Homestead life just got easier!! How to connect 1100 gallons of fresh water to an RV

Added: 2026-05-12

[00:00:00]Welcome back to another bright sunshiny day on the Arizona high desert homestead. Hey guys, I want to give a warning on this video. I tried to mix uh some of the real world and real time effort and frustrations on the homestead. So, it is a little bit longer and a little bit more technical. Feel free to jump around and enjoy. And we've got a project ahead of us as always. Uh we've got some Home Depot items here. Uh some plumbing and some PEX pipe. And the goal is to get this big old water tank that we saw installed on the last video um in the trench here. We're going to pipe in to that 2-in, run it underneath and up into the water pump and hopefully get the RV pump sucking straight out of the 1100 gallon tank here. So, let's see what we got here.

[00:00:52]It took so long to figure out what to get. So hopefully I've got everything right. So this is the 2 in.

[00:01:02]It's a reducer down to like one and a quarter. There wasn't anything that just went straight to 2 to one, so I had to do a few of them.

[00:01:11]And this should screw in there.

[00:01:15]So this is a one inch to one inch. And I had to do a lot of research and there wasn't really any simple way to figure out what all these meant, all these little codes to make sure the fittings would fit together.

[00:01:28]But what I found out was MNPT.

[00:01:32]That's a male pipe thread. I don't really know what the end means to be honest with you. Let's see on here.

[00:01:38]There's nothing even on the bag that says like what it is. They just always use these codes and it's just up to you.

[00:01:44]Maybe you're a plumber, maybe you're not. But that's a MNPT fitting. These are barbs. And there's some that are meant for a different style clamp. So you got to be careful with that.

[00:01:56]Um, this is a reducing elbow from 3/4 to a half. So what I've got coming out of that is 1 in and it's going to go to a elbow and convert down to 3/4 and then be inside where everything is piped as/ inch.

[00:02:14]So, I got to duct one.

[00:02:16]And like I said, there wasn't like a 2 in to 1 in reducer, which would have made this whole thing easier. So, I used three different things to go from the 2 in to the 1 in. I had to get two 5 foot long 1 in pieces. And I got a 10ft long, 3/4 in. And then in the RV is already some half inch enough of what I should use, I think. So, but I've already talked for longer than I thought the whole project would take.

[00:02:42]Not really. But um let's get to it and we'll see what I can get worked out here. I'm going to keep uh some conversation here. Water related. Uh this has been a huge issue just in the last uh 6 months that we've been here.

[00:02:55]Our RV only has a 40-galon freshwater tank. So it didn't matter how much water I had on the property, no matter if people were showering and doing dishes, I would have to transfer the water 40 gallons at a time into the RV. So, I only had to make a trip to town every two weeks for the water tank. But even if I had 275 gallons of water on site, I would have to spend every other day getting the pump out, attaching it to the RV, especially in the cold weather, and um making sure that I had fresh water in the RV tank ready to go for um the kids and my wife and myself uh for any water use inside the RV. And the 40 gallons was going pretty fast um depending on the usage we were doing. In the past, we've been able to boondock and stretch it for three or four days.

[00:03:44]Um, but that's when we were prepared with like meals and coming from a campground and we were used to just a few days at a time without um water hookups. But here on the homestead, it's a much different story where we're just trying to live life as normally as we can. We're doing dishes. We're, you know, taking all the showers. We're doing all the things and we just can't sustain that water usage and that time effort. everything that I spend time doing takes away from some of the other projects I would like to do. So, this is going to be a huge help in getting um that daily or by daily chore down to a minimum with the RV being able to suck right out of this 1100gallon tank instead of 40 gallons at a time. I'm eliminating not only physical effort, but also a lot of mental effort. I would have to think about the next day if I had to work a long shift or um was going to be out of town that I would have to have everything set up the night before and guess how much water they had left if it was going to be enough to get them through the next 8 hours to 10 hours.

[00:04:41]And now I don't have to think about that. I have got a lot of peace of mind with this setup that I can leave the house and and I know my wife and kids are well taken care of.

