[Brandon]

I see lots of builds with the electrical system built on the drivers side of the van and water tank and other stuff on passenger side. Is there any real reason for this?
Being that I'm going to install a Rixen system I was planning on water system on the driver side and electrical on the passenger. Of coarse this means running water lines over to the kitchen by the slider under the floor, Getting electrical to the other side should be easy.

Is there a reason I should rethink these plans?
What about a fresh water tank going east-west between the wheel wells?
Last does any one put both systems on the same side? I would assume drivers side if you did and would this be bad?

Ok no more bad topics today,

 

[ranxerox]

Probably to balance out a full tank of gas, With the water tank and the gas tank on the same side that is a lot of weight and it may cause the Transit to lean to that side.

 

[Brandon]

Probably to balance out a full tank of gas, With the water tank and the gas tank on the same side that is a lot of weight and it may cause the Transit to lean to that side.

Ok that makes sense to a point. 35 gallons of water is 292lbs when full but will go down as you use it but also need to take into account the pump, heater and other items in the water system that will be there like in my case the Rixen.
So lets say 300-400lbs. Now in a 350HD 400lbs is not much when you can carry somewhere around 4000lbs.
If I put the water tank across the back between the wheel wells this should not be a problem.
I have no clue how much all the electrical stuff is going to weigh but I would bet it is lighter.
One other thought is I was always taught to put the heavy stuff on the drivers side to help balance on roads that are sloped to the outside.
I guess I should get the weights of all the equipment I will be using and the batteries.

Lots to think about.

 

[ArgonautVans]

People with a shower are somewhat limited to placing it on the drivers side for most configurations with the bed in the rear because of the support tubes coming out of the floor up front getting in the way of the shower pan on the passenger side (and not wanting to have a shower jut out into the slider area). So it makes sense to keep water on driver side, and electric on the passenger side to balance it out.

Personally, I think running water lines under the floor is a bad idea. Even with a straight run, the risk of having a water leak under the floor, while minor, is catastrophic if it happens, especially if your floor is glued down.

I will say it would have made my life a lot easier to have electrical on the driver side and water on passenger (no need to run water or electric across the van). I have a bed lift and walk through center aisle all the way to the rear of my van, so a water pass through would have been difficult without having an ugly box across my ceiling hiding the water lines. So I have electric passenger rear, and run the electric wires in a metal conduit under the floor. Just had to organize and upsize them a bit more to pass them through the walls.

If my bed was fixed in the rear, I possibly could have run water lines across the van under the bed platform.

 

[Brandon]

People with a shower are somewhat limited to placing it on the drivers side for most configurations with the bed in the rear because of the support tubes coming out of the floor up front getting in the way of the shower pan on the passenger side (and not wanting to have a shower jut out into the slider area). So it makes sense to keep water on driver side, and electric on the passenger side to balance it out.

Personally, I think running water lines under the floor is a bad idea. Even with a straight run, the risk of having a water leak under the floor, while minor, is catastrophic if it happens, especially if your floor is glued down.

I will say it would have made my life a lot easier to have electrical on the driver side and water on passenger (no need to run water or electric across the van). I have a bed lift and walk through center aisle all the way to the rear of my van, so a water pass through would have been difficult without having an ugly box across my ceiling hiding the water lines. So I have electric passenger rear, and run the electric wires in a metal conduit under the floor. Just had to organize and upsize them a bit more to pass them through the walls.

If my bed was fixed in the rear, I possibly could have run water lines across the van under the bed platform.

My shower will be on the left and kitchen on the right so I have to put water lines under the floor. Not sure how I'm doing the floor yet so maybe I can make the section over the water lines removeable. I would be using a single piece of pex so I would hope it will not leak. If I end up building my own bed and not using a MOAB bed I could run the water lines under the bed. This may be a better and cheaper option.

 

[Janus9]

It is always a compromise and location depends on what is the priority based on layout, design goals etc…..

My layout is fixed raised bed in rear, so water and electrical is going in the rear under the bed platform.

