What is this open pipe?

[Tom48]

Originally Posted by Ruggybuggy

I'm thinking the open blue hose isn't my overflow. When I blow into the open end of the hose I can feel resistance and hear "bubbles" in the tank. The tanks only has a small amount of antifreeze from winter storage so this tells me the hose goes to the bottom of the tank. I looked under the trailer and can't see an overflow hose out the bottom. Isn't it possible the overflow is the vent pipe that goes up to the fill hose?

The white line up next to the fill line is your overflow and the blue one scares me if you can blow in it and hear it bubble in the tank. That means to be that the tank would overflow on the floor long before it backs up to the overflow at the fill point. I can see a tank possibly needing a second breather hose, but not on the can dump out on the floor. Have you never filled the water up all the way to know what happens? MAybe do that VERY CAUTIOUSLY, with someone standing by that suspect blue tube with lots of towels. I might do that before I rip the bottom off and start dropping tanks.

[Tom48]

Originally Posted by dbledan

Bubbles is not something you would want to hear. Even if it was a secondary vent (assuming the white tube is the actual vent) then it is lower than the vent based on the picture. That means it will leak in the trailer before out the vent...

2X

[TacBear]

My thought is entirely different from everyone else.

I just got a new 2020 Rockwood. One of the “included options” is a device known as a “ShowerMiser”.

The ShowerMiser is a water valve connected to the shower faucet controls that allows conservative folk to route water back into the freshwater tank.

Sounds silky, right? Explanation follows: when someone first turns on the shower, the water runs cold for a minute before the hot water arrives at the faucet. Then you adjust the hot/cold mix to a comfortable temp before you step into the shower.

If you are boondocking, that cold water just goes down the drain, and is wasted. The theory behind the SM- if you turn the SM valve on (located in the shower itself) it returns the cold water to the fresh water tank, via an additional hose. So now you have TWO hoses running into the top of your fresh water tank.

If someone is extremely concerned about conserving water while camping in the desert, this can conserve about a pint or quart of fresh water each time someone showers. This could add up over a period of time.

Of course, when the hot water arrives at your faucet, it behooves you to turn the
ShowerMiser back to the neutral position.

If I was a betting man, I would bet the factory had a fresh water tank configured for a SM and installed it. The factory guys who installed the shower did not have a ShowerMiser on their build list, so they did not install one, nor did they go looking for an extra hose sticking up from the tank.

My Fresh Water tank has two small water lines going into the tank and the second one is coupled and extended to the ShowerMiser valve in the shower.

This assumes your factory Quality Control people missed the error and sent the RV on down the line.

I know this sounds a bit far-fetched, but would explain your anomaly.

TacBear.

[Tom48]

Originally Posted by Ruggybuggy

I have a brand new 2018 Coachmen Freedom Express 204RD and discovered this pipe sticking up through the floor. It's coming up through the floor above the fresh water tank. The hose running along side it is the water inlet to the pump from the fresh water tank. Any ideas?

I really hope you will share the findings and the fix WHEN YOU DO FINALLY FIGURE THIS OUT. That is one scary little tube.

[Lighting546]

Originally Posted by TheWolfPaq82

So the Blue one with the connector goes to your pump ? What about the smaller white one ? Where does it go ? The Larger white one is the gravity fill for the FW tank. The cut off blue one is a mystery. Do you have an overflow line for your FW tank coming out the bottom of the trailer ?

The smaller white hose is the water tank vent, it allows the air inside the tank to vent off while filling the water tank.

[Lighting546]

Originally Posted by Ruggybuggy

Can someone comment on where the overflow hose comes out at the bottom of the FW tank. It has skirting underneath so I'm assuming there should be a hose visible on the underside.

The FW tank overflow hose should come out very close to the FW tank drain valve, it may only stick out an inch or two, at least that's the way my Wildcat is set up.

[Lighting546]

Originally Posted by luker0

Overflow is connected to the fill cap. Top left side. Never to overfill yet though.

