Draining the hot water tank

[Gozza]

I'm looking for some genius around the subject of draining the hot water tank at the end of a stay. I don't like towing with the tank full as that's 10kg very close to the front of the 'van.

I know some people let the HWT just vent onto the pitch, but that seems a bit antisocial especially on a grass pitch where there could be a tent arriving within an hour or so of me dumping 10 litres of water on it! I've always manoevred the waste caddy under there and drained into that, but that involves a lot of grovelling on my hands and knees to get it in the right place. I've tried using a bucket, which is better, but isn't always possible on a sloping pitch.
I'm about to try fitting a length of hose to an old washing up bowl - the hose to be led to the drainage point if I'm on a SuperPitch, but that leaves me short of ideas for a non superpitch. Has anyone done anything genius around this or am I breaking new ground?

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello Gozza,

How socially responsible you are

You don't tell which make/model of hot water heater you are struggling with, but your description of grovelling, makes me suspect its Trumaboiler with the drain vent under the caravan.

Almost what ever I can think of, involves carrying an extra bit of kit. My initial thoughts are to get a growbag tray like this :-
http://www.amazon.co.uk/100cm-Growbag-Tray-Black-L100/dp/B0077B0I4I/ref=pd_sim_lp_5?ie=UTF8&refRID=0S4BXY98QSXVPFWSJD9M

You can easily position under the caravan from the side, and then drain into that. To make it dual purpose, I suppose you could use the ray in the awning to put your wet/muddy boots and shoes on.

 

[Dustydog]

Well done Gozza,
A truly thoughtful tugger.
Inevitably draining the HWT onto the grass at 70deg c is likely to burn the grass causing damage.
I find the best solution is to get off the pitch, onto the roadway and just before leaving empty it onto the road.

 

[colin-yorkshire]

Hi Sir Gozza.
two things struck me when I read your post, first was that I do exactly the same regarding the waste hog, it's the last job before leaving site, using the hot water with a little WUL cleans the hog out and gets rid of the residue grease and muck.
second, it never occured to me to use anything else as it seemed the perfect solution. will be interesting what other members come up with as an alternative.

 

[MagsAlan]

We've always put a bucket under the drain point even if we're on a hardstanding. Never thought to use the waste water hog but will give it a try the next time as it will be easier to cart that to the disposal point than a full bucket.

 

[Gozza]

Thanks everyone for the thoughts so far - Prof is right, the tank vents under the caravan. I've always been happy using the waste hog until the first time we used a superpitch site, which had a tiny drain hole just big enugh to put the caravan's grey waste pipe into - fine for that purpose but useless for tipping the wastemaster into, so I had to haul that to the grey waste point - which was a long way away because the superpitches didn't need it! The reason I find the bucket better than the wastemaster is that the small opening on the wastemaster means it has to be fairly accurately positioned, whereas a bucket can be somewhere near and still catch all the vented water.

As Colin says, I never really had a problem doing this - it was just something you had to do at the end of a caravan stay, like emptying the woosie tank - but as I become a more mature caravanner and the knees became less happy with grovelling on the floor, I thought that if there was a solution to reduce or remove the need, it might be worth going for! Oh, and I love thinking up and making new gadgets!

 

[starlightdj]

Hi, I am the same as dustydog, I wait till im out on the roadway then flick the drain switch and leave it to dribble out as I make my way home.

Cheers
John

 

[Sproket]

I thought that if there was a solution to reduce or remove the need, it might be worth going for! Oh, and I love thinking up and making new gadgets!

Hi Gozza

After managing to flood my van by filling the on-board tank to the top & forgetting to fasten the screw down lid back on, I decided to make and fit a overflow pipe to the tank, so now when my feet get wet there is plenty of water in the tank, but aside from that maybe you could make up some 22mm over flow pipe like in the photo below and you can then direct the water to where you want to collect it quite easily or leave the end long enough to fit a flexible pipe onto it

 

[xtrailman]

I just mix the hot and cold water and dump it on the pitch.
Then check the nose weight. hmy:

 

[RONALD5555]

I turn off the hot water heating before washing the breakfast dishes, and the final wash of any any other interior items. This uses most of the hot water. Any left is run off down the sink into the waste container

 

[bertieboy1]

A bit OTT,when have you ever seen a tent on a caravan pitch,nothing wrong with draining clean cold water on a pitch before you go,only reservation I have is hot water can destroy grass.

