Water pump intake location

[winebob]

Reflection 226RK and we dry camp a lot. Not only are we missing the 10 gallons of water in the water heater (our is on-demand) there always seems to be about 10 gallons that the pump can't reach. Any way to adjust the intake hose to get it lower in the fresh water tank?

[Country Campers]

Reflection 226RK and we dry camp a lot. Not only are we missing the 10 gallons of water in the water heater (our is on-demand) there always seems to be about 10 gallons that the pump can't reach. Any way to adjust the intake hose to get it lower in the fresh water tank?

The fresh tank connection should be at the bottom of the tank. Right at the drain there is a small sump that is lower than the rest of the tank, the connection for fill and pump is at this sump as well. You could drop the edge of the under belly and look in at the tank near right above the drain to see what is going on. It is also possible that the tank is tilted away from this sump a little as well. It will just take some investigation to find out.

Brian

[Jlawles2]

You may be experiencing vortex air infiltration into the pump. Basically the pump is sucking a whirlpool in the tank and getting air. A sump will help, but you may need to find an alternative way to break the vortex (industrial plants use bars across the suctions for this).

[Yoda]

There is another thread on tank capacity, but the top and bottom inch are probably not 100% usable due to the connection fittings. . Brian is correct on the sump, but its only about 3/4" deep so sucking air is an issue with less than an inch of water.. Also to get the last bit out you need to be slightly off level so the water runs toward the sump. Now in the horse trailer world they carry a bladder tank in a carrier on the roof. and the other day I saw a truck with what looked like white poly saddle tanks each side of the 5th wheel hitch. They were long and rectangular and height was just about to the top of the bed rails. I was going to look closer, but did not get a chance.

On edit
These folks appear to make a tank like I saw and they costume install the fittings so any orentitation appear to be possible.
https://www.plastic-mart.com/categor...er-waste-tanks
Example, depending on hitch clearance to wheel well. https://www.plastic-mart.com/product...poly-tank-r53w Just turn it on the 8" side
This one is 7" wide on it side and bed rail height at 22" https://www.plastic-mart.com/product...oly-tank-rb409
Both are 33 gallon capacity,

Another source
https://www.tank-mart.com/rv-marine-...eatured&page=2

[ncitro]

winebob I have had my tank out, so can say I have seen the attachment for the pump. It is in a sump like Brian says. It also is not a hose in the tank, but rather a bulkhead fitting, so it cannot be adjusted at all. Unfortunately the tank is quite flexible and has a large footprint while being fairly "short". This means that the tank can have bellies between the supports where water can pool and not get to the sump. Also since its so short, even a 3/4" of water left in the tank can be quite a bit of water. I attempted to fix this by adding more support under the tank and it improved it a bit, but honestly I just carry the fresh water bag and a transfer pump I linked in your other thread. When we go to town or our touring I take it with in the back of the truck and fill it up (there are a bunch of sites that are good for finding fresh water fills) and transfer it into the rig when we get back to camp.