water tank not filling properly?

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mrschew

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Jan 9, 2013
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Hi All,
I am Claire and actually in Australia but this seemed like a great forum so thought i'd give you guys a try! :)
we have just bought a 2010 Avan Conquest and took it away last week end. The only problem we had was with the fresh water, it has an electric water and battery gauge fitted in the van. The water from the tank started to splutter one morning and the gauge read empty, no problem as we had a water supply. we began to fill the tank and it appeared to fill very quickly, the water began to flow back out and the gauge read full, it is 110 litre tank, we thought that maybe the gauge isn't working or there maybe an air lock not allowing anymore water in. there is a trap door inside the van where you can access the top of the tank so we opened it to have a look and could see water right to the top of the tank and when we opened the cap on the top of the tank the water even spurted out breifly, oh well it must be full then right? anyway later the same day, i would say we had used at most 5 or 10 liters the tap started to splutter again and the guage read empty ??? so anyone have any idea what is going on, i am sure it is probably something obvious that we are missing and you are all shaking your heads and having a chuckle at me but we are very new to all this :-[ sorry!
thanks claire
 
I'm not familiar with your Australian RV model, so will have to ask questions: Is the tank filled by simply running a hose into an opening, what we call a "gravity fill" in the USA, or do you connect a hose to a pressurized inlet and turn a valve to allow water to enter the tank.

Do you know if the water tank is pressurized or not? In the USA, rv water systems use and unpressurized tank and water is pumped from the tank into the water lines. There is water pressure in the lines (from the pump) but not in the tank itself.  You said water spurted out of the tank when you removed a cap, so that made me wonder if the tank is pressurized.
 
The problem could, if it is indeed a gravity fill system, that the inlet hose is too long and reaching near the bottom of the holding tank.  If the air vent is clogged, as soon as the water level in the tank became high enough to cover the end of the inlet hose, the tank would become pressurized and blow back.  I have a similar problem with my unit since it has a very small vent line.  If I slow fill, I i avoid the problem and can get a full holding tank.
 
Shooting from the hip. Is there a possible crack in a suction fitting for the water pump so as the water level drops a bit then has troubles draw water out sucking air in the system causing the spurting problems?
 

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