Water System Part 1

Wow, where has the time gone. I'm way behind on keeping up the blog - but I have been working almost every day on advancing the build. What a project.

Water is critical. The final design:

That looks relatively easy and logical on paper. A bit harder to reduce to the physical water cabinet. The key challenge is the required motorized valves had orientations where piping jutted into 3D space - so not easy to just lay out on the back panel the design like I could with the electrical side.

Similar to the other tanks, the primary interior 31 gallon Trionic water tank got a KUS level sensor and service hatch sandwich.

But this tank was a 'blank' one and added uniseal fittings on the top for the vent, fill inlet, and draw tube. Being inside the van, it is the highest 'van destroying' risk. If a fitting 'low' on the tank developed some leak, I could end up opening the doors after an adventure to a 31 gallon flood inside the van = epic disaster. By exclusively using top mounted fittings and never leaving the van with the water pump on, any flood risk is mitigated to a gallon or so at most of what might be in a long pex supply line (probably a lot less even).

Further, the Trionic tanks are super beefy = 3/8" min walls. Much thicker than the undermount gray and fresh tank walls.

To reduce chances of condensation with cold water fills in humid weather I used 3M 90 to adhere closed cell minicel to the bottom and walls. Top may get some selectively later.

Early skeleton of the water cabinet with lots of routing notes by green tape.

Cabinet is 10 series with a specific installation order. The cabinet goes in and is bolted to the wall in 8 places. Then the water tank can be added. And then the final 'cage' cross member pieces securing the tank in place and adding key support are added (all anchor fasteners). I found this cabinet harder to layout than the electrical one as you can't just lay it out horizontally since some of the 3 way valves and tees 'hover in space'.

The Bosch 4 gallon water heater is just slightly too deep, but I realized I could recess it into the wall area and buy myself a little more than an inch - so that's why that square section is 'missing' in the back panel above the wheel well. The water heater back panel is bolted right to the wall via 3 rivnuts. And the rachet strap keeps it from bouncing upwards. Sits on a scrap of minicel for slight cushion and noise reduction.

The Aquor hydrants are all on the far left in the rear of the cabinet so that when you need to rotate in the 'faucet adapter' handle, you have room for it to swing down on the right side of it. The top bank of switches are lights and compressor. The bottom row is motorized water valves, water pump, and water heater. Tossed in a 'cig lighter' DC plug just in case as it was laying around and figured somebody someday might have some accessory.

Jammed into that lower rear corner is the air compressor and the manifold for it is slightly above that. Hoping it lasts longer out of the elements as the usual mounting spot would be on the underside of the van somewhere. Mounted it directly to the AL frame using rubber isolation feet for noise/vibration.