stupid question - filling van with water

MissMills

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

Hi MissMills,

Hello to a fellow Brummy :cool:

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 :D

Mujisan
 
Welcome to the site MissMills,

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

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

any more ideas very warmly welcomed!"

cheers all!
Click to expand...


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

regards;)
aj
 
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.
Click to expand...

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.:)
 
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.!!:D :D :D all the hozelock bits fit the wind up hose.
 
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
 
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.

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
Click to expand...

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.:D
Still lost? visit the Hozelock website.

Happy Camping:)
 
***** said:
Are we getting health & safety mad with all this food grade hose:confused:
Click to expand...

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.
 
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!!. :rolleyes: :rolleyes:
 
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
 
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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