Fresh Water Tank Issue

[AKRUEBBE]

For the first time since we took delivery in May of this year, I needed to fill the fresh water tank because the temperature was predicted to be in the 20's last night (Kerrville, TX) and I couldn't use the city water connection. I flipped all the switches to the position for power fill. I put a flow meter at the connection because I didn't want more than 10 to 15 gallons of water. It took about 5 minutes to fill just two gallons of water. Put about 10 gallons in. Flipped the switches to dry camping. Turned the pump on at the control panel and turned the faucet on. It took a few seconds for the pump to prime but there was maybe 10 pounds of pressure if that! Any guesses has to what the problem may be?

[Mopar_Earl]

Do you have enough water to keep it from sucking air? 10 gallons isn't much in that size of a tank.

The fresh water system should of been tested during your self PDI.

Earl

[AKRUEBBE]

Originally Posted by Mopar_Earl

Do you have enough water to keep it from sucking air? 10 gallons isn't much in that size of a tank. The fresh water system should of been tested during your self PDI. Earl

That could be the issue for the low pressure, but the really slow fill rate is crazy. I had my pressure regulator set at 55 psi.

[Mopar_Earl]

Never timed mine, so can't help you on the fill rate. When I fill my tank I do other things till it over flows. I couldn't even guess how long it takes. Lol

Do you have good pressure when you first then on the faucet? The OEM pumps aren't much to talk about.


Earl

[Screwby]

The slow prime could have been the pump seals getting their first “workout” in awhile so they weren’t sealing and struggled to build pressure at first. The slow fill could be a kinked line going into the freshwater tank? The only way to really tell is to run the same hose off the same spigot hooked to the water meter and fill something else up or water the grass. If it’s quicker reaching the 10 gallon mark then you have a flow issue. Ditto on the water pumps, they don’t exactly blow your hair back with water pressure lol

[AKRUEBBE]

Originally Posted by Screwby

The slow prime could have been the pump seals getting their first “workout” in awhile so they weren’t sealing and struggled to build pressure at first. The slow fill could be a kinked line going into the freshwater tank? The only way to really tell is to run the same hose off the same spigot hooked to the water meter and fill something else up or water the grass. If it’s quicker reaching the 10 gallon mark then you have a flow issue. Ditto on the water pumps, they don’t exactly blow your hair back with water pressure lol

The flow meter is very accurate. I bought it to flush the black tank. That way I knew how many gallons I was putting into the black tank. I'll look behind the docking station and see if there are any kinks. I hate to look behind it because every time I do I get very angry at the mess

[Screwby]

Originally Posted by AKRUEBBE

The flow meter is very accurate. I bought it to flush the black tank. That way I knew how many gallons I was putting into the black tank. I'll look behind the docking station and see if there are any kinks. I hate to look behind it because every time I do I get very angry at the mess

Lol, then don’t ever look behind the breaker panel

[AKRUEBBE]

Originally Posted by Screwby

Lol, then don’t ever look behind the breaker panel

Don't think I will!!

[Nathan S.]

I got into my mess behind the control panel this weekend. Put in an accumulator to stop the pulsing and noise with the pump. My pump wasn’t even bolted to anything. Anyway, there are a couple of bypass valves in there for winterizing and maintenance. Your rig is fancier than mine and have more controls in the panel. I have a very simple control panel. But while your in there look for valve positions, I had one on the input side of the pump so I could bypass the panel water input and pump water from a bladder or to pump antifreeze into the system. You might have something half closed.

[Joan617]

Al, that's a great idea about the water meter. Which one did you get and are you happy with it? I can now see a LOT of uses for it. Thanks for the tip!



Obviously I can't tell you the fill rate on my rig (yet) but I remember from sanitizing it this summer that it was slow, but like Earl, I just busied myself with other stuff.


As for the water pressure when on the pump, I can report anecdotally that ours runs on the pump from the tank similarly to when we have about 45 lbs on city water.


While we don't intentionally dry camp, I'm finding that we use the tank for more than I would have thought. An example is when I back-flush and regenerate the water softener; it's nice to keep running the house off the tank. Then last week the campground lost a water main, taking us off line for a few hours, followed by a few days of a boil-water advisory. In a couple of weeks we are going for an Escapees "Smart-Weigh"; I'm going to roll in with a full tank of fresh and see how we fare on the scales.

