does this seem possible?/ where do you get water?

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Isoldmysaturn

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I have a 2017 flagstaff hardside popup (we ended up walking away from the starcraft we bought initially because that became a huge mess), it has dual propane and will hopefully have dual 12v batteries (it's what I could get for free), a water pump, heatpump heat/cool, fantastic fan, led lights, and microwave. I plan on having the camper at a campsite for most of my trip, but for one night we are going to need to stay at Walmart one night (we cleared it with customer service).

We don't have an inverter yet, so we will only be running the fan, fridge, and the water pump a minimal amount of time. how long should the fridge (dometic "tall" fridge/freezer for a hi wall camper) run with the dual batteries? I'm going to look better in a bit, but haven't had any luck with finding the draw of the fridge  yet.

Also, where do y'all get water when camping like this?
 
How will you camp in a campground without hookups?  It's no different than spending the night in a Wal-Mart parking lot.  Fill your water tank before you get there and drain the grey water holding tank at the next stop after you leave.  If you don't want to drink the tank water Wal-Mart sells all kinds of drinking water inside the store.

If your pop-up doesn't have a grey water holding tank to catch the sink drain water, you can't use the sink.  There are few things worse than seeing unidentified fluids draining from an RV staying overnight in a parking lot.  And no, you can't run a hose out to the lawn or bushes.  Food particles in the drain water attract vermin and insects.

Two batteries should comfortably give you several nights of lighting and refrigerator use.  The refrigerator draws very little electric power and uses an unbelievably small amount of propane when it's switched to gas mode.
 
Your Flagstaff most likely doesn't have any holding tanks, unless you have a cassette toilet/shower. So, you will have to carry gallon jugs of water for drinking and washing. If you use your sink for washing, you should get a portable tank of some sort to hold the runoff from the sink, there will be an outlet on the side of your camper to attach a hose to. I bought a 15-gal portable holding tank at a trailer store and ran a short piece of hose into the top of it, when I owned a pop-up. When I finished camping, I would just screw on the cap, put the holding tank in the back of my truck and head to a dump station. A friend of mine went the cheap route and just got a 5-gal bucket from Home Depot and cut a hole in the lid and used that, the problem with that is that it doesn't hold much and then there's the problem of dumping it when it's full.

Oh, and by the way, you'll need a container of some sort for grey water even at full hookup camp sites as you still can't just open up the sewer connection and stick a hose down into it.

As for the fridge, you have dual propane tanks, just use that to run your fridge.
 
We have 20 gallons of fresh water tank, so we should bee ok for a night. I planned on using a 5 gallon bucket in the parking lot, but campsites around here don't care.

I was hoping to use the batteries to run the fridge as long as I can because every day except that one the electric I'm paying 30-40 dollars for can charge the batteries,  instead of using the propane I have to pay for. I still have to work out how to fit the second battery,  there appears to be just enough space before the weight distributing hitch and worrying,  so I need to sort that out.
 
We use the battery when staying the night on the road and we have only one 12v battery. Never been a problem. I usually buy coffee where we stay (unless we stay at a rest stop). I feel obligated to spend something for using their asphalt for the evening. We also carry bottled water because we don't like the taste of the water from the fresh water tank. When we are at the CG we use their facilities (toilet and shower). We use our facilities for emergencies and washing dishes. This is just our personal preference. There is no scientific explanation for us doing this.

Have fun and do it your way.
 
Without knowing what Dometic fridge model you have, it's hard to guess whether the "electric" it uses is just 12v for the circuit board, or actual power to the heater that is part of the cooling unit.  Most RV fridges operate on 120v shore power or propane and both of those use a tiny amount of 12v as well, but some models have a 3rd option to operate on 12v only. That 3rd option sucks a lot of amps from the batteries and even dual batteries probably won't last the night.  Please identify the fridge model, or at least clarify how it will be operating.

If that 5 gallon bucket is just that, i.e. an open bucket, where will you empty it when at Walmart? If it has a lid, you can take it with you and dump later, but if not...
 
What Gary said.
A fridge uses very little battery and very little propane when running on propane. Its flame amounts to little more than a pilot light and battery only runs the control board.
It takes a lot of 12V juice to replace that little propane flame when running the fridge on battery alone.
In my experience the biggest consumers of propane by rate are (most to least)
Furnace
Oven
Water heater
Range
Fridge



 
I don't have tv's model handy,  but it claims to use 14.6 amps on 12v, and has a dc mode,  so I'm assuming it runs on 12v. The water would just be used for cooking, handwashing, drinking, and dishwashing,  so why couldn'tI stump that in the grass? There's nothing toxic in there...
 
"The water would just be used for cooking, handwashing, drinking, and dishwashing,  so why couldn'tI stump that in the grass? There's nothing toxic in there..."

You can but you may not in some instances. I do it at my house and at friends and family homes (with permission). Cities, counties, states may have ordinances against dumping your grey water in the grass or down a storm sewer.
 
Isoldmysaturn said:
The water would just be used for cooking, handwashing, drinking, and dishwashing,  so why couldn'tI stump that in the grass? There's nothing toxic in there...

Serioulsy?

You need to be told why someone that is letting you use private property to camp overnight may have an issue with you dumping your gray water?
 
Isoldmysaturn said:
The water would just be used for cooking, handwashing, drinking, and dishwashing,  so why couldn'tI stump that in the grass? There's nothing toxic in there...

To repeat, grey water contains food particles and oils in suspension and unless you're using biodegradable soap, soap scum.  Over time, the food and oils will break down into plant nutrients but until they do, they just lay on the surface of the ground, attracting insects and vermin.  Not toxic, just unpleasant.

Dumping grey water on plants or grass might not be an issue on a friend's property with infrequent guests so the waste water is only applied once in a blue moon, but in public areas you have to be concerned about the cumulative effects.  You're only there for 24 hours, what happens if the guy who stays there tomorrow does the same thing?  How about the folks after them?

The other issue is the perception of the non-RVing public.  They see liquids draining out of a parked RV and unless it's fresh, clear water, they assume the worst.

The boondocking code of haul it in, haul it out applies.  Leave no trace behind that you were ever there.  If you generate waste water, take it to your next stop where you can dispose of it properly.
 
My thoughts were: what I'm putting in the grass would have to be cleaner than the cesspool behind walMart (and I'm not kidding) and; I wasn't planning on using much water there because I don't want to run out,  so I'd use as little as possible. Anyway,  bought a short hose and lids for the buckets. What do they do with the gray water?
 
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