Things you only learn firsthand I

I wanted to go "camper-vanning" or a Motor Home holiday, to learn firsthand about motor home holidays.

So the 10/11 days in the motor home was as educational as I had hoped.

To prepare myself I watched the 13-min introductory video (below) several times. Particularly about emptying the chemical toilet, emptying the waste water tank (grey water, which is mainly water from the shower and the sink, which may at best be a little soapy, or a little oily. As opposed to black water which would be sewage or toilet waste).






I thought I would be prepared.

After almost a week, I realised that the water tank for the toilet flushing (which is a different tank from the drinking and showering fresh water tank) was running low. No problem! I've watched the video. I just need to top up the water via this tube (at about 11 mins of the video).

I opened the screw cap of the tube and... it's full of water.

Huh?  The water indicator showed that it's almost empty. But the refill tube is full of water!

I replaced the cap.

And the flush ran out of water within a day. But we could "flush" it using the shower head. (This was also in the video).

We were without water for flushing for a couple of days, then I re-looked at the tube and the system and I realised that the intake tube was a U-shaped "water lock" (like the U-bend in the pipes under your sink). So I got a bottle of water and poured water into the "full" tube. It took the water, and I could see the water indicator rising.

Yep. Just pour water into the intake tube. Never mind that it looks full. 

That wasn't in the video!