Water pump cycling - new clue

[dangerdave]

Hi all,

I posted a while back about my water pump intermittently cycling. It will come on for about a half second, as if to push back up the pressure leaving through a leak. This happens more when it's cold (as you might imagine) - about every 10 minutes. We have the underside cover, but no leaks anywhere we can see. Been back to dealer 3 times, pump was replaced, no fixes. We went thru all the suggestions we got and no luck.

Otherwise it works great. No pressure problems. etc. At night we just turn it off unless we need it.

The other day I had everything in the trailer turned off except the water pump switch (I forgot it was on). After about an hour, I noticed there was water dripping down from the refrigerator drain/condensation hoses on to the ground. The fridge had been off for days.

I never noticed this leaking because every time we are camping the fridge is running and dripping its own water!!

Does this new clue ring any bells with anyone? Any ideas?

Thank you so much in advance!!!

[Mdiwade]

We made the dealer check all connections on the water control panel. I had tightened all but on at least a half turn and I believe as much as 3 turns. They said the one I couldn't reach was loose and we had 2 cracked elbows.

[dangerdave]

Water control panel?


Is this something you can get to easily?

thank you for you reply!

[norty1]

Thanks for the follow-up post.

The front is made for the users convenience but the back can be difficult to access in some rigs.

edit: sorry for my confusion, I was reading and not paying attention before I posted. Fifth wheels are different. You still have the leak problem I presume?

[sennister]

Originally Posted by dangerdave

Water control panel?


Is this something you can get to easily?

thank you for you reply!

I don't know that you have a water control panel. The people that responded have 5th wheels and it is common where they have their hookups in the basement to have a water control panel with vlaves for doing things like hooking up city water, filling the FW tank and winterizing the rig. This is normally not found on travel trailers as they just have a gravity fill port for FW and a port for city water on the side.

As far as the leak I assume you don't have an ice maker or water in your fridge that it is an RV fridge and not a residential. My in-laws have a Big Horn 5th wheel with residential fridge and they had an issue like this when the ice maker wasn't flushed with RV antifreeze and a fitting froze and cracked in the winter.

Since this isn't the case then there should be no water going into the fridge it is a mystery. It is possible that there are water lines run behind the fridge. I looked up your floor plan and it looks like along that wall from front to back is your shower and bath sink, the fridge then the kitchen sink. I don't know where your pump and FW tank is but normally in front of the axle so maybe under the lav sink but either way you have to have water line(s) that run behind the fridge. Maybe a water line is rubbing on something behind the fridge or was pinched behind the fridge. You might be able to see something if you open the access panel on the outside of the fridge or if you can show the dealer that the fridge is completely off and has been for several days and there is water back there they can pull the fridge to inspect behind or under it to see if the issue can be found there. I don't know that I would try it myself it is under warranty because of the gas lines and such.

It is hard to diagnose remotely but since the pump has been replaced that should have taken care of any check valve that might have been allowing pressure to drop even though there is no leak.

[dangerdave]

Thank you for the time and responses.

The dripping is coming very specifically from the fridge condensation hoses.

We do not have an ice maker. It's just a regular RV fridge.

Wow this is a tough one. How would there be water coming from those hoses if the fridge is OFF and the water pump is on.

[norty1]

One thing to be aware of is when you turn the fridge off, the ice on the coils will melt and drain thru that hose. We usually place some paper towel in the drip pan to absorb some of the melted frost.

My fridge, Norcold, has a drip pan outside to catch and allow the water to evaporate but I do not use that pan. I routed my condensate hose out the fridge vent to drip outside the rig like my old Dometic fridge did. Often the outside pan would overflow and leak around the bottom of the fridge in the outside access panel.

[dangerdave]

Thanks, excellent point. However the fridge had been left off for days.

Well I feel better at least that the experts here don't see an obvious answer!

Maybe I'll try the whole experiment again to make sure I'm not crazy.

Thank you everyone, I appreciate the help!

[RVhiker]

One additional place where a water leak can cause the pump to cycle is the check valve located at the city water inlet. You could check for drips of water coming from the city water inlet when there is no city water hose connected and the water pump is on.

[dangerdave]

YES!

A while back I was told that and everyone at the campground enjoyed me getting blasted in the face as I checked the valve.

HAHAHAHAH

[RVhiker]

Assuming that your city water inlet is like mine, if you pressed on the plastic nub of the check valve while there was pressure in the system (and this caused your blast of water to the face) there is a good possibility that the washer that makes the seal for the check valve got pushed out of place (been there, done that). So just look for a leak without mashing on that plastic nub when the pump is on and the system under pressure. If no leak, that's not the cause of your issue.

[dangerdave]

Ok will do. Maybe I missed it. Thx!

[mike837go]

See if you can check the back of the city water inlet. You could have a leak where it connects to the rest of your TT's water system.