hose (the blue one). Initially we chopped off a half of it thinking it would be enough and then we needed to go back for more. Anyway, the annoying thing now is that the end (the blue soft part) doesn't attach to the tap and spouts water everywhere. Are there attachments you buy to help these attach or is there a knack to getting the water down that we are missing?! cheers.


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## EssexBoy (Apr 15, 2009)

Hiya

Just pop down to B&Q (or any garden centre, for that matter) and get yourself a stock of the Hozelock type connectors...

I got myself a universal end-stop type-thing + various plug-in adaptors to cater for all those wierd and wonderful taps you come across on site...

Might be a bit late, but you can even get straight-connectors - so you could have joined/disconnected your two halves of pipe whenever you wanted !!!

Hope this helps

Steve


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## MissMills (Apr 16, 2009)

Hi Steve

Thanks for that. Are these the type of thing you mean? 

http://www.easywatering.co.uk/acatalog/Hozelock_Hose_Fittings.html#aHOZ_2d2150

Would they attach up to a kitchen tap? Sorry to seem so dim with this! 

Thanks


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## Nosha (Apr 16, 2009)

A quick 'universal' connector is buy a cheap hand shower, this comes with two push on rubber tap ends, these when wet will push on round, square & threaded water taps, but like the other guy I have a universal Hozelock tap connector and a srew on threaded tap connector.


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## mlynnf50 (Apr 17, 2009)

How interesting I didn't know you had different coloured hose pipes for drinking water:


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## bob690 (Apr 17, 2009)

I know its  bit late now, but in future or for anyone else, a common or garden hosepipe will do, these usually come with the tap connection already attached, and are a lot cheaper than the blue foodgrade stuff, and always remember to allow the water to rinse the full length of the pipe for muck, spiders etc. Dont drop your ends on the floor, you dont know whos or what could have soiled the area even if it looks clean. Some people just shove the hosepipe straight into the filler and leave it till it overflows, the end of your hose can have contaminants, I just hold the hose about 2 inches away so there is no physical contact. This may seem a bit over the top, but its a good routine to adopt in case you travel abroad.


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## Deleted member 919 (Apr 17, 2009)

I carry a seperate 5 gallon container for drinking water so the onboard tank is only used for washing etc and carry a length of garden hose and hoselock fittings and as a few others i know i carry a watering can (very handy)
rob


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## Mujisan (Apr 18, 2009)

*Handy hint*

Hi MissMills,

Hello to a fellow Brummy 

Thought you may find the following tip useful when you come to wrestle the pipe onto the fittings 

If you get a jug/mug of boiling water and hold the end of the pipe in it for a while, it will soften and you can jam it onto the fittings more easily and without splitting the pipe. Once the pipe has cooled, it will harden and keep the fitting in nice and tight.

You may need several jugs/mugs of boiling water to get it to soften enough. Take your time and don't rush it. Much better to spend a while holding under the water with a nice cuppa in the other hand, rather than a hour of sweaty wrestling 

Mujisan


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## Cornish Emmit (Apr 18, 2009)

Welcome to the site MissMills,

The only stupid question is the one you didn't ask when you should have.

Regards 
Chris


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## mlynnf50 (Apr 21, 2009)

Hello Bob, we used to live in Ainsdale so not far away, has the tide come in yet!!!


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## MissMills (Apr 22, 2009)

hi all

i'm happy to see this thread still going as today i'm back to square one, having returned the expensive 30m lenght of blue hose i bought! Am probably moving in with my bf soon and it would not fill from his house at all. water went everywhere. I didn't get round to buying attachments for it as it was such a hassle i thought i'd just start again.

so, can anyone recommend a good food hose which will wrap up nicely and stay in back?! i did start to think that this whole thing would be a lot easier with just a watering can, as someone else has said they do. Seems a nice idea to fill up and use for washing and carry fresh in container for drinking. but then it'd be nice to just drink water from tank instead of carrying separate. 

any more ideas very warmly welcomed!"

cheers all!


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## ajs (Apr 22, 2009)

MissMills said:


> hi all
> 
> 
> so, can anyone recommend a good food hose which will wrap up nicely and stay in back?! i did start to think that this whole thing would be a lot easier with just a watering can, as someone else has said they do. Seems a nice idea to fill up and use for washing and carry fresh in container for drinking. but then it'd be nice to just drink water from tank instead of carrying separate.
> ...


 

yuk... do you know what creatures live in the bottom of yer water tank 
iff yer want to drink that stuff then yer need to drop sterilising tablets in there...
me... no way hose-hay ... 5lts bottle for drinking water thanks 

regards
aj


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## Angus (Apr 22, 2009)

*Angus*



MissMills said:


> I just spent about £40 in a 30 m lenght of 'drinking' hose (the blue one). Initially we chopped off a half of it thinking it would be enough and then we needed to go back for more. Anyway, the annoying thing now is that the end (the blue soft part) doesn't attach to the tap and spouts water everywhere. Are there attachments you buy to help these attach or is there a knack to getting the water down that we are missing?! cheers.



Waste of time and water what you haqve now I've tried it.Buy a Hozelock or similar screw on connector which screws on to a surprising number of taps. There are two sizes half and three quarter inch I think.For none screw taps you need a universal coupling with an adjustable circlip which can be tightened onto most taps.Hope this helps.


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## salopian (Apr 22, 2009)

Just go to your local camping/caravan accessory store and buy a roll up hose, they are about 25metres long and take up no space at all...the hot water softening works well..I always do it.!!   all the hozelock bits fit the wind up hose.


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## MissMills (Apr 23, 2009)

hi guys

so... it seems getting a length of the blue drinking hose and fitting the hozelock ends to it will do the job?! Did clean out the tank and will probably use bottled to drink. But I'd like to be able to use the tank for cooking, the kettle and washing food etc without it being weird. 

