Tiny House Adventures

Our Redneck Water System is working well, though with continued use we discovered a couple of irritating qualities:

1. The water hose that goes from the RV water pump down into the water jug would sometimes crimp (imagine what happens when you get a sharp bend in your garden hose);

2. The hose would often hit the bottom of the container and bend back upwards making the water pump think the jug was empty when really it still had several inches of water left; and

3. We were finding the stream of water was inconsistent and the pump would make a loud thumping noise while pumping water up to the faucet.

In her infinite tinkering wisdom, Jamie had the bright idea to replace the very flexible and easily coiled plastic tubing inside our water jug with a length of stainless steel braided hose, a type of metal tubing typically used with washing machines. Now the system has the black water tubing from the water pump to the top of the water jug, then connects to the metal tubing which drops down into the bottom of the jug. This new tubing has some weight to it, staying straight(ish) and reaching close to the bottom – ensuring both that the tube doesn’t crimp and that we are able to use almost all the water in the jug before switching to one of our backup jugs. We’ve also noticed that the irregular water flow and annoying thumping has evened out and the system is more predictable.

Further evidence of Jamie’s ingenuity, she used the cap from the 5 gallon Poland Springs bottle (the one that seals the top but is designed to be removed and discarded) to keep the junction of the black tube and washing machine tube stable at the top of the water jug. Without this block in place, the metal tubing could more easily slip down into the jug.

the end of the metal tubing that connects to the water hose

the metal tubing

water jug pre-water tube

water jug post-water tube

ta da! finished product