just more design thoughts on water system, think I'mna do beer taps for the water faucets.. for starters, seems like the Colorado thing to do here right? seriously tho I can get nice bulkhead fittings for passing through any thickness, all stainless steel, protective dirt caps, growler fillers for attaching hoses, even locks if I needed.. they need someone holding em open to operate which I see as a bonus to waste less water, can get em with nice flow control valves too.. I'll plan for 2 separate hot/cold faucets but just work on cold water for now.. mebe a 3rd for actual beer one day? Seriously tho thinking of a mini growler keg in the Engel and making it a mini kegerator if I can, would be more space effective and be a great excuse for hunting down breweries for a refill.
and I came up with a rather clever solution for easy freeze proofing, I'm going to take
this motorized ball valve and wire it in parallel with my water pump.. I will route all the hard water lines from the tank so they gravity drain back into the tank, best to keep those off the floor anyhow for freeze protection.. The valve will be wired Normally Open to close when the water pump is turned on, isolating the high pressure output and low pressure input on the pump and working like any other water system.. just draws a little bit of power when valve is changing state but then none after that... When I shut off power to the water pump, 4 seconds later the valve will go back to open state and bypass the pumps internal check valve, relieving the pressurized side, then if I open the internal drinking water faucet inside all the water will gravity drain right back into the holding tank.. they have a 2 wire version of this if one wanted simpler wiring, its got a constant power consumption tho when opened but its only 30mA
awesome drawing skills:
This will let me drain all the water pipes just by shutting off the pump, waiting a few seconds, then opening up a faucet to break the siphon so everything gravity drains right back into the holding tank.. considering Ive already spent plenty of time traveling in sub freezing conditions with this trailer I wanted a way to drain all the lines quick and easy even between stops when I'm not heating the inside, and perhaps overnight with that external faucet I dont want frozen in the morning.
Found a better tank than the front runner, its a
30g 46"L x 13"W x 12"H for pretty much the same price.. long and square, perfect for fitting right under the drivers side bunk over the axle and much more capacity than the 17g frontrunner... with 30 gallons things like quick showers are gonna happen far more frequently.. if I wanted to try for an external filling port, its an option.. and nicely its a clear tank so the box I make around it just needs a window for a level indicator.. knowing me I'll likely still install at least one float valve inside for a low water alert that kills the pump and must be manually overridden so we always have some water in reserve.