I saw this hose: Marine Superflat Hose - from GO Outdoors.co.uk

what do people make of it?! Might buy it tonight. Seems easier than having oceans of blue food hose stuck in back of van (we need it quite long to reach outside!).

Ta xx


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## Pioneer (Apr 23, 2009)

MissMills said:


> hi guys
> 
> so... it seems getting a length of the blue drinking hose and fitting the hozelock ends to it will do the job?! Did clean out the tank and will probably use bottled to drink. But I'd like to be able to use the tank for cooking, the kettle and washing food etc without it being weird.
> 
> ...



Hi,
a good choice of hose, but you will still need a hoselock adapter with a 3/4" tap connector, for most taps on UK sites.
The one shown on the Go Camping reel will do for connecting to domestic taps that don't have a threaded end.
Still lost? visit the Hozelock website.

Happy Camping


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## noody (Apr 26, 2009)

***** said:


> Are we getting health & safety mad with all this food grade hose



I think we are shafted. Some years-ago, in-fact many years ago certain water conditions traveling through certain 'plastic' tubing. Then left inthat tubing would leach something out of the plastic composition. Probably, plastisiser. I'm not sure of my facts so as long as you are aware I'll continue.

Even if you buy inappropriate plastic pipe, its only if you are using certain types of water and then leaving it in the tube for ages that its going to become a problem.

Much more dangerous is the habit of not regularly emptying and re-filling your tanks and/or sterilising. You don't need to carry extra containers of drinking water if you regularly clean-out your tanks and water-ways together with a cheap-portable water-filter that can be kept in the fridge.

Richard.


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## Randonneur (Apr 26, 2009)

What I do is fill a 5 gallon jerrycan at the site tap, then truck it back to the van with an old suitcase trolley. Then i use my secret weapon!. My spare submersible water pump with extra long lead to reach my 12volt tv power socket ( make sure all connections are watertight ), and "food grade" garden hose on the pump to reach into the tank and bottom of the jerry can. No heavy lifting or struggling with watering cans and no need to carry miles of hose or tap adapters. I don't half get some envious looks on site tho!!.


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## Telstar (Apr 26, 2009)

*roll flat hose*

I have a cheap roll flat hose.  It doesn't have to be fully rolled out, but most do.  I think that I got it from Towsure (as a garden hose, just chuck the sprinkler end!).  However as ***** says most have to be rolled out fully, the other thing is mine cannot be extended (added to) in the way a normal hose pipe can because of how the hose is constructed although if you got the correct male/female fitting at a plumbers merchant you could do it.  With hozelock connectors hoses can be fitted to nearly every tap.

I also have a funnel so that I can pour water into the tank from outside.  Yes timeconsuming, but works when needed.  The other thing my van has is a 12v socket on the outside of the van near the water inlet.  Plug a remote pump in and Bobs your uncle, you can pump water in from a bucket or even a caravan water carrier.

Jon


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## Lazy (Apr 26, 2009)

*stupid questions*

Your question is not stupid and I learnt something thanks.
But here is one for you. About 4 years ago a freind rang running late for work. Lazy Lazy I am 20 Km out of town and my car starts wont go forward or backward. If I reve it up it creeps forward. I jumped in my trusty hilux rushed up to Mapelton to where the vehicle was. There was a close friend in tears. Late for work and upset that she had damaged the care. Releasing the hand brake all was well


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## Polly (Apr 26, 2009)

Hia

one of my early trips out to a campsite near Scarborough water tap their on site but hose not long enough.
Daughter and I put water into tank via plastic bottle and kettle.
next day found a Wilkinsons and bought a watering can.
will not go anywhere without it. forget the hose by using my watering can i only put in what i am going to use  and a little extra so no waste conserving the water incase we have a hot summer and water drought.

That hols I found out I had a waste water tank.


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## Jacqueslemac (Apr 28, 2009)

Randonneur said:


> What I do is fill a 5 gallon jerrycan at the site tap, then truck it back to the van with an old suitcase trolley. .... No heavy lifting or struggling with watering cans and no need to carry miles of hose or tap adapters.



Doesn't a five gallon jerry can take up a lot more space than a roll-flat hose? With a tank the size I have, it would mean several trips. I think I'd rather carry a roll-flat hose and make one trip.

I regularly empty my tank and refill it, but it's a good tip about the sterilising tablets. On second thoughts, we don't often drink from the tap. It's usually boiled for tea or we drink other stuff that comes out of a bottle, but isn't water (I can't bring myself to buy water when it costs more than fuel).

I'm off to Italy this Summer. Has anyone any tips about which attachments I might need for taps on sites there, please?


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## noody (Apr 29, 2009)

*Forums are terrific for help.*

The great thing about these discussions is everyone gets a little help if they are open-minded. Some people don't need help because they are comfy with their way of dealing with whatever we are discussing, they share their comfort, then others get to add or change their method of dealing with whatever we are discussing.

For example, I think its very important to regularly clean tanks and waterways and to regularly empty and fill those tanks, those thoughts are based on some past experiences of drinking skunky water. Others, on the other-hand find it quite acceptable to never clean their tanks, maybe a bi-annual flush-out with clean water and they're happy.

I once recently had a cuppa with a very hospitable pal, we both sat in the sun, then came the moment I had to sip my tea. I threw it into grass complaining about my wretched fillings needing some dental-treatment and inwardly vowed to continue with my obsession (amongst-others) to clean water from my motorhome taps.

Regarding the lay-flat hose, I had been intending to free-up some space by swopping my common-or-garden-garden-hose until I came across a couple of CL's with a dribble rather than a flow. Brought-back the memory of the last time I saw my eldest grandson and he asked, "How far can you pee granpa".


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