Filling fresh water tank

[tearza]

I purchased a used Motorhome 6 Months ago. I just started to check out the fresh water system. I started filling it up and I get a lot of water draining underneath. I checked it out and it is coming from a two inch pipe. What is this pipe for? Is it the overflow on the fresh water tank

[wolfe10]

tearza,


Surely, you will need to tell us what motorhome you have and where the 2" pipe is.

[79jeepcj]

It sounds like the water tank drain is open. I don’t know about the avalanche, but on our 01 the overflows are a smaller diameter hose. On ours there is a handle on the front side of the drivers side storage compartment behind the propane compartment that opens and closes the drain valve.

[RVPioneer]

Also not familiar with the Avalanche. The 2” pipe does sound like the drain pipe. The overflow tubes are 1/2” PEX, one in front one in back. Can you visibly see the tank to confirm the water level?

[Old Scout]

….As you probably know by now, the Avalanche was a very low production run by WRV, so std. Alpine owners don't have much, if any, first-hand experience to help you. Your situation sounds like the dump valve on the water tank is open....early model Alpines have a 1 1/2" dump slide valve with a cable remotely attached to a T-handle--located on the side wall, in the basement, just behind the propane tank, on the driver's side.

[Brianna]

There are stories in other forums warning alpine owners not to pull the dump cord because the valve is notorious for not making a good seal when you try to close it.
Last Fall I felt I had no choice when it was time to winterize. Sure enough, after I drained the tank I couldn't stop it from dripping. I got lucky by repeatedly opening and closing the drain until it finally sealed. Others have dismantled some basement partitions to get in there and modify the system with an additional gate valve.

[Old Scout]

….17 years, 185K miles no issue....dump and clean tank twice a year....a slide valve is probably more susceptible to leaking--debris or hard water ......guess there is some good luck or bad luck involved.....

[andy29847]

The dump valve for the fresh water tank is open. If it is like my Alpine, the T-handle will be on the wall of the first luggage compartment on the driver's side. The first time I used mine, it was very hard to get it to re-seal. I replaced the valve (access behind a partition in the front of the first luggage compartment on the passenger side). It was still hard to get it to seal. I added some more straps to anchor the cable from the t-handle to the valve, and that fixed my problem. The cable as installed from the factory has too much flex to close the vale reliably.