Sprinter Van Plumbing

Tanks

With my build, I decided that I wanted to have 3 tanks under the vehicle. For my build, I was going to have a Fresh Water, Greywater, and Blackwater Tank on the van. A lot of people will determine that they don’t require a black water tank and will opt to use one of the various non-flush options. For me personally, the RV Toilet made by Dometic was the best version for how I had imagined my life in the van.

Fresh Water Tank 22 Gallons
Grey Water Tank 25 Gallons
Black Water Tank 10 Gallons

The links above are the actual tanks that I used in my conversion and the top photo is the fitting arrangement that I ordered my tanks with.

Mounting the Tanks

For my van, I followed the advice of many other people that had completed van conversions. I made the decision that I was going to mount all of my water tanks under the vehicle. Some people decide to keep the tanks inside the vehicle to avoid potential problems with freezing if you are choosing to use the van a lot in the winter.

After spending some time in the van I’ve made the decision that I don’t regret my decision to keep the tanks under the vehicle but I do plan on adding a small greywater and fresh water tank inside the van at some point for the winter trips I go on. This is will allow me to quickly blow out the exterior plumbing lines and drain those tanks and switch the pump to draw water from the tanks mounted inside the vehicle. For these interior tanks, I will probably just do something like a 5 Gallon Fresh and 5 Gallon Grey Water tank that can easily be removed from the van to fill and dump them when required.

Mounting Location / Hardware

When mounting the tanks under the van I wasn’t sure exactly how I was going to mount the tanks in place and have them be secure enough when traveling down the road or off the road…

What I ended up doing was having some pieces of flat aluminum diamond plate bent into 90-degree brackets and then using a flat bar across the bottom with a bolt-on either side to secure the tanks in place and so far this has worked well for 2 of the 3 tanks….

You see with the grey water tank I didn’t take into account the ground clearance out the back when going over steep approaches and when traveling I bottomed out the tank and bent all of the aluminum brackets. So for the grey water tank, I had to have a steel bracket made which not acts not only as a tank mount but also of a skid plate to protect the tank in case of another bottom out…which has happened and the tank remains all good. One thing I do plan on reworking is the grey water tank as there was no reason why I couldn’t have pushed the grey water tank ahead almost 5 inches which would have eliminated this entire problem which is something that I think I am going to do in the near future. FYI I will have to purchase a new tank as I will not be able to reuse this one and might select a tank this is 2 inches less deep but I’ll update this if I go that route.

Tank Fittings / Setup

Once I had figured out where and how I was going to mount the tank it was time to start putting the puzzle pieces together and I’ll do my best to break that down here for you.

Let’s start at the Fresh Water tank and work our way through the system. not sure exactly how I can write this in a way that is easy to follow and understand but I’m going to give it a shot and see what happens.

Filling the Fresh Water

So starting with the Freshwater tank we need a way to fill the tank with our freshwater. When doing this part of the van build you have two things to consider. For me filling my water tank is a very simple process of just connecting a garden hose to the inlet on the freshwater tank. On my van on the water inlet fill section I also installed a valve that allows me to direct the water past the tank and directly into the van in case I am ever at a campsite that has RV water connections. It’s a pretty easy feature to add to the van build so I did it but that a heads up after all my travels in the van I have yet to hook up to an RV water connection so this feature has never been used and I don’t see it being used any time in the near future.

In the van, I also wanted a way that I would fill up the fresh water tank from a lake, or river. So what I did to make this possible was purchase a second water pump and mount it on a piece of leftover plywood and using a small lithium battery and garden hoses I can place the pump by the water and pump fresh water into the van that is up to 150ft away from the van. Based on the fact that to date I have spent most of my time on the coast and around saltwater I haven’t used this feature a ton to date (2-3 times) but since I do plan of spending the next 6 months or so inland and around freshwater lakes, I think it will come into play a lot more frequently.

This system is part of the reason that my Grey water tanks are larger than my Freshwater tank, my thinking was that in the freshwater tank probably about 60-70% of the water the shower and sink actually enter the grey water tank and the remainder of the freshwater is consumed or dumped on the ground when showering outside, so this size grey water tank I can get 2 Freshwater fills to every time I need to dump the greywater.

Fresh Water Usage

After the freshwater has been filled into the tank it is pumped from the freshwater tank into the van using a 12v Shurflo Water Pump with the 12v water pump I also purchased the strainer that is recommended and the small accumulator tank which allows for instant pressure from the taps making it operate and feel similar to a house tap this pump pressurizes the system in the van to around 45 – 50 PSI before the pressure shut off valve kicks in.

Water Filters

In my van, I knew that it was important to have the ability to drink the water from the freshwater tanks. I didn’t want to have to worry about always worrying about the quality of the drinking water and whether or not I was going to get sick…. And I can confidently say to date I have drunk gallons of water that without being filtered likely would have had some adverse health effects. In my water system I use a 2 / 3 stage water filter system, what do I mean by 2 / 3? Well, when I’m filling up water using my secondary water filter out of a lake or river I use a larger sediment filter before the water makes its way to the 2 stage filter system that is permanently mounted inside of them. The filters that are mounted in the van include 1 sediment filter and 1 carbon Sterasyl filter which I believe is the equivalent of a .5 micron filter.

Selecting Your Filters

When it comes to figuring out what filters you want to use in your van it can be a fairly daunting task. There is just so much information on the internet on this topic and it seems like there are endless types and sizes you can select from. Take it from me if you just copy the exact setup that I have above you should be covered for most situations in North America.