[AKRUEBBE]

Originally Posted by Joan617

Al, that's a great idea about the water meter. Which one did you get and are you happy with it? I can now see a LOT of uses for it. Thanks for the tip!

Angus, I bought this one..........I tested it for accuracy by filling a 5 gallon bucket and it was right on!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[CAG]

I use that water flow meter religiously.

As for the slow fill. Does the connection for the hose at the unit have a vent tube? If so a plugged vent tube can cause the tank not to fill. Sometimes the vent tube gets a bend which causes a J trap effect. In-fact it can cause the tank to flex beyond it's limits and cause some leak issues. If there is a vent tube use air pressure to blow it out but don't have the hose attached at the time. Many times the vent tube fills with water and causes a problem.

[AKRUEBBE]

Originally Posted by CAG

I use that water flow meter religiously.

As for the slow fill. Does the connection for the hose at the unit have a vent tube? If so a plugged vent tube can cause the tank not to fill. Sometimes the vent tube gets a bend which causes a J trap effect. In-fact it can cause the tank to flex beyond it's limits and cause some leak issues. If there is a vent tube use air pressure to blow it out but don't have the hose attached at the time. Many times the vent tube fills with water and causes a problem.

Where is the vent/overflow tube located and how would you get to it?

[CAG]

Originally Posted by AKRUEBBE

Where is the vent/overflow tube located and how would you get to it?

It depends upon the rig. It could be next to the fill port for water or under the rig near the tank. If it is underneath it should not be plugged. It is generally the fills that have a vent port right next to the fill.

[Dave A]

I got the same one! Last summer I was filling the tank and was wondering what in the world was wrong....I had pushed the wrong button too many times and changed it to Liters. Yep, it makes a big difference.

[vagabond_Cubby]

Originally Posted by AKRUEBBE

For the first time since we took delivery in May of this year, I needed to fill the fresh water tank because the temperature was predicted to be in the 20's last night (Kerrville, TX) and I couldn't use the city water connection. I flipped all the switches to the position for power fill. I put a flow meter at the connection because I didn't want more than 10 to 15 gallons of water. It took about 5 minutes to fill just two gallons of water. Put about 10 gallons in. Flipped the switches to dry camping. Turned the pump on at the control panel and turned the faucet on. It took a few seconds for the pump to prime but there was maybe 10 pounds of pressure if that! Any guesses has to what the problem may be?

I have a Pinnacle too, with 75 gal. FW tank; it has taken 25 minutes or more to fill (until overflow). I've timed roughly 2 1/2 - 3 gal per minute rate. I use an inline hose water filter and 45 psi flow preventer; and of course pressure will vary site to site. The narrower plumbing in these units is also a factor. Thanks for the tip on the flow meter, that will help me for partial fills.

[JimD]

90% of my camping is dry camping and I just recently made a discovery while filling my tank. I have put valves on all 3 tank overflow lines as I was losing 1/3 of a tank of water by driving. That indeed helped but my discovery helped even more.

When filling my tank I would fill using a flow regulator and filter and wait for the overflow hoses to puke water meaning the tank was full and then shut off the valves. I found out that filling at full flow (with the regulator) caused the overflows to start siphoning water before the tank was actually full. Very strange! I can only guess that the hoses extend down into the tank and the pressure of filling fast caused the overflow siphon to kick in too soon.

I have begun slowing down the fill when the tank is about 2/3 full and this magically allows the tank to fill all the way up. On my Greyhawk you can see the air bubble in the tank by looking through the wheel well. I now have a lot more dry camping water available. Happy days!

This all came about while I was installing my new See Level gauge system for monitoring fresh, gray, black, and propane levels. Definitely a nice system that I never knew existed until I saw it mentioned on this forum. So much knowledge available here.

[MadJoker TX]

Originally Posted by AKRUEBBE

Where is the vent/overflow tube located and how would you get to it?

I have a NP 377 and my overflow is located on the door side behind the rear tire.

[robkelly]

A linked line behind the docking station is very possible - we had one... Be sure you don’t have a low point drain open too. I had a miserable time getting the pump to prime when winterizing this year, only to discover that the low point drain for the fridge was open

[AKRUEBBE]

Originally Posted by MadJoker TX

I have a NP 377 and my overflow is located on the door side behind the rear tire.

MadJoker TX,What you are referring to is the drain for the fresh water tank, not the overflow.