Please help! Fresh water pouring out from under coach!

[sartor]

I've got a 2019 Dutch Star 4369 Spartan, and all of a sudden this morning fresh water started pouring out from under the coach. Specifically it is coming out of a 2" diameter black flexible rubber drain that exits from under the coach about 6" in from the passenger side, beneath the front end of the pegboard compartment (rearmost storage bay on passenger side).

I can't figure out *where* exactly that drain comes from, and what prompted it to suddenly start pouring out there. The fresh tank is now completely empty, and if I turn the city/shore water connection on/off, I see the water start/stop pouring out from under there. So it's definitely affiliated with the fresh water suppply, but I'm not sure if it's affiliated with the fresh water *tank* or something else. I can't figure out how to even get at the source of that drain from inside the coach. It lines up with immediately in front of the bedroom slide, so between the half bath and bedroom.

I'm aware of the valve in the wet bay compartment, all the way in the back/left behind the macerator pump, that is the intended fresh tank drain valve, and I've confirmed that's closed and operating properly (open/close it and I get that drain flowing/stopping).

But can someone please help me figure out the source/cause of the water flowing out that flexible 2" black rubber drain under the passenger side by the front of the pegboard bay?

Thanks!

Tom

[sartor]

Forgot to add/ask: is it possible that that drain has some kind of "pressure relief" aspect to it, such that a pressure relief valve somewhere has gotten stuck open?

[sartor]

Sorry for the repetitive posts: one more thing to add: this all started happening this morning immediately after I finished dumping the black/grey tanks. I can't imagine any connection, but just seems odd that immediately after I finished dumping, and was getting everything put back away in the wet bay compartment, that's when I noticed the fresh water pouring out from under the coach (the water started flowing over from the passenger side to the driver side under the wet bay, so I noticed it). Prior to my dumping, I had a very full grey tank (95%), and I also had my fresh tank full at 95%.

[Winger2]

Did you leave the recirc valve on in the shower?

[Skip426]

The drain is the fresh tank over flow .

Are you still hooked to city water ?
Did you move the city water control to " Fill " then turn it off ?
Control valve could be it stuck in the fill position.

[sartor]

To Winger2, regarding "shower recirc valve," I don't know; possibly. What is the "shower recirc valve"? In our shower there is the very bottom valve with three positions: shower head, sprayer hose, and off. Then in the middle, just above the handle that turns the water on, there is a *square* knob that can rotate 180 degrees, and seems to have a detent/click in the middle position, but doesn't appear to do anything. Which is the "shower recirc valve," and what might it have to do with the problem I'm experiencing (which from Skip426 appears to be my fresh water tank overflow)?

And to Skip426's questions, yes, I've been connected to the city water for a couple of days now, and still am. But I've confirmed that if I turn off the city water, the water also stops flowing out of that drain. And I've also now observed that it's affected by having the fresh water on "auto-fill" vs. "manual fill."

So yes, it appears that anytime it is trying to fill the fresh water tank (which is showing as 100% full already on my gauge) I am getting that overflow. So a stuck fresh fill valve would make sense.

So that raises the question: how do I access/fix a stuck fresh fill valve, if indeed that's the problem I've got?

Tom

[sartor]

And just for the record, I have to correct something from my initial post. I had written that my fresh tank was now *empty*, but that wasn't really the case. Occasionally my gauge seems to go on the fritz so it was showing "0%" at one point, but that was in error. The fresh tank is completely full.

[Skip426]

I don't have an " Auto fill " system , so sorry I can't help with that .

Does the overflow stop on manual fill ?

[Winepress]

Shower Miser

[sartor]

Okay, so here's an update: Problem is definitely associated with the fresh tank fill, and it continuing to fill to the point of overflow. So anything I can do to stop fresh tank filling also will stop the overflow out the drain. This includes shutting off the city water (of course), or disabling the auto-fill function.

So question left is: what went wrong to make it start overfilling, and how do I fix it?

Here's some more background: up to this point, I have always simply left the wet bay valve set to "auto-fill," and also have "auto-fill" enabled via the control screen on the tanks gauge above the driver's seat. And never any issues with overflow. On that gauge control screen, there are two separate settings: auto-fill (enabled/disabled), and "top-off" (on/off). I *think* that the way the auto-fill function is supposed to work is this:

1) Set valve in wet bay to auto-fill
2) Turn on auto-fill function on gauge screen
3) Under these conditions, I believe the fill control valve is supposed to automatically cycle on whenever the fresh water tank drops below a certain level (70%?), and then back off when it hits 100%. This should all just happen automatically as necessary, and it's the way I've always operated until now (with no overflows).

I also believe (not 100% sure) that if you change the wet bay valve to "manual fill," it simply starts filling and will KEEP filling (including past the point of overflow) until you manually turn the valve back to auto-fill. Note that that valve in the wet bay only has the *two* settings: manual fill and auto-fill. There is no "off" setting. "Off" is essentially the same as setting the valve to auto-fill but then disabling auto-fill on the gauge control screen.

One question I've got is the mechanism for controlling auto-fill: I see that in the back of the wet bay there is a "stick-on tape circuit board" that has a bunch of green lights that flash periodically, and I believe that this circuit board is both the *gauge* function for the fresh tank, and probably also has a role in controlling the auto-fill function. Can someone confirm?

I also see that I should be able to remove the auto-fill/manual fill valve from the wet bay wall via a couple of screws. I haven't tried to do this yet, but I'm hoping that if indeed the whole issue I've got now is a "stuck auto-fill" that is simply failing to shut itself off at 100%, then simply replacing that valve will solve the problem. Does that sound right?

Tom

[sartor]

To Winepress, you indicate "shower miser." Are you saying that that's the function of the square knob in the shower? What does it actually do? Doesn't seem to actually do anything in my shower, no matter what position I put it in?

[TJ]

Does your fresh water valve not have a “CITY SUPPLY” position like the one shown in the attached photo (from our 2018 Mountain Aire)? That would route city water directly to the coach water system without filling the water tank.

TJ

[BillJinOR]

I think he’s saying that in auto fill it doesn’t auto stop filling and just keeps trying to fill the tank and of course overfilling it. He wants to know what sensor etc has failed that it continued to fill.
Of course the temporary solution is leave it on the city fill position and manually fill the tank.
The shower recirculating valve is so you don’t waste tank water down the drain running the shower until it gets hot
Someone that has it can describe its use. It’s handy esp when boondocking without hookups.

[mbrooking]

If you have your city water on at the spigot and the water miser valve set to recirculate, then when the shower is on you are actually filling up the fresh water tank.