Water and Waste on the Continent

[Andy_H]

Just off to Holland for the first time and wondered what I'm likely to come across regarding fresh water provision and waste water disposal at typical sites over there.

We will mostly be staying at sites for no more that 4 nights which means my m/h will hold enough water and waste to not not make any mid-stay refilling/emptying trips if at all possible.

What is their "standard" tap connector, if there even is such a thing? I'm guessing not a 3/4" BSP male thread.

What is the norm for waste water disposal at Dutch sites?

Do most sites have m/h service points or will I need to take something to transport water from a tap point to the m/h (aquaroll?) and to take take the waste water to a disposal point (WasteMaster). I have both items left over from my caravanning days but don't want to take anything that I won't need

Thanks in advance for any tips/advice.
Andy

 

[tonka]

Collapsible bucket from Wilko as a back up for grey waste.. water container or watering can for fresh top up and your sorted...

 

[DBK]

A 3/4" BSP connection is exactly what they use most often.

More suggestions if you want to cover all bases here.

Motorhome to France Loire Valley

Hi We are seasoned caravaners but decided to have an L4 Boxer converted to high spec motorhome. Layout exactly as we wanted. Been to France many times and stayed in Gites and hotels. Never used aires or campsites over there. Used tunnel many times but never with motorhome or caravan. Would...

www.motorhomefun.co.uk

Don't expect all sites to have a service point.

 

[EX51SSS]

On the couple of sites I have stayed in Holland are virtually identical to sites in France. Standard screw fitting and waste into a catchment 'sewer'. I have a convulted piece of plastic pipe to direct so not to accurate positioning

 

[wotme]

I was about to ask a similar question regarding grey waste disposal, so I guess there's no real need to take a waste master

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[MHdreaming]

I was about to ask a similar question regarding grey waste disposal, so I guess there's no real need to take a waste master

Have been to about half a dozen sites in the UK and had to transport my grey water in a bucket to dispose of it. Been to maybe 15/20 sites in other countries in Europe and hundreds of Aires/camper parks and every time been able to drive over a waste drain. If you go to Italy almost every motorway services have a motorhome service point. I do carry a bucket in the garage but only use it to wash the van.

 

[Andy_H]

Thanks to all for the good advice.

I'll go with the bucket and multiple connector/adaptors.

 

[wotme]

Out of all the CLs in my caravanning days we finally ended up using just two on a regular basis. They were both in Devon, both had aprox 10 acre camping areas, and up until last year one was only charging £25 per week and that one had everything we needed including an animal sanctuary for the grandchildren. The thing is both owners and farm managers encouraged grey waste be thrown in the hedge rows, so we did and it saved us a lot of messing about. It crossed my mind why this practice should be such a no no with some of you guys on here.

 

[Misterg]

that one had everything we needed including an animal sanctuary for the grandchildren.

Were they *that* bad??

 

[peterc10]

Surprisingly you will find BSP threads on taps in lost of places in Europe. We take 1/2", 3/4" and 1" adaptors and have never found a threaded tap that does not fit one of them.

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[suavecarve]

Thanks to all for the good advice.

I'll go with the bucket and multiple connector/adaptors.

Collapsible bucket is a great place to store an expandable hose and all the necessary attachments. Mine go on top of our gas cylinders so no space taken up

 

[Ron Amante]

On the subject of water and please do re-direct me if this has been discussed previously. We have a 30 litre aqua flow on board water supply connected to our shurflow trail king pump. We want to increase the carrying capacity and add a fiamma or similar 70 litre tank. Is there a way to simply connect the two tanks, by having them in serial, perhaps with a tank fitting connector and barbed end with a short piece of tubing to another tank fitting connector. I can see how this would allow water to equilibrate between the two tanks when filling but as the pump is attached to the original tank would this also suck it out via the two tanks. The new connection would be made at the bottom of the tank like the pump connection is to maximise capacity.

Am I being silly, is this normal and routine or do I need to think about this in greater detail. Trying to avoid trial and error and much wetness.

 

[Jim]

It can be done. I had an RV that had a number of separate water tanks connected by one inch wide clear pipe. RVs use a pressurised system and it worked well. yy

I did lose a connection at Stratford one year after going over bumpy ground, i didn’t realise, just thought it was taking a long time to fill, that’s because I was filling the bedroom.

 

[Minxy]

It can be done. I had an RV that had a number of separate water tanks connected by one inch wide clear pipe. RVs use a pressurised system and it worked well.

I did lose a connection at Stratford one year after going over bumpy ground, i didn’t realise, just thought it was taking a long time to fill, that’s because I was filling the bedroom.

Ooo ... a water bed ... a jakuzzi ... paddling pool for Jazz!

 

[Ron Amante]

Thanks jim. Sounds like just the kind of problem im trying to avoid. Did you have a separate air breather/overflow pipe from your second tank or just aligned them in serial and kept your fingers crossed (wouldn't the pressurise system not suck the second tank out of shape if it was not vented? (i could easily T this into the primary tank vent/overflow).

Thanks

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[DBK]

Thanks jim. Sounds like just the kind of problem im trying to avoid. Did you have a separate air breather/overflow pipe from your second tank or just aligned them in serial and kept your fingers crossed (wouldn't the pressurise system not suck the second tank out of shape if it was not vented? (i could easily T this into the primary tank vent/overflow).

Thanks

The problem with connecting two tanks is if you are only filling one how quickly will the water flow into the second tank? Initially, assuming the connecting pipe is a good size and at a guess 1" would be the minimum, it will flow reasonably quickly but it will soon slow down as the head difference reduces. This could make filling a very slow process. Give it a go but I think a second filling point for the second tank and connecting them with a small bore pipe, say 12mm, might be better.

 

[Spawn_e_git]

We will mostly be staying at sites for no more that 4 nights which means my m/h will hold enough water and waste to not not make any mid-stay refilling/emptying trips if at all possible.

We travelled around Holland last summer. Most places we stopped have a standard thread for a Hozelock adaptor. One I think needed a rubber adaptor but my expandable hose came with one. IIRC, only one site had grey waste on the pitch.

How big is your waste tank to last four days?

Most I have ever lasted with the van I had last year is 2 days with washing up and teeth brushing.

I can only get 3 days out of my new van and that has 90L tank.

 

[Pipeydick]

We have an aquaroll & cheap 12v submersible pump to transfer water to van tank, been to lots of sites where tap is inaccessible, also can't see problem chucking grey water in hedge back if OK with site owner, water boards tell us to water gardens with grey water in drought conditions.

 

[Blackadder]

The perceived problem with dumping grey water in hedges is that it can cause smells; over the course of a season an awful lot of waste can end up in the same bit of hedge! However, my experience is that many sites here in UK are basically set up for caravans with semi-permanent waste pipes and don't have a proper "sump" for motorhome waste thus making life very difficult. Our van exhausts it's waste right in the middle (I believe this is common with "continental" vans) so it's not even feasible to use a bucket. Just came back from 5 weeks in Europe and of the 15 or so sites we used only one did not have a proper motorhome waste facility - and it was run by an Englishman. Go figure...
As for water, I find a watering can quite sufficient for our needs - and it got borrowed on several occasions by people with the wrong pipe fittings

 

[Wellington]

Blimey, I expect mine to last a week, easily, if we are parked up. That said, there are just the two of us, and I try very hard to minimise washing up (precook and freeze most meals and eat off paper plates) plus we don’t usually shower in the van (it’s much easier to take a nine year old swimming than persuade them to get into the shower!). I will empty more often on the road, because it’s silly to drag tankfuls of dirty water around.