Here's some info from a long time ago - same subject. . . .
"A year or more ago, someone on this board suggested a rather clever idea. There are four fresh water drains hanging down under the TM. Find the one that drains the fresh water tank, and measure the diameter of the hose barb (the ridged round tube) on the downstream end of the shutoff valve. Go to HomeDepot/Lowes/etc and get a 3" length of clear flexible vinyl tube that will fit the hose barb. Get a female garden hose adapter (brass) with the same barb size, to insert into the other end of the tube. And get two stainless steel screw clamps. Finally, get a snap-on dust cap to keep the fitting clean while you drive (you may have to get this from an RV shop.) Put the garden hose adapter into one end of the vinyl tube and clamp it; attached the other end of the tube to the drain valve and clamp it. With this assembly in place, draining the tank still works as it always did, but you can now fill the tank via the drain line, simply by attaching a garden hose to the fitting. Fill slowly until water comes out of the overflow vent and runs down the outside of the TM.
As I recall, the downside is that filling the tank through this small hose is a pretty leisurely process - maybe 15 minutes? If you have something else to do - like check in to the campground, buy a few things at the camp store, etc - this may be OK. If you are in a hurry, it may be best to simply pop the shells and get it done, as Teresa suggests.
Bill"
Fill water tank with TM closed
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Here is the original message of mine Bill alluded to on this thread.
Not sure of the reason for all the confusing script in these old messages?
Bruce
I agree with you about needing some way to fill the water tank without opening up the trailer.
I attached a short piece of garden hose with a female hose fitting to the water tank drain valve. I had to shim the drain valve fitting with a piece of 3/8" hose and then I pushed on the 4" section of 1/2" garden hose and clamped it down real tight. A plug will keep dirt out of the fitting when it is not in use.
Now when we pull into a campground without water at the camp site we just hook up the 25' hose I keep in the back of the van, open the TM drain valve and turn on the faucet. It takes about 8 minutes to fill up the 20 gallon tank because the drain opening is so small but we feel it beats having to open and then close down the TM or towing with a full tank. The water will come out of the vent located next to the fill cap when the tank is full and drip down between the outer and inner shells. The overfill will not go inside the trailer.
I also made a little adapter for the input (female) end of the 25' supply hose that allows us to get water from one of those chrome faucets with no hose threads. I call it my State Park Adapter since so many SP's have this style of faucet. It is just a short piece of 1/2" garden hose with a male fitting on one end, essentially the reverse of the piece attached to the TM drain valve.
I push it on the faucet, clamp it down and hold open the spring loaded valve while the tank fills up.
It would be nice if the factory would put on a larger drain valve to make this whole operation easier.
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Bruce Martin
Orlando, FL
2000 3124 KS/'96 Astro Van
160 watt solar panels and catalytic heater
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