Since camp grounds put hookups on the drivers side, I am putting the water tank on the drivers side to make access to water hookup the easiest.

Electrical system will go on passenger side, with shore power hookup ran to the drivers side for easy hookup.

With the platform bed/garage setup, it is pretty easy to run lines from one side to the other underneath the platform.

Putting the water and electrical on the sides to maximize full length storage under the bed for mountain bikes and other items and allow access from garage to the middle aisle in the rest of the van for long item storage if ever needed.

 

[Gallaher]

Along time ago in a different life, I was a delivery driver. You always load the heavier items on the driver side to compensate for the crown in the road. Now this is totally aside from design functionality

 

[EddieZ]

Even weight distribution would be ideal.

But, I've got electric and water on same side. I worried about it until someone referred me to a passenger van, and, say a large adult changes seats from right side to left side... not such a big deal.

 

[Brandon]

Even weight distribution would be ideal.

But, I've got electric and water on same side. I worried about it until someone referred me to a passenger van, and, say a large adult changes seats from right side to left side... not such a big deal.

Thanks for all the answers. I will decide what works best for my setup as it sounds like there is no real bad answer, just do it right and clean.
This has made me rethink the moab bed. We have always been planning a fixed bed and I just thought the moab would be a fast option as I'm putting in the AdWag kit but I think I will stay with my first bed setup and save the money.

 

[Dberdinka]

Nearing the end of my first build. Electrical on drivers side rear, water tank on passenger side rear and sink on drivers side front. This was a really dumb design that added significant complexity to plumbing and uneven weight distribution. Why did I do it this was? Configuration of the second seat precluded the sink being in the slider and I was thinking about electrical more than plumbing initially and read too much faroutride, where heavy emphasis was put on keeping electrical lines as short as possible, primarily the CCP to B2B charger and the main ground I routed back to the front of the van.

In retrospect extending electrical is going to be far more straightforward with less risk than plumbing and running the ground all the way back to the front of the van seems unnecessary. My advice keep your plumbing simple and short. Consider your weight distribution for when you're fully loaded (full H2O/people/gear etc) as well as unloaded.

 

[njvagabond]

In my case it my plan is the result of other layout (packaging) considerations. It also happens (well not just chance), that the location also corresponds simpler installation of the utilities. With the sizing of my systems they should be pretty close in weigh (about 100 lbs).

That will be offset by the fact that the density of stuff stored under on the drivers side will be less dense (bicycles) than "stuff" stored on the passengers side. The garage will have 3 "bays" so it will be possible to adjust the weight distribution in that area.

As to the native weight distribution of the vehicle: The gas tank is located towards the centerline of the van and is somewhat offset by the exhaust system and even a bit by the further outboard by the sliding door. BTW - pretty much all of that weight is located between the axles, so a good percentage of that weight differential will be carried on the font axle.

There may be some postings with weights on individual wheels were posted. That would be the proof in the pudding.
If you are significantly concerned about weight distribution in the vehicle, it might be a good idea to get your actual wheel weights as a starting point. I suppose you have the heavy duty front axle, even so, it may be a good idea to keep tabs on that load.

Personally, even though I am more concerned with and designing for COG and total weight in my build there are still some big compromises that will need to be made in those regards. 🤷‍♀️

 

[Brandon]

All these replies are great, thank you all for your input
I think I will stay with my plan of water on driver side and electrical on passenger side. I plan to keep it as simple as I can. Most heavy electrical use will on on the passenger side and the roof AC. Water will be mostly used in kitchen on right too but I can run lines under the fixed but. I will be running 3 lines, Hot/Cold and return so when I need hot I can loop the water back until it gets hot to save on water loss. Shower will get 3-5 gallons at each fill up so not too worried about that.

 

[njvagabond]

Nearing the end of my first build. Electrical on drivers side rear, water tank on passenger side rear and sink on drivers side front. This was a really dumb design that added significant complexity to plumbing and uneven weight distribution. Why did I do it this was? Configuration ofr 4 precluded the ink being in the slider and I was thinking about electrical more than plumbing initially and read too much faroutride, where heavy emphasis was put on keeping electrical lines as short as possible, primarily the CCP to B2B charger and the main ground I routed back to the front of the van.

