Adding water in fresh water tank while dry camping.

Aric G · 05-09-2021, 05:29 AM

Hello,

How do you add water to the fresh water tank while dry camping? We filled tank with water from spigot. Tank was full now need to add water to the tank. We have Jerry cans with water. The attachment to fill tank is a female with a screen in it. I have a small length of hose with a male end on it. Have a funnel on the other end attached to the hose. Water from jerry can will not go into the tank.

Does the water going into the tank need to be under pressure? The attachment looks to be threaded but its too tight in the compartment to get a grip on it. We used the overfill tube to put water in that way but I know it is not recommended to do so. How do we add water to the tank? I don't understand why they didn't use the large opening like our old trailer to add water to the tank.

2016 Ford F150 3.5 Ecoboost
2021 26RKS Cougar half-ton

gearhead · 05-09-2021, 05:46 AM

Sounds like the jerry can spout is so tight in the vent pipe that it is not venting. Remove the screen and put the spout in so that it is loose and see if it will pour.

LewisB · 05-09-2021, 05:47 AM

If your 2021 Cougar has a city water connection that can be used to either fill the tank or supply water to the entire trailer, then you have two choices;

As you have already discovered, you can remove the screen on the overflow line and manually add water that way.
Come up with a "pumping" system and use the city water/tank fill process.

We purchased a "spare" 12V water pump for the trailer and set it up with hose connections; it is powered by using a 7-pin connector plugged into the truck. This allows you to pump water from cans or a tank into the city water/tank fill connect. We bought a nice 35 gal plastic tank that we also set up with connections for use with this pump.

Hope that helps.

**flybouy** · 05-09-2021, 05:51 AM

Your "old" one was a gravity feed tank, Obviously you now have a "convenience center" that you must use city water connection to fill. That has a check valve in the line so in order to overcome the spring in check valve yes the water must be under pressure,. See how "convenient" that is? You need a pump to pump the water in. Do a search on the forum there have been several discussion on what folks have created for this purpose.

dutchmensport · 05-09-2021, 05:55 AM

I don't know how your Cougar is set up, but IF you have a winterizing connection, you can connect the winterizing connection to your jerry cans. IF you have an outside shower, connect a hose from your shower to your garden hose fill port. Turn on your water pump. It will pump the water (like it would RV antifreeze) to your outside shower, just like you would if you were winterizing. From the shower, it's pumped back into the trailer from the fill port and in your fresh water tank. Once you've added your water, disconnect the Antifreeze line. Flip everything back to normal use, and you are good to go.

RickV · 05-09-2021, 06:34 AM

I was just gonna ask a similar question but, it seems like flybouy answered it. We are preparing to leave on a 5+ month trip and I like to carry about 10 gallons of fresh water for rest stops along the road. I even bought a little water meter to measure how much. So being that this 5ver is fairly new to us and I hadn't put any water in the tank I figured I'd check it out. I understand about turning the valve to fill it from city water but there is another connection right above that and I figured I could just use the the faucet in the convenience center and attach the meter to that hose and attach it the connection above the city water one. In my old 5ver that was a gravity type connection. It wouldn't fill from that connection and now I am curious as to what that connection is for. I have attached a picture of my convenience center if anyone can shed some light on it.

Lee · 05-09-2021, 07:21 AM

Hi,

I purchased a small electric pump motor for this task. Run it off my 1kw Honda Genset.

I thread a 2ft length of 1in PVC to the input side of the pump and attach a short piece of hose to the output that attaches to the TT. Stick the PVC in a jerry can, plug in the pump.... Boom,.. empties in under 2 min.

**sourdough** · 05-09-2021, 08:13 AM

When we boondocked I always carried a 12v water pump with appropriate hoses/connections to fill the RV tank from whatever we had with our spare water. Extended cord to connect to the battery (we always had one somewhere close) and fill away. Didn't take up much room and about 2 minutes to set up.

**flybouy** · 05-09-2021, 08:21 AM

Or just buy a 12 vdc transfer pump. You can get them with garden hose fittings attached. If I were doing that on a regular basis I'd run a 12 v line and plug to where you want to use it and make it easy.

Aric G · 05-11-2021, 11:00 AM

Thank you all for the good advice. Looks like a 12v water pump is in our future. Why don't the manufactures think of this stuff?

Javi · 05-11-2021, 11:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aric G

Thank you all for the good advice. Looks like a 12v water pump is in our future. Why don't the manufactures think of this stuff?

I think there is a way (although convoluted) to pump it from a container and into the FW tank through the winterizing port using the outside shower... if you hold your mouth just right...

But I also think the 12 volt pump might really be easier and faster..

**JRTJH** · 05-11-2021, 11:18 AM

That "convoluted way" is really a MacGyver specialty....

What you do is set the system to "winterize", then use the antifreeze siphon line to draw water (from your jug) into the plumbing. Then use the outside shower to "pump water into the city water inlet" and use that to divert water to the "fresh water fill valve" and into the fresh water tank....

When you consider the "round about way to get next door by going around the block twice" it puts a heck of a lot of wear and tear on expensive trailer components to do what a $30 HF pump will do without the wear and tear.....

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