Stupid Question? Rookie Mistake? I Dunno...

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AnRVAndADog

AnRVAndADog

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Joined
Sep 18, 2018
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Location
Port Richey, FL
Here's what happened... We drove down to a State Park last week. When we travel I leave the water pump on since it's an "on-demand" device anyway. We got there, hooked up electric, hooked up water, flipped the lever to "City Fill" and carried on, no issues. Next day I noticed the fresh water tank was down to about 2/3rds. I thought that was weird, re-checked the fresh water hook-up, flipped lever to "Water Tank Fill" and filled the tank then flipped back to "City Fill." No issues. Next day fresh water was showing just under 2/3rds again. Both times I checked for leaks, no leaks. We drove home, no issues. Couple days later I go out to check the RV and noticed the Water Pump was running. Turned it off. Hooked up water, filled the tank, turned off water, flipped lever to "City Fill," turned on water and in the RV ran water out of the Galley faucet with acceptable pressure (with water pump so I must be getting water straight through the hookup).

Any idea what happened?
 
Tank monitors are not very reliable or accurate, but I think your problem is simply that you leave the water pump on when using city water.  With the switch on, the pump will run whenever pressure drops below its threshold. That can happen even with the city water hose connected. A s soon as you open a faucet, the pressure in the system drops and in many cases will go below the 40-45 psi trigger for the pump.  Even when the city source is 50-60 psi.  That means you will draw water from both the tank and the city inlet, roughly in proportion to the pressure from each source.    Turn off the pump when using city water and you won't draw from the tank at all.
The "City" valve doesn't prevent the pump and tank from supplying water - it merely opens/closes a bypass that allows the water in the lines to bypass the pump and enter the tank. The valve is open in the FILL Tank position and closed otherwise.
 
Gary RV_Wizard said:
Tank monitors are not very reliable or accurate, but I think your problem is simply that you leave the water pump on when using city water.  With the switch on, the pump will run whenever pressure drops below its threshold. That can happen even with the city water hose connected. A s soon as you open a faucet, the pressure in the system drops and in many cases will go below the 40-45 psi trigger for the pump.  Even when the city source is 50-60 psi.  That means you will draw water from both the tank and the city inlet, roughly in proportion to the pressure from each source.    Turn off the pump when using city water and you won't draw from the tank at all.
The "City" valve doesn't prevent the pump and tank from supplying water - it merely opens/closes a bypass that allows the water in the lines to bypass the pump and enter the tank. The valve is open in the FILL Tank position and closed otherwise.
Click to expand...

:))

I think you may have nailed it!
 
What Gary said, only turn the water pump on when you aren't hooked up. By the way, always turn off shore water at the water bib/valve when you leave the RV - that way there's no chance of a blown hose (or whatever) flooding your unit. We got used to this when we were living on our sailboat, in this case if a hose blew and flooded the hull, the boat could actually sink. Not quite as dramatic for an RV but you get the idea.
 
AnRVAndADog said:
.
Couple days later I go out to check the RV and noticed the Water Pump was running. Turned it off. Hooked up water, filled the tank, turned off water, flipped lever to "City Fill," turned on water and in the RV ran water out of the Galley faucet with acceptable pressure (with water pump so I must be getting water straight through the hookup).

Any idea what happened?
Click to expand...

"City Fill" sounds like it's used to fill the water tank from the city water connection by creating a connection from the pressurized side of the RV's water system into the tank.  This lets you fill the tank using the incoming city water.

Usually there isn't any switch to change between the pump and city water, it's done automatically depending on which source has more pressure.

Leave the lever in the non-"City Fill" position except when you want to fill the water tank.  And leave the pump off while on city water unless you want to supplement the pressure using water from the tank.
 
City or tank fill routes the water to tank fill, if the pump is turned on at the same time it will start running continuously. In the other position of the valve, shore water is routed to the plumbing system.
 
We normally leave our pump off when connected to "city" water, but we do turn it on when taking a shower if the city pressure is on the low side. That does draw water from the tank of course, so we just monitor the level (our SeeLevel system is accurate) and refill as needed.
 
