Nautilus Water Panel

Description #

The Nautilus water panel is the main water inlet for the Solis. It has quite a few settings, but conveniently they are all clearly marked on the panel itself.

The panel shows multiple modes and what direction the controls should be in to be in that mode. I won’t go over the positions, but I think a quick review of the modes may be helpful

Modes #

There are 5 modes to the Nautilus, each have a specific use:

DRY CAMPING – Uses the 21 gal fresh water tank as a source of water. This is the standard/default setting most of the time.

Power-FILL TANK – Fills the fresh water tank.

CITY WATER – Uses the water source connected to the inlet, bypassing the fresh water tank. Highly recommended to have a water pressure regulator when on city water as the plumbing may not be able to handle pressure above 50psi.

WINTERIZE – Opens all the valves so that an air hose can be used to blow out the pipes/water lines for winterizing and preventing frozen pipes

SANITIZE – Uses the pump to suck water from the inlet into the fresh water tank. Some also use this to gravity fill (filling the fresh water tank without a pressurized source.

Procedures #

This is just the procedures that we use. I’m sure they may be wrong/need correct/etc, but we are using these for now.

Fill Fresh Water Tank #

Filling the tank is easy, but there are a few steps. For the most part, once you’ve done it a couple times the # of steps gets reduced to like 5, but thought I would be more thorough here to make it easier for first timers.

We’ve filled the tank many times and every time there is water that drips/spills in the back of the Solis by the inlet. I typically make sure there isn’t anything around the area that would be ruined by a little water.

1. Gather the necessary items
   1. 3′ drinking water hose
   2. garden hose open/close valve
   3. RV water filter
   4. 25′ drinking water hose (might need two 25′ hoses if the source/spigot is far away)
   5. Small towel
2. Make sure all faucets, showers are off.
3. Set the Nautilus panel to “Power-FILL TANK”
4. Connect a short hose to the Nautilus inlet
5. Place a small towel below inlet against Nautilus water tank to catch the inevitable drips.
6. Connect an open/close valve to the short hose
7. Verify the valve is in the closed position
8. Connect the valve to the water filter “out”
9. Connect the hose from the water source to the valve
10. Connect the hose to the water source and open source valve (not the one on the filter yet)
11. Check for leaks at the filter.
12. Open the valve attached to the filter
13. Check for leaks in the entire line.
14. Water fill takes 5 – 30min depending on a lot of factors.
15. Fill until the water starts dripping from under the van below the kitchen area (some people monitor the tank gauge in the kitchen, we do not)
16. Close the valve on the filter
17. Set the Nautilus to DRY CAMPING
18. Turn off the water at the source/spigot
19. Disconnect the source hose from the filter
20. Let water drain a bit from the filter
21. Disconnect the short hose from the Nautilus Inlet
22. Disconnect the short hose from the open/close valve
23. Drain as much water as possible from components
24. Store everything

Other Procedures #

Honestly we’ve never done any of the others. We live in the Pacific Northwest, so it doesn’t get that cold and the Truma keeps the inside above freezing in the winter. Also we re-insulated quite a bit, so our Solis stays warmer than the stock version.

We are due for a sanitization which should be done regularly. Once I figure that procedure out, I’ll add it here.

Tips / Issues / Mods #

• Water tank gauge in the kitchen doesn’t go to the top. A full tank may be 3-4 inches from the top. The tank isn’t square, but instead and L shaped, which means there is more water at the bottom than the upper portions.
  • Lots of owners have marked the tank fill indicator to show Full, 3/4, 1/2 and 1/4. Full is easy, but 3/4, 1/2 and 1/4 are much more difficult due to the shape of the tank. I don’t want to take credit for this, so on the Solis Facebook page, search for: water tank 1/2 and you will find a couple posts of people who labeled their water tanks and how they did it.