I designed a system that would be simple but versatile. I wanted to have a shower, without needing to triple the amount of work required to ge there.
Read about how we built the plumbing system with hot water and a point of use water filter.
Total Cost: $
2659.00
Total Time (hrs):
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Materials
Like any major project for the van... it all starts in Home Depot. I think this project in particular was heave on the HD trips. I think the fist weekend we started (pictured below) I went a total of 6 times, and we spent 3 hours one of the times. Oof.
Before we started drilling or installing anything, I made a little jail for the water tank to hold it in place, and so we know exactly how to build around it.
Dad worked on attaching all the connectors to the tank
We cut out a plywood disk and routed the breather tube for the tank up high and around the disk to prevent it form kinking.
Then wired up the electrical for the heater
Drilled another hole in the van for the water inlet and tried to protect it somewhat from the seattle rain to give the sealant a chance to dry.
Spent a wgile underneath the van...
We cut out brackets from angled aluminum, and through bolted those against the water tank to the van floor. This way the water tank can't go anywhere!
Got pretty wet going in and out of the rain
The van was absolute chaos all the time throughout this project. Before doing the final bolting of the water tank to the wall and against the brackets, i insulated the wheel well with some spare thinsulate I had.
Here it is, finally mounted to the wall! The water tank is hanging on the bracket it came with, and we also added ratchet straps to keep it in place.
I started on the kitchen galley structure so that we knew how to route the plumbing to the sink.
My dad was a champ and also braved the Seattle wetness. Here he is installing the drain line, breather hose, and water heater emergency exhaust.
We first set the tank to drain like pictured below. The idea was that you would need to open the valve from the undercarriage and it would start draining. I got really worried about the vertical portion of the pipe freezing, however, and decided we needed to put in another brass valve so that I can keep the hose with access to the outdoors completely free of any water. Having my pipe burst in between my floors sounds like it would be a nightmare (and the thought of this would definitely keep me up at night)!
Here you can see what the mount looks like from the underside. It is a standard hose fit. We put a cap on it to prevent dirt and grime from getting in there. The round black thing you can see is the air filter -- I wanted to cover up the breather hose because I'm scared of bugs crawling up.
Here is the extra valve installed. I feel much better about this setup.
Dad finishing the install of pump, accumulator, and all the plumbling lines.
We were able to do a first test! When we turned on the water, we did notice some leakage and drip from a number of the connectors. It was pretty minor, and we decided to give it a day to let the sealant glue, sealant tape, and connections to really stick together. When we tested it the next day there were no leaks :)
About a week later we were able to get to installing the sink faucet and mounting the filter and everything else under the sink.
I'm so happy with how it turned out! People keep messaging me and saying it looks better than their kitchen now! Haha!
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