MCI 102-C3 coach to RV - Water System

[JNHEscher]

1/2" DM Fit valves came in from Fresh Water Systems, but they sent one without a handle. These valve do fit within the 2" center-to-center spacing on Burger and Brown Smartflow manifolds. I might get around to calling B&B on Monday to get prices on the two manifolds I want (for the water system).

Got pretty busy setting up the new shed to be moved into place with my dad. The storage container is just about cleared out. Costing us $100 a month more than the shed, so it's time for it to go.

 

[JNHEscher]

Finally got around to comparing filtered and waste output of the RO filtration system we originally planned to use on the bus. APEC ROES-50 (50 gallon per day). Can't remember off the top of my head if that is 50 gallons of filtered water per day or 50 gallons filtered and waste combined, but considering how quickly both the waste and filtered lines flowed, 2 gallons per hour of filtered looks spot on. The filters are due for a change. I wanted to measure the outputs with old filters so that the results wouldn't be over optimistic.

I got pretty durn close to stopping at 100ml. 18ml filtered for every 89ml waste (filled both beakers to the 10ml mark before starting). Just over 20% filtered. If I'm being accurate with this at all, this system squirts a total 250 gallons per day combined. I'm still definitely routing the waste lines back into the rain water pipe for recirculation. Doing so ends up filling the RO membranes up quicker, but I don't think it'll be a problem.

 

[JNHEscher]

Popped a couple John Guest 1/4" poly valve handles off to see if that would give enough clearance to mount the valves in consecutive ports. No luck. Kinda getting the runaround from Burger & Brown about an end consumer purchasing their manifolds, so I'm about to order one from McMaster and three from Mettle Air. I've been looking over every manifold I can come with that has 3/4" inlets and 1/4" outlets. They all have their ports spaced at 0.88" center to center.

 

[JNHEscher]

vetteboy79 said,

Why not just put a small straight piece of pipe on every other one, and offset them?

 

[JNHEscher]

Originally posted by vetteboy79 View Post
Why not just put a small straight piece of pipe on every other one, and offset them?
Really didn't care for that arrangement. Adds up to about the same cost as what I plan to order, if not more. Manifolds with 3/8" ports have just enough spacing. Comparing the cost of those plus the reducers versus the 1/4" manifolds needed with plugs.

 

[JNHEscher]

I love when manufacturers provide tech drawings. Pneumadyne offers the exact same manifolds that Mettle Air does (might be the same manufacturer). Pneumadyne requires a request for a quote, which is usually a company that won't sell to the public. Mettle Air has the full catalog with prices and PayPal ready. McMaster just re-labels and marks up products, though they had some options that Mettle Air didn't. I think I'll be much happier with this water manifold, as crazy as it seems. I'm not one to glue a web of CPVC together that takes up an entire bay.

 

[JNHEscher]

More parts in. Waiting for the actual manifolds that I'll be using, but mocked up ones I had on hand. Got an Aeroflow -12 full flow 180 from Pegasus Racing. Supposed to be 1-13/16" center-to-center which would make for a 0.3125" gap between upper and lower manifolds. Actual gap comes to 0.334" Interestingly, about 0.002" less than a 1/4" plug from Fleece Performance.

 

[JNHEscher]

Guess I'll be putting the motherload of teflon tape on there if I want to use them. The three valves with the handles on are wobbly. DM Fit valve pipe threads are molded too small. The valves thread all the way to the hex and stop about 300 degrees off of where I need them.
I did get to converse with a John Guest rep last week about making a 1/2" version of there NPT to PTC poly valves. The bug is in their ear.

 

[JNHEscher]

Last of the parts needed to finish up the water manifold should be here by the time we get back from OKC.

 

[JNHEscher]

Getting around to staging systems for some real world testing before they end up mounted in the bus. Hooked the manifold up to the RO filter under kitchen sink to leak test. Much to my surprise, not a single leak. I was expecting to see the 55 psi that comes in the house, but I guess the valving in the RO system cuts it short. Good enough for now.

I'll be grabbing enough ball lock adapters tomorrow to finish off the other nine corny tanks. Should then be able to chop up a bunch of 1/4" line to hook up the whole system for timing. We have the APEC ROES-50 in the house. Plan to use the ROES-90 in the bus and I built the manifold to accept four, paralleled RO filters to keep up with the demand. Wanting to see how long it takes for one ROES-50 to output 40 gallons through used filters just so I have somewhat of a base measurement before buying too many or too few filter systems for the bus.

Edit: Headed for Old West Brewer Supply today. Found a brand new, three-story building in place of the brick building where OWBS was. Have to order the ball locks online. CM Becker, this time. Got the cheapest pair last time and they kinda suck.

 

[JNHEscher]

Already typed up a whole post explaining this, but it got wiped out.

Pic of the corny tank setup about to get tested.

 

[JNHEscher]

Hot damn. Stuff worked.

Figured this would go one of two ways. Either leaks at the tanks would allow the filter fo fill the tanks without resistance and I would be timing it to top off the entire 40 gallons, or everything would be tight and the filter would at wherever it hit 40psi. I did size the expansion tanks for 40 gallons of water at 100psi, so I didn't know how many gallons I would get at 40psi.

Two leaks were found. One lid o-ring and one brass flare to ptc adapter at the flare. 10-second fixes. With leaks present, all eight tanks filled before any pressure built up to stop the filter or any water made it to the float check valve to stop the flow. Took roughly 48 hours for the APEC ROES-50 to fill 40 gallons with overdue filters. Of course, they filled while I was in town for three hours. I saw the gauges at 40psi and the flare drip when I got home.

Also, last time I had tested my float check valve thingy, it took too high a pressure to seat it. I had put in a metric o-ring with a much softer durometer. I had tested the new ring and got it to seat at 9psi. In the mock-up, it worked perfectly. Even at the extremely slow flow of the RO filter, the check valve seated. About two tablespoons of water made it past the valve before it shut off.

The one downfall to the RO filter is the amount of tiny air bubbles that the membrane collects. The bubbles eventually bunch up and get sent to the tanks. This will continually add air to the expansion tanks. No problem, really. One should keep tabs on their water system with some regularity anyway.

 

[JNHEscher]

Ordered the rod end bolts and connecting rods in a McMaster order two months ago. Had to call and cancel those and replace them with some others. Got them in two days. This is a much more solid connection than those sloppy QA1 rod ends.