City Water Supply Location - Need Answer Fast

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DottieMcWobbleston

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Joined
Sep 29, 2017
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7
Howdy All!

Please allow me to introduce myself.  Hi, I'm Dottie, the clueless wanderer.

I was in the middle of a Schoolie build and extremely impatient.  I stumbled across an RV deal that I couldn't resist and here I am.  I purchased a 1998 Fleetwood Bounder that I know how to drive in a straight line and not much else.  I currently have no idea where to connect the City Water.  Funny, I know.  I'm looking at a couple inlet options.  There is one to the left of the outdoor shower in the same compartment as the sewer drainage.  There is another in a tiny door above the hot water heater.  I was thinking this one was for flushing the storage tanks.  But I obviously am just guessing here.

Anywho, if anyone reads this and happens to have an answer for me, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Let the adventure begin!
 
My guess would be the one with the tiny door and not the one in the sewage compartment.

Does it have a connection for hooking up a hose?

Welcome to the Forum, you will get the correct answer soon.
 
    Here is what google turned up: https://www.manualslib.com/manual/955759/Fleetwood-Bounder-1998.html
I think it says the water connection is on page 5-1, which is actually page 61 of the PDF document..
Ed

PS: Welcome to the Forum
 
I've already read the manuals for my year model and the 2017 year model.  They are both pretty generic and reference the City Water connection.  However nothing I have been able to Google tells me where this is specifically.

The whole deal was a fluke.  The seller traded a boat and cash for the RV.  He never moved it and sold it to me.  Neither one of us know anything about it.  So, I'm flying by the seat of my pants here.
 
Ok Wait.  The protective door is only on some models.  And both inlets look just like the picture.

I'm not trying to argue the manual.  I truly have no idea what I'm doing here.  If I hook up the water to the inlet behind the tiny door, and it's the wrong one...I'm assuming I can check the levels in the grey water tank to see if it's filling up?  Wouldn't the other inlet be for flushing the waste water tanks?

You guys are so helpful.  I appreciate your patience.
 
It is the one with the little door.

To make you feel reassured go inside and look at either the monitor panel that shows the tank level or if you can see the actual fresh water tank, watch it fill.  It may overflow out of a vent if it gets too much water.

It is also possible that the inlet behind the door is used to pressurize the water system and you might have to either turn a valve or fill the fresh water tank differently.

Hooking up a pressurized hose will at least get you water pressure
 
    Try hooking the hose up, and turn on a tep, maybe the outside one if it is close by.  Make sure the pump is turned off, and if water comes out, you have the correct connection.  As a total guess, I'd say one is for the city water and the other is to fill your fresh water tank.
    By the way, I would highly recommend that you flush and chlorinate the fresh water tank, use the search icon above to get specific details of how people do it.  I would also flush out the black water tank since there could be a build up of solids particularly if the coach has sat iddle for any period of time.

Ed
 
Alrighty.  I'm going to give it a shot in the morning.  Thanks for the info and the added reassurance.

And I'm trying to hook the water up so I can test the fixtures, check the toilet seal, and flush and clean the tanks.  I read about that in the manual also and I have no idea how long it's been sitting.

I have a long long list of stuff to check before I hit the road for good.  Until the next puzzle arrives...thank you again.

 
 
You will do fine.  It just takes time to get comfortable with all the systems.

When you first turn on the water for the hose you might also not use full pressure until you have checked out the functioning of the system.

Again Good Luck and relax.
 
Once you get water hooked up, start with low pressure and slowly increase it. You should have a pressure limiting fitting to prevent over pressure. Be sure that you check for water leaks. You will have to look in cabinets and other places to find and trace your water lines. If the unit has been sitting for a while and you said the previous owner knew nothing about RV's, it's very possible that the unit was never "winterized" and you may have broken water lines that will need immediate repair. This could also include the hot water heater, the fresh water tank, and the grey and black tanks, esp., the drain valves.
 
    When you do get up and running we have always found that most people around you at a campsite are very helpful.  Don't be afraid to ask nearby campers for help on what does what, or what needs to be done.  With them there to see what exactly you have, it is so much easier.

Ed
 
On a Fleetwood brand coach, usually the one with a small door is a filler for the fresh water tank and it's just a hole with a screw cap. It's what we call a gravity fill port, i.e. you just dump water in and it runs down to the tank. However, sometimes the door covers both a gravity filler and a pressurized city hose inlet. See photos via the links below.

The city inlet is designed to connect a hose and has a standard hose-thread fitting. It feeds water under pressure direct to the RV water lines and does NOT enter the fresh tank first. It is usually in the water compartment and may have a plastic dirt cover stuck in the hose thread connection.

This article may help as well:
http://www.marxrv.com/plumbing/plumb.htm

Gravity port (not a hose connection)
http://www.ebay.com/itm/RV-Fresh-Water-Gravity-Fill-Tank-Hatch-Wall-Mount-Panel-Spout-Cap-Door-Vent-/112355388628

Combo gravity & city
https://www.rvwholesalers.com/parts/products/gravcity-inlet-hatch-white-88-9708

Typical city inlets:
https://www.walmart.com/ip/JR-Products-Metal-RV-City-Water-Flange/55486136
http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1297355&KPID=982646
www.campingworld.com/shopping/item/secure-fill/31795
 
Mine is a Flair, which is a close cousin to the Bounder. Gary pretty much described mine to a tee. The one behind the small door is a gravity fed  tube to the fresh water tank. The one in the utility bay is your city water connection. I too am along the lines of "what were they thinking" when it comes to the city water connection being in the same bay as the sewer and shore power hookups. That being said, I always make it a point to handle the city water connection first before moving on to the others.
 
Yep.  You guys were right.  I flushed the fresh water tank with the inlet behind the tiny door.  And hooked up my City Water supply inside the yucky sewer compartment.  Thank you so much for the assist.

New problem, new thread?  How do you guys do things around here?

I now think I need to replace the solenoid on the propane gas system.
 
The propane thing reminds me of the day after I bought mine. I spent about an hour getting frustrated because I couldn't get any of the propane to work. I had decided that there must be something wrong with the solenoid. Wiggled the wires, gave it a few taps with a small hammer trying to un-stick it... and then I found the propane monitor at the base if the kitchen cabinet.  ;D  Flipped the switch, let it get done with the beeping and all was good with the world.
 
DottieMcWobbleston said:
I now think I need to replace the solenoid on the propane gas system.
Click to expand...

That solenoid is an old safety thing. It was determined that it really wasn't needed, so newer propane systems don't use them. You can have the solenoid completely removed if you so desire.
 
kdbgoat said:
That solenoid is an old safety thing. It was determined that it really wasn't needed, so newer propane systems don't use them. You can have the solenoid completely removed if you so desire.
Click to expand...

Agree with kdbgoat but.... having a propane detector that is associated with that valve says (to me) that the propane detector is very old too and should be replaced. They do have a finite life of about 10 years or less. Replacement detectors with this feature are either very hard to find or are not available any longer, they have not been prescribed since about 1996 or so.
 
New problem, new thread?  How do you guys do things around here?
Click to expand...

The preferred method is one issue per topic (thread). It avoids the confusion of having different answers mixed together and helps others when they use the Search function to find previous discussions. But we aren't rigid about that and sometimes a topic seems to naturally progress from one subject to another.
 
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