Water Service Bay Modifications

Introduction

The Allegro Bus is built with a fairly spacious water service bay. This basement compartment is where all the connections are made to the fresh water and holding tanks. This bay also has a number of amenities, such as a hand soap dispenser, paper towel holder, etc. A power hose reel is provided with 50' of fresh water hose for connection to a campground spigot for supplying the coach with city water or filling the gallon fresh water tank. A water pump is located in the bay to supply water from the fresh water tank to the coach's plumbing system whenever the city water hose is not hooked up. A water filter is provided which filters any water leaving the water tank or city water supply before entering the coach's plumbing network. The dump valves for dumping the 65 gallon gray water tank and 45 gallon black water tank are also located here and the bottom well provides space to store your sewer hoses. A second water connection is provided which feeds a black tank flushing unit to clean sludge from within the black tank by spraying water jets inside the tank. All in all, it's a good system but there were a few changes I wanted to make.

First of all, I'm not a big fan of locating the water filter after the fresh water tank. The theory is that if your tank water gets an algae growth in it, you'll be filtering it before it goes into the plumbing system. I've never had any issues with algae but I've seen plenty of campground water supplies that have rust, scale, or sediment in them and I really didn't want all that stuff laying in the bottom of my tank so I decided to relocate the water filter to the tank's inlet rather than the outlet. This ensures that my water tank will remain free of any sediment. Also, the OEM water filter isn't a very high volume filter. The element is restrictive and cuts down on the water flow so I replaced it with a large capacity filter.

Secondly, the OEM water pump is a 2.5 GPM demand type pump. Demand pumps kick in when needed and shut down when the pressure reaches it's cutout point. When using water, the pump will cycle on and off, which isn't the smoothest way to maintain water flow. Plus, at 2.5 GPM it's limited in how much water it can supply. I replaced it with a newer ShurFlo Smart Sensor 5.7 water pump. This pump can put out up to 5.7 GPM of water flow, which is more than adequate for anything you'll ever need in the coach. Plus, it's a variable flow so it doesn't cycle on and off. It just puts out more flow as the demand increases. It's also a smoother and much quieter pump because it doesn't cycle.

Thirdly, the OEM setup used a second hose connection to feed the black tank flush sprayer. The idea is to use a different hose than your fresh water hose to prevent any contamination of bacteria that could get on the threads of the freshwater hose. This requires hooking up a second hose to the spigot via a wye adaptor. I decided to simplify this by plumbing it directly into the water system. I replaced the hose connection with a ball valve and plumbed it directly to the main water gallery just prior to the water filter. I installed a check valve in the line as a safety in addition to the vacuum break up in the bathroom vanity cabinet as a redundant safety.

I found that 95% of the campgrounds do not have excessive water pressure so they do not need a pressure regulator, which also restricts water flow. But you never know whether or not you need to use one. So I installed a glycerin filled water pressure gauge in the panel that shows me exactly what the incoming water pressure (or the water pump output pressure) is.

I also added a 3 way valve to make it easier to winterize the system without removing the hose from the water pump.

Finally, I also installed a second SeeLevel digital tank monitoring panel in this compartment so that I can see what the tank levels are when working in the bay. The SeeLevel installation is covered in detail in my SeeLevel Digital Tank Monitors page.

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Mark Quasius - "Cruzer"

The Installation

The above image shows my new water bay. The SeeLevel digital tank monitor can be seen at the center. Just to the right of the soap dispenser is my water pressure gauge. The new water filter is in the exact same location as the OEM filter but the plumbing mods are all behind the panel and can't be seen. On the far top-left of the panel you can see the ball valve for flushing the black tank out. The new ShurFlo 5.7 water pump is at the bottom right, in a similar location as the OEM pump but reoriented due to it's larger size.

The water filter is a Hydro Life HL-200 water filter, which I purchased from RVupgrades. It uses a C2063 Bacteriostatic filter element that filters out most anything that you can throw at it. The combination of the C2063 and HL-200 makes for a greatly improved water flow over the restrictive OEM filter. Fortunately, the HL-200 is the same size and style and the OEM filter so it's an easy bolt-on application without any redrilling or replumbing.

I bought a ShurFlo 5.7 SmartSensor water pump from RVupgrades as well as the high capacity strainer, flexible hose kit, and high flow 90 degree elbow. OI weas able to install the pump in the same location as the OEM pump but I needed to rotate it as the picture shows in order to get it to fit. Using the flexible hose kit dampens the vibrations caused by hard plumbing the pump and also makes for an easy install. I can easily remove the pump and replace it with the OEM pump should I need to do so if the larger pump were to fail when traveling. It was necessary to add the 90 degree high flow elbow from ShurFlo in order to allow the door to close without hitting the hose. I use quick disconnect wire terminals on both the new pump and the old (spare) pump so it's a quick and easy job to swap them. You'll also notice a clear plastic hose hanging out of the compartment. I normally wrap this around the pump but removed it for the picture. This is the winterizing hose that you can place into an antifreeze jug for winterizing the coach. There is a 3 way ball valve behind the pump so I can select where I wabnt to draw water from - the tank or the antifreeze hose.

I removed the hose attachment for the black tank flushing sprayer. On the backside of this is a flexible hose that runs up into the bathroom vanity to a vaccum break and then down to the spray nozzle in the black tank. I removed this hose connection and modified it to mount a ball valve instead. I then connected a Pex water line from the fresh water input (just prior to the water filter) and ran it to a check valve and then to this new ball valve. Now whenever I'm hooked up to city water all I have to so is open the valve to clean the black tank out. I use a clear sewer tube so I can see when it's clean and I can also monitor the water level in the tank from the SeeLevel panel on the basement wall.

The SeeLevel tank monitor panel is located directly underneath the basement shower control. I also added a second shower head holder bracket to the backside of the basement door. I can hang the shower head on the door and it will spray straight down. This gives me a hands free location to place it so that I have both hands free to assist with whatever I am washing at the time.

Just to the right of the soap dispenser is my water pressure gauge. This is a glycerin filled gauge that I got from W.W. Grainger Co. It's connected to a tee fitting that I installed in the water gallery. It will indicate either city water pressure or water pump output pressure.

Summary

While the Allegro Bus comes pretty well equipped, these modifications helped to improve water flow and make it easier to monitor the status of the water system. The direct plumbing to the black tank flush is a real time saver and eliminates having to carry an extra garden hose dedicated to that purpose.

I've also attached links to the plumbing schematics for the water service bay area. I've included the original plumbing layout as well as the new modified layout. Following are the links:

This review written 3/25/07