Water System Problem

[Steve Huber Co-Admin]

I’ve got a water problem with my 07 Contessa. When running on park water, the fresh tank slowly fills. When running on the Fresh tank the water pump “burps” every 5 - 10 seconds when no water is being demanded. I’ve found no leaks.

I have a 2 position manual fill valve that I just changed as I thought that was the logical place for a leak between park water and the tank. It didn’t change any symptoms. To the best of my knowledge the coach doesn’t have a red hat valve.

Also, the labeling of my fill valve appears counter intuitive but worked up until this problem and the length of the plumbing lines attached to it seem to indicate it is installed correctly. It has 2 positions; Fresh Tank and City Water. To fill the fresh tank the valve needs to be in the City Water position. To run off the tank, it needs to be in the Fresh Water position.

So, 2 questions;
1.   Has anyone with a similar water system run into the problem; Tank fills while running off park water and pump burps continually while running on Fresh tank? What was the fix?
2.   Are the labeling and functions of my fill valve correct?
Thx! Steve

[Gerald Farris]

Steve,
It sounds like the check valve in your water pump is leaking. The check valve is built into the pump head and is not serviced as a replacement part on most pumps, but it is on some, so if you can get parts, it is a fairly easy fix. Otherwise, you can install an aftermarket check valve at the pump outlet or replace the pump.

Gerald

[Lee Welbanks]

Steve, Could the city water be feeding back through the pump and into the fresh tank? On my 06 PT there is a 1/2" ball valve between the fresh tank and the pump to isolate the pump if needed.\
When you say the pump burps, does your system loose pressure so the pump coming on to pump the pressure up every few minutes? Which would also indicate that the check valve is leaking back to the tank.

[Will Hansen]

Steve, for the record and trying not to bore with the obvious, the two positions for the valve on my ‘07 Contessa are “City Water - Closed” at 12:00 and “Fresh Water Fill - Open” at 9:00. Incoming water is directed to the tank if set to the later. If disconected from shore water, pump runs from tank.  If connected to shore water, pump doesn’t activate if its switch is on and faucet is opened when valve is set to City Water. If hooked to city water and valve is set to Fresh Water Fill, pump comes on, which makes sense as no pressure coming from city water line when valve is closed. Of course tank is filling so this wouldn’t be a long term state.

All this is to say that it’s all about pressure at the pump and in support of the bad check valve theory.
-Will

[Steve Huber Co-Admin]

Thanks all! The pump was the culprit. I've got an old one installed now and Remco is sending me a new one as the failed unit is just under the 2 yr warrantee period. I bought it from Amazon but since it is older than 30 days they wouldn't replace it and told me to contact Remco. I did and found out that Remco doesn't sell to Amazon due to a T&C issue. However, Amazon maintains that Remco is their vendor. In any case, I got ahold of a fellow at Remco who is shipping me a pump. I'll put a check valve on the bad one and have a another spare.

[Steve Huber Co-Admin]

Remco apparently has a fix for pumps whose check valves fail. They supplied me with a plastic valve that snaps into the output port of the pump (mine is a 55 aquajet arv). I haven't installed it yet but will update thread if there is a problem.
Steve