Does anyone know what this is and how to use it? It is on the outside of my 1954 Safari and looks to be related to water pressure as it has a hose fitting on the bottom and a valve stem and gauge on top.
1954? Since a Shraeder valve is present, I am guessing that you are looking at a pressurized water delivery setup (as opposed to a demand pump).
The Shraeder valve allows you to pressurize the tank at a gas station. Or at least the stations of old. The gauge allows you to see what the tank's pressure is.
That is what is used to provide water pressure to the coach when dry camping. You pumped up the tank with bicycle tire type pump. Does that coach have a 12volt system? IIRC they did not or they were optional.
Aaron
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....so many Airstreams....so little time...
WBCCI #XXXX AIR #2495
Why are we in this basket...and where are we going
Okay that is it. That is your pressurized water system. All/most RV's I have ever owned have been the dual voltage systems. I had one old slide in pickup camper that did not. It had LP only and had the pump up pressure system similar to what you are seeing, except the pump was built into the camper.
Aaron
__________________
....so many Airstreams....so little time...
WBCCI #XXXX AIR #2495
Why are we in this basket...and where are we going
Upon further investigation, I found another thread with more information on this same topic. The thread further confirms that my '54 has a "pressure-type" water system as opposed to the "demand-type" system. Another indication that this is a "pressure-type" is that the water tank is made of metal and the city water connection and water fill are the same connection whereas in a "demand-type" system, the tank is made out of plastic and the city water and water tank fill connections are separate.
In yet another thread, I found more good information from 59toaster:
The way the system worked is you could fill the tank by the inlet on the curb side front. You could pressurize the system with about 60PSI of air. If your miserly with your water usage that was "supose" to last about 2 days. You could pressurize and fill by connecting to the city water connection. Water would back flow into the tank and pressurize at the same time. Problem is depending on the water pressure on the line filling, you might only get 20 gallons of water in before your couldn't overcome the built pressure in the tank.
Does anyone know what this is and how to use it? It is on the outside of my 1954 Safari and looks to be related to water pressure as it has a hose fitting on the bottom and a valve stem and gauge on top.
Know its an old thread, but discovered the 63 sov. I picked up today has one of these pressure units inside, haven't investigated, but very cool.
__________________ Scott & Megan
VAC LIBRARIAN WBCCI 8671
1963 Safari from the 1963-64 Around the World Caravan
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