I have a similar question.  I've had only 5 trips with an RV - I am new to it.  While setup, with city water, I would hear a water pump noise at night (the noise was fainter than what I was expecting from a water pump).  It would run frequently all night.  At first I thought it might be a fan in the compartment where electrical is (outside).  On the 5th trip I tried turning off the water pump switch near the rear bathroom (it's like a reset switch - you push it down then is bounces right back).  The noise stopped and it felt silly to take that long to detect the noise.  I haven't noticed an issue with getting water through the faucets so I have no idea what the problem may be.  We have a 2003 Fleetwood Bounder 37U DP. 
 
thelazyl said:
I have a similar question.  I've had only 5 trips with an RV - I am new to it.  While setup, with city water, I would hear a water pump noise at night (the noise was fainter than what I was expecting from a water pump).  It would run frequently all night.  At first I thought it might be a fan in the compartment where electrical is (outside).  On the 5th trip I tried turning off the water pump switch near the rear bathroom (it's like a reset switch - you push it down then is bounces right back).  The noise stopped and it felt silly to take that long to detect the noise.  I haven't noticed an issue with getting water through the faucets so I have no idea what the problem may be.  We have a 2003 Fleetwood Bounder 37U DP.
Click to expand...

Gary spelled it out real good in Reply #3.
 
thelazyl said:
I have a similar question.  I've had only 5 trips with an RV - I am new to it.  While setup, with city water, I would hear a water pump noise at night (the noise was fainter than what I was expecting from a water pump).  It would run frequently all night.  At first I thought it might be a fan in the compartment where electrical is (outside).  On the 5th trip I tried turning off the water pump switch near the rear bathroom (it's like a reset switch - you push it down then is bounces right back).  The noise stopped and it felt silly to take that long to detect the noise.  I haven't noticed an issue with getting water through the faucets so I have no idea what the problem may be.  We have a 2003 Fleetwood Bounder 37U DP.
Click to expand...

Like Gary said, you should turn off the water pump when you're connected to City water.
 
John Canfield said:
What Gary said, only turn the water pump on when you aren't hooked up. By the way, always turn off shore water at the water bib/valve when you leave the RV - that way there's no chance of a blown hose (or whatever) flooding your unit. We got used to this when we were living on our sailboat, in this case if a hose blew and flooded the hull, the boat could actually sink. Not quite as dramatic for an RV but you get the idea.
Click to expand...

Yep, Gary was extremely nice. Keep the Water Pump "OFF." And I'm also going to have to remember to turn off (then back on) the water source...

Thanks.
 
AnRVAndADog said:
Here's what happened... We drove down to a State Park last week. When we travel I leave the water pump on since it's an "on-demand" device anyway. We got there, hooked up electric, hooked up water, flipped the lever to "City Fill" and carried on, no issues. Next day I noticed the fresh water tank was down to about 2/3rds. I thought that was weird, re-checked the fresh water hook-up, flipped lever to "Water Tank Fill" and filled the tank then flipped back to "City Fill." No issues. Next day fresh water was showing just under 2/3rds again. Both times I checked for leaks, no leaks. We drove home, no issues. Couple days later I go out to check the RV and noticed the Water Pump was running. Turned it off. Hooked up water, filled the tank, turned off water, flipped lever to "City Fill," turned on water and in the RV ran water out of the Galley faucet with acceptable pressure (with water pump so I must be getting water straight through the hookup). Any idea what happened?
Click to expand...

Update: Classic Elmer's white glue. Seems to have worked.
 
Lou Schneider said:
"City Fill" sounds like it's used to fill the water tank from the city water connection by creating a connection from the pressurized side of the RV's water system into the tank.  This lets you fill the tank using the incoming city water.
Click to expand...

Yep. Bad label. "City Fill" doesn't "fill" anything...

Lou Schneider said:
Leave the lever in the non-"City Fill" position except when you want to fill the water tank.  And leave the pump off while on city water unless you want to supplement the pressure using water from the tank.
Click to expand...

So long as I remember the Water Pump pumps the Fresh Water Tank I'll be fine.
 
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