[00:04:53]All right, we're on to next steps. I think I'm miscalculated or missed a piece. Um, but we're going to go with uh connecting this to the water filter. And right now I'm struggling with the connection.

[00:05:31]I need to make that like a quick connect or something so I can move the RV. Um, so that's going to be more or less like the end of that. But I don't know if I want to end it with like a garden hose connection or a quick connect or something. Um, I already have, like I showed before, these quick connects on this. So, maybe I'll do something similar.

[00:05:57]Maybe I just end that in a garden hose and connect this quick connect to the filter.

[00:06:05]We're still thinking through it. Um, what I was going to do was use uh this female iron pipe. So the FIP is like the call sign on those. So the female iron pipe to the male iron pipe. But I fig But then um if I had the male side there, I could screw it on and do it, but then I wouldn't be able to unscrew it. I don't think because these don't really remain like turnable, you know? I don't know.

[00:06:33]So I don't once I screwed it on and put it all together, I don't think I'd be able to take it apart. Um so that'd be a negative. So, I'm not really sure. Maybe they do screw. I don't know.

[00:06:47]But it would be hard and I don't feel like doing that every time I if I want to disconnect the RV or maybe have pull another RV and have somebody be able to hook up easily. So, I think garden hose attachments would be the easiest. That's where we're at mentally right now. I'm going to work on uh this filter side of things real quick and then probably go to the store. All right. All right. It's hard to show what I was working on because of the space here with RVs, but I've got the quick connect to this hose that runs to the pump to a T- joint that was already there.

[00:07:20]And then this is uh the PEX B pipe that I ran up through the bottom to a little elbow.

[00:07:27]That's a 3/4 to a half. Uh so the half inch goes to this quick connect here.

[00:07:34]First, when I need to change the filters, I can use a two-hand job, but I can disconnect this, disconnect that. The filters come out.

[00:07:44]And then I can uh change the filters.

[00:07:48]Right now, underneath, I've already had this like ripped to shreds a handful of times for different projects. Um, I've got heat tape that wraps all through my piping and up through the RV all the way back to the kitchen. Um, so it's a little looks a little ratty down here, but that's going up through the top and ultimately we're still left with the question mark of connecting this to that.

[00:08:20]And then I'll found out the 3/4 in tube fits perfectly inside the 1in tube. So, just for a testing purposes, we'll see if this whole thing kind of works. So, I'm going to pump some of my water from the cube into the big guy, and we're going to see if it works. I'll show you over there.

[00:09:02]All right. So, we're sucking water, putting it in there.

[00:09:09]How high it has to get to get above this level here to start coming out the tube.

[00:09:13]Got it closed right now, I believe. But this is what I've there may not even maybe like maybe 150 gallons or so. 150 100 gallons maybe. Um I've been sucking on this to try and get water into the filters.

[00:09:38]But I don't know. I've done what I can.

[00:09:40]I heard some water moving before. So all right. Turn the water on. and just let it go.

[00:09:49]So, the pump is running.

[00:09:52]It's pulling water. I can kind of feel this jiggling, so I know something's trying to happen.

[00:09:59]Yeah, I know it's going to be pretty bad for a minute while it pulls through the filters.

[00:10:03]>> Keep it on.

[00:10:04]>> Yes, please. Okay.

[00:10:05]>> But it's coming out. Water's coming out, though.

[00:10:08]>> Yeah, >> water's coming out. Yeah.

[00:10:10]>> Okay. It's just um >> yeah, it's got to fill the filters.

[00:10:15]>> Okay.

[00:10:16]>> And hopefully once those are good, then it'll pull >> Well, it just got less pressure.

[00:10:20]>> Well, it might be sucking water out the lines right now. What's left in the lines?

[00:10:25]>> Oh, okay.

[00:10:25]>> So, it's going to it's going to be a rough go for a minute, but yeah, just leave it open.

[00:10:38]I don't know if the filters if the I don't know if the pump is going to be strong enough to pull good pressure through these filters.

[00:10:48]It's one of the comments but kind of what do we do with our waste water u while I'm working on this? We'll talk go about that. So my gray water goes out.

