Removing fresh water tank

[noralee]

hello,
i'm wanting to remove my fresh water tank so that i have some more storage space and i wonder if anyone could give me some instructions as far as cutting off the piping to the water pump and the water inlet--how to patch these safely.

also, is the tank bolted down or held down with something? mine is located underneath one of the bench seats.

thanks for any info! once i get this removed and move things around i will have room for a dog bed and a new friend

[mainah]

Often they are held down by strapping thin multi hole hardware store stuff. You have no water inside the camper at this point? If you have the pump still in place you'll have to leave it there or plug the pump discharge hose with some thing (a 1/2" tapered pipe plug will work) if you intend to use your garden hose connection to the camper other wise the water will run all over the floor. The pipe that was hooked to the pump from the tank can just be cut.

[JohnB]

Noralee,

Pics of what you have make this easier to answer. Take pics of the water pump too. As mainah stated, you do have to deal with pipe you remove from the tank and or from the pump. Seeing what you have makes it easier to suggest what type of plug you need and where to locate it.

As to the tank, again I have seen this several ways. Some have pipe strap to hold them in place while other have a small frame around them to contain the tank from moving left to right/front to back and really are not held down. Need to look if there are any kind of hold downs used or it is just laying in place.

Hope this helps

John

[noralee]

Here are some pics of the side of the tank and the water inlet for the hose. it appears that the tank is held in place by snug wood pieces bordering the bottom, so i may just need to cut and seal the blue piping and cut and seal the piping going to the water pump.

my only concern going forward is that there appears to be some water build up/back up from the water heater into the fresh tank. i know this sounds weird, but when i undo the plug from the bottom of the water tank there is some water that drains out, just a bit. and, i can't explain any other way water could get into the tank. has anyone experienced this? i'm concerned that if i cut of the piping from the water heater that the water heater will experience some pressure issues.

should i be worried about this or will it sort itself out once the fresh tank and water heater are disconnected?

also, does anyone have any plugs to recommend that i can get from lowes? the water line that needs to be plugged looks like 1/2 inch soft piping that i installed when i did some remodeling around the tank.

[JohnB]

Sorry, I missed your response. Some thoughts

Originally Posted by noralee

it appears that the tank is held in place by snug wood pieces bordering the bottom, Yes I agree

so i may just need to cut and seal the blue piping. The blue bubble gum job was the prior owner trying to seal up a leak. The tank is made out of a plastic that is hard for that ribbed hose to seal too. So they globed on a form of possibly silicone.

You can either dig out the globed on sealant, undo the clamp pull off the hose. Do not cut the hose right by the tank, you may cut off the stub that sticks out and then you can no longer use the tank. If you are going to cut, do it 4 to 6" away from the tank or the camper fill fitting.

And if you ever hook it back up, do not use the ribbed hose. Find a potable water smooth bore hose and it will work a lot better. Those ribbed hoses can be a real bugger to get to seal.

and cut and seal the piping going to the water pump.

I did not see any pics of the water pump. This hose you have to seal off on one side of the pump is, ideally the down stream side of the pump leaving the pump not filled with water. Post some pics of the pump and I can better tell you what kind of fitting will plug the hose to be water tight

my only concern going forward is that there appears to be some water build up/back up from the water heater into the fresh tank. i know this sounds weird, but when i undo the plug from the bottom of the water tank there is some water that drains out, just a bit. and, i can't explain any other way water could get into the tank. has anyone experienced this?

What you are describing is the check valves in the pump have a fine leak in them allowing water to pass backwards through the pump into the tank. A small piece of dirt in those check valves and they will not seal and do just like that you are saying. Again back to my recommendation that you unhook the pump line (after all water pressure is bled from the camper) on the down stream side of the pump ( the end going from the pump to the rest of the camper, not the suction side from the tank) and that gets capped off or plugged pending what the fittings on the end of the hose are. The the pump will stay empty and the water in it not go bad trapped in there. You can unhook the pump suction hose from the pump inlet to get the tank out.

i'm concerned that if i cut of the piping from the water heater that the water heater will experience some pressure issues. OK missed something. Did not know the hot water heater come into this. I had thought you where just tanking the fresh tank out for more room and "assumed" you would still pressure the camper with the garden hose fitting (city water) Then you can use all the water in the camper, shower, sink, toilet etc. Did I understand that wrong or do you want to unhook the hot water heater too?"

should i be worried about this or will it sort itself out once the fresh tank and water heater are disconnected? Clarify about unhooking the hot water heater. If you want to do this, there are more pipes to seal off.

also, does anyone have any plugs to recommend that i can get from lowes? the water line that needs to be plugged looks like 1/2 inch soft piping that i installed when i did some remodeling around the tank. Not trying to be difficult, just there are different types of 1/2" piping. Some may be "hose" or some "tubing" or some "pipe". The 1/2 " size can be different. Some go by ID as a nominal size, some like tube goes by OD and is precise just the wall thickness on the ID changes. And pipe that has a "nominal" ID and again the wall thickness changes what fitting can go inside.

Show us the pics of the hose/pipe etc and we can help better so you do not have to go back and forth to Lowes too many times.

Hope this helps

[mainah]

I'm kind of lost on the water heater too. The water heater has two connections hot and cold removing any of that plumbing will render your water system pretty much useless I think you need to clarify just what you are trying to do. Do you intend to still use the water system in the camper with out the water tank? If you do there is only one line that needs to be plugged. As John said there are different size plastic lines there is away around this, plumbing stores will have a device called a "Shark Bite" fitting Pex type pipe is now very common and parts for it can be easily be found plugs etc. The Shark Bite will allow both sizes to be joined together.

[noralee]

well i was able to get the tank out, finally had some time. i haven't dealt with the piping from/to the water pump but i will and will post some pics then. it does seem like there is dirtand dust getting into the water there because there is some clear piping and i could see it. i won't be using the pump so should be able to cap it somewhere.

the tank came out relatively easily but was still a big project disassembling the bench seat it was in. i'm glad for some more storage space though so it was worth it.

[JohnB]

Great! Your gaining. Thanks for reporting back

[noralee]

Originally Posted by JohnB

Great! Your gaining. Thanks for reporting back

thanks johnB. that extra storage space will improve things here.