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Old 07-27-2014, 02:56 PM   #1
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Low water flow on city water?

Hi,

We believe we have identified our trailer as a '77 Jayco Wren Deluxe. According to the manual:

CITY WATER SYSTEM OPERATION
Connect a flexible hose with 3/4" fitting to the city water service and
the R.V. water filler fitting. Turn on the city water and you will
receive pressure at all faucets, the toilet, and the water heater.

We used a 6' garden hose that came with our trailer to hook up to a spigot in my back yard. Water flows freely and with sufficient pressure when the hose is not connected to the trailer.

I connected it to the trailer and eventually we get a tiny trickle of water in the kitchen and bathroom faucets. Is there some kind of filter that needs to be cleaned? Any other reason city water is not pressurizing/flowing in our trailer?

Thanks in advance,

James and Becky (total trailer noobs)
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Old 07-27-2014, 03:46 PM   #2
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You say sufficient pressure.. What is your water pressure?? What is perceived as good water pressure by visually looking at a free flowing stream coming out of a hose can be very deceiving!! Too small of a diameter hose can drastically alter your pressure and flow. Have you used this trailer in the past or is this a new unit to you. If you have established that you really do have good unrestricted pressure into the city water inlet, you need to start looking for kinked or collapsed internal hoses. If its a 77 trailer, I doubt if there is any kind of filter on it unless a previous owner installed one.
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Old 07-27-2014, 04:02 PM   #3
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This is just one possibility...

If it has a pump and can connect to city water, there has to be a check valve somewhere to keep the pump from pumping out the city water inlet. Maybe that check valve is stuck mostly closed. It could be a separate check valve in the water line, or it could be built into the fixture you attach the hose to.
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Old 07-27-2014, 04:42 PM   #4
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You say sufficient pressure.. What is your water pressure?? What is perceived as good water pressure by visually looking at a free flowing stream coming out of a hose can be very deceiving!! Too small of a diameter hose can drastically alter your pressure and flow. Have you used this trailer in the past or is this a new unit to you. If you have established that you really do have good unrestricted pressure into the city water inlet, you need to start looking for kinked or collapsed internal hoses. If its a 77 trailer, I doubt if there is any kind of filter on it unless a previous owner installed one.
It's a spigot off the main line to my house. My house has adequate water pressure. The kitchen faucet is just dripping at this stage... not even running.
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Old 07-27-2014, 05:12 PM   #5
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This is just one possibility...

If it has a pump and can connect to city water, there has to be a check valve somewhere to keep the pump from pumping out the city water inlet. Maybe that check valve is stuck mostly closed. It could be a separate check valve in the water line, or it could be built into the fixture you attach the hose to.
The fixture the hose connects to is a metal pipe that tees just inside the trailer wall. One side goes toward the water pump/fresh water tanks and the other towards the back of the trailer towards the shower, hot water heater and the kitchen.
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Old 07-27-2014, 05:34 PM   #6
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If you run the water pump (with water in the storage tank) what happens?
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Old 07-27-2014, 08:01 PM   #7
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If you run the water pump (with water in the storage tank) what happens?
I called the previous owner and that's what he suggested. I ran the pump for 20-30 minutes, no change.
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Old 07-27-2014, 08:20 PM   #8
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Pull one of the strainers off the faucet. May be plugged with "stuff". Check the flow without the strainer. Look for a whole house filter. Open the vent on the water heater and check the flow. Any difference in hot vs cold? How does the toilet flush and shower flow?
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Old 07-27-2014, 09:37 PM   #9
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Pull one of the strainers off the faucet. May be plugged with "stuff". Check the flow without the strainer. Look for a whole house filter. Open the vent on the water heater and check the flow. Any difference in hot vs cold? How does the toilet flush and shower flow?
Funny you should mention that. We bought the trailer with the kitchen faucet off. It was broken. We bought a new one today. I'd turned the water on for a second the day before and my wife said water shot out of the kitchen faucet supply pipes, so thought there was no problem.

There's no difference between hot and cold, kitchen and bathroom, shower or toilet. All of them just trickle water. There's got to be a valve or filter somewhere! We just can't find it!
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Old 07-28-2014, 06:31 AM   #10
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....I'd turned the water on for a second the day before and my wife said water shot out of the kitchen faucet supply pipes, so thought there was no problem. ....
So your city water system supplied water a couple of days ago?

Quote:
Originally Posted by RVhiker View Post
If you run the water pump (with water in the storage tank) what happens?
Quote:
Originally Posted by daoist View Post
I called the previous owner and that's what he suggested. I ran the pump for 20-30 minutes, no change.
1) Does that mean that the water supply is OK when the pump is running? **If so**, that eliminates most issues with the water supply system in your trailer. There is a check valve somewhere. On newer trailers (don't know about 1977) , I think that most check valves are built into the brass fixture you screw the city water hose into. If that check valve is stuck, that would reduce or eliminate the flow of water into the trailer from the city water connection. Here is one city water connection so you'll know what it looks like. By the way, if your city water inlet has a screen like in the attached picture, is the screen clogged up?

2) Or does that mean that there is no water pressure in the system when the water pump is running? This answer does not really shed much light on the situation, as there are a whole lot of issues that can make no water supply with the pump operating.
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Old 07-28-2014, 07:00 AM   #11
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Can you post a picture of the water heater? Preferably the back where the water connections are?
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Old 07-28-2014, 08:57 AM   #12
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So your city water system supplied water a couple of days ago?



