Pressurized water tank filling

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C

Catpower

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Feb 16, 2018
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This is probably a dumb question, been RVing for about 30 years and all the other fivers had gravity fill fresh water tanks, we just bought a 35RL and it is pressure filled, how do you know when the tank is full? Are you supposed to trust the fill level in the trailer? Or is there and over flow that will tell you it is full

Just don't want to rupture a 50 gallon tank and wash out the new trailer
 
The tank is not pressurized.  They have an overflow that dumps out on the ground when the tank is full.
 
If you can't see your tank, you need to trust your tank monitor.  If you have gravity fill also, open the door so you won't risk pressuring the tank and flooding your basement like I've done a few times.
 
John Canfield said:
If you can't see your tank, you need to trust your tank monitor.  If you have gravity fill also, open the door so you won't risk pressuring the tank and flooding your basement like I've done a few times.
Click to expand...

John, the OP indicated they don't have gravity fill.  The OP said:
all the other fivers had gravity fill fresh water tanks, we just bought a 35RL and it is pressure filled
 
Like ChasA said, the tank itself isn't pressurized.  It just lacks the gravity fill hatch.

The tank is vented to the underside of the RV, when it's full water will come out of the vent line.  I watch the inside gauge, then go outside and be ready to shut off the water once the internal gauge reads 3/4 full.  After you've filled the tank a couple of times you can judge if you have enough time to wait until the gauge reads full to get to the valve and shut off the flow.

One thing you don't want to do is allow the water to continue filling the tank after it overflows.  Besides the mess, air is compressible and water isn't.  The vent is just a piece of relatively small tubing, if you're pressure filling the tank faster than the vent can drain, the pressure in the tank will quickly climb towards the source pressure once all of the air is gone, which can damage or rupture the tank.

I had an RV with a 25 gallon freshwater tank.  Once I forgot to turn the water off in time and the 25 gallon tank ballooned into a 30 gallon tank by the time I caught it.
 
Rene T said:
John, the OP indicated they don't have gravity fill.  The OP said:
all the other fivers had gravity fill fresh water tanks, we just bought a 35RL and it is pressure filled
Click to expand...
Some Winnebago units have the gravity fill in addition to a 'pressure' fill. I have both.
 
Many rv's do NOT  have an overflow, just the vent and they are not always watertight at the tank. You may create a fountain or a big mess, but probably won't blow out the tank. Follow John's suggestions and you'll be fine.

Ernie
 
Thanks for the info, I will just be careful and watch it while filling, until I get the hang of it

I was pretty surprised the other fivers we had have been Holiday Ramblers, their owner information kit is sooooo much better then Winnebago's this one just came with a generic book covering all towables, very vague, no capacities 6 different books for converters, very little about anything specific, I called the factory and they keep saying they are E mailing me the info but I never get it so yesterday i called the service dept where we bought it and asked how to tell when the tank is full and the chick I was talking to says this is the first time anybody had asked her, she had no idea how to know

In the book they said if you over fill it could rupture and leak, I just don't want that to happen
 
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