[00:10:56]There's a video one of the first videos we built this trench and uh so our our gray water goes there. That's in RV terms, gray water is Oh, I'm out of breath. So, in RV terms, gray water is what comes out of your sink and your shower. Um, we use pretty mild soaps and not very many harsh chemicals or dyes, so I don't really feel too bad about dumping it in the ground. Um, and that goes down into this trench area here. Um, black water on the other hand, that's a separate pole handle. Um, it doesn't go into the ground. We have a portable tank. So I when that is full, we fill the portable tank and then we load that up under the truck and take it to one of the local campgrounds. Some of them charge a fee, some of them are free based on some connections I've made. So um we're generally able to dump for free. And our black tank lasts about a week, so we're only making that trip about every 7 days.

[00:11:53]So we got nothing right now.

[00:11:58]No water coming out yet.

[00:12:00]Hopefully, it's sucking out through the filters, but I don't know. I'm going to have to get a stronger pump in there or something. I'm not sure. Connect the filter. I wasn't able to get enough suction to get water through there, so I just connected the quick connects together. And I think the water should work inside. And then we'll work on trying to figure out the filter situation. I got water.

[00:12:19]>> Well, you did it.

[00:12:22]Good job.

[00:12:23]>> Camera shot.

[00:12:27]All right, dog nation over here. Hello, doggies.

[00:12:34]It's been a few days uh since we installed the water container. I got busy with uh some other things. Ended up going out of town a couple hours. Got some uh fresh ink. I got a desert inspired uh tattoo down uh my arm and I'll show that. And then uh brought home a sickness. So, a couple days after that, like a day later than that, we all came down with the flu. So, it was a rough time in the old RV with uh five of us um with the stomach flu, but you can imagine that was not pretty. We are still a little worse for wear. Um I've had to call in to work the last couple days, um as we recover and not to get anyone else sick, so especially working in food service. So, here we are on the homestead. chores still must go on and I still have some to do with the water tank. I think today I'm going to try and um get some more water from town to fill the tank and then finish up some of the piping. We've got it in a working situation right now. Um but it's not quite complete. So, we're all a little lacking for energy, but the ducks need water and they've been uh got we got some pretty big food containers that are working out pretty good. So, needs minimal involvement. We've got a new broody hen. We had one that was uh laying on eggs inside the hutch here.

[00:13:58]And then while we were sick, I came out one day and all the eggs. There was like 17 eggs just rolled out of the house.

[00:14:04]So, uh, we think maybe this one, I guess, is known that they will steal eggs and, um, if one gets broody and another one gets broody, they'll steal from each other or try and sit on eggs of the other one. I don't know. But they all rolled out.

[00:14:21]And I guess, no, we're not no longer going to be chicks.

[00:14:38]I usually do more, but I'm a little too weak for the full seven gallons. I think I want to put a cube kind of like right here on the trailer, and then we'll be able to get water there and to the chickens. It's like a hose system we'll work on. That's going to be in the future. What you doing? You peeping out some eggs?

[00:15:09]Judy, no. Get out of there. No.

[00:15:17]Keeping those eggs warm.

[00:15:19]So that's our broody hen or duck. I don't know what it's called. Hens, who knows? Duck hen.

[00:15:28]Malard. Mard and duck. I still got my bad head from laying in bed for 24 hours straight.

[00:15:35]Chickens are doing good.

[00:15:38]I got food. Good.

[00:15:41]Flies seem to be a a thing that they're growing. I thought the ducks were going to help keep the flies down, but it looks like they're attracting more than they're eating.

[00:15:49]And now we'll get to uh the water project. So, they're using water on the inside. I think Tiffany's getting some lunch ready, but uh the pump's working back there, but you can hear it's pretty loud.

[00:16:03]It's shaking around the pipes a lot. Uh kind of in a constant rattle. I don't know if it's like just working too hard with the filter hooked up to it. Uh sucking all that water through. But we are getting really good pressure out.

[00:16:14]And showers are actually even a little more comfortable cuz the water pump from the RV would go like it kind of like go back and forth.

