Mod - drawing from an external water source

[dakky68]

We're heading bush for Easter this year and we wanted to come up with a way to use river water as the husband discovered (after a few beers) last time, that a nice, long hot shower is not necessarily a good idea when you're running off the tanks (how good are those 9L/m shower heads, though!).

We were considering installing a second pump underneath but have just used the current one (which we'd recently replaced).

A full explanation is here so I won't type it all out again, but the basic idea is that water is drawn from any external source (river/dam/portable tanks/bucket) and filtered before either being used straight away, or topping up the tanks. The setup also gives us the option of filtering mains water, which we weren't already doing.

Here is a pic of the setup (see link above for more pics/details):

 

[gwadir]

Very impressive @dakky68 I can see the water filter is a Trekkei I think, can you tell me where you got it from and where did you source the particulate filter, the one way valve and the strainer from also, I wouldn't mind doing a similar thing as we free camp as much as possible and this would solve our water issues. One other thing, how high do you think the pump will lift from the river? Thanks in advance.

Dave

 

[dakky68]

@gwadir the water filter is a Trekker and we got it from Jayco; the particulate filter, strainer and non-return valve are from Reece; fittings etc from both places.

We did test at about 15-20m up a slight incline but we are keen to see how it goes in situ. We'll test it out next week and I'll report back. If we hadn't just bought a new pump, we would have bought something bigger and better to go with this setup, but this mod wasn't a consideration at the time we replaced the pump. If it sucks (or doesn't, as the case may be!), we may also consider mounting a stronger one underneath, but we will give this a go first.

 

[gwadir]

@gwadir the water filter is a Trekker and we got it from Jayco; the particulate filter, strainer and non-return valve are from Reece; fittings etc from both places.

We did test at about 15-20m up a slight incline but we are keen to see how it goes in situ. We'll test it out next week and I'll report back. If we hadn't just bought a new pump, we would have bought something bigger and better to go with this setup, but this mod wasn't a consideration at the time we replaced the pump. If it sucks (or doesn't, as the case may be!), we may also consider mounting a stronger one underneath, but we will give this a go first.

Thanks for that @dakky68 I'll be interested to know how you go.

Dave

 

[gwadir]

Have just been looking at some pumps and this one looks like it might be the goods for what I want,

http://www.pumpwarehouse.com.au/prod125.htm

High lift, good pressure and low current draw from the batteries at 2 - 6amps max.

 

[dakky68]

Have just been looking at some pumps and this one looks like it might be the goods for what I want,

http://www.pumpwarehouse.com.au/prod125.htm

High lift, good pressure and low current draw from the batteries at 2 - 6amps max.

Yeah, that one does look good. We will be going for something similar if the current one fails miserably

 

[gwadir]

Hi dakky68,

just wondering how your pump and filter set up worked out, did it suck o/k and what kind of lift did it achieve? How many litres / min do you reckon it did?

Dave

 

[relgate]

Great work. Have been planning a very similar mod. Thanks for posting

 

[gwadir]

Just been into Reece Irrigation, got the strainer, non-return valve and sediment filter, cost just over $50.00, all I need now is the filter, a Shurflo pump and some time to install it.

Dave