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  • Home
    • About >
      • Our Van >
        • 2018 Ford Transit Cargo Van
  • The Build
    • Planning is Different Then Doing - VanLife Van Build
    • How Much Does it Cost to Convert a Van?
    • How Much Time Does it Take to Convert a Van?
    • DIY Van Conversion Checklist >
      • Phase One DIY Van Conversion - Research >
        • Designing Your Perfect #VanBuild While Going on Practice Van Life Adventures
      • Phase Two DIY Van Build: Making Decisions for Your DIY Van Conversion >
        • Rural Internet
      • Phase Three DIY Van Build: Selecting and Buying the Van DIY Van Conversion >
        • Finding a Van
      • Phase Four DIY Van Build: Prepping the Layout- DIY Van Conversion >
        • Detailing the Van Before Conversion
      • Phase Five DIY Van Build: Installing Windows on Van Conversion for #vanlife
      • Phase Six DIY Van Build: Vent Fan for our Conversion Van >
        • Vent Placement in Conversion Van
        • Cutting a Hole for a Vent Fan for our Conversion Van
      • Phase Seven DIY Van Build: Installing the Subfloor
      • Solar Panels on Conversion Van >
        • Wind Solar Power on Conversion Van
        • Van Conversion Solar Set Up - Everything You Need
        • How Much Solar Power Do I Need?
  • Our Adventures
    • The Backstory >
      • We Found a Van!
      • Pre-Purchase Van Freak Out
      • Vanlife- Van Purchase Day
      • Registering an Out of State Vehicle
      • Full Time Van Life Diaries >
        • Full Time Van Life - Kates Blog
        • Full Time Van Life Diaries week one
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          • Kingman Arizona
        • Full Time Van Lifers - Are We Homeless or Not?
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YOUR CART

Van Conversion Tanks (Fresh, Gray, Black)

#vanlife #vanbuild bathroom
We saw many great space-saving ideas where toilets were hidden in seats or pushed under the bed.  We listened to video explanations of why indoor toilets are not necessary and learned about the benefits of outdoor showers.

Ultimately, we decided that we wanted a bathroom in our conversion.  Truth be told, we always knew that, but learning about the other options was interesting and helpful.  To save space, we chose a toilet- shower combo.

One of the first decisions we had to make after choosing a "wet bath" was the size of our tanks.

The Great Size Debate
Some things to consider when selecting your tank size:


How many people are traveling?
How often will you fill and dump?
How often will you have access to hook ups?
How often will you be boondocking / dry camping?
Will you shower daily, every other day, or not at all?
Will you be washing dishes or using paper plates?
Do you prefer to conserve or use freely?
Are you concerned about weight (water weighs over 8 lbs per gallon)?

Our answers:

2
Every two weeks, if we can.
Dunno.
Probably a lot.
2 x week (sponge bath in between).
Combination of dishes and paper.
Middle of the road.

Not really.

And, Our "Measurements"

46-55-33 Ha ha, only if she 5'3".  Some of ya'll will
get that.

We decided upon a 46 gallon fresh water tank to get us close to two weeks' worth of water (1 gal per person per day = 2 gal per day = 23 days, in theory).

We selected the 55 gallon gray water tank because we need to expect more gray water than fresh water used at the end of the day. We will probably dump something like our leftover coffee or lemonade down the drain. Yeah, things like that could be safely dumped outdoors, but ... just in case.

We also got a combo deal on the fresh and gray water tanks (see below), so that kind of helped our decision.

Then, we went with the 33 gallon black water tank.  "Oh sh!t!" you might be thinking right now (because we all think in puns, right?) Why does one adult and one child need a 33 gallon poop tank? 

Well.... we read and heard that we should dump black water at 2/3 full to be safe. That puts us at 24.75 gallons of usable black water space. Now, in an emergency, we can dump gray water outdoors. We cannot dump black water!  And, we don't want to be slushing down the road leaking black water. Eww.  Even more eww is how many gallons of waste each of us can produce in a day. We're not trying to measure it before purchasing a tank, so we perhaps erred on the side of caution with a larger-than-necessary black tank.

We'll see. We'd much rather have too much available space than not enough space.


The only problem is that we aren't supposed to dump at less than 2/3 full.  Waiting until 2/3 full allows for more flow, and thus a cleaner dump.  This means that if we did get too large of a black water tank and we aren't 2/3 when it's time to dump, we will have to fill the black water tank (via the toilet, obviously) until we reach that level.

Even if we jointly produce 2 gallons of waste per day, that gives us 12 days use before dumping... again, in theory. (We hope we don't each produce a gallon of waste per day... ew again... and now we're done talking about it.)

We wish we had a more specific formula to justify our tank size decisions, but really it's just sloppy math and wishful thinking.

What about the added weight from the water tanks?
See the complete Plumbing Installation.
​


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Tags:

Black water tank

Gray water tank

Fresh water tank

What size water tanks do I need

Van plumbing system

How to install plumbing system in van


Go to Installing a Plumbing System in Your Van
Back to DIY Van Conversion Checklist


Kate & Mel

Meet Us
We are Kate & Mel, daughter and mother fulltime van life nomads who have set out on a gypsy adventure in our currently being built van, Eliza. Join us as we explore the non-glamorous, not-Pinterest-worthy, real, figure-it-out-as-we-go, sometimes ugly, but always glorious, version of full time van living.

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Single mom and kiddo set out on a nomad, van life, roadschooling lifestyle. Watch the beginner diy van conversion, first time homeschooling, first time build, first time on the road experiences, newbie family van life adventures unfold. 

We will share van life travels and tips to encourage other people to get out and explore the open road.