[00:16:24]So, you're getting like this like unsteady stream of like water. Um, but it's pretty steady now. So, if I can fix the rattling problem, I think we'll be all right. But right now, the project is um just continuing down here. Uh, surprisingly, this has not leaked at all, which is just the 3/4 shoved into the inch piping without any sort of connections. So, I was uh kind of surprised that that stayed sturdy, but we're going to um keep those uh get those a little more professional. So, I got a elbow here and elbow here. I had to make another little emergency.

[00:17:02]Had to make another emergency run to the store. Um which was the close store, which is a little more pricey, but it was just a few pieces. Uh so, I'm going to run the elbow there, run this pipe over, and then another elbow down.

[00:17:18]So, I've got these Home Depot buckets, and uh Jamie, the guy that helped me um dig the hole with his tractor, mentioned um putting buckets at my connection point so that when I reberry all this pipe, I'll have easy access to the fittings and um any hoses, so I'm be able to check for leaks and make any adjustments as needed. So, that's a I've got the buckets in place here um for the final product. And I'm also realizing I kind of skipped forward a little bit and I missed the part where I got the filter working. What I ended up having to do was disassemble the filter canisters and kind of prime them. I filled them all with water, screwed them back on, and once that was done, water started flowing through the pump freely and everything is working as planned. And if you've made it this far in the video, you realize I am by no means a plumber.

[00:18:00]I'm just hoping this whole system can be leak-free and do what I need it to do. I found these tools in a pinch when I was doing some emergency repairs on my RV, and so far they are getting the job done.

[00:18:19]I need one more 3/4 in. And I don't think I've got it. That's a half inch.

[00:18:25]Yes.

[00:18:42]Um, yeah, but we can find something else, I guess.

[00:18:49]>> Yeah, we'll find something else to replace, though.

[00:18:52]>> Yeah.

[00:18:54]>> All those reducers down from 2 in that goes to here. That's all one inch.

[00:19:01]So, I went from 1 in to 3/4 in reducer.

[00:19:04]And then across and up through these elbows here. So, we're a little cleaner.

[00:19:11]And then that's the swivel. So I can just take this off when I need to. I'll see if I need to tighten it up and just do it with wrenches.

[00:19:21]And that goes up through the RV and it comes out on the other side of this filter here.

[00:19:33]So there's a hole right there. comes up to to the filter and filter makes it come out and through the pump.

[00:19:42]Switch it back to this water. All right, see if we get some water out of here.

[00:20:00]Seems to be working.

[00:20:03]We got water.

[00:20:06]And if you have an RV, uh, this is a Oxygenics shower head. U, we've been rolling with this thing for a few years. Very nice upgrade to your standard RV shower head.

[00:20:18]It just literally just screwed right into the thing there and u mounted it. So now I can actually I actually mounted a new one up here. So we got two levels. So, this is kind of like more of like a like a downward not quite a rainfall shower, but it's a little closer. So, we get that angle and then we can also have it lower since I'm 6' tall and my kids are and wife are 5t tall. So, it works out.

[00:20:52]Looks like we got water. So, great success.

[00:20:57]And as always, when you're doing one project on the homestead, another one creeps up on you. So, we're going to have to go find another duck pool. I guess uh this has a crack in it or a hole.

[00:21:12]Just put like the five gallons in this morning and it's already gone.

[00:21:17]But that's no surprise. I mean, it's getting sunbaked and we empty it out regulatively frequently. So, it's like bending and um I got to figure out a different way to to fill it. My goal is to get the duck that duck water into the compost. So, getting it from there to there requires dragging and lifting and it's not good for a $10 pool. So maybe we can figure out something else to get that water into there without breaking whatever we decide to upgrade it to.

[00:21:51]But in the end, the work is worth it for a view like this and peace and quiet and some silence out here and uh you know some chemtrails. It's no big deal. We should be seeing some rain in the next day or two I'm sure as they did last week to us. We shall see. But we'll catch you in the next one. Thanks for joining us on Arizona High Desert Homestead.