Water connection on serviced pitch

That's interesting. I remember donkeys' years ago, when I was toying with buying a caravan, rather than a motorhome, I looked at a Van Royce caravan that had on-board tank. It wasn't a big van though. Does Van Royce still exist? I can't recall having seen one in recent years.

I didn't know whether current day vans had on board tanks at all. You've answered that, thank you. 

Van Royce was one of the classics but perhaps not a major one like Safari or Cheltenham. It vanished many years ago. 

Onboard water tanks were more likely to be found in the 'up market' caravans way back then.

I dont suppose it would be impossible to do. However, unless you always use service pitches you are going to be carrying the aquaroll anyway. If you routinely use service pitches they don’t have to be huge, there is a colapz version. In the cold with a caravan on a service pitch, it’s normally the tap or the hose that freezes, a clever valve system wouldn’t help.
I find our 100 litre internal insulated tank, filled periodically, a vast improvement on the aquaroll float system we used to use with our caravans, particularly in winter weather.

It's just a matter of personal choice. I see the logic of your way of working, but I work differently, as described above. Perhaps the main driver for me is that I don't use MSPs. My waste takes an inordinate amount of time to drain and there always seemed to be at least one van in front of me. On departure day I like to be away and on- the-road and I never move my van once on pitch. I can't be doing with MSPs.

My way is not better or best, but it suits me.   

I find it only a very minor hassle to carry the portable containers. They sit on the bed when travelling, in covers. On site the covers go under the bed, the Wastemaster sits under the van, and the Aqua roll beside the van, near the water access. Sometimes, if very close to a service point, I won't use the Aqua roll, but top up using a watering can. This lives under the bed.       

With most motorhomes, the on-board tank would just overflow if you had water being constantly fed via a float valve in an Aqua roll. I've often wondered if there was an alternative, such that you didn't even have to do that, and now I know that there is from at least two posts above. But for most motorhomes, on a serviced pitch, it is a case of turning on the tap every now and again - for you, not often, for me, probably, daily!! I agree that that is no bother but nor, for me, is carrying portable "barrels". 

Our van is old, 2008, so our systems are much less complex than some available these days.

Newer vans do have more electronics and have the ability to top up the internal tank automatically, similarly to what R&R described, though I did read that there was initially quite a few problems with the operation of it, and with people not understanding how to operate it.  

I believe the one Swift uses requires, or did require, a second pump, but I never really paid much attention to it .   We just have the one on board pump, and a valve system that can be set to either.....

use from the Aquaroll

use from the on board tank

fill on board tank from Aquaroll

so pretty simple.

I would say the main reason to use an Aquaroll even with the on board tank is to minimise the risk of getting too much pressure in the internal pipework of the van, which could fail and result in a flooded van.

There are systems with direct connection to the van via a pressure reducer, but these can fail, and have been known to do so, so I would not want to take that risk.

For us, the advantage of an on board tank is that you can fill it and then not need the Aquaroll sitting out to possibly freeze, or you can have 80 litres of water available and have more choice as to when you need to venture out to refill.   You still have the problem of only having 40 litres waste capacity if using a Wastemaster.   I have often seen vans with 2 Aquarolls, but have never seen one with 2 Wastemasters!

When on a serviced pitch, there is no need to fill the on board tank, at least not in our van, we use the Aquaroll as a cistern and set our valves to "use from Aquaroll".

Our on board tank cannot be filled using a hose pipe.

Many  continental vans do have on board tanks, but I think these often have to be filled using a hose, so a different system again, but I have not studied them.    As far as I can make out,  British caravanners are fairly unique in that many of us opt to use our own shower facilities, and to hook up to water on serviced pitches "over there", we have had quite a few bemused looks when doing so!

The float valves are actually surprisingly robust.  Our original one, purchased in 1998 only failed this year.

Hoses on the other hand need replaced frequently as many sites have very high water pressure.  We try to always remember to turn off the tap when away from the van.  This year I have invested in a pressure reducer to fit on the site tap before connecting our hose, seems to work well.

Kjell, I can see the issues...the one that always strikes me as odd (and annoys the hell out of many owners) is when the supplier fits some complicated method for getting water into a vans tank (to make life easier!!) but don't fit a hole in the wall.

it would drive me bonkers if I couldn't just stuff a hose in the hole and fill as I please.

the AS forum was awash with folk having issues with Whale fillers....a) because they often failed...b) you had to carry a load of extra kit (often not easy to stor in their popular PVCs).

yes, we're all different but even so, let us choose how we want to be different, don't let converters impose it on us.

I can see that would be very annoying for a MH owner......does not make sense, as you say!

 Not really an issue for most caravanners as being able to use a hose pretty much implies you are on a serviced pitch, and there are already 2 ways to use water  via a hose  in that case.

Thinking further, We could actually fill our on board  tank with a hose as we have an access point to it on the top of it, but that would involve  taking the hose inside the caravan.

I have often seen vans with 2 Aquarolls, but have never seen one with 2 Wastemasters!

I guess you have not yet seen my caravan then.  To make use at temperatures below freezing possible I removed a lot of pipes that provided a convoluted route for the waste from the galley to pass above the axles and exit alongside the washroom waste.  It now goes straight down through the floor with an easily removed connection to the repositioned outlet connector.

Two wastemasters = 1/2 number of emptying trips.

@KjellNN .... you pretty much describe the set up on ,y 2013 Coachman other than I don't have an access point to the top of the onboard tank as it lives under the floor.

I replaced the OE Truma transfer pump with a Whale because the Truma pump was c**p, the hose is too rigid & the plastic body came apart.