Fresh Water Tank Fell

Brand new Heartland North Trail fresh water tank fell. It is under warranty but we are not near a dealership and the tank is full. There is a lack of support for this amount of water weight obviously. Please check your tanks and the support beams.
 

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sengli

Well-known member
If you look at what actually supports these tanks, during factory tours...you would be surprised. For many other reasons, I never travel with anymore than 1/3 of a tank of anything. Sorry to see your issue.
 
Luckily we are at home. Unfortunately we don't live close to a heartland dealer. Not impressed so far with the lack of attention to detail for a brand new RV.
 

sengli

Well-known member
So the tank hangs from molded edges that run the length of the tank, but there should have been some sheet metal bands to support the middle of the tanks when expanded (full). I dont see those in your photo. I guess some people have gone as far as running some additional angle iron pieces under the tank to support it more. Or just dont fill it till you get the the campground, thats pretty much what I do.
 

taskswap

Well-known member
I saw a fellow camping near me do this last year so I've started doing the same thing. I got a water bladder (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009ONFDEM) and pump (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00P8BE6S8) from Amazon, plus a 25' length of water hose, a "tank filler" attachment (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0006IX850) and a good length of 16ga wire and some quick-connect fittings. I put a quick connect fitting in my forward storage bay connected to my battery with a fuse.

I travel empty as others noted above. When I get set up, I go to my potable supply source and fill the bladder. The bladder has two garden-hose fittings, one male and one female, so a short length of standard water hose does the job here. If you're at a campground that mangles the threads to prevent people from permanently attaching hoses, a Water Bandit (https://www.amazon.com/Camco-Connects-Standard-Various-Sources/dp/B000EDOSKG) is a nice accessory to have handy. The bag stays in the bed of my truck and I got the 60 gallon one (way more than I needed, I should have gotten the 30).

When I get back to the camp site I connect the bladder through the pump to my hose-filler port on the camper. The listing on the pump isn't super clear about this but it does come with barbed fittings exactly the right size for a standard garden hose if you cut it in half. it does not include hose clamps. They aren't really needed, this is all low pressure, but I added them anyway just to keep everything tight. Go gently, the fittings are plastic.

This is a fast process. It only takes about 5 minutes to fill the bladder and 5-7 more to fill the camper from it using the pump. With this setup, a similar one for waste water (with a Clean Dump macerator pump and Camco waste tank), and my solar setup, I can camp anywhere more or less indefinitely, and always travel with empty tanks.
 
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