Cannot Find Water Pump

[Jengacat]

Hi, is there anyone with a Primetime Avenger ATI travel trailer who could help me figure out where the &$?!#%! my water pump is? It’s a 2016 model 26BB. My freshwater tank is filling when I’m connected to city water, causing water to leak underneath the trailer from the overflow tube. Based on posts here, I’m assuming the problem is with my water pump so I need to find it to investigate further. I have looked under the trailer near the FW tank, in all the storage compartments including behind any access panels in the compartments, under the bathroom sink behind an access panel, behind the kitchen cabinet drawers etc. The pump is also very loud and it sounds like it’s under the floor near the kitchen cabinets but I can’t figure out how to access it. There is a small built in box running the length of the cabinets at the bottom rear but I’m thinking that might be the wheel well. The only place I haven’t looked is behind a small access panel on the side of the bathtub. If anyone has any ideas, I’d really appreciate it! Thanks!

[tonyz1]

HI Jengacat. I don't have your camper and hope someone here chimes in that does. Just a quick suggestion before you tear into the pump, is to turn off city water and with the water still in your freshwater tank, turn on your pump and run some water out a faucet for a bit. Then turn off pump. Sometimes this will reset the backflow valve in the pump. May work or may not, just might be worth a try.

[cavie]

It will be behind an accessable access panel where you hear it. Turn on the pump and open a fauscet. let it run and listen.

[Jengacat]

Originally Posted by tonyz1

HI Jengacat. I don't have your camper and hope someone here chimes in that does. Just a quick suggestion before you tear into the pump, is to turn off city water and with the water still in your freshwater tank, turn on your pump and run some water out a faucet for a bit. Then turn off pump. Sometimes this will reset the backflow valve in the pump. May work or may not, just might be worth a try.

Hi Tonyz, thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately I’ve gone through that process a few times and I still have a slow leak coming through. I’m heading about 3 gallons accumulated in the FW tank overnight when I was connected to city water. Of course the gauge still says empty at that point but I drained the tank to see how much was in it , after draining it completely the day before. I was hoping the troubleshooting tip you mentioned worked for me but no luck. :-(

[Jengacat]

Originally Posted by cavie

It will be behind an accessable access panel where you hear it. Turn on the pump and open a fauscet. let it run and listen.

Thanks. I’ve been trying this method and it’s confusing. Sometimes it sounds like it’s in one spot then it will sound like it’s in another. I’m assuming the sound is being transmitted through the pipes. It’s pretty loud. The spot where it is most often heard is right under the floor in front of the kitchen cabinet and there’s no access panel inside or under the trailer. :-/

[MR.M]

Originally Posted by Jengacat

Thanks. I’ve been trying this method and it’s confusing. Sometimes it sounds like it’s in one spot then it will sound like it’s in another. I’m assuming the sound is being transmitted through the pipes. It’s pretty loud. The spot where it is most often heard is right under the floor in front of the kitchen cabinet and there’s no access panel inside or under the trailer. :-/

slow down take a deep breath and then run pump and listen , on hands and knees you will find it . it is inside of TT maybe close to hot water heater . etc . there is always an access for the pump . look closer listen better .

[Jengacat]

Originally Posted by MR.M

slow down take a deep breath and then run pump and listen , on hands and knees you will find it . it is inside of TT maybe close to hot water heater . etc . there is always an access for the pump . look closer listen better .

Ok Mr M thanks, I’ll try to post some pics of possible location before I start tearing apart the kitchen cabinet underneath lol. Right now I’m dealing with 45 mph winds on my construction site....ugh

[MR.M]

Originally Posted by Jengacat

Ok Mr M thanks, I’ll try to post some pics of possible location before I start tearing apart the kitchen cabinet underneath lol. Right now I’m dealing with 45 mph winds on my construction site....ugh

when it rains it pours . I installed a ball valve after my pump so i can isolate it . i didn't have problems with the check valve but it's just a precaution . most likely you have some debris stuck in check valve S/B able to clear just by running pump

[MilCop4523]

in most cases (pretty much every trailer I think) the water pump is behind a removable panel OR close to where the fresh water holding tank fill space and water heater are


In very trailer we have had it was below the sink in the kitchen.


our first 2 new trailers had so much sawdust and wood chips in the strainer that it refused to pump water.


I do not think that being connected to city water will fill your fresh water holding tank unless someone in the build process messed up big time. or you have a diverting valve which is not in the correct position since the pump does not operate on City water pressure.


just some thoughts... sorry if that didn't assist.


we had one trailer which had the black water flush and the city water mislabelled and guess what... it was a bad day.

[Adrian Gordon]

Originally Posted by MR.M

... there is always an access for the pump . look closer listen better .

