Fresh water fill

[Keith Moffett]

Our button for the fill on the fresh water tank is inside by the coach monitor.  I am used to a knob that gets turned on the old coach.  I noticed the other day that the fresh tank had water in it though I had drained it recently.  I drained it again and made sure the fill button was in the off position.  Today there was 3/4 of a tank again.
Is there such a thing as a sticky valve not closing completely?  Where would I find the actual shut off?

Thanks
Keith

[Bill Stireman]

My recent experience with the same problem on my mechanical fill valve turned out the campground water pressure was very high and was pushing water past the closed valve.

Bill Stireman
'04 Monterey Laguna
400 HP Cat

[Gerald Farris]

Keith,
There are two routes that water can take when filling the tank with the fill valve closed. The first and most common is a leaking fill valve. The fill valve for your coach is located in the water pump compartment that is located in the RR corner of your basement. The other possibility is a leaking check valve in the water pump itself.

The fill valve is very durable, and it rarely fails, but it is expensive. You can replace it with a manual vale, but it will be very inconvenient, especially with a fully loaded basement. You may just have some debris on the valve seat that can be blown out with compressed air, or washed out if the valve is energized to hold it open.

Gerald  

[steve zannella]

Keith

Campground water pressure can cause unwanted filling of your tank if the water pressure regulator allows pressure above 40 psi. you can adjust the pressure with your regulator if it still works.
your water tank fill solenoid should be rated at 40 psi and you can verify this by reading the label. pressure above 40 psi will allow bypass pressure to fill your tank, although if this happens, for enough time, you should be dumping excess water out your overflow tube. the reason for allowing pressure above 40 psi to bypass the solenoid is to protect your plumbing. The other possibility as Gerald states is the water fill solenoid is leaking water into your tank and this could be related to a torn diaphragm, weak pressure spring or debris in the solenoid itself, you can check this by removing the four nuts on the solenoid and inspecting the device. In any event a rebuild kit is available to repair the solenoid.
Lastly another solenoid test, if the diaphragm or spring is bad, turn on your water pump and if it runs continuously then that could indicate a bad solenoid.
A cheap or temporary solution is to instal a cut off valve between your solenoid and water tank.

[Keith Moffett]

Thanks for the insight everyone.  My working theory at this moment is "all of the above" .
The coach is sitting on our home pad.  The new guage I purchased shows me 75psi at the source so I installed a regulator in line.  I assume this means that our built in regulator is also bad.  The electric fill valve switch was last closed with 75 psi on it so I am looking to see if iit will close under the new 40psi regulator.  The bypass has slowed down so if it has not stopped fully this time I will assume the spring is weak and do a rebuild.
The water pump is an 'Aqua Jet 11' and it was not running full time but it was burping frequently with no noticable leaks in the plumbing.  While this is a two year old pump, the trouble shooting page on their site says a stuck valve switch can also cause that.
This is just annother one of those quirks I have to adjust to with this newer more coplex coach.  The old coach had a manual fill switch.
I wll update later as the solution presents itself.  Hopefully this will benefit everyone.

Keith

[Lee Welbanks]

Thanks for the insight everyone.  My working theory at this moment is "all of the above" .
The coach is sitting on our home pad.  The new guage I purchased shows me 75psi at the source so I installed a regulator in line.  I assume this means that our built in regulator is also bad.  The electric fill valve switch was last closed with 75 psi on it so I am looking to see if iit will close under the new 40psi regulator.  The bypass has slowed down so if it has not stopped fully this time I will assume the spring is weak and do a rebuild.
The water pump is an 'Aqua Jet 11' and it was not running full time but it was burping frequently with no noticable leaks in the plumbing.  While this is a two year old pump, the trouble shooting page on their site says a stuck valve switch can also cause that.
This is just annother one of those quirks I have to adjust to with this newer more coplex coach.  The old coach had a manual fill switch.
I wll update later as the solution presents itself.  Hopefully this will benefit everyone.

Keith

Keith,
If your coach is plumbed like the Thunder, if the fill valve is leaking through the pump will have to keep bumping up the pressure in the surge tank. I the fill valve is open the pump will run all the time.
I had the same problem awhile back and found out it was the pump leaking back through. What I did was disconnect both the inlet side of the pump and the tank side of the fill valve and turned the shore water on and watched to see where the water came from. (Pump) Installed a 1/2" check valve in the outlet side of the pump,,,,problem solved.

[Keith Moffett]

Here's the latest.  After cycling the fill switch with the pressure regulated properly , now the fill switch valve works better but still allows some flow to the tank though it is turned off.  The solution is a new shut off valve.  The water pump has been making some odd and loud noises and may need to be replaced as well.  The city water connection and regulator is aparently toast too so out it goes as well.
This is all stuff that worked fine when we stored it with pink antifreeze in it and now it is all bad.
See me scratching my head.  
Now add to all this the kitchen faucet has a filter elment and Moen no longer makes that faucet so the pink stuff ruined that and the 'O' rings on the connection for the shower flex hose are bad and leaking.  Add also the inline filter for the ice maker which I finaly found at BCS for $38 and this has pink stuff in it too so out it goes.

There has to be a better way
Keith

[Gerald Farris]

Keith,
There is a better way, go south. I have owner a Beaver for 14 years, and I have never winterized one, because I believe in staying south of I 10 in the winter, and the coach is plugged in if I am not living in it. Therefore, on the rare occasion that it might get below freezing that far south, the electric part of the heating unit can keep the coach safe and warm.

Gerald  

[Keith Moffett]

LOL
Sure appreciate you rubbing it in Gerald.  Especially this year as we have had most of a years worth of rain already and it was hailing today.  How about you send a little sunshine up here.  Well God willing we are outa' here June 1st or so ready or not.

Keith

[Carol Moffett]

I'm with you, Gerald!  South is the place to be!  We did try leaving the electric side of the heating on but our electric bill skyrocketed so we decided to winterize with the pink stuff instead.  We never did with the old coach, just drained the low points, and never had any problems.  But for some reason we feel differently with this Aqua Hot!  We'll fix these problems and more, I am sure, and then we'll hit the road and all will be awesome!  Can't wait!  Sure hope to see you and Glenda somewhere out there!  At the FMCA rally in Bend, if nothing else!
Beaver hugs to you both!  :^3=~
Carol