By Chuck Woodbury
Here’s the water-hookup situation at my campsite at an RV park in Springfield, Illinois. I just found this photo. I took it a few years ago.
Luckily, I was the only one occupying the four campsites that shared this one water source. Imagine when the park was packed and four RVs needed to share.
When taking a shower while sharing the water with others, it might be better to use your own water supply and water pump instead of risking a sudden pressure drop when the neighbors decided to take their own shower.
I know most RV parks are mom-and-pop operations and it costs money to upgrade the plumbing. Nevertheless, if a park wants to attract RVers and not give them reasons to stay at Walmart for free, then they need to dedicate themselves to making their facilities worth paying for. This situation is not acceptable. Actually, it’s ridiculous!
##RVDT1342
Chuck and all,
For the last 40 + years of owning an RV, I have never used the city water, but to fill my tanks and use the pump in the coach, it eliminates buying a pressure regulator, broken or leaking plumbing… I always turn the water pump off when not in use and when leaving the coach… No problems since then… I’ve seen some horror stories about water flowing out of coaches and broken pipes…
Larry
this is what we do and is the best policy to avoid a real disaster. The pump provides better pressure than many camps we have stayed in.
I go “camping” to get away from Technology. I have a cell phone. If I can’t get a signal, so what? It’s not like I dropped of the edge of the Earth. I’ll be back……
This is what it has come to? You want a campground to remediate this unacceptable and ridiculous solution?
Given the weather in Springfield, IL, this campground may have partial occupancy around Memorial weekend, ramping up to 4th of July and then falling slowly until Labor Day. Maybe 4 weekends with full occupancy? And, in that 4 weekends, assuming a few tents and the assorted RVs that may or may not hook up a hose (depending on whether they use their tank/pump), you are deeming this unacceptable? Are you willing to pay an additional $5/nt to help them recoup the plumbing costs? We already know how you feel about $100/nt.
Don Quixote swung at windmills. Is this your windmill? I was really expecting promised announcements in new low-cost camping/roadside initiatives. I could give a rip about utilities, except maybe electricity every few nights and a place to get water and dump my tanks every week or so. We all have different priorities, but is this a priority?
I think I stayed at the campground in Springfield one time. 1st the owners knew ahead of time what they were getting into with limited seasons. 2nd if they can’t afford to update they need to get out while they can. Substandard amenities today will not cut it, I too have been camping over 40 years and have watched improvements over the years, I wouldn’t stay at a substandard place anymore than I would stay in the dump. If they cannot afford to stay up to date, I wonder what else they may be hiding in sanitation.
There are too many parks like this to count. Add to that very unlevel sites, sewer ports elevated so that stuff must flow uphill, and locked offices all day with a sign to call a number if you need anything.
The South RV Lot at the Albuquerque Int’l Balloon Fiesta in on an old landfill, so we lay out over 4000′ of water lines above ground for those that get water & electric. One hose bib at the top and 400′ of PEX per row. Every 40′ is an 18″ riser with a tee on top with two spigots. Then each spigot has a “Y” to supply four RVs per riser. Do the math; that’s 40 RVs on one bib. We recommend you fill your tanks and then use your own pump for pressure. Zero complaints. You come for the Fiesta, not the campground.
this is what I do because of this or if the power goes down their well pump dies and no water, Happened once along time ago, wife was not happy and we all know what that means.
I don’t know if I can speak for others, but I have no problem with this: As long as I know upfront. When I see “full hookups”, but it’s “full hookups, buuuut…..”, I could make an educated decision before I arrive if that information were listed in the relevant locations.
As far as the pictured faucet tree is concerned it’s only ridicules if the pressure is too low to provide adequate flow to the riser and each spigot.
The copper line appears to be either a 3/4” or 1” line. Each spigot further restricts the size and flow capacity (go to a plumbing isle at a home improvement store and look inside of one of those spigots and you’ll see how much reduction there is compared to the opening you are looking through. Now consider that if you are a savvy RVer you will have placed a pressure regulator at the spigot which not only reduced the pressure but the size and volume of water capable of moving through that device and then consider the further reduction of the valves and plumbing inside of your RV and you can understand that this could very well provide adequate water volume to all 4 spigots.
Sorry Chuck but this is much the same as showing an aeronautical engineer and an entomologist a picture of a bumblebee and saying “This is ridiculous”. The engineer will agree saying “you’re right. That can’t fly.” And the entomologist saying “well, it really does a fantastic job considering the kind of flying it does”.
it “could” – i’d hedge my bets by connecting to the lowest spigot so i’d be first in line to get water and not have my flow/pressure reduced by my three closest neighbors…
May I add that unless multiple campers are pulling water at the same time, whatever the line pressure is will be coming to your RV. May not be perfect, but certainly workable
I’ve seen worse. The water faucet was above the electrical connection. “drip, drip, drip”, Or the old campground designed for tents and popups, electrical and water connections at the pipes running behind the site, not next to the RV parking spot. Trees so close to pavement that the slide outs cannot
be used. Campground restrooms with no ventilation system, not even an exhaust fan.
Whatever happened to the basic fun of camping? I’m more relaxed with boondocking than if I have WIFI, cable, and the other “luxuries” of home. My motorhome is 42 years old so it’s not financially draining on me. Electric and extra water are nice to have but everything I have runs off propane or 12 volts, even my TV.
So, am I a happy camper? You betcha.
