Overnight camping, on battery, leave the water pump on?

Jay_and_Kat

So our plumbing issues have been fixed (YAY!) and we're going on a one-night camping trip this weekend.  We won't have water hookup, we won't have electric hookup, and we're not going to bring a generator (we've got one, it's a brute.)

So, do we go ahead and when we get set up, turn on the water pump and leave it, or do we turn it on/off as needed?
The wife will almost certainly, at least once, get up to use the bathroom and I'm not confident she'd find the switch...  

And, the other question, turn on the hot water heater (on propane) and leave it on until we pack up?

marleecamps

I leave the water pump on when at the campsite (including overnight) but turn it off when I leave for any period of time.  If there is an issue, I figure I will be there to turn off the pump before any significent damage is done.

And I turn on the Alde system upon arrival, either electrical hookup or propane, and turn it off at departure.

VictoriaP

I turn it off at night. I prefer to keep a water bottle/jug/Nalgene bottle of water in the bathroom and flush with that…uses less water and doesn’t make loud water pump sounds while I’m half asleep.

During cooler months, I leave the hot water tank on, but during hotter months, I only turn it on when needed.

dragonsdofly

@Jay_and_Kat we do the opposite of @marleecamps. We turn the pump on only when in use and turn on the alde when we need it. If you run the pump for a moment to pressurize your water system before bed, then turn the pump off for the night, the pressurized system will provide water for a couple of flushes during the night. This way, after flushing the pump does not activate at 2 or 3 or 4 am, and others in the trailer are not driven awake by the pump. It can wait until everyone is up in the morning. -Denise

Jay_and_Kat

@dragonsdofly We'll probably go that route then, although considering the wife and I are planning to try a different sleeping arrangement (her to the back, me to the front,) and she'll almost guaranteed get up at least once in the night, the pump running wouldn't bother me...  

Also noticed where you're from, hello from Clinton Township!

SweetlyHome

Circumstances and personal approach applies.  

It is likely you are not concerned about battery usage staying one night.  For more than one night the opposite might be true.

With this in mind:

The water pump only draws significant power when it is actually running so leaving it on does not effect battery life significantly. Yes, some concern about battery draw due to the switch light being on.  Turning it off at night to limit noise or address concerns about leaks are certainly valid reasons to turn it off.  We usually leave it on.

The Alde cycles on and off to keep the glycol and water within itself hot.  It runs a fan to provide air for propane combustion.  This could be a more significant draw on the battery.  We usually turn it off when boondocking for this reason.  Like VictoriaP we also turn it off in warm weather, it does seem to warm the bed.

pthomas745

You would run out of water well before the pump would draw significant amount of power from your 125 available amp hours of your battery.  It only uses power when running.

My pump is off when the trailer is under tow.

The Alde uses between .02 and .06 of an amp, again, only when actually running. If if cycles on and off and only runs 1/4 of the time, the power use from the battery is, again, very small next to your 125 amp hours of battery available.

If the system used the maximum .06 amps for 10 hours that would be 6 amps.  Even if the Alde ran half the time, that would be only 3 amps for those ten hours.  (Check my math!  Too early for coffee!)

During the daytime, I usually have my Alde off.

From the Alde FAQ; https://www.alde.us/faq/

How much electrical power does the heating system use?

There are two mechanisms in the Alde Compact boilers that draw >0.1 A current from the vehicle 12-volt battery. The exhaust fan venting waste gases (≈0.4 A), and the heating fluid being pumped around the circuit (≈0.2 A). So normal draw from the vehicle battery is between ≈0.2–0.6 A, including the control panel. Max draw is 1.9 A for approximately three seconds at system start-up.

Max draw from 120 V mains is ≈7,9 A on 1 (1 kW) or ≈15,8 A on 2 (2,1 kW)