WTH? Freshwater sensor??

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herekittykitty

herekittykitty

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Joined
Oct 26, 2013
Posts
443
Location
Birch Bay, WA
I've never heard of a freshwater tank sensor being inaccurate or dying (it's WATER), but mine appears to be?

Park #1: While still hooked up to city water, tank says full even though I rarely/never fill it completely and don't remember doing so. Disconnect from city water the last four days here so I can drive with an emptier tank. Near the end sensor says empty even though I never showered or did laundry in the rig. Odd; should have lasted way longer than that.

Park #2: While hooking up added a little water to tank in case park's water gets shut off. Sensor says 1/3 tank. Good. A little while later I went outside and saw water on the ground, coming from the tank inlet. It overflowed?? What the...???  Go back inside and sensor again reads full tank.

Please tell me this doesn't have anything to do with whether I'm hooked up to city water or not??
That sounds like A Bad Thing and an expensive fix.
Would rather just think it's a sensor dying, but my coach isn't that old and that seems weird.
 
Park #2 tells me that the either the check valve at the water pump is leaking by filling the tank when hooked up to city water or if you have a tank fill valve, it's either open just a touch or it's leaking by a little.

Don't know about park #1 At the beginning, it sounds like the same issue.
 
I agree with Rene. At park #2 when you started out showing 1/3rd full, it could have been anywhere between 1/3rd and 2/3rds full, so just adding a gallon could have put it at 2/3rds and it won't take long to fill another 1/3rd of a 40 gallon tank. That may explain why it filled so quickly. You could open the tank drain and empty the tank and go from there if needed.
 
I'm woefully ignorant about what goes on in my freshwater system(s) in places I can't see.

Rene T said:
... either the check valve at the water pump is leaking by filling the tank when hooked up to city water....
Click to expand...

I could check this myself, correct?
Keep city water turned off, drain the tank until it actually runs dry at the tap, make sure water pump switch is off (it shouldn't [be able to] run while city water is turned on anyway), then turn city water back on.
Then keep checking freshwater tank levels.
 
Rene T said:
...or if you have a tank fill valve, it's either open just a touch or it's leaking by a little.
Click to expand...

I don't know what a tank fill valve is or where it would be?
I also don't know whether I can drain my freshwater tank from anything other than the faucets: I stick the hose in the inlet and fill. If it overfills, it overflows back out the same way it came. Always has.
 
herekittykitty said:
I don't know what a tank fill valve is or where it would be?
I also don't know whether I can drain my freshwater tank from anything other than the faucets: I stick the hose in the inlet and fill. If it overfills, it overflows back out the same way it came. Always has.
Click to expand...

You may not have a tank fill valve. What it is is a valve that's connected to the water system. When you connect to the city water system and pressurize the water system, you would open this valve to fill the tank.

Do you have a rear bed and is the tank under the bed?  If it is, look for a pipe coming off the side of the tank and going down through the floor. If you have that, there may be a valve on the piece of pipe which would be used to drain the tank.
 
One other thing. If you leave the water pump on when hooked up to city water it can still drain water out of your tank. I have used the pump in parks that have low water pressure.
If you have a fill valve it will be in your wet bay where the hose attaches.
Look in your owner's manual in the section on winterising it should tell you how to drain the tank.
Bill
 
If the fresh water tank fills when connect to city water, I know of two different reasons. First the valve to switch the incoming water for the water system or the fresh water tank is either leaking or in the fill the fresh water tank position. Second, RV water pumps have a check valve the prevents water from flowing backward through the pump to the fresh water tank. If the check valve fails, then the fresh water tank will will anytime when connected to city water. While it is possible to fix this problem by replacing the water pump ($$$$) it is far cheaper to put a check valve on the discharge side of the water pump.
 
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