Community Forums

shejake · 06-23-2007, 07:17 AM

Fresh water tank was empty. We hooked up to city water. The fresh tank continued to fill over time and overflowed into the basement. How do we keep the fresh tank from filling when hooked to city water? WRV said there is a check valve and were supposedly going to send us one but we never received it. Does anyone know where this check valve is located or what it looks like?

Thanks for any help.
Doug

shejake · 06-23-2007, 07:17 AM

Fresh water tank was empty. We hooked up to city water. The fresh tank continued to fill over time and overflowed into the basement. How do we keep the fresh tank from filling when hooked to city water? WRV said there is a check valve and were supposedly going to send us one but we never received it. Does anyone know where this check valve is located or what it looks like?

Thanks for any help.
Doug

Ted III · 06-23-2007, 09:56 AM

I really do not know of a check valve, just an overflow that should exit under the coach. Check and see if you have an overflow hose. There would be no reason for a check valve. We fill ours until it overflows and turn the hose off. I have read that some people lose quite a bit of water when there tank is full but we lose none except the excess. When you think about it, it is a pretty simple process. It is like filling a bucket, when the bucket is full shut the flow off.

shejake · 06-23-2007, 03:05 PM

Thanks for the reply. But I guess my question is why is any water going into the tank when I am hooked up to city water connection?
Doug

Gary M. Smith · 06-23-2007, 07:18 PM

shejake,
I don't know what year coach you have, but on our 2000, on the services bay wall, there is a clearly marked handle to switch the selector valve between city water and tank fill. On mine it is down below the (single) inlet hose connection.

Jeff_S · 06-23-2007, 09:17 PM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Gary M. Smith:
shejake,
I don't know what year coach you have, but on our 2000, on the services bay wall, there is a clearly marked handle to switch the selector valve between city water and tank fill. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>On our 2000, this A/B valve was leaking. When using the tank water w/pump, the pump was cycling when on Fill Tank. Pressure at the valve was causing water to be cycled back into the tank via the pump. If I put the valve to City Water everything was OK.

I removed the valve and installed another hose inlet. So now, one goes directly to the tank and the other into the water system for city water hookup.

Ted III · 06-24-2007, 01:36 AM

I did not understand that you had the valve set on city water. I am assuming you have a valve to turn for the different direcions of the water flow. As the other responses have stated the valve between city water & tank fill must not be working properly.

shejake · 06-24-2007, 09:12 AM

We do not have a switch valve between the tanks. It is a 2004 with separate inlets for city water and fresh tank. But.....when hooked to city water the fresh tank fills. Does anyone have a plumbing schematic for a 2004 mid door?
Doug

EngineerMike · 06-24-2007, 09:13 AM

I agree w/Jeff; it is probably an internal leak in the CityWater/TankFill valve. I have a similar A/B valve leak in my Vagabond system that I have cobbled a fix for. Your easiest solution is to replace the valve & see if that works, since it is easily accesible immediately behind the utility panel. You should be able to find the valve at a good RV supply place. Here is a good description of how the valve works, tho none of those pictured is an exact match for the OEM valve.

shejake · 06-24-2007, 02:52 PM

Thanks Jeff & Mike, Gary & Ted. But, we DO NOT have a valve. It is two separate inlets. We must manually move the hose from one hose bib to the other hose bib.
No Valve. And We do have an overflow hose with a shut off valve which might help some of you when traveling to keep from losing water while driving, and it's open when we are parked.
Thanks, Doug

VAGABONDMAN · 06-24-2007, 07:47 PM

Shejake, it sounds to me like your rig has been modified by someone. I know of no Alpine that came with two separate water connections.

I recently discovered that some of the rigs I'm exposed to have the water pump connected to the city water line. If this is the case with your rig, I suspect that the check valve at the pump is letting water flow back thru the pump into the tank. If this condition does exist, your pump may cycle on and off as the pressure bleeds water back into the tank.

Also, as Mike has noted, the a/b valves used by WRV are directional valves and will not stop water from flowing backwards. The two solutions are to install a check valve or use a non directional valve, such as the ones I use with the Vagabond system. I'm not skookum enough to include photos here, but if you send me your e-mail address, I'll send you some info and photos.

Ted III · 06-25-2007, 02:21 AM

Doug, It sounds like your original analysis was correct that you do have a check valve. I would contact WRV again and try to find Dave Kaampi and ask him to get you the location of the check valve or as E Mike suggested get an A/B valve and set it up that way which would eliminate worrying about the check valve. I personally would think that would be the better way. Then you will only have one hose connection which will make life simpler.

Jeff_S · 06-25-2007, 07:03 AM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by shejake:
Thanks Jeff & Mike, Gary & Ted. But, we DO NOT have a valve. It is two separate inlets. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>In that case:<UL TYPE=SQUARE><LI>The tank fill hose bib should go directly to the tank<LI>The city water hose bib goes into the water system giving pressure and water supply<LI>When using the water pump, it supplies pressure to the water system and water supply from the fresh water tank (replacing the function of the city water bib)[/list]Therefore, my only guess is that water is flowing in reverse through the water pump (which is not being used while on city water). This should be the only path for water to get from the city water hose bib to the tank.

Gary M. Smith · 06-26-2007, 08:29 PM

shejake,
Jeff S. has the only plausible explanation; i.e., city water leaking backward through the 12 vdc pump and filling (and overfilling) the onboard water tank. Your pump check valve is suspect.