 

[Mel]

We just open the tap and let it flow. :evil: In our defence the water is usually cold on the morning of departure and we are almost always on a hard standing and we tend to leave quite promptly in the morning so it will be a good couple of hours before the next person will arrive. Also when we are away the British weather often contributes considerably more water to the pitch than my tank.
mel

 

[AbbeyOwner]

I just let it flow onto the grass :evil:, don't get me wrong there's the possibility of the grass getting burnt.but letting it flow until i leave the site.

 

[Gozza]

A bit OTT,when have you ever seen a tent on a caravan pitch,.

On two of the sites we use every year it's very likely that a tent will arrive shortly after we leave. And on another two sites that I hope we'll use this year, tents and caravans mingle so it's possible that I'll be followed onto the pitch by a canvas user.

The overflow pipe solution is the one that's nearest to what's in my mind at the moment. Thank you everyone for the ideas.

 

[ProfJohnL]

I turn off the hot water heating before washing the breakfast dishes, and the final wash of any any other interior items. This uses most of the hot water. Any left is run off down the sink into the waste container

Hello Ronald,
What you tell us wont drain the heater. The heaters utilise displacement to deliver water, so buy running the tap until the water is cold still leaves the heaters tank full but of cold water.

 

[Gafferbill]

Hi Gozza........I don't have any problems draining the hot water tank on my caravan simply because I never do it!

The only reason I ever drain the tank is for frost protection purposes and that is normally at my home.
It just goes to prove that every caravanner does things differently and that often there is often no right or wrong way.
I use a fairly lightweight caravan with a MTPLM of 1150kgs and like your caravan it is towed by a chunky 4x4.
Your caravan is 325kgs heavier than mine so you may feel the need to drain the tank to save 10kgs.

 

[Gozza]

It's not so much overall weight, as the fact that the HWT is near the front and I struggle to achieve optimum noseweight already!

 

[Gafferbill]

........there is no need to struggle with noseweight.

Your caravan has the characteristics of a child's seesaw ........just put more weight behind the axle (fulcrum) but as close to it as possible to achieve your desired noseweight.
If you remove this weight from in front of the axle it also has a double effect on noseweight.

 

[Gozza]

A previous owner of my 'van downrated it from a five berth to a four berth, by removing the demountable bunk: That saves a lot of weight overall but it's a sizeable chunk of mass gone from the very back of the 'van which affects my ability to balance the see saw. Already the only heavy stuff I have at the front is the battery, which has to stay in the battery box, and gas cylinders, which have to stay in the bottle box. Other than that everything stored forward of the axle during towing is light stuff. Draining the HWT just makes the balancing act a bit easier!

 

[RONALD5555]

I turn off the hot water heating before washing the breakfast dishes, and the final wash of any any other interior items. This uses most of the hot water. Any left is run off down the sink into the waste container

Hello Ronald,
What you tell us wont drain the heater. The heaters utilise displacement to deliver water, so buy running the tap until the water is cold still leaves the heaters tank full but of cold water.

Sorry Prof, I didn`t fully read the question. The hot water tank, now full of cold water, I drain before leaving. As I only use Caravan Club sites, there will be no tent using the plot after me.

 

[WoodlandsCamper]

The hot water tank, now full of cold water, I drain before leaving. As I only use Caravan Club sites, there will be no tent using the plot after me.

A very blinkered response. An awning may be pitched on that wet patch, if a grass pitch. Probably doesn't matter on a hard standing as the water would quickly drain away.

 

[pmb]

SHMBO is going to a dog competition tomorrow and on the camping info is a specific request from the groundsman to empty hot water via the elsan point.

 

[Gozza]

I suspect I may have opened a can of worms here, as caravan manufacturers build in HWT drainage systems that make it very hard to drain into a container, many people are thinking that's not what you do, or just not giving it much thought at all.

I can understand why it wouldn't be desirable to connect the HWT drain point to the grey waste system (although it would make draining much easier!) but surely it wouldn't be that hard to make the drain point more easily accessible to get a container under?

My original thought was to permanently plumb the outflow from the drain point to a grey waste drain point on the edge of the van (but not connected to any other part of the grey system), which was what started me asking if anyone else had done anything similar.