Water Meter used to fill the tanks

[Brittany Dogs]

This project deals with filling your 20 gallon water tank and 6 gallon water heater while the trailer is closed down. I like to pull into the park, fill up with 26 gallons or so and then proceed to my camp site. Up until now, I would have to forego prefilling and then set up the TrailManor unit on site, then leave to go get either multiple water jugs filled up or fill my 40 gallon water bladder that sits on top of my truck. This method works but usually when I pull in on a Friday evening, set up, I’m not much for being in the mood to get the water and fill up the tanks when time is better served to get dinner going and make a martini.

This is a new twist to the task of filling up your water tank and your 6 gallon water heater. Previous ideas on this forum work and work well I’m sure but usually deal with taking the overflow tube from the top of the 20 gallon water tank, putting a longer tygon tube from the top of the tank and drilling a hole on the floor to run the overflow tube to the outside.

I said to myself “self, if you can measure the amount of gallons as you fill the 20 gallon tank (or 40 gallon if your unit has that size of tank) you won’t have to worry about overfilling nor drill a hole in the deck of the trailer.” So I looked for a cheap water meter on the web and found a few of them. Once I had a meter, all I would have to do is put female ends on the water drains and proceed to backfill the tanks that way. The 6 gallon water tank does not need to be measured since you are required to open the bathroom outside valve anyhow to allow the air to escape from the water heater as it fills. Otherwise the air pressure will either damage the tank or the pipes. When the water heater fills up the water just spurts out the hot water bathroom drain valve.

So I purchased two water clamps, a short length of tygon tubing which I think was 1/2 inch in size and then two brass female hose ends. I then put the tygon on the hose ends, used a vise to carefully collapse the crimps, put the hose clamps on the other end and then installed them on the water tank drain and the water heater drain.

The water meter is the “AbsolutelyNew” Water Saver Usage Meter purchased from Amazon for $17. There are a few types of these meters out there and that might be good news. Because, the one I got from “AbsolutelyNew” is total, total junk. It is highly, highly inaccurate. BUT (caps intended) it is consistent in the measurement. The error factor is a horrible 2.1 to 1 ratio. Therefore to fill my empty 20 gallon tank with 18 or so gallons, just to make sure I don’t overfill and get my curtains wet, I measure 38-39 gallons on this meter. Again, the measurement is way off but it is consistent. So to me, this works as long as I know the measurement error.

In researching this cheap water meter problem, tons of web comments show others have the exact problem as I do with the inaccuracy of this meter. If you buy any of these types of flow meters, just fill up your 5 or 6 gallon water jug to see what the meter reads when the jug is full. Then do the math to see what the error is.

Now when I set up camp, I can immediately turn on my water heater to get going and I have plenty of water to fill the Thetford and to do dishes on Friday night. Notice how I said “I” do the dishes?