Strange place to put a screen

[jwlce]

Hi I have been suffering from a slow/leaking water dump drain, this is solenoid controlled. So having covid time on my hands I decided to replace it. To my surprise in the line between the fresh water holding tank and the valve was a substantially clogged screen water filter commonly used on water pump intakes. The only reason I would guess it was there would be to prevent junk from clogging the solenoid drain valve. Of course it makes it harder to flush the junk out of the tank! Also I did not see any reference to this filter in any of my documentation and its need to be periodically cleaned. Of course its location requires the removal of the wet bay covers and feeling for it behind the Sanicon. My solution was to change the solenoid valve to a powered ball valve and remove the screen filter. It is a 2 wire ball valve so it fits in with the existing wiring & switching.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06WWPZWGZ

Why they don't filter filtering the incoming water puzzles me.

Any way something to know if you have solenoid drain valves.

[phays]

I, and many others, use a sediment filter connected to our fresh water input connection to prevent the crud from campground water from even entering the motor home. Not hard to do, not expensive, and helps prevent what you found. That screen filter on my coach is there to protect the water pump and needs to be checked periodically to make sure it is not overly blocked with debris.

The valve you found is interesting as I've just had a problem with one of my solenoid valves used for draining the fresh water system. But, at least in my coach, I think it is easier to rebuild the valve than replace it as I don't have to break into the plumbing system to rebuild the valve.

Hope this works out for you but I do recommend using a sediment filter when you connect to campground water.

[jwlce]

I looked into rebuilding my solenoid valves. The rebuild kit was as much as the replacement valve which was far more money than the valve I used. I have looked into the plumbing config in the coach and a with a couple of fittings and a bit of pex it would be possible to have the incoming water go through the filter first before filling the water tank. It would leave the regulator and the check valve unprotected from sediment though so I am not convinced this is the way I will go. It would however provide greater flow in the house in that the water pump would not have to push through the filter.