Van Build #4 – Plumbing
by Koda
Plumbing systems in vans or other RVs can range between nothing but some water jugs and wet wipes to full systems with showers, water filtration and even clothes washing machines. As with everything else in your van build, it comes down to your budget and available space. Here is a list of the various plumbing components I installed in my build:
(2) 13-gallon water tanks (26 gallons total)
5 micron water filter
0.5 micron charcoal water filter
UV filter
6-gallon electric water heater
12-volt DC water pump
Inside shower
Outside shower
Spray nozzle by sliding door
Sink and faucet
Pex pipes
5-gallon waste water jug under sink
Cassette toilet
The one thing most likely to cause van life people to drive into town is the need to get more water. That implies two things: bring as much water as you can, and use as little as possible. The thing that uses the most water is taking a shower, and most van life people end up showering far less often than they did while in a normal home. Some go as long as two weeks between showers but I think the average is about 4 days. It all depends on how much water you can carry and how often you will be in cities. Wet wipes can help a lot between showers.
Some van life people have gym memberships at places like Planet Fitness, which have facilities in many different cites, specifically in order to use the showers there. That works great for people who are always on the move, but if you plan to spend days or weeks at a time in the back country it is all about how much water you have and how little you can use — and where you can get more.
Space inside the vehicle is at a premium so ideally your water and waste tanks would be installed on the underside of the vehicle. In general, you need a tank for fresh water, one for grey water draining from the sink and shower, and a black water tank if you have a flushing toilet — but it all depends on the components of your plumbing system.
I originally planned to put fresh and grey water tanks under the van, but then I thought about perhaps being in cold winter weather and didn’t want the tanks to freeze and split open. It is possible to insulate the tanks and put heaters in them, but that seemed like overkill. When I looked for water tanks online the biggest tank that would fit in the narrow space under the van was just 8 gallons which was simply too small. That meant I needed fresh and grey water tanks inside the van. I knew I wouldn’t have a flushing toilet so I wouldn’t need a black water tank.
How much fresh water would I need? When I had gone camping in the past it seemed that 10-15 gallons of water was enough to last me alone for about a week, so I bought a 13 gallon, plastic water tank. Then it occurred to me that I might not always be alone, so I bought a second tank the same size (26 gallons total). I had planned to buy a 2-1/2 gallon electric water heater, but at the last minute thought if I bought a 6 gallon water heater instead that would mean having more water with me, which is always a good thing. Wrong. The only way to get water out of the water heater is by pushing more water into it. Now I have to carry the weight of the extra water I can’t access and have to heat up nearly 3 times as much water every time. Big mistake. 2-1/2 gallons is more than enough to take a shower if you are stingy with your water use. I have now concluded that the best water heating system is a propane flash water heater, which only heats the water as it passes through it.
I mentioned in an earlier post that I was having power problems which prevented me from using the electric water heater. I’ve been “showering” using as little as 5 cups of water heated in the microwave and washing my hair in the sink. I have an outdoor shower but winter in Arizona it is too cold in the wind to stand there covered with cold water – at least for me.
A “solar shower” consists of a plastic bag that is black on the back and clear on the front, plus a short hose with a shut off valve at the end. You lay the bag flat with the clear side up in the direct sunlight, and on warm days it can get too hot to use in just 2-3 hours. Just hang the heated water bag from a tree or the roof of your van and you’re set. They cost less than $10 and are the way to go for people on a very tight budget – though they don’t work in winter weather.
Where are you going to get your water from? That turned out to be a much bigger problem than I expected. At home I simply filled the fresh water tanks with a garden hose placed in the water fill port. On the road you have to go to a friend’s house that will let you use their hose, pay to use a campground with water hook-ups, or find a place that sells water by the gallon to people with RVs. Some campgrounds charge as much as hotel rooms to park there for the night. State or national parks sometimes have water available at more reasonable rates. I thought it would be easy to get free water on the road, but it isn’t.
One can never be sure of the quality of the water you are getting, and bacteria can grow in your fresh water tank and pipes if the water sits for a long time. That is why I opted to use the same filtration system that I had on my rain catchment system when I lived in Hawaii. It consists of a 5 micron particle filter, a 0.5 micron charcoal filter, and a UV filter. The UV filter is an ultraviolet light inside a long metal tube. As the water passes around the light it kills bacteria and other germs. Some people choose to only filter the water they use for drinking but it doesn’t cost much more to filter all the water and it is nice to know that the water in your pipes is clean.
