BAC Forum
General Boards => Technical Support => Topic started by: steve zannella on January 13, 2019, 05:23:14 PM
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Woke up this morning to the sound of water dripping, checked under the coach and found water pouring out from a metal box attached to the bottom of the outer metal shell covering the tank.
The water was coming from a PVC pipe. I checked the overflow hose and it was dry. I shut off the water supply and check the autofill switch. Still water coming out.
Any Ideas.
Thanks
Steve
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On my Patriot, there is a switch for a water tank dump valve in the wet bay. The dump valve is just like the electric black and grey dump valves. Find the switch and press 'close' to see if that fixes the problem. If you can roll under there (on a dry tarp, maybe) and find the valve, the valve can be closed manually with the use of an 1/8" allen wrench. Google 'Drainmaster' the valve maker, for how to use the manual override.
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Steve,
Your valve is probably a 1 or 11/2" gate valve with a electric operator. That is what is on my 06 PT you may have something in the valve keeping it from closing completely. Cycle it a couple times to see if that solves the leak other than that you will have to dump all your water and remove the valve to see why it will not seal off. Make sure you coach is blocked up before you try and get under it.
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Our fresh dump valve was about a foot out of reach and installed poorly. It worked loose and I couldn't get to the screws but was able to jury rig some stainless wire so that it worked.
The real and final fix was that the outlet stuck out just far enough I could glue a PVC fitting on with a screw on cap.
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Thanks to all
I never had to dump my fresh water.
Did not know there was an electric valve.
Problem solved.
Thanks Again
Steve
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Steve, You should dump your fresh tank every now and then just to keep the water fresh, if left in the tank long enough it can grow some real weird stuff. While traveling I usually wait until we get to a park that has real good water and then clean the tank out and add the good stuff.
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Be especially careful with well water as it won't have any chemicals in it to fight algae, etc. City water is usually OK to leave in the tank for a month or so with no problem. Before traveling , consider rinsing the tank (fill ~1/4 full and drain) before filling for trip. I use bleach to disinfect system annually.
Steve
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While traveling I usually wait until we get to a park that has real good water and then clean the tank out and add the good stuff.
Lee, I'm just curious about your comment above. I have wanted to do this on numerous occasions, but have been afraid to dump 50+ gallons of water on the ground. How do you handle that? Do you leave the gray tank valve open connected to the sewer, and just run the water at the sink until the tank is empty?
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Stan, mine has a dump switch. When I first bought the coach it stuck open when I used it the first time. I pushed it to close it and it was apparently stuck. I went about 2 weeks trying to figure out why it would not pump water from the tank. It was empty!! I even bought a new pump before a friend figured it out. Good luck.
Jerry
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While traveling I usually wait until we get to a park that has real good water and then clean the tank out and add the good stuff.
Lee, I'm just curious about your comment above. I have wanted to do this on numerous occasions, but have been afraid to dump 50+ gallons of water on the ground. How do you handle that? Do you leave the gray tank valve open connected to the sewer, and just run the water at the sink until the tank is empty?
Stan, I usually wait until we get to a park with concrete pads, which are usually not a bit level. I wait until after dark and just open the valve, doesn't take long to empty the tank. I've dumped as much as 1/2 a tank or more, have never had anybody say a word about it.
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" How do you handle that? Do you leave the gray tank valve open connected to the sewer, and just run the water at the sink until the tank is empty?"
Leaving the gray valve open and running the pump works. Somewhere during our ownership I collected a few PVC parts and made and "adapter" that I could push onto the fresh drain outlet and attach a garden hose. To keep it on, I cut some slits in the adapter so a hose clamp could "squeeze" it to the outlet. With the slits, it leaked a little bit.
My thought was to have a convenient way to sanitize the tank once or twice a year.
With my homemade adapter I could pull in to campsite, drain the tank, fill it with a bleach treatment, drain the bleach, fill it with a rinse, drain it and fill it again. Considering the volume of water, I tried to do it in parks that I though had city sewer connections and not septic systems.
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Stan, mine has a dump switch. When I first bought the coach it stuck open when I used it the first time. I pushed it to close it and it was apparently stuck. I went about 2 weeks trying to figure out why it would not pump water from the tank. It was empty!! I even bought a new pump before a friend figured it out. Good luck.
Jerry
Jerry, our Beaver has a dump switch as well. I do dump all the water out at home, before winterizing. The pad has a tiny slope that lets it drain off in to the side of a hill where it gets absorbed pretty quickly. I was trying to figure out how to sanitize the tank when we were sitting in a campground, without soaking the neighbors.
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Stan, mine has a dump switch. When I first bought the coach it stuck open when I used it the first time. I pushed it to close it and it was apparently stuck. I went about 2 weeks trying to figure out why it would not pump water from the tank. It was empty!! I even bought a new pump before a friend figured it out. Good luck.
Jerry
Jerry, our Beaver has a dump switch as well. I do dump all the water out at home, before winterizing. The pad has a tiny slope that lets it drain off in to the side of a hill where it gets absorbed pretty quickly. I was trying to figure out how to sanitize the tank when we were sitting in a campground, without soaking the neighbors.