Vent tube is connected to a screen covered vent at the top of the fill connection. The overflow tube should come out at the bottom of the tank directly next to the drain valve so that it can drain onto the ground or highway as you're rolling down the road. Both the vent and overflow hoses have separate connections on the top of the FW tank.

[bitz]

What about pouring a little dye down that open tube and checking the color of the water when you drain your fresh tank just to make sure that's where it ends up?

I have a similar extra hose in mine sitting open on the floor (not a coolant fill hose) I can't remember if it showed up after the dealership "found" a leak in the freshwater tank when inspecting our Rockwood Mine Lite 2306 for delivery. They had to fix the line going from the pump to freshwater tank and made a mess along the way (didn't secure the skirt back up right, using a mismatch of hardware to put everything back together, ripping some sheeting along the base) Not to mention that they used the wrong clamps and created a leak where there wasn't one before that I just fixed myself. Anyway, now I have an extra hose that is in my pump compartment that seems to go to the fresh tank that I'm not sure was there before or not.

[Ruggybuggy]

Originally Posted by TacBear

My thought is entirely different from everyone else.

I just got a new 2020 Rockwood. One of the “included options” is a device known as a “ShowerMiser”.

The ShowerMiser is a water valve connected to the shower faucet controls that allows conservative folk to route water back into the freshwater tank.

Sounds silky, right? Explanation follows: when someone first turns on the shower, the water runs cold for a minute before the hot water arrives at the faucet. Then you adjust the hot/cold mix to a comfortable temp before you step into the shower.

If you are boondocking, that cold water just goes down the drain, and is wasted. The theory behind the SM- if you turn the SM valve on (located in the shower itself) it returns the cold water to the fresh water tank, via an additional hose. So now you have TWO hoses running into the top of your fresh water tank.

If someone is extremely concerned about conserving water while camping in the desert, this can conserve about a pint or quart of fresh water each time someone showers. This could add up over a period of time.

Of course, when the hot water arrives at your faucet, it behooves you to turn the
ShowerMiser back to the neutral position.

If I was a betting man, I would bet the factory had a fresh water tank configured for a SM and installed it. The factory guys who installed the shower did not have a ShowerMiser on their build list, so they did not install one, nor did they go looking for an extra hose sticking up from the tank.

My Fresh Water tank has two small water lines going into the tank and the second one is coupled and extended to the ShowerMiser valve in the shower.

This assumes your factory Quality Control people missed the error and sent the RV on down the line.

I know this sounds a bit far-fetched, but would explain your anomaly.

TacBear.

Thanks for the lengthy post. I actually think that this may be the reason for this. It was probably an over site on their part and forgot to plug it. The guy putting on the tank isn't communicating with the plumbing guy. I'm going to pour some water down the tube with the tank drain open and see if it ends up flowing out the tank.

Someone suggested that there should be a overflow on the bottom of the tank. It's been confirmed that the Coachmen 204RD does not have this set up by another 204RD owner. The 204RD only uses a vent hose that runs next to the fill pipe.

I'll let everyone know what I discover after the weather warms up here. It snowed today

[Wes Tausend]

...


I think the cold water "Shower-Miser" idea is probably true.


I didn't realize anyone else had thought of this in RVs. I considered it a possible owner add-on in our former TTs (Travel Trailers) since the showers were quite a ways from the hot water heater (HWH).


Stick homes with basement hot water heaters sometimes had this feature on the main floor. The supply lines ran as usual, but the hot water line was insulated. A permanent restricted water connection between the hot and cold was made at the sink or bath faucet. The hot water would then slowly cycle into the cold water supply because the hot water is a tad lighter and continuously rises to the faucet, then cools and "falls back" (returns) back down the cold water supply line in a convection manner. In a stick house, this meant that there was always hot water available immediately on tap when it worked right. The down side is that a tiny bit of hot water is always being used up and needs to be continuously re-heated.


