Our RV tank sensors have been a real source of frustration. Even if you diligently flush and treat your holding tanks, they can exist problematic. Spending a lot of time at full-hookup parks helped united states of america ignore the result for a while. Yet, once we were boondocking more nosotros knew we needed a solution. An piece of cake and relatively inexpensive solution was to use a pair of catamenia meters and we'll show you how!

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Standard RV Tank Sensors

Tank sensors are remarkably similar across the RV industry. They are simple electrodes that complete a circuit when the fluid level in your tank comes into contact with them. That gives yous the Empty, one/3, 2/three, and Full readings. It's also really easy for textile in your grey and black tanks to get stuck on them. This tin can include waste, toilet paper, lather scum, and other debris and other residue. Mineral deposits will also cause false readings.

It is possible to upgrade to something more reliable. The SeeLevel system uses sensors on the outside of your tanks. That eliminates any buildup issues on sensors. We don't have whatsoever experience with this setup, just have heard good things virtually information technology. We went a different route considering nosotros were looking for a solution that was easier and less expensive.

A Pair of Water Flow Meters

A simple solution that only cost us $110 was to use a pair of water flow meters.

Fresh Water Fill Flow Meter

Water flow meter for measuring water intake

Beginning, a garden hose h2o flow meter (https://amzn.to/2SER3RM) lets us know exactly how much water we have put into our freshwater tank. It attaches directly to the water spigot on one end and your fresh water hose attaches to the other and and then connects to your RV h2o fill up inlet. Yous tin can also use it at a campground without sewer hookups to have an idea as to how much water has gone into your waste tanks.

While it works actually well, the plastic housing breaks fairly easily. I just make certain I have my hose ready right where I desire it before securing the period meter to the spigot and the hose to the other end of the period meter. I bankrupt the plastic housing on the beginning one I bought past attaching it first and then dragging the hose over to my RV water inlet, oops! So I would simply recommend caution in that regard. Though it IS cheap later on all…

Water Pump Flow Meter

Water flow meter for measuring water usage

Adjacent, a water filter meter keeps track of how much water we use. The 1/ii″ NPT version threaded correct onto the pipage from our fresh water tank leading to our h2o pump. The other end of the period meter attaches to the water pump inlet via a food form stainless steel i/2″ NPT female person adapter. Plastic threads going into stainless steel is a quick recipe for cantankerous threading, so be gentle. The display is mounted in the cargo bay on wall reverse the water cabinet. The cablevision between the h2o meter and the display is relatively brusk so I put information technology nearby for convenience. Notwithstanding, I could accept extended the cablevision and run it upwards into the bathroom. This is something I considered but one time we began using our new setup I didn't call up it was necessary as I habitually check it when filling the dog bowl outside daily.

We fix this meter to however much h2o nosotros put into the fresh tank minus five. The meter will start beeping when information technology has counted downwards to zero, and then that means information technology starts beeping at the states when we have 5 gallons left as a warning. We can even hear this beeping inside in our bath so we are alerted pretty quickly when nosotros reach this point. This is a good heads up to begin conserving our remaining water a bit more than and beginning planning to dump and refill or visit a full hookup campground.

Property Tank Chapters

Our property tank sizes are:

  • 65 gallons for fresh water
  • 50 for blackness
  • 50 for our kickoff gray tank for the bathroom and apparel washer
  • 37 gallons for the 2d gray tank for the kitchen, including the RV dishwasher we installed.

With our tank sensors non working accurately, we utilise our setup with the two water flow meters to pay closer attention to how much fresh water we have used. We know our h2o usage is always distributed between all 3 waste tanks and then the water flow meters assist usa monitor not only the fresh water, simply also black and gray holding tanks. That makes this a neat solution. The best part is always knowing if there is enough h2o left for another shower or if we can wash the rest of the dishes earlier heading to the dump station!

Nosotros hope that this post provided y'all an culling option if yous are also dealing with RV tank sensors that don't ever work properly!

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If you'd like to read about our RV and other RV adventures, then check out some of our other posts :

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Pin For Afterward:

RV Tank Sensors and two water flow meters
Two types of water flow meters