Low Water Pressure

[Gadget Man]

I'm doing my annual spring RV maintenance. Among the items is sanitizing the fresh water system and flushing out the water heater. The only thing I have done differently this year is I accidentally left the drain plug out of the water heater overnight. I'm now having low water pressure issues inside the coach, and I'm wondering if leaving the plug out is what is causing this.

Normally it takes me only a few minutes to purge the air out of the fresh water lines after flushing the water heater tank. Today is a huge exception. I have had the city water hose hooked up and turned on for the best part of an hour now, and still, the pressure inside the coach is very low. I get the same results if I disconnect the city water and switch over to the water pump. Low pressure there as well.

Could leaving the water heater drain plug out overnight cause this, or is something else screwed up? The presssure was fine before I sanitized and flushed the system.

Craig

[Gadget Man]

UPDATE:

It's my water filter. My water filter system was permanently mounted in the fresh water compartment by Fleetwood. I have always used Culligan D30 water filters. After I sanitized the system I changed the water filter. I just now took the filter out of the housing and the water pressure inside was perfect. I always carry a spare filter so I installed another one, thinking the one I installed earlier was bad. The low pressure returned. Culligan must have changed these somehow, because the filter is definitely the problem.

Craig

[Gadget Man]

I sanitized my fresh water system today as part of my annual spring maintenance. This includes replacing my fresh water filter after the sanitizing is complete. I have always used Culligan D30 water filters. I've considered Culligan to be a trusted name, and I have never had any odor or sediment issues while using their filters. Unfortunately, that all changed today.

After I replaced the Culligan filter today, I experienced a sharp reduction in my water pressure inside the coach. Thinking that I somehow allowed too much air to enter the system, I allowed a ton of water to flow through the faucets, in an attempt to purge any air that I thought was restricting my water pressure. I at one point removed the water filter from the filter housing, and the pressure returned to normal. I knew then my problem was the filter.

I compared the water inlet of the old Culligan filter to the new one. The difference was startling. As you can see in the below photos, the new filter inlet is not much larger than the head of a pin.


Old filter




New filter



Why Culligan would restrict water flow to this point is beyond me, but I've lost confidence in their product. I will be contacting them for an explanation and a refund.

For now, I was able to enlarge the water inlet on the new filter by drilling out the hole. I held the filter upside down when I did this, to prevent the plastic shavings from entering the filter. I won't do this again, so I will shop around for a better filter. Any suggestions?

Craig

[Mr_D]

Originally Posted by Craig P.

New filter

From the looks of the picture it also looks like it was installed wrong. See the semicircle imprint to the right of the center where it wasn't centered in the housing. That also might make a difference.

[Gadget Man]

Originally Posted by Mr_D

From the looks of the picture it also looks like it was installed wrong. See the semicircle imprint to the right of the center where it wasn't centered in the housing. That also might make a difference.

Good eye. I discovered that when I initially installed it. The filter housing won't seal when the cartridge isn't lined up properly, so I caught this as I was screwing the filter housing back on. Easy mistake to make, but also easy to catch and re-adjust.

NOTE: In case anyone is wondering why it looks like I'm repeating myself in this thread, the moderators saw fit to merge my separate question about low water pressure with my warning about Culligan Water Filters. Not sure I agree with that decision, but it is what it is...

Craig

[Gary RVRoamer]

Note that the problem was loss of flow volume, not loss of pressure. Reducing the flow rate through the filter should increase the effectiveness of a charcoal-type filter. The longer the water is in contact with the filter media, the more taste/odor is absorbed.

I'm not saying reducing the flow was a good idea - just that they probably had a valid technical reason for doing it. They can advertise more filtering capability at no extra cost in increased size or more filter media inside.