Another advantage to having good water filtration is having the ability to get water from lakes and streams. I bought an extra DC water pump so I can pump water from such sources directly into my water tanks. (A bucket and funnel would also work.) I haven’t had to do that yet, but theoretically, I could pump dirty water in and it would come out clear, but then I would have to replace the filters right away. Unless there was an emergency I plan to only pump from clear running streams or possibly lakes with clear water.
You can use a standard kitchen sink and faucet, and normal shower valves, but you’ll want to have a shower head with a switch on it to turn off the water. To save water you get yourself wet then turn off the water to soap up, then turn the water on again to rinse off. Being able to turn the water flow off at the shower head means you don’t have to readjust the water temperature when you turn the water back on.
Keep in mind that if you will be parking your rig unused for the winter you will need to winterize the plumbing system. Basically that means removing all the water from your tanks, pipes and fixtures. You’ll need to open the valves and use the water pump to pump out as much water as you can, but you will also need drain valves on, or access to remove, your storage tanks. My water heater doesn’t have a drain valve on the bottom so it has to be disconnected from the system and removed in order to empty the water out. Water may still collect in pipe bends but you can get nearly all of it out by blowing out the pipes (and water pump) with an air compressor.
Yeah, you need to consider absolutely everything when designing your van build.
Using the Toilet
There are a number of different toilet options for vans and RVs. Unless you have a large rig with a flushing toilet and black water tank you are likely to become way more familiar with bodily functions than you would prefer. Tent campers and hikers are taught to dig a hole about 6 inches (15cm) deep to bury the stuff and take your toilet paper out with you. You can pee anywhere as long as it is far enough away from where people will be spending their time. Boaters are told it is better to pee in the water than on the ground. Seems easy enough so far, but what do you do when you are in a crowed, BLM campground with no facilities? You can’t simply walk outside to do your business.
The cheapest option is to pee in a jug and do the other thing in a plastic grocery bag you later throw out with the trash. The jug should have a wide opening and screw on lid. Women can buy a special funnel designed for this purpose. The problem with pooping into a plastic bag is that it will start to stink up your rig after a few hours, but you can avoid most of this problem if you double or triple bag the stuff. This actually works quite well and many van life people don’t have a toilet at all. It is not as convenient as having a toilet, so even if you plan to skip the toilet initially you might want to plan a space where you can add one eventually.
Cassette Toilets
The next cheapest option (about $150 US) is the one I am currently using, a cassette toilet (sometimes referred to as portable toilets). They consist of two halves. The top part has the lid, seat, bowl, and an area holding fresh water you use to “flush” the toilet. The “flush” is simply a squirt and doesn’t do much good. The bottom half is the waste storage area, which has a sliding door to seal up the lower container when it is not being used. Cassette toilets work fine if you empty them every few days. This isn’t always possible and the consequences can be very unpleasant.
You can buy these cassette toilets with either a 5-gallon or 2-1/2-gallon lower tank. Go for the larger tank size. You don’t want to find yourself running out of useable space in the lower tank if you aren’t able to dump it right away for some reason.
Then you have to find a place to dump it. If you are on the road you can dump a cassette toilet in a rest area bathroom. You can also dump them at campgrounds that have toilets or outhouses. Some RV parks and truck stops might let you dump the toilet for a fee. State and National Parks often have facilities for dumping black water tanks. While boondocking far from facilities you can bury the contents as long as you are further than 100 feet from a water source. The hole should not be more than 8-inches (20cm) deep because that can cause the material to take a long time to break down. In cities you can look for public parks with restrooms. The smell when opening or dumping a cassette toilet can be very unpleasant, but you can add chemicals to reduce this to some degree. Always add a bit of water to the lower tank after you empty it.
Some people only use the cassette toilet for pee, so I assume they are bagging their solids.. I have learned to pee in a jug, which can simply be spread out on the ground (so it evaporates faster and doesn’t kill plants) far away from people. I only use the cassette toilet for the stinky stuff and number one at those times so there is some fluid in there to make dumping it easier.
Composting Toilets
Composting toilets (over $1,000 US) have a separate section for fluids and a holding area where you cover the solids with moss, sawdust, dry leaves, etc. You rotate turn a mechanism which mixes the material together, and a fan runs constantly to blow the smell outside. Toilet paper is kept out of the toilet. Definitely a step up from a cassette toilet, as long as you have power to keep the little fan running and don’t mind the hassle of adding more plant matter every time. The fluid container needs to be emptied every couple of days. The container for the solids needs to be emptied every 4-6 weeks and can be added to a compost pile or thrown in the trash.
