Red Hat Diverter

[Ron Langdon]

I recently was surprised by having no fresh water in the coach. Next I was surprised by water flowing from the overflow line. I discovered the Red Hat diverter was stuck in fill mode. Since the choice, in the short run was no water, I discovered a work around that by passed the Red Hat. I capped the line coming from the diverter and plugged the line going into the water tank. We have water at all outlets and no leaks. Since I have a gravity feed to water tank, is it really necessary to replace the red hat. It seems all I'm missing is the convenience of auto fill. But I'm concerned that there might be something else I'm not aware of. Any thoughts?

[steve zannella]

Ron
Another important aspect of your red hat control valve to allow excess water pressure into your water tank thus potentially saving water pipes. The valve is rated in psi of pressure when exceeded allows water to bypass mine is rated at 85 psi. I had to replace mine when the diaphragm became to weak to hold 40 psi and would run the water pump continuously.

Steve

[Bill Lampkin]

I'm not sure that any Red Hat valve will function as a pressure relief valve. They are simply an on and off valve controlled by (in our case) a 12vdc solenoid. No PR function that I know of. Maybe I can learn something here.

[steve zannella]

Bill
the red hat valves are made with various working pressures, if you look at the valve you'll notice a pressure rating and a NC which mean the valve is normally closed. If the water pressure exceeds this rating, the valve will open allowing water into the tank if this continues unabated the tank will eventually overfill and dump out the overfill hose. The valve also acts as a electromagnetic solenoid which can be opened by electric current. My factory installed valve was rated at 65 psi. over time the diaphragm and spring weakened and would not hold 40 psi.
I had to learn this the hard way in a camp ground. When i connected to a water supply, the pressure would push the valve open and fill my water tank. The water pump was also affected by it when tuned on it would run continuously pumping water from and back into the tank because the red hat valve would not hold enough pressure to satisfy the water pump. As a temporary measure I had to install a cutoff valve between the red hat valve and the water tank to hold pressure and keep the tank from spilling out the over flow.

I later install a replacement valve now rated at 85 psi because red hat no longer supplied 65 psi valves.
problem solved.

Steve

[Bill Lampkin]

Steve, Am very familiar w/Asco Red Hat valves, curious if you took the valve body apart to see if mineral crud or other debris had messed up where the diaphragm seats? My Aladdin level board failed and to get water into the tank I had to 'jumper' the Red Hat so it would allow me to fill the tank from city water. Glad you fixed it.

[steve zannella]

Bill

I did take the valve apart thinking the diaphragm was not seated or punctured and it seemed
OK.  The next thing I did was to install an adjustable pressure regulator on the pedestal faucet which read 68 psi and then dialed pressure down to 35 psi. At that pressure the red hat valve held closed.

My guess is the red hat pressure valve weakened to the point that my water pump could not come up to enough pressure to shut off and / or the camp ground pedestal water pressure was just high enough to trip the the red hat.

I kept the gate valve installed at the water tank just in case it happens again. Wife needs water to camp I can get by with a pail.

Steve

[Roy Boles]

One note to this. When ordering a new red hat make sure your ordering a 12 volt valve. The 120 volt and 12 volt look the same but don't interchange.

[Bob Bulot]

Just replaced my Red Hat solenoid valve.  A shoutout to the outfit I bought it from:

Leighton-Stone Corp.
285A Bell Marin Keys Bvd.
Novato, CA  94949
877 285-3600
www.leightonstone.com

They did not have a 12V Red Hat in stock, so the man took a 12V solenoid and installed it on a 24volt valve, and mailed it out, same day, no additional charge..  Charged $113.60 plus tax (about what a rebuilding kit costs) .

[Lee Welbanks]

Yeah, the only difference in the valve is the solenoid 12, 24 or 12.0 volt