fresh water tank, when do you know it's full

[lp5151]

when filling the fresh water tank through the utility port, how do you know the tank is full, is there a visual way or just develope a feel? using the guages inside doesn't get it, since there is room left for more water when the full light goes on. M/H is a southwind 36D.

[Gary CA]

Ip5151, You'll know when the water tank is full when it overflows out of the top over-flow relief tube. That is OK, it hurts nothing.

[rjf7g]

Sounds simple, but that's what I do, too.

[TheTrippers]

I always unscrew the gravity fill cover on the passenger side before starting the auto-fill, then go do whatever else has to be done, when the water runs/shoots out of the open cover the tank is full and I turn the auto-fill off.
Can be a lot of water pressure on auto-fill so it needs somewhere else to flow when the tank is full, if not I suspect the tank could rupture. My overflow is just a tiny squirt of a tube.

[Spikester]

I'm a simple visual guy also, when water comes out the overflow, its full!

Spike

[Triker56]

I do it The Trippers way.

[justimagination]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheTrippers I always unscrew the gravity fill cover on the passenger side before starting the auto-fill, then go do whatever else has to be done, when the water runs/shoots out of the open cover the tank is full and I turn the auto-fill off. Can be a lot of water pressure on auto-fill so it needs somewhere else to flow when the tank is full, if not I suspect the tank could rupture. My overflow is just a tiny squirt of a tube.

I couldn't have said it any better, it's the only way I have found to do it without going back and forth to check the warning light inside, works for me. Good luck, and be safe over the holiday.
David G.

[NLOVNIT]

We have 2 ways of knowing. First, we know how many gallons it holds & Dave has a gauge with a gallons flow meter on it. He hooks it up to the hose, sets it to zero, attaches the hose to the fill port & starts filling the tank. Second, we can see our fresh tank as it's at the top of the 1st storage bay aft of the entry door. While it's filling, I hang out by that open bay door watching the tank fill (a little more entertaining than watching paint dry ). Sure beats going inside to check the gauge all the time. Unless, of course, I'm already inside, in which case, it's no big deal to keep checking the gauge.

Lori-

[Troubleshooter]

While simply filling until the water overflows might work for most units, it can lead to a disaster in other units.
On some model Discovery D/P's, the water tanks lie between the frame rails, under the Kitchen/Living room slide area, and the overflow is about eight-ten inches above the top of the water tank. Overfilling might allow the water tanks to expand upward, contacting the flooring above, and causing it to bow upwards.
I have seen this happen in our Discovery, however caught the expanding tank before it did any damage, however one Discovery owner didn't catch the expanding tanks, and overfilled them. When he deployed the slide-out the raised flooring was caught by the slideout, and ripped out some of the flooring.
The resulting damage required him to take his rig back to the factory for extensive repairs.
Armed with this knowledge, I either physically look at the water level in the tanks, and if I cannot do this, I rely on the not so accurate tank level monitor.
IMHO, better to have less water than to have too much which might cause additional damage.

Bill
2002 Discovery