The first thing you need to figure out is what size of filters that you are going to use in your system as that will determine the housing size you are going to purchase. For my system I used the standard 10inch housing as the filters for that size of canister seemed to be most popular and the easiest to find filters for.

Types of Filters

Sediment Filters

For my first two filters (1 in the van used all the time and 1 in the secondary pump only used when filling up water from a lake or other similar source) used in the van, they are sediment filters and they are designed to do just that….they remove sediment from your water. These filters come in a ton of different models

• Pleated
• String Wound
• Polyspun

All of these filters arse similarly priced and do the same job. In my van, I use Polyspun filters because I was told that they do last slightly longer than the other available options so because the cost between all of them was so similar I opted to go with the Polyspun filters.

Focus more on getting the correct micron rating for your application and don’t worry about which of these types you’re getting.

All of them work well for dirt, sediment, and rust; none will improve taste, remove chlorine, or filter bacteria or other microorganisms.

Carbon / Ceramic Filters

The last filter stage in my system is the Carbon Block Filter and for my van, I went with the Doulton W9220406 Imperial Sterasyl OBE Ceramic Filter. Carbon Filters in my opinion are the most important part of the water filter system I am using as they are what filter out the “bad” stuff and bacteria. Same as with the Sediment Filters they are many different types of Carob Filters and unlike the sediment filters, each type seems to perform a slightly different function.

Carbon Wrapped Filter

These filters are generally the cheapest of the carbon filters. They are also the type of carbon filter that is easiest to find. If you are simply seeking to improve the taste of your water, most will work fine. However, it’s important to note that they REDUCE the chlorine in the water, they do not totally eliminate it

Granulated Charcoal Filter

The big thing to know about granulated charcoal filters is that they do little to filter sediment from the water. Further, they do not come in fine enough filtering to remove giardia. They are easy to identify as they have a solid plastic outer casing.

Carbon Block Filter

Only the finest 0.5-micron carbon block filters will remove giardia and cryptosporidium, both of which can cause severe diarrhea. The 0.5-micron carbon block filter is also virtually 100% effective in removing chlorine

For more information on Water Filters, I would suggest going online and doing some research but be careful as it can be a bit of a black hole and I found that most people, mainly manufacturers aren’t that willing help you because of the fact they cannot confidently comment on the quality of water you will be filtering to provide the best system for you. So because of this, you need to just do your homework and find a system that you are comfortable with.
Fresh Water Usage

After the water leaves my 2 main filters inside of the van it is fed to my faucet, hot water tank, shower, and toilet.

Tank Meter

With the three-tank system that I am using in the van, I wanted some way other than crawling under the van that I could tell the rough levels of the tanks. After doing some research I found the iSeries Tank Monitor system, based on my limited knowledge of electrical and plumbing this seemed like the easiest system to install on the tanks I had purchased as it required no drilling and mounting sensors inside the tanks. All measurements are taken from the outside of the tank.

Toilet

This topic can be debated for years on the sprinter forums… to install a toilet or not to install a toilet… Well, I’m full time in the van and using the toilet every single day sometimes more than once, so not having a toilet was never an option. I also opted for a flush toilet and a large black water tank as I wanted to be able to go a couple of weeks without having to worry about emptying or dealing with the black water. I know that installing a flush tank with a separate black water holding tank is more work but for me, it was and continues to be worth it. Other options of toilet such as a separator toilet, compost toilet, or cassette toilet all required me to get a little too close to the business a lot more frequently than I was after. In my opinion, those toilet options are more of emergency toilet options and less viable for everyday use. But again this is just my opinion.

Shower

A lot of people when they stop and look inside the van and at first glance have no idea that I have a shower inside and when I unveil the secret shower cabinet it 100% has the highest shock factor. Opening up the shower just based purely on everyone’s reaction is my favorite thing to show people in the van.

I haven’t seen this style of shower anywhere else, so I think my van shower may be pretty unique.  When designing it,  I knew I wanted to be able to shower inside the van when necessary and also have the ability to pull the hose out of the van to rinse off outside.

Because inside the van space is limited, I decided to go with a Toilet / Shower Pan Combination.

A top priority in vanlife is to conserve water, so I looked for the highest-quality low flow shower head I could find. I decided to go with the High Sierra Low Flow Shower Head that is 1.5 GPM. After using many low flow showerheads in the past, this is by far the best one that I have used because it feels like a regular shower. The main difference with this shower head is that I can have a full (quick) shower by turning the water on and off in about a minute using only 1.5 gallons of water out of my 22.5-gallon tank.

You may notice that I used copper pipes in a few areas of the van. SPOILER ALERT I didn’t use copper everywhere. The majority of the van uses PEX. I only used copper in the areas where the pipe is exposed because I think it looks cool.

Sink

When picking a sink for you van lots of people want to use ceramic sinks or large kitchen style sinks in the van. A few things to consider in making this decision are that the items inside the van are going to be moving around…. So select a sink material that can withstand the constant banging and jarring of a moving vehicle…. I know that the porcelain white farm style sink is going to look great in the reveal photos but after 1,000 miles on gravel roads, it might not look that good in the photos of you picking up the pieces off the floor. FYI if you are looking for that style of sink, there are other composite material options that will withstand the stresses of being in an RV.

Another thing to consider is the size of the sink…. A large sink just means that it is going to require a lot more water to fill the sink to rinse and wash dishes.

So for my build, I decided to use the SpinFlo Kitchen Center

I liked it because of the folding glass lid that allows you to close the sink and increase the counter space when required, it’s also nice when I haven’t done the dishes and I can just fold down the glass lid and pretend like they are all clean and put away….