How long can you make your water last?

[farmerdave]

How long can you make your on board water tank last while camping without any hookups? How many gallons a day do you consume? How long would a 39 gallon tank last if you tried.

[tvoneicken]

We're finding that we last about 4-5 days in our 23FB. That's when black fills up, fresh empties, gray also fills up, fridge needs a refill. We both take a shower a day, which is where most of the water goes. We use about 7-8 gallons of drinking water from three separate 5 gallon containers just for that purpose. I'm sure we could save and go for longer, but for us this is supposed to be fun after all...

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Hi, two days, with normal use, like as if we were hooked up; And about five days if we really try hard like when we were at the Balloon Fiesta.

[barts]

When we rebuilt our bathroom, I added a bronze water meter after the mixer valve so that when we're showering, we can more accurately gage our water use. It's pretty easy in the kitchen... but that shower can lull one . I also added a very low flow hand held shower ... [all the prices have gone up since we added these; the shower we got on a good sale].

The net result of this is that a comfortable shower takes about 2 gallons... so the 32 gallon tank lasts us about a week or a bit more. We drink from the tank; I treat the tank once a year with chlorine bleach. When we're w/ the "kids" at Burning Man, I bring an additional 55 gallon water tank in the back of the pickup from which I can refill the trailer; this lets us "gift" showers to friends & make lots of Gatorade.

- Bart

[RickDavis]

WE use about 5 gallons a day with 2 people. Could cut it even more if extreme measures are needed.
We filll the black tank at the rate of a gallon per person per day.
A 30 gal. water tank and 10 gallon black are good for about 6 days.
I won't discuss the sink water since I don't want to be attacked by another plague of environmentalists

[ROBERT CROSS]

54gal FW 10 days 5.4/day. Two two legger's and one four.

Not using FW tank for drinking or cooking.

Saving wait water when using hot.

Navy showers

Using a plastic bowl instead of filling sink for dishwashing/rinsing, right after meal, keeping number of items small.

Filling a cup for brushing teeth/rinsing.

And extreme measures when using the crapper that I won't go into here.

Bob

[Jammer]

As a rule of thumb I allow 5 gallons per person per day when we are eating all meals in the trailer, plus 5 gallons per shower.

It's possible to get by with much less.

[RickDavis]

Originally Posted by ROBERT CROSS

54gal FW 10 days 5.4/day.

And extreme measures when using the crapper that I won't go into here.

Bob

I believe I have heard it phrased as

" If its yellow let it mellow, if its brown flush it down"

[dznf0g]

Wit two of us 3 - 4 days, showering and drinking and cooking, etc.

[ROBERT CROSS]

Originally Posted by RickDavis

I believe I have heard it phrased as

" If its yellow let it mellow, if its brown flush it down"

Rick,

Close..but not quite.
Lets just say it involves filling the BT with a several gallons at home, precise dropping and a brush.
Also referred to as the BDF method.

Bob

[Ahab]

Easily five days, but then we have been desert boondockers for a long time.

[azflycaster]

My fresh water tank lasts much longer then the holding tanks.

[TinShack]

I've gone up to 7 days (2 people, 2 large dogs) on my 54 gallon tank of fresh water, although I could go longer if pressed, and use Bob's extreme conservation mode. You can continue to add water, if available, to the fresh tank as long as you are diligent about not filling the waste water tanks. My black and gray tanks have a combined capacity of 76 gallons, so I can use all the fresh water in the fresh tank and still have an extra 22 gallons of waste water storage.

I recently purchased a portable 16 gallon fresh water tank and a 12 volt pump, so as long as there is a place to get potable water within driving distance, I'm set. I also have a 15 gallon blueboy for waste water if needed. If there is a dump station reasonably close, I can go indefinitely and still have my showers.

[Jim Foster]

Originally Posted by azflycaster

My fresh water tank lasts much longer then the holding tanks.

Same here. With 50, 20 and 20, the gray is the quickest to fill. Being very careful when doing dishes (use lots of paper plates) and short navy showers, we boondock for a week, no problem.

[tpi]

Six days. Myself. Biggest waste of water is waiting for warm water prior to navy shower. If I was willing to do cold showers or somehow collect the warmup water I'd do better. If on tank water and using water like being hooked up I can go thru tank in two or three days.

[tvoneicken]

We save the warm-up water in a small pail and then use it to flush the toilet during the day. Works quite well without too much hassle.

[Getaways]

Originally Posted by tvoneicken

We save the warm-up water in a small pail and then use it to flush the toilet during the day. Works quite well without too much hassle.

I would go with that....and have 2nd person take shower immediate after 1st so no additional warm up water.

[Kosm1o]

We can easily do a week with the holding tanks we have. We have to add fresh water though, usually in gallon or three gallon jugs. Our showers a short but we never use campground showers or toilets. Just two of us.

[DaveFL]

grey water limiting factor, agree with above posts, dishes and showers are the big users.
Dishes, somewhat agree with paper plates but also do not fill sink with water and only having soap diluted in sqirt bottle or small bowl, spray on sponge soapy scrubbing and rinse.
Shower navy type, wet body while water is warming wet those parts not as sensitive to cold, turn off, soap, rinse.
Some places allow dishwater on ground, some don't, problem with dishwater on ground is food particles attracts critters you might not want in your campsite.
Remember soapy water put into holding tank will ferment, it is not the same after a couple of day holding.

[noreen&sal]

Originally Posted by Getaways

I would go with that....and have 2nd person take shower immediate after 1st so no additional warm up water.

Or just shower togther. Or maybe Im on the wrong thread. Sal.