In retrospect extending electrical is going to be far more straightforward with less risk than plumbing and running the ground all the way back to the front of the van seems unnecessary. My advice keep your plumbing simple and short. Consider your weight distribution for when you're fully loaded (full H2O/people/gear etc) as well as unloaded.

Yea, my total novice take was it is better to locate water for simplicity than electric. One of the factors that steered me to DC-AC-DC was that my layout puts the batteries in the furthest location possible from the CCP. Another advantage of the electrical on the drivers side I if I ever go down the dedicated second alternator path, it simplifies and shortens that large gage dc wire run. My highest DC load (fridge) an A/C for cooking appliance will be near the batteries/inverter. Short runs are a nice benefit, but I don't really see that as a huge advantage.

 

[ArgonautVans]

having just run 2x 3/0 cables, 1x 2/0 cable, and a bunch of smaller cables from the driver seat, through the B pillar, through driver side wall, under the floor through aluminum square tubing conduits, and to the back passenger rear wall - it really wasn't that bad. Took me a day to install. Just had to upsize the wires to account for long wire runs.

 

[MadCreek]

I've pondered this a lot and looked at what professional van companies are doing. No real black and white answer. My take is more of a functional approach. I want to be able to open the pass rear door to fill my water tank from the rear compared to opening both doors if the water tank were on the drivers side. I also plan to Install my shore power receptacle on the drivers side exterior so it makes sense to put the electrical on that same side. Plus, hopefully I'll trip over the shore power cord BEFORE I drive off with it connected!

 

[Brandon]

I've pondered this a lot and looked at what professional van companies are doing. No real black and white answer. My take is more of a functional approach. I want to be able to open the pass rear door to fill my water tank from the rear compared to opening both doors if the water tank were on the drivers side. I also plan to Install my shore power receptacle on the drivers side exterior so it makes sense to put the electrical on that same side. Plus, hopefully I'll trip over the shore power cord BEFORE I drive off with it connected!

I totally get the drive off thing. Would be nice to wire in some kind of warning that watches power coming in and then key turned on and if you have both you get a warning buzzer going off or cannot shift out of park.

 

[EddieZ]

I totally get the drive off thing. Would be nice to wire in some kind of warning that watches power coming in and then key turned on and if you have both you get a warning buzzer going off or cannot shift out of park.

Keep a colored flag or velcro strip, or something, and whenever you hook up, attach that flag to your steering wheel or shift lever.

 

[njvagabond]

having just run 2x 3/0 cables, 1x 2/0 cable, and a bunch of smaller cables from the driver seat, through the B pillar, through driver side wall, under the floor through aluminum square tubing conduits, and to the back passenger rear wall - it really wasn't that bad. Took me a day to install. Just had to upsize the wires to account for long wire runs.

Yea, that through the B-pillar routing to the CCP is pretty slick. Not sure I am comfortable (yet?) with the possible compromise in pillar strength. (Not saying is necessarily a problem though). That spot is a highly visible area in my design that I would like to keep "clean" if possible as well a maximize the clearance. 🤷‍♀️ Decisions, decisions ...

 

[Brandon]

Keep a colored flag or velcro strip, or something, and whenever you hook up, attach that flag to your steering wheel or shift lever.

A remove before flight flag.

What makes this even easier to forget is when you are only hooked up now and then and it is not the normal process

 

[Brandon]

Yea, that through the B-pillar routing to the CCP is pretty slick. Not sure I am comfortable (yet?) with the possible compromise in pillar strength. (Not saying is necessarily a problem though). That spot is a highly visible area in my design that I would like to keep "clean" if possible as well a maximize the clearance. 🤷‍♀️ Decisions, decisions ...

I do not know this routing. Do you have to drill a hole in the B Pillar? Link to example?