I always clean up the area I stayed at, even other peoples garbage left behind. It’s just the right thing to do to help keep free camping places available to us all.
PS There’s no way the water could siphon back to that faucet.
Not everybody is into boondocking. And there are legitimate reasons for that. You are to be commended for your decision, but don’t transfer your decision to , “it’s the only way to go”. Just think if you convinced 50% of the RV’ers out there to only boondock, then you would have a hard time trying to find a place to camp. Sooner rather than later, all of your favorite spots would be crowded. Then what? You would then have some of the same complaints many rv’ers who for good reason prefer CG’s/Resorts currently have…. Be careful of what you wish for…
I couldn’t figure out the problem when I first looked at the picture. But when I read the comments and found out the problem was only water pressure, I thought it was pretty trivial. Personally, I would rather have low pressure than high and, maybe, blow a line. If there is an electrical outlet under the water spigot, then I would consider that a real problem!
Chuck, are we all “expecting ” too much ? Are we rushing headlong towards a ” this coffee is hot” scenario ? For the last 6 years we have spent the 6 summer months travelling around this great country. This week we are at a casino RV park paying $65 per night, 6 weeks ago we were staying at Dawson ND for $105 per WEEK with full hookups. Dawson has a population of 67 people. If you are in Montana you will get great views, if you are at the fairground in Fargo ND maybe not such good views. If someone must have 50# water pressure just fill up your water tank, if you cannot live without the TV get a satellite system if you must have high speed internet carry your own. I am trying to emphasise the “you” do it part. It’s not always “the other persons” fault. Chuck I enjoy RV travel news but when you wrote this article I think you needed to turn the glass over, it’s not half empty, it’s half full. Keep up the good work and when do the $10 one night only RV stop start. Richard
We all use the “McDonald’s coffee” story as an example of entitlement and litigiousness, but the facts are very interesting: https://centerjd.org/content/faq-about-mcdonald%E2%80%99s-coffee-case-and-use-fabricated-anecdotes
Two weeks ago, 1000 Trails in Long Beach, WA!
Four sewers, four waters, two electric, the other two next site over!
Can’t post pictures?
I stayed at a campground in Canada a few years ago that had water hoses with “Y”dividers on the hoses running throughout the campground. I was told just to follow the hose back to the spigot and turn on all the “Y” devices. And the power was extension cords hung in the trees. Sewer was one long long sewer hose stuck through a manhole cover at one end, the other RV’ers hooked up to when they needed to dump.
Sounds more like someone’s backyard being hawked as a campground . . . .
I build homes thru Habitat RVcaravaners and at one build we have 6 RVs hooked up to one hose bib. Not as big of an issue as you would think.
If they have good water pressure you’ll be fine stop overreacting.
“camping” does not mean what you THINK it means. Camping has nothing to do with hotel amenities and wifi. Apples and oranges
Server .. yikes! So much valuable information lost. Are you considering forensic recovery? Is it all gone prior to the event?
I didn’t see even one anti siphon device on that mess of faucets. So the last guy to hook up used his fresh water hose to clean out the black tank.? No thanks laws and rules and codes are made to prevent injury, not to punish people.
Chuck….you need to stay at better parks! : )
That looks very much like the I nternet connection at many campgrounds. One small source and multiple connections. Just about the time you get started on email, the rest of the park wakes up.
A recent stop east of Denver at a major campground chain location brought this warning at checkin: “We are full this weekend so don’t expect WiFi to work”. She was correct though I did manage to partially download emails between 5 and 5:15 each morning. It was like most of the rest of their facility, tired, worn out and difficult to work with. A hotel chain would suffer greatly it it provided such poor service. There are effective ways of reducing/eliminating/throttling video streaming so all campers have reasonable access. One recent sit offered a 24 hours paid connection at a reasonable fee. I have no problem with that if the changes is reasonably priced and well maintained.
Between miserable WiFi connections and sloppy, fuzzy cable ( if available) it is getting difficult to find nice spots for reasonable money. We have stayed at many delightful sites over the years but it is getting harder to find them. So many locations call themselves “Resorts” that it is laughable.
Rant over. Maybe I should have gone to bed earlier last night.
Why I have not one but two hot spots, Verizon and Sprint (through FMCA) and a dish satellite. I don’t pay to stay in expensive resorts or parks. If you full time or most time that is the way to go. You are fully self contained. When I check in and they are giving me the list of local stations and log in info for their wifi, which most say isn’t very good, tell them I don’t need it I have my own.
I learned several years ago, don’t count on free WiFi for your WiFi, 4 years ago we bought a Verizon Jet Pak from a Verizon retail store at a very inflated price but was limited to data. The following year we were in TX and one Jan.morning reading my emails Verizon was offering an unlimited WiFi data plan. The only catch was you had to prepay your bill each month, if you failed to do so it would be cancelled and you couldn’t get it back. Since my bill is automatically taken out of my checking account each month the prepay is taken care of. This plan started off with a $25 a month plan for each device which we have 3(2 phones and the MIFI) since we signed up the price has risen to $114 for 3 devices. We have never been without fast service from TN to TX to FL, I consider it well worth it compared to sharing non secured WiFi with 50 other RVs.
I sure hope this isn’t Sangchris Lake SP at Springfield , IL. We have reservations there for this Sept.
Definitely not Sangcrhis Lake, or New Salem, or State Fair campground. Could be Riverside, Park District.
Not Sangchris….we have been down there several times and it is wonderful!!
It was a private park just outside the city limits of Springfield.