My thought on our TTs was that it was too much trouble to run a separate return line, but the siphon/convection principle would probably work. My plan was to connect to the valve right at the shower faucet for maximum rise height over the HWH and valve-port wide-open convected water between hot and cold shortly prior to a shower. The detrimental thing is that in the boondocks, where obtaining fresh water is more trouble and worth conserving, one might want to also conserve propane, so continuous heating is undesireable. I never tried it and probably won't. Our current Class C has the HWH within a few feet of the shower.


Wes

[Ruggybuggy]

I've contracted Coachmen and will see what they say about the open pipe. I was just going to cap it off but thought better of it. If I do something that causes damage to the RV because of a modification performed by me I'll be SOL on the warranty.

[Wes Tausend]

Originally Posted by Ruggybuggy

I've contracted Coachmen and will see what they say about the open pipe. I was just going to cap it off but thought better of it. If I do something that causes damage to the RV because of a modification performed by me I'll be SOL on the warranty.

Good idea. When somebody modifies a product, there is always the chance that the manufacturer will deny warranty work and the dealer won't absorb it out of good will either, especially if the repair is pricy... pricy as when the consumer desires the most relief.

You might be able to install a low-priced filter on the end, like a clean new inline fuel filter, for instance. That way it can still breathe, yet it keeps bugs and debris out (some insects will seek moisture). Usually the overflow breather near the fill inlet has a screen in, or over, it for the same reasons.

My guess is that all tanks are probably pre-fitted for optional Shower-Misers while it is handy to do so. That would likely have been the decision made by the Industrial Engineer that oversees your RV assembly line. The IE probably just never bothered to have the workers properly terminate the hose lead when it isn't used.

I wanted to re-use a factory wiring harness for a hot-rod once. Every option the donor ever offered was already wired into my harness with a connector attached whether it was used or not. On the way down the build line, all the assembler had to do was add an electric seat (for instance) and then plug it in. I have heated mirrors on my old 2000 truck, but no switch or body wire installed because it was an unused option.

Wes

[RobinDella]

Originally Posted by Ruggybuggy

I have a brand new 2018 Coachmen Freedom Express 204RD and discovered this pipe sticking up through the floor. It's coming up through the floor above the fresh water tank. The hose running along side it is the water inlet to the pump from the fresh water tank. Any ideas?

I would say if it's brand new you still are under warranty. Call the dealer and make them fix it. I say fix it because obviously it's not supposed to be there.

[Ruggybuggy]

Originally Posted by RobinDella

I would say if it's brand new you still are under warranty. Call the dealer and make them fix it. I say fix it because obviously it's not supposed to be there.

The only problem with that is that I live in a very rural area and the dealership I bought it from is an 8 hour drive from me. The closest Coachmen dealer is about 3 hours away. It's a long was to drive to have them plug it for me. I contacted Coachmen and we will see how they respond.

[honda1]

put fitting on hose extened another hose up and tie to fill hose , if tank is over filled has better chance of flowing out vent or fill line & not into trailer .

[Ruggybuggy]

Well I contacted Coachmen about the pipe over a week ago and no response. I did a little experiment and with the fresh water tank filled up to the neck I poured water down the open hose. Water ran out the bottom of the fresh water tank around the drain. I couldn't see where because of the under shield. Its impossible to remove the shield because they used expanding foam around the tank, frame and under shield. When I drain a small amount of water from the tank and pour water down the hose the leak drops. I don't have a clue now what that open hose is for. I've vented the hose to the outside and calling it good. I'll take a pic and post later.

[2Evil4U]

Water ran out on the outside of the tank? Sounds like it's just an extra piece that's open ended.

[Ruggybuggy]

Originally Posted by 2Evil4U

Water ran out on the outside of the tank? Sounds like it's just an extra piece that's open ended.

You would think so but when I blow in the end of it there's resistance. Less resistance when the tank is empty and more when it's full but I could never suck water from it. I dont have a clue at this point.