1) Does that mean that the water supply is OK when the pump is running? **If so**, that eliminates most issues with the water supply system in your trailer. There is a check valve somewhere. On newer trailers (don't know about 1977) , I think that most check valves are built into the brass fixture you screw the city water hose into. If that check valve is stuck, that would reduce or eliminate the flow of water into the trailer from the city water connection. Here is one city water connection so you'll know what it looks like. By the way, if your city water inlet has a screen like in the attached picture, is the screen clogged up?

2) Or does that mean that there is no water pressure in the system when the water pump is running? This answer does not really shed much light on the situation, as there are a whole lot of issues that can make no water supply with the pump operating.
I assumed the water was fine because I had her watching the dangling sink supply lines while I turned the water on at the spigot. I did not see it for myself.

There is no difference with the water pump running. And as far as I can tell, no water has entered either of the fresh water supply tanks either.

So the thing where I screwed in the hose from the spigot has a valve inside it? It LOOKS like a simple piece of pipe that tees about 6-8 inches inside the trailer wall.
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Old 07-28-2014, 10:16 AM   #13
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I assumed the water was fine because I had her watching the dangling sink supply lines while I turned the water on at the spigot. I did not see it for myself.
That's good, it means your system functioned somewhat a few days ago.

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There is no difference with the water pump running. And as far as I can tell, no water has entered either of the fresh water supply tanks either.
Some trailers have a valving system to fill the fresh water tanks; you connect a city water supply and set some valves a certain way and the city water runs into the fresh water supply tanks. Some have a gravity fill, which means you stick a city water supply hose into what amounts to a bigger hose that connects to the fresh water tanks and that runs water into the fresh water tanks.

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Originally Posted by daoist View Post
So the thing where I screwed in the hose from the spigot has a valve inside it? It LOOKS like a simple piece of pipe that tees about 6-8 inches inside the trailer wall.
One problem figuring out what is going on is that your trailer is "experienced" i.e. old and has probably had many modifications made to it over the years. But if your trailer has a pump, and if the system was as installed, then there has to be a check valve somewhere. A check valve is an automatic one way valve - water can go one way in a pipe, but not the other. The pump uses the same water system in your trailer as your city water uses; the pump pumps water into the system. If there is no check valve, then the pressurized water squirts out where ever the city water connection is. So there has to be a check valve to keep that from hapenning, and the ones I've seen are located in the city water fill connection, although the check valve could be elsewhere or could even be a manual hand operated valve. The check valve is only one idea - if it is stuck closed then you would get no city water pressure.

Is there a screen at the city water inlet? Is the screen clear?
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Old 07-28-2014, 10:37 AM   #14
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That's good, it means your system functioned somewhat a few days ago.


Some trailers have a valving system to fill the fresh water tanks; you connect a city water supply and set some valves a certain way and the city water runs into the fresh water supply tanks. Some have a gravity fill, which means you stick a city water supply hose into what amounts to a bigger hose that connects to the fresh water tanks and that runs water into the fresh water tanks.



One problem figuring out what is going on is that your trailer is "experienced" i.e. old and has probably had many modifications made to it over the years. But if your trailer has a pump, and if the system was as installed, then there has to be a check valve somewhere. A check valve is an automatic one way valve - water can go one way in a pipe, but not the other. The pump uses the same water system in your trailer as your city water uses; the pump pumps water into the system. If there is no check valve, then the pressurized water squirts out where ever the city water connection is. So there has to be a check valve to keep that from hapenning, and the ones I've seen are located in the city water fill connection, although the check valve could be elsewhere or could even be a manual hand operated valve. The check valve is only one idea - if it is stuck closed then you would get no city water pressure.

Is there a screen at the city water inlet? Is the screen clear?
The stuck check valve is sounding like the most likely scenario as I'm getting water neither from faucets OR into the fresh water tanks.

I'll attach photos of the water connection in hopes someone will recognize it. Can the valve be hidden behind that paneling inside the wall?
Attached Thumbnails
20140728_092513.jpg   20140728_092524.jpg  
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Old 07-28-2014, 11:08 AM   #15
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Usually the check valve in question sticks in the open position. I have never heard of one blocking incoming city water.
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Old 07-28-2014, 11:45 AM   #16
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Usually the check valve in question sticks in the open position. I have never heard of one blocking incoming city water.
Norty, I agree. Just grasping at straws here.

To daoist, have you checked the faucet aerators to make sure they are not stopped up? Or maybe when you replaced the faucet you turned something off that needs to be turned back on? Hang in there. If your water system worked a few days ago, it can work again.
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Old 07-28-2014, 11:51 AM   #17
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Can you add water to the fresh tank? It is starting to sound like there is something in the water inlet. A critter seeking shelter? Does your city water connection have a cover/plug for when not in use?
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Old 07-28-2014, 08:09 PM   #18
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Problem solved!

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Can you add water to the fresh tank? It is starting to sound like there is something in the water inlet. A critter seeking shelter? Does your city water connection have a cover/plug for when not in use?
Ding, ding, ding, ding we have a winner!

I took the first tee apart and wasn't even getting water that far! So, the white plastic thing on the end of the steel pipe is the check valve. The entire length of that pipe was clogged with some kind of a nest... Not sure what is small enough to pack so much vegetation in there and still fit in itself? The good news is, cleaned that length of pipe out and BOOM, uber pressure!

So, the water system is every bit as simple as I imagined, I just hadn't imagined such an effective plug in that short pipe!
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Old 07-28-2014, 09:04 PM   #19
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Ding, ding, ding, ding we have a winner!
Even a blind pig finds an acorn eventually
Glad you sorted that out! Time to get campin
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Old 07-29-2014, 04:38 AM   #20
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We are all cheering. Enjoy!
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