Out of all our supplies, water seems to be what we go through the fastest. Knowing where to find water when on the road is one of the most important pieces of information to have, below we provide you with a few places to get both filtered drinking water and regular city water.
Filling Your Fresh Water Tank
Many gas stations have a water hookup. The location of the hookup will vary. Truck friendly fuel centers and truck stops often have hook-ups at the truck fuel pumps, some have them next to the air fill and vacuum areas, some regular gas stations have a random faucet at a curb, or on the side of their building. Whenever we have needed to ask, the clerk was more than willing to let us fill our tanks. Just make sure any water you use is potable water, if you plan on drinking it.
Lots of local parks have hookups to water their gardens. If you ask, they will often let you fill your tank up off their potable water hose.
Rest areas in some states have fresh water fills (and dump stations, too!). A quick Google of the state you’re in and “rest area RV dump” should point you in the right direction.
RV Parks! Even if you’re not staying there, they’ll be more than happy to take a few bucks for a dump and fill. Call first – Often, they will tell you they have fresh water fill on the phone, then when you arrive tell you the water is non potable. When this is the case, press the fact that you need water, and called ahead to make sure you could fill. They always work it out so you can fill, often by directing you to an open RV site where you can use the water hookup. It should run you $5-$10 at most locations for a dump and water fill. Often, just a water fill will be free.
Some locations will try to charge you $30. Laugh at them. Laugh hard. Then call somewhere else.
Finding Filtered Water, and Small Quantities
Walmart, some Home Depots, and various grocery stores have a water fill machine. It’s usually around $0.25 – $0.35 per gallon. For our drinking water, we carry four 6 gallon water jugs, using a Dolphin Water Pump, and two 7 gallon jugs with a spigot. All of our drinking water comes from these machines, allowing us to never have to worry about chlorine or eggy flavor.
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- Glacier Water Fill Station Outside of Grocery Store
Some Walmarts and hardware stores – like Ace Hardware – will let you fill a jug from the hose in their garden center. Simply ask and see what happens.
You can even try checking directly with the chamber of commerce or parks in your area. For example, in Zephyr Hills Florida, there are multiple Zephyr Hills drinking water fill ups with a cost of only $0.25 cents per gallon, paid on the honor system. We have also been directed to spigots and told we can fill up using them at no charge.
Looking for more RV’ing tips? Check out our RV How To’s section for all our awesome tips!
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