Water carrier question

People who shower in their caravan have the largest aquaroll they can find -  sometimes two of them linked . But you aren't going to shower in the caravan are you?  I'm considered eccentric in U.K. by not having an aquaroll at all, but regarded as normal in mainland Europe. I usually wander out to fill the old Italian espresso coffee pot at the nearest tap.  It's a lifestyle choice! Good luck with your new caravan. Enjoy it. 

We've done the wandering across with plastic bottle thing, having forgotten our 8L water carrier while tenting before now, but we use enough water for cooking and washing to make all those journeys tiresome, so I feel we'll probably go for something a touch larger than the espresso pot... !

Thanks - we are looking forward to enjoying this :-)

Like Eurotraveller, we no longer use an aquaroll, but when we did we had the largest size.  The weight difference between the two sizes isn't that much and if you use plenty of water then you'll appreciate the larger size.  It's so much easier to transport a rolling carrier then a square one, so I would stick to the barrel shape. 

Bigger is certainly better in this instance.

As for brand, Aquaroll is the original and the best. There are a lot of imitation products, but an Aquaroll will last you 'forever' so no point trying to save a couple of quid on an inferior product.

As a Solo Traveller I use the 40 litre - (I didn't know there was a smaller one available at the time and this caravan came with one as well)  I use it to shower and wash up.  If you are going to shower and wash up - I would definitely go with 40 Ls.  If not the smaller one should be quite big enough.    However I now no longer use the aquaroll for drinking purposes - many many posts as to why it is nigh impossible to keep the pipework clean enough - so a 5L bottle is used for that. 

For me, it's certainly worth getting the larger size.  Quite simply, the bigger the size, the less often it needs filling!    There are usually only two of us too, these days.

David 

Hi Hedgehurst, I suppose the difference is that I don't wash clothes, or wash dishes, or seriously wash myself in the caravan. And I don't cook with water very often either - I'm a grill and fry man !  Apart from the coffee I only need enough water to wash hands in the wee small hours. That's about it. But  British caravanners are wedded to their big aquarolls,  and hauling water in is what they do  - and then hauling it away again. It always starts conversations with the neighbours over in Europe where people wonder what the big round thing is. Cheers. 

Thanks all, that's useful.

Maybe I need to look into these discussions you mention about  pipework and drinking water ... maybe a smaller bottle in the van  for just drinking but the main supply for boiling & washing, whichever we go for?

We'll definitely not be showering in the van - no shower! - but foresee stand-up washes being useful where sites have no showers, and since we do cook with water, I think something useful in size will be our own answer.

Maybe the Aquaroll gets less hygienic in hot and sunny places? After all, there is, rightly,  growing concern about the unpleasant chemicals which leach into water from all those plastic bottles it's sold in. I'm no chemist, so don't know how the plastics used vary in their relevant ingredients.

Best wishes all round.

Just to agree with all the posters above. We've had our aquaroll since 1999 and apart from replacing the caps once or twice the rubber tyres seem hardly worn and we use it a lot. No matter how much water you use it will need re filling at some point so the 40L gives you that extra time.

No I don't think its gets less hygienic in hot conditions any more than the plastic hoses inside your caravan, but we don't use it for drinking or cooking and have a 3L bottled water (get Sainsburys own brand) refilled from the dish washing area. I also put those water purification tablets, sold at local dealers, into the aquaroll. 

One more point if you see yourself using a service pitch in the future or its a possibility, then you will need the 40L one as it has an extra opening and cap on the side to attach the float mechanism. Actually this extra one is useful and you can leave the handle attached and use the side one for your inlet hose into the caravan.

Also recommend the wastemaster made by the same company. Again ours is still going strong

We are still on our original 1980's Aquaroll so that speaks volumes for the durability. We also wash, shower, cook, wash dishes in the caravan and generally speaking the aquaroll usually only gets filled once a day and its not that onerous. I would have bought a newer, larger volume but this one fit neatly along with rest of gubbins in the front locker box.