Author Topic: running water pump with City water hooked up - and who uses a water Softener?  (Read 2708 times)

Mike Shumack

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I'm camping in SC today. The water pressure is pressure here is pretty low. So I'm running my 12V water pump while hooked to the city water.

Is this a good idea?
Or is better to use the city water to fill my fresh water tank and run only off that (and then shut off city water once fresh tank is full)? I think the way I have it setup now, the coach's water pump is just boosting the city pressure (although I do get some pulsating while running the shower). Does it matter?

Next question. Who uses a water softener? I've seen some external units that sit next to the water faucet and pass the water through it before entering coach. Then are then stored somewhere in the basement when traveling. What company/brand is good?

David T. Richelderfer

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Occasionally, we will find low pressure when connected to shore water too.  When that happens, we simply turn on the water pump after making sure the water tank is sufficiently filled.  I believe the water pump pulls its water from the water tank and not the shore water hose, but not sure.  Use the water pump and after a few days, check the water tank level.  That would answer your question.

We have an On-the-Go water softener unit.  Its cost was about $150 on sale a few years ago.  I use it to fill the water tank with softened water for trips and use it at RV parks to refill the water tank when it needs refilling.  I store it in the basement on the curbside slideout.  It reduces water spots on the glass shower enclosure.  After our showers, I squeegee the shower's glass enclosure and dry all the glass and metal frame with a terrycloth hand towel.  The nice thing about softened water is the shower soap is sudsier and the spray nozzles at the sinks and shower remain free of hard water deposits.

After using the On-the-Go system in the coach for a few years and having both a whole house water softener and a kitchen sink reverse osmosis (RO) system in our Yuma, AZ home, we had a Culligan RO/filter system installed this summer in our home's kitchen sink in Hermiston, OR.  Both Yuma's and Hermiston's city water is exceptionally hard.  In Hermiston, we wanted to have a whole house water softener system installed but the house's plumbing would have had to be completely overhauled... so we had only the Culligan system installed.
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Steve Huber Co-Admin

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Mike,
I always use water from my fresh tank using the water pump. Only time I have shore water on is to refill tank. That way I get constant/good pressure, I can turn off pump when leaving coach, and I can hear pump burp if I develop a leak when in the coach.
Steve
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Roy Warren Co-Admin

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I also use only the fresh water tank and fill it when it is empty.
It happened that when the coach was fairly new, we had a water line break behind the kitchen slide.  At that point Vicki and I decided to use only the pump and turn it off when not in use.  We have had other friends who full time relate experiences, not personal, but of others who have left water on and been flooded by water leaks and overflowing waste tanks.
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Mike Shumack

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Thanks for the advice.
I'll do the same - and run off the fresh tank. I can easily dump most of the tank before driving (so I'm not hauling an extra 800 lbs around).
And thanks for the info on the softener. I need that right away - that's a main complaint of the copilot.  ::)

Roy Warren Co-Admin

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There are a couple of different types.  One uses regular table salt to backwash and the other one uses small rock salt or ice cream salt.  As I have tried both, I personally like the one using the granules and not the table salt.  Seems to do a better job.  Presently have the table salt one and wish I had repurchased the other one.  By the way, we have been doing soft water for 17 years in a coach now.  Also travel with a mostly fully tank as we don't set overnight destinations often (since COVID this has changed) and many times we have not had to hook up water for 2 or 3 days.  Main reason for hooking up then was so DW could do laundry.
Roy Warrem
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Mike Shumack

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Roy, do you recall the brand name for the softener you like?

I have new problem now. I'm in ne TN and my fresh water tank is overfilling. The auto-fill is turned off so I guess the Redhat valve is stuck open.
When we first hooked up (the city water pressure is around 30 psi) I still had low pressure inside the Coach. Then I turned on the water pump, but it would not shut off (it's running continuously with no obvious signs of flow anywhere).

I thought something might be by-passing internally (like wet bay faucets open or such) but couldn't find anything wrong. Then the overflow on the fresh tank started pouring out water.
 
