Trick to gain fresh water capacity

[pmh]

Today I had a repairman to the house on my Cougar 29RES 5er. I had a water leak on my fresh water tank to be repaired under warranty.

I have had various trailers over the last 20 years and he gave me a tip I had never thought of. Anyway, I thought I would share.

When filling your fresh water tank at the campground fill station, turn on your water pump and open one of the hot water faucets. When the water runs smoothly after ridding the line of air, turn the faucet and pump off, until you are parked. This will fill your water heater tank along with the fresh water tank. Adding 6 gallons to your fresh water.

Maybe I'm the only one who had not thought of this, but what a great idea. Six extra gallons always comes in handy.

[f6bits]

The hot water heater is typically counted as part of the fresh water capacity. In my case, my fresh water tank is 24.5 gallons and my hot water heater is gallons, getting me to my spec'd 30 gallons.

I generally keep some fresh water in the tank and use my trailer enough to keep the plumbing filled. For additional capacity, I'm tempted to just keep one or more of my five gallon jugs full and draw water from it for cooking, etc.

[gepaine]

I sanitize my water system when I de-winterize it in the spring. The process results in my hot water tank being full. It remains full all season long until I drain it in the fall when I winterize the system.

It's not clear to me how I would benefit from this "tip".

[pmh]

You guys are right. After thinking about it, the only time this would be useful would be at the time of dewinterizing.

Sometimes I just don't think.

[gepaine]

Don't sweat it. I appreciate the good intentions.

[diugo]

One really important thing this points out is: if you are out boondocking and you happen to run the plastic fresh water tank dry, the pump stops pumping water---but there are still six "secret" gallons of water in the hot water tank, available only if manually drained into a container.