Product Testing by the Sanidumps.com Team

Product Review - WaterCounter™

KC's Report

Accurate fresh water meter for your RV or boat.

Sanidumps.com is always searching out and testing products that enhance our RV lifestyle. I have the WaterCounter™ installed in my 5th wheel.

Why install a water meter when you already have sensors telling you how much water you have? The installed sensors are just guides and are not an accurate measure of water levels. If you boondock often like we do, you are always monitoring your power and water. With the advent of quiet portable generators and solar panels, power issues can be resolved, but we have been surprised more than once when our water has run out. We have had to pack up and leave several times as none was available for miles. Other benefits include:

Checking to see that your tank does deliver the water as per specification. Many RVs have kinks in the hoses or intake and outgoing hoses installed incorrectly which may limit the supply.
Gauging the usage of external water filters by determining the amount of water filtered.
Provide an accurate usage profile which allows you to plan your trips if you have more or less people than normal in your party.
Teaching kids water conservation. It easy to see the impact of their usage.

WaterCounter™ Company of Savannah, GA has developed very accurate metering system to do the job. The unit has 2 parts: a meter that installs just after the pump known as sender unit and a remote digital display unit that mounts inside your RV. The sender unit is pre-calibrated in liters or US gallons. An average DIY can install the unit in a couple of hours. All you need extra are 2 hose connectors with clamps, PEX hose and a 2 wire-shielded cable to go from the sender unit to the remote digital display. Everything else is included in the package. The sender unit does have a dial readout so installing the digital display unit is not essential. Personally, I like the readout in the RV, so I do not have to go out to read the meter before taking a shower. Just the sender is $125 US plus shipping or a complete package starts at $225 plus shipping.

Two extra days of boondocking, fishing or hunting trip more than justify the cost of the meter.

John's Report

KC had his WaterCounter™ installed before I did. His was set to the US gallon display; mine was with the liters display.

The first thing I did after installing the WaterCounter™ was to empty my fresh water tank, than fill it completely with water, I then emptied my tank with the water pump running and took a measurement of the number of liters removed when I saw air coming from the tap. I took another reading when the water stopped flowing.

I found that when the air started coming with the water at the tap, I could get another 10 litres before the water stopped flowing completely.

After completing the same test more than once and getting the calculator out I discovered that I was not getting the amount of water that my RV said it had for fresh water storage. Uh!

Now for a real life test! I showed my wife, Chris, how simple the unit was to use, and we went RVing..

We found that we would get air from the taps with about the same amount of water usage each time. Sometimes there was a small variation but this was most likely because the RV wasn't perfectly level each time.

Chris liked the idea of knowing just how much water we had, a lot better than the Full, 2/3, 1/3 and Empty indication on the old gauge. We could gauge how well we were conserving and have been able to extend our stays while boondocking. There was also the added benefit of knowing that you can take a longer shower on your last day out.

The real test, was asking Chris if I could take the WaterCounter™ out of the RV? A simple, clean answer - NO!