So I turned off the city water to stop overflow, but my water pressure is still low (my shurflow pump is not putting out any pressure or volume). It must bypassing through the Redhat valve. I need to look at the plumbing diagram to see what could be going on.

It always something.  :(

David T. Richelderfer

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City water ON and Red Hat valve open and water pump OFF -  The city water will mostly flow to the lowest point, that being the water tank, to fill it but a small amount of water, a trickle, can reach the living quarters.

City water ON and Red Hat valve closed and water pump OFF -  The city water's full pressure all flows into the living quarters with whatever pressure the city water faucet may provide.

City water OFF and Red Hat Valve open and water pump ON -  The water pump will circulate water taken from the water tank and push it back into the water tank.  So the pump will continue to run steadily with perhaps a small amount of water reaching the living quarters.

City water OFF and Red Hat valve closed and water pump ON -  The water pump will pump with its full pressure to the living quarters.



Caveat - I think the following is true but it's been several months since I used the coach:

City water ON and water pump ON and Red Hat valve closed - The water pump will augment a low-pressure city water flow.  I believe the water pump pulls its pumped water from the water tank and not the city water hose to augment the low-pressure city water flow.


Note:  I have read several posts here on the Forum over the years explaining that Red Hat valves are notoriously unreliable.  They seem to wear out or get sticky causing them to operate incorrectly.

Is this confusing enough for you?  Oh... and our On-the-Go water softener uses granular table salt for cleaning its internal beads.
« Last Edit: September 09, 2021, 11:50:41 PM by David T. Richelderfer »
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Eric Maclean

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Mike before you tear into the pump look at the red hat valve if it's stuck in the open position it will cause all the problems you described.

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Mike Shumack

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Your right Eric. Its the Redhat valve.
I pinched off the outlet hose (the fresh tank fill hose) and pump stops running continuously and water pressure is good. So I'll leave the hose pinched off (using needle nose vise grips) until I get back from this trip.

Stan Simpson

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Re: running water pump with City water hooked up - and who uses a water Softener?
« Reply #10 on: September 15, 2021, 01:53:19 AM »
Mike, first, if you are hooked to city water, and turn on the water pump, the system will default to the source that has the best pressure. Many people hook up to city water, use it to top of their fresh water tank, and the hose attached to the water spigot, but shut-off. This ensures that the water pump will always have the best pressure.

I have been using an On The Go portable water softener for about 7 years. It actually produces better soft water than our sticks and bricks unit. We have a stacked washer and dryer, and Becky uses it often. Using those appliances causes me to have to re-generate about once every week or week and a half. It takes about an hour to do, and uses 2 of those little Morton salt containers. There are two models, a standard, and double standard. I use the double standard. I think I paid $183 including shipping from RV Upgrades.

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Joel Ashley

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Re: running water pump with City water hooked up - and who uses a water Softener?
« Reply #11 on: September 15, 2021, 10:18:44 AM »
Doesn’t seem that long ago, but we must’ve got our small On the Go 8 or 9 years back, on sale at Camping World.  Not only does it fit nicely in our particular floorplan’s “pass-through” bay adjacent to the water bay, I use it at home to rinse my vehicles after washing so they don’t water spot. 

My only gripe is the rope carry handle that’s kinda wimpy;  the company replaced it when it broke, but the new one ain’t an improvement.

Joel

I use a flower pot dish under it to keep any leak water off the bay carpeting.
« Last Edit: September 15, 2021, 10:24:11 AM by Joel Ashley »
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Mike Shumack

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Re: running water pump with City water hooked up - and who uses a water Softener?
« Reply #12 on: September 23, 2021, 06:19:49 PM »
Your right Eric. Its the Redhat valve.
I pinched off the outlet hose (the fresh tank fill hose) and pump stops running continuously and water pressure is good. So I'll leave the hose pinched off (using needle nose vise grips) until I get back from this trip.

I'm back home now. I just received and installed a Redhat "rebuilding kit" (at $165, ouch), and it fixed the problem. Now on to the next repair.
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