Water overflow this morning

[RogerE]

Traveled yesterday.  Pulled in to a new park for a month and hooked up the utilities.  Went to bed.

Woke up this morning to walk the dog and found water coming out the overflow of my fresh water tank.  Big puddle on the ground.  Checked the tank and it was full.  Checked the valve in the water bay and it was in the "Normal" position, not the "Fill" position.

Shut off the water, drained some water from the fresh water tank, and then cycled the valve a couple of times.  I heard a hissing sound when I did so the first time.

Turned the water back on and the problem was gone.

Anyone have any idea what happened that the valve filled my tank when it was not in the "Fill" position? 

 

[Rene T]

Either that valve had some crap on it and by cycling it, the crap came off and allowed the valve to seal. The other thing it may be is the check valve next to your water pump. This check valve stops water from going into your tank when hooked up to shore power. By cycling the fill valve, you may have created a surge in the water pipes and made the check valve seal.

 

[Kevin Means]

^ Agreed ^

 

[RogerE]

Thanks for your replies.  My suspicion is that something happened to the check valve during the trip.  I'm just glad that it was an easy fix)

 

[SVTotem]

Having the inflow to the tank at a rate that could be accommodated by the over flow is a plus and an indication that it is just leakage from the check valve. If your Journey is like mine a higher rate like from the fill valve in the wrong position would have flooded your bays from the gravity fill opening. I found that out the hard way.

Hope you get if fixed easily.

 

[cbarnes78]

On our 2011 Sightseer if we over fill our water tank we shut off the water but it keep leaking water till I open the valve then shut if off again to seal it . This has happened twice and both time we had to shut the valve twice to get it to stop leaking. I do not know if it is was made that way or not. Hope this helps

 

[RogerE]

Having the inflow to the tank at a rate that could be accommodated by the over flow is a plus and an indication that it is just leakage from the check valve. If your Journey is like mine a higher rate like from the fill valve in the wrong position would have flooded your bays from the gravity fill opening. I found that out the hard way.

Hope you get if fixed easily.

It was a slower leak - more of a steady drip - and it was all from the overflow pipe.  The plug was still in place in the gravity fill opening and the gravity fill plug was not leaking in any manner.  The problem was corrected when I cycled the fill/normal valve a couple of times.

 

[Soaringeagle]

Had the same thing happen shortly after we got a shot of real gritty, sandy water when a water system in a park had experienced troubles. Cycled the valve a few times and kept the tank on the low side until I was confident it was ok. Been fine for over a year now.
Brent

 

[driftless shifter]

Our solution to the various water system issues I've read of on here is to never hook up to outside water supply. It is a PITA to fill the tank manually every couple or 3 days, but between that and turning pump off when not in use we feel our chances of waking or coming home to a river runs through it scenario are hugely reduced. Really don't want to ever have to deal with that.

Bill

 

[John Canfield]

To avoid those kinds of problems, I permanently plumbed in two filter housings, the first one is a sediment filter, second one is a charcoal filter.

 

[Kevin Means]

John, I saw your dual-filter setup in a picture you posted a year or so ago, when you were showing your LED light strip mod in your wet-bay. I also seem to remember that you used copper pipe. I meant to ask you about that at the time but forgot, so I'll hijack the thread for just a moment. Was the 2nd filter the charcoal filter or the sediment filter? Are they in-line with each other or hooked up in another manner?

Kev

 

[John Canfield]

Kev - first filter is sediment, second filter (which is in-line) is charcoal.  The output of the shore water hose reel connects to the in of the sediment filter and the our out of the charcoal filter connects to the coach water in (basically the filters are in series with the output of water hose reel.)

 

[tomnnva]

We had the exact same problem on our Tour, turned out to be a water pump.  Winnebago diagnosed the problem as the Fill/Normal valve during summer visit of 2013, but the problem did not go away, we still had the overflow problem, occasionally.  My coach was out of warrantee this past summer, took the coach back to the factory, Winnie techs decided it was the water pump, they replaced at no charge and the problem has not returned.  I am a happy camper.

 

[Duner]

Thanks for your replies.  My suspicion is that something happened to the check valve during the trip.  I'm just glad that it was an easy fix)

Leakage in the Normal/Fill valve will fill the tank like you described, especially if the city water pressure is 80 lbs or more. 

The trick to keeping the valve healthy and a long life is to release the city water pressure first, then move the valve to Fill.  That valve has a pretty weak internal rubber seal that bulges under high pressure .... then when you twist it to Fill position it starts shearing/tearing the rubber.  Once the rubber is damaged, it passes water to the tank. 

If it turns out the valve is damaged,  the easy fix to pull the valve apart from the front exposed side (I think it just screws off) and replace the rubber part with the rubber from a new valve.  Then you don't have replace the whole valve and fight getting those pesky plastic hoses on/off.

 

[Kevin Means]

Kev - first filter is sediment, second filter (which is in-line) is charcoal.  The output of the shore water hose reel connects to the in of the sediment filter and the our of the charcoal filter connects to the coach water in (basically the filters are in series with the output of water hose reel.)

Ahhhh. Thank you sir!!

Kev

 

[RogerE]

To avoid those kinds of problems, I permanently plumbed in two filter housings, the first one is a sediment filter, second one is a charcoal filter.

This is a definite hint.  The park where the problem first occurred has very hard well water and very sandy soil.  I am about to purchase a water softener anyway and will get one with a sediment filter prior to the softener.

We changed parks yesterday and I had the same issue this morning (water overflow from the fresh tank) but at a lower volume than last time.  It was again easily corrected by shutting off the city water, relieving the pressure in the system, cycling the normal/fill valve, and then turning the water back on.  I suspect that the act of turning the water back on helped to flush out whatever sediment was blocking either the water pump check valve or the normal/fill valve.