DIY sight glass mod for a 5 gal jerry can for water level

[alia176]

Folks,

Some of you might've encountered this issue and it truly is a first world problem! My Scepter water can is strapped and shoehorned in the back of the landcrusier. I'd love to know how much water is in there by looking at a simple sight glass because pulling it out for a refill is a royal PITA. Please don't give me advice on the filing procedures

It'd be a simple device using two 90deg connectors with bulk head fittings and a clear rubber hose. All of this has to be food grade and the fittings HAS to be made for a bulkhead application. I don't want to dink around with using NPT brass fittings then kludge up some hardware to make this work.

If you have seen something similar or made one up, please let me know some details.

 

[dstefan]

Well, here’s what I did, not for checking levels, but realized I could do it, so that was an added benefit.

Military Water Can Dispenser Spout - Scepter

Designed for use with both the 5G / 20L and the 2.5G / 10L Scepter military water cans, the dispenser spout is ideal for filling water bottles, cups, bowls etc

www.scepter.com

I just cut the scepter spigot hose and extended it to 4feet with food grade hose from McMaster-Carr and a couple SS straight barbs. Zip ties to cinch the junctions and silicon rescue tape finished it off. Sorry, not the best pic, but you get the idea. Easy to see the water level and great to have some reach with the spigot.

A big plus is the Scepter spigot that you can’t see here. Makes fine control of the flow real easy, the lever can be swiveled to any angle and locked open too. One of our favorite mods.

You could replace your spigot with a SS pipe thread reducer of the appropriate size ending in a barb for the hose. McMaster-Carr has all sorts of fittings you cant find at HD. The Scepter is stout enough you should be able to use the threads on the reducer to tap your spigot hole.

 

[NatersXJ6]

Not quite the firstest of first world problems, but yes!

I’m betting a legitimate expo guy would use some sort of electronic sensor with Bluetooth to a proprietary phone app that interfaces with their navigation program and routs them to the nearest water source when the can got down to a pre-determined percentage.

They would then start a thread hating on the users of the other brand app that reads a different percentage, all while lamenting the level changes as the can expands and contracts with temperature and altitude differences.

After that they would complain that the original manufacturer refused to customize the system for whatever perceived correction they believed in, and that the water would be undrinkable without it!

At this point, they would truly have a first world problem!

I would check out home brewing catalogs for food grade bulkhead fittings. I also wouldn’t worry about food grade, but everyone is different.

 

[RDinNHand AZ]

Maybe this, no holes below the waterline to leak:

Or these and a visit to the hardware store?

Since you have added a spigot ths might work:

 

[alia176]

It's time to update this thread with my solution. It's been in action for few months and I'm pleased with the outcome.

I made a simple level indicator with a clear vinyl hose and two 90deg barbed fittings from this eBay seller. It's a tad pricey but it's worth it, I think. One caveat though, the kit comes with four rubber washers and you need two rubber washers per fitting (inside & outside). Simply installing rubber washers on the inside of the water can wasn't totally leak proof for me but YMMV.