Self Wrapping Toilets
These are toilets that have a very long (80-foot or 25m) bag that works with an electric mechanism which twists the bag into a knot after you do your business and is then ready to be used again. I think they have a separate container for fluids but i am not sure. Once the bag is used up you simply throw it away and replace the bag. They work better than composting toilets but constantly replacing the bags can be expensive, and the toilets are expensive to buy.
Flushing Toilets
These are obviously the best solution if your rig is large enough to have huge fresh and black water tanks, but that simply isn’t possible in a normal sized van. RV toilets are designed to use a minimal amount of water but it is a lot by van standards.
Incinerating Toilets
If you have $4,000-$6,000 to spend, in addition to a solar system the size of Montana, you might want to get an incinerating toilet, which uses electricity to cook your doo-doo till it becomes ashes.
Showers
I mentioned solar showers and wanting to have a shut-off switch on the shower head itself, but what kind of shower do you want to build?
When space is limited an outdoor shower makes the most sense. Some people get by with placing their kitchen sink in front of the sliding door (on a van) and using an extendable nozzle on the faucet to shower outside. This also comes in handy for spraying off dirty feet and shoes before you enter the van. It does, however, end up making a puddle just outside your door. Placing the shower valves and hose at the back of the van enables you to shower with the rear doors open. This provides a bit more privacy and some protection from the wind, and it isn’t that difficult to create a shower curtain supported by the open doors. It helps to have a shelf where you can put your shower supplies. To keep my feet clean when showering outside, I drilled holes near the ends of 16-inch-long (35cm) redwood 2x2s and ran rope through them to create something to stand on. The redwood won’t rot from getting wet, and you can use the stitched together boards as something flat to put drinks and other things on.
Indoor showers generally consist of a shower pan to collect water which flows into a drain, a shower curtain, waterproof walls, water control valves, a shower hose, and shower head with a shut-off valve. You will also want a water heater if possible. Some people install regular shower doors, or plastic doors which roll up into the wall and squeegee off the excess water in the process. Most people also choose to put their toilet inside the shower in order to conserve space and provide some privacy when using the toilet.
Shower pans are usually made from fiberglass but some are stainless steel. You can also build your own shower pan using plywood and a waterproof coating like Flex-Seal. I ended up choosing the DIY route because all the shower pans I looked at had the drain hole directly above a cross beam under the floor. (Make sure to place your shower drain where it won’t be blocked by something under the floor.) Showers are usually in the form of a floor to ceiling box, but you can also put them in the bottom of a cabinet where the shower curtain and shower head are lifted up and attached to the ceiling. Shower walls can be tiled if you use flexible adhesive and grout, or you can use fiberglass panels and caulk. If the toilet is kept inside the shower it is helpful to have a toilet paper dispenser with a plastic cover to keep the water out. Don’t forget to plan on adding something like a shelf to put shower supplies on, which will also hold those supplies in place while you are driving.
Pipe and Fittings
Most people choose to use pex pipe when plumbing their rig. Pex is a slightly flexible plastic pipe and the pipe itself is inexpensive. It is the fittings that get you. Your option is to use Sharkbite fittings which simply push together and are very easy to use, or to pay about $80 for a special tool which clamps copper rings around the end of fittings which cost 5 tines less. I started out using the Sharkbite fittings but soon realized I would need so many fittings the cost would be prohibitive so I switched to the clamping method. Because the pipe is so cheap you can buy rolls 100-feet-long for the the price of just 2 or 3 Sharkbite fittings, which means it doesn’t cost that much more to use red for hot and blue for cold. Having different colored pipe looks cool and helps you keep track of which water line you are connecting to.
Miscellaneous Items
Carbide-tipped hole saws will be required to drill holes through the floor for your drains. They will cut through both the wood and metal easily. They can be purchased individually or in sets. They will also be required to put holes through the floor for a “parking heater” (diesel or gasoline).
Grey Water from your sink or shower can be drained directly onto the ground in most locations (if you use biodegradable soaps). This could be problematic in cites, and you don’t want to to form a mud puddle near your rig. If you go this route you might want to consider putting a plastic tub under the drain to catch the water so you can dispose of it elsewhere.
P-traps prevent odors from coming up through your drains. The normal ones trap the gasses by leaving an S-bend in the pipe which remains full of water. This water can freeze and break the drain pipe. There is a different type of P-trap which uses soft, folded rubber (like the neck of a ballon) to seal the orders out while allowing drain water to flow through. I am using one of these on my sink, which drains into a 5-gallon tank I empty manually, and it seems to work quite well.
Fluid Level Gauges and Electric Valves can be used to monitor the levels in your tanks and open drain valves electronically. If you plan to incorporate these into your build be sure to run the wires before you cover your walls.
Next up is Van Build #5 – Heating and Cooling