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Small Cabin Forum / General Forum / Water System upgrades
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jace
Member
# Posted: 2 Mar 2015 14:01
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I'm looking to upgrade our water system. Currently i have our flojet water pump. housed in a cooler that setup for a "grab and go" setup with quick connect fittings.. I keep it in the shed along with our L5 water heater. This creates a few problems 1) It seems if I don't go to camp and set it up it doesn't get used. 2) The quick connects don't provide an air tight seal and leak a little water thus the flojet constantly runs to keep a prime. I'm looking to move the pump indoors under our sink and permanently mount it. Looking to get a little input in design. here is a basic diagram I made up wondering everyone's thoughts. Also distance between tank to pump is less than 5' and pump to heater/shower/sink is under 5' as well. I was looking to plumb everything with stainless braided line for simplicity, does anyone see a problem with that ? Thanks for the help.
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Steve_S
Member
# Posted: 2 Mar 2015 14:20
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Only thing I can think of off hand is a drain valve on both sides so you can completely drain the system out.

MtnDon
Member
# Posted: 2 Mar 2015 16:12
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Just for the record there are industrial quick connects that do not leak at all. US Plastics has some.


If you are going to use the S/S braid covered flexible hoses I would try to fit them to brass threaded fittings rather than plastic threaded nipples. I have seen a few of the plastic fitting ends as used on RV water pumps easily cross threaded when being removed and replaced a lot. I installed a couple of brass adapters to each end of our Shurflo's.

creeky
Member
# Posted: 3 Mar 2015 09:27
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Stainless braid will get pretty pricey. I used stainless in/out of the pump for 18" for flexibility and noise dampening. And then I put brass adapters to pex. pex is super cheap. you could use shark bite fittings. but i got a pex pinch ring tool on sale and just use the rings. again. ultra cheap.

i've done over 30 fittings now and not one leaked. and once you figure out how easy it is. well. now I have two water systems. an outdoor tap...

bobrok
Member
# Posted: 3 Mar 2015 10:59 - Edited by: bobrok
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I wanna +1 to what creeky said. Plumbing is my least favorite of all jobs. I've had not 1 leak on a complete install from scratch at my camp.

hueyjazz
Member
# Posted: 3 Mar 2015 11:50 - Edited by: hueyjazz
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I let my cabin go into the deep freeze so I design most of my water system to be easily removable. Water I truck in with a 55 gallon barrels. I used rubber traps in the cabin for the sinks and have a fitting to blow out my domestic water system with an air compressor before the end of the season. I used Pex and Pex fittings through out the cabin but made it so gravity can drain most of it should I desire. My stuff is largely based off of RV equipment in and out of the cabin. The toilet is RV and the waste is collect in portable tanks. We do weekends mostly. During the winter we use a portable toilet.
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jace
Member
# Posted: 3 Mar 2015 16:24 - Edited by: jace
Reply 


Thanks for the opinions guys. On the pricing issue, maybe i'm thinking about this wrong. but 5' of 1/2" PEX with push to connect ends is going to run me roughly $15.00. I can by a 5' section of braided stainless for $10.00 plus alot more flexible for the few short runs (5' or less) I need to make. I've used PEX and P.T.C fittings in the house and it does work flawless but found it a little rigid for the shorter runs that I thought the S.S braid might be more flexible for snaking from outside to inside the cabin. Again, I'm no plumber and might be thinking about this all wrong.

Thanks again

MtnDon
Member
# Posted: 3 Mar 2015 18:30
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If thinking of running PEX to the exterior one must keep in mind that PEX has to be shielded from direct UV. Even a couple weeks of direct UV exposure harms it. You could also consider pvc for cold and cpvc for any hot lines if you don't want to buy a Pex tool so you can use the cheaper fittings instead of the sharkbite type.

jace
Member
# Posted: 27 Apr 2015 13:50 - Edited by: jace
Reply 


what kind of pipe or tubing have you guys been using for outdoor runs ? I was hoping to stay away from copper just due to having to run a few bends and Plex deteriorates in UV. I was hoping to use something fairly flexible and easy to use

Thanks for the help.

MtnDon
Member
# Posted: 27 Apr 2015 14:48
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Outdoor; above or below ground? Hot or cold?

jace
Member
# Posted: 27 Apr 2015 16:07
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above ground, hot and cold. both runs are outdoor for about 5 feet

MtnDon
Member
# Posted: 27 Apr 2015 17:46
Reply 


How about using CPVC pipe and fittings? Cheap enough, easy to cut and glue. Fittings are cheap and readily available. CPVC is rated for hot water unlike PVC. A coat of paint provides all the UV resistance needed, though only direct UV will cause degradation. Even if not painted the UV only degrades the surface to about 0.01". But paint is 100% effective a shield. (UV exposure makes it more easily damaged by impact; it retains its strength and pressure rating.)

jace
Member
# Posted: 28 Apr 2015 17:49
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thanks for the feedback Don. Could you paint pex to block UV like what your saying about the CPVC or does that not help it at all

MtnDon
Member
# Posted: 28 Apr 2015 19:19
Reply 


It should work on PEX as well. The paint acts as a UV screen. Paint might flake off if it gets flexed?

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