Stan I must have mixed you up with the OP. Sorry. I have never tried it in a CG. I sanitize at home once a year in the spring. I use it enough during the year that it isn't something I need to do often. I do depend on CGs having good water but we generally use bottled water for drinking and cooking anyway. Sorry for my confusion.
Jerry
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Interesting read. I have had the same well water in my tank for 5 years. I was under the impression that while hooked up to a campsite water source that the water used on a daily basis came from the tank and was kept refilled by the water source coming in. Twice in the last couple of months I have had what appeared to be black specks the showed in my Zero water jug when filling it (the area where the water is poured in). The cloth I used to clean it came out green so I'm guessing it is algae and from the water tank. I don't remember the first time it happened but this last time I was using the water pump to get water as the regular system was frozen. I live in my Beaver 24/7. So, from this thread it looks like I should dump my tank. How do I clean it. I have Happy Camper tank cleaner but no idea if I should use that or how to get it into the tank. Any suggestions for all of this?
Thanks
MJ
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Interesting read. I have had the same well water in my tank for 5 years. I was under the impression that while hooked up to a campsite water source that the water used on a daily basis came from the tank and was kept refilled by the water source coming in. Twice in the last couple of months I have had what appeared to be black specks the showed in my Zero water jug when filling it (the area where the water is poured in). The cloth I used to clean it came out green so I'm guessing it is algae and from the water tank. I don't remember the first time it happened but this last time I was using the water pump to get water as the regular system was frozen. I live in my Beaver 24/7. So, from this thread it looks like I should dump my tank. How do I clean it. I have Happy Camper tank cleaner but no idea if I should use that or how to get it into the tank. Any suggestions for all of this?
Thanks
MJ
Michael, there are a couple of ways to get bleach into the system. I'm told, but never tried, using the water pump to pump it into the system via the winterizing connection near the pump. The way I do it is to hook up a hose to the water fill. I lift the hose up and fill with as much bleach as I can get in the hose. Then I will hook up the water source hose to the bleach filled hose. Turn it on and put 50 or so gallons in the tank. Then I run all the faucets until I smell bleach coming out. Then I let sit for as long as I can up to 24 hours. Fill the tank all the way then dump it using the drain. Refill the tank with fresh and run bleach water out of the faucets and done. I may put another 20 or so gallons in and dump if I smell bleach again. Good luck.
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Hi Mike,
If the fresh water has never been sanitized here is the condensed version. Pump the fresh water into the gray tank thru the kitchen or lavy sink if you are not allowed to dump onto your site. Turn off your AquaHot and pump all the hot water out until cold water comes out of the faucet. Carefully pour 6 to 8 ounces of bleach into your city water hose and reinstall at your supply spigot. Fill the fresh tank turning on the "fill switch" until the monitor panel states FULL. Turn on your pump and open each fixture until you smell chlorine bleach. Don't forget the washer/dryer, outside faucet, insta-hot, and ice maker. Do the same with the hot water side. Let the solution sit for 4 hours to disinfect the entire system. Pump the entire solution out of all fixtures and refill the tank 3 times to flush out residual bleach. Mix a small box of baking soda and water in a quart container. Fill your city water hose with the solution and connect to your supply spigot. Fill your fresh water tank until full. Open each fixture the same amount of time it took initially to detect the bleach odor. Let it sit for 2 hours and flush twice, Replace all your water filters and refill. The owners manual has the procedure if I forgot anything. I do this once a year for peace of mind not knowing about the water supply across the country. Hope this helps, Fred
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I was under the impression that while hooked up to a campsite water source that the water used on a daily basis came from the tank and was kept refilled by the water source coming in.
The water in the fresh Tank is only refilled if the "Tank Fill" solenoid ("Red Hat" valve) is open. If that solenoid is closed you would just be getting City Water straight to your fixtures - your water would not come from the Fresh Water tank since your 12V water pump would not be running. See the diagram below (which is from my 2005 PT manual)
However, if your coach has the "Auto Fill" feature (it is an On/Off switch), and it is turned On, the fresh Water tank will begin to refill when the tank capacity drops below 80%.
One thing I'm not sure about - if you're on City Water (with Auto Fill Off) and your Fresh Water tank is empty, does the "Fill Solenoid" then open to provide water for the Hot Water tank? It would have to open or the hot water tank would run empty. And if it opens then you are also filling the Fresh Water tank. So if that is the case, then you would always be filling your fresh water tank when on City Water and with the 12V pump Off.
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When you are on "city water" the incoming water pressure is blocked at the water pump via the built in check valve. the water then proceeds to pressurize the "entire fresh water system which also supplies water to the water heater, or Aqua-Hot or Hurricane water system. When the water pump is on, and the city water is disconnected, the water pressure builds up to the built in check valve located in the "city water inlet connection". Hope this helps, Fred
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Thank you everyone for your answers. I wish I had know this when I bought this coach 6 years ago. It's the rainy season here and the ground isn't allowing for much water to be absorbed so I'll wait for it to dry up a bit before I drain the water tank, clean and refill it.
MJ