Well.... kinda..... sorta...... maybe


I own an RV, not a travel trailer. Had no problem locating the water pump. I can see it by removing a panel in the cargo storage area. However, "access" implies that you can actually get to it through there, and in the case of my Leprachaun 210, you can't, at least not without removing a ton of other stuff. You can also see it if you remove the riser to the step going up to the bed, but you'll need 48 inch or longer arms to do anything with it. It appears they started with the water pump and built the rest of the RV around it, assuming that nobody would ever need to get to it.

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by Adrian Gordon

Well.... kinda..... sorta...... maybe


I own an RV, not a travel trailer.

Just for clarification, travel trailers, 5th wheels, popups, truck campers, along with motorhomes, are all considered RVs.

[JohnD10]

Originally Posted by MilCop4523

I do not think that being connected to city water will fill your fresh water holding tank unless someone in the build process messed up big time.

Yes it can.

This is usually a sign that the check valve in the water pump has gone bad and is allowing city water to flow backwards through the water pump and into the fresh water tank.

Easiest fix is NOT to replace the pump, but to buy a brass (not plastic) RV check valve and install it in front of the water pump so that the check valve does not reduce the water pressure.

Takes maybe five minutes and no tools and under $15.00...

This is mine (has been working great since April):

[Adrian Gordon]

Originally Posted by bikendan

Just for clarification, travel trailers, 5th wheels, popups, truck campers, along with motorhomes, are all considered RVs.

Fair enough, I agree, but it still looks like they built the motorhome around the water pump with the assumption that it would never require attention.

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by Adrian Gordon

Fair enough, I agree, but it still looks like they built the motorhome around the water pump with the assumption that it would never require attention.

You are quite correct, in your case.
I think towables have better access to things like the water pump because they don't have the motorized chassis to work around.

[D W]

Originally Posted by Jengacat

Hi, is there anyone with a Primetime Avenger ATI travel trailer who could help me figure out where the &$?!#%! my water pump is? It’s a 2016 model 26BB. My freshwater tank is filling when I’m connected to city water, causing water to leak underneath the trailer from the overflow tube. Based on posts here, I’m assuming the problem is with my water pump so I need to find it to investigate further. I have looked under the trailer near the FW tank, in all the storage compartments including behind any access panels in the compartments, under the bathroom sink behind an access panel, behind the kitchen cabinet drawers etc. The pump is also very loud and it sounds like it’s under the floor near the kitchen cabinets but I can’t figure out how to access it. There is a small built in box running the length of the cabinets at the bottom rear but I’m thinking that might be the wheel well. The only place I haven’t looked is behind a small access panel on the side of the bathtub. If anyone has any ideas, I’d really appreciate it! Thanks!

Most likely it will be located on the kitchen side floor under the sink, range, refer, pantry or wardrobe.

[NealM]

Yeah I agree. I think my water pump is under the shower pan in my Isata3? So I would have to lay on the floor alongside the toilet and try and get two arms underneath AND see what I am doing?

[Adrian Gordon]

Originally Posted by bikendan

You are quite correct, in your case.
I think towables have better access to things like the water pump because they don't have the motorized chassis to work around.

Possibly true with respect to many components. However, in this case I think the simpler and more reasonable answer is that it is more a matter of p--- poor design and/or workmanship.

[JohnD10]

In my previous 2013 TT (SOB) I tried doing the listening thing to find the water pump...to no avail!

And then I finally looked at the one spot I hadn't looked...under the sofa!

Under a hidden panel there...was the water pump!

On the opposite side of the TT from the kitchen and on the other end of the TT from the bathroom, and nowhere near the water inlet!

[Tom48]

Originally Posted by MR.M

slow down take a deep breath and then run pump and listen , on hands and knees you will find it . it is inside of TT maybe close to hot water heater . etc . there is always an access for the pump . look closer listen better .

Pretty much NEVER under the floor. Usually in a cabinet, sometimes behind a cover, but usually just an annoyingly insane spot where it is hard to find with little or no line of sight opportunity to see it. Mine is different model but as said, near hot water heater and in my case the kitchen and bathroom fixtures. Had to pull all the kitchen drawers out then look in with a mirror to see it.. my old TH it was in a cabinet, required drawers to be pulled our and then still nearly impossible to see and even harder to reach. I bought a set of 18" hoses from RV supply, moved it out to be accessable and REMOUNTED it on a rubber pad to cut down that noise that makes it sound loud and like it is everywhere.

[Tom48]

Originally Posted by NealM

Yeah I agree. I think my water pump is under the shower pan in my Isata3? So I would have to lay on the floor alongside the toilet and try and get two arms underneath AND see what I am doing?

I thought. That with my old TH but no. Turns out that shower pan is like a passive woofer cone in a speaker. It just repeats the sound and amplifies it.