Water Pump operating while on city water

[AlaskaRed]

I admit I am totally new to RV stuff. Wife retired this year, I did so 6 years ago. She was a Toyota Dolphin owner 30 years ago before we met. We bought a 2018 Dynamax REV24CB in Jan in WA. First cruise two weeks in late May-early June.

Question: When we are hooked up to city water, and switch is set to that position, the water pump still turns on every time we flush the toilet or run water in a sink. (Have not used the shower yet.) Is this normal, or should we have a water pump that stays off while in City Water configuration?

[mudman2]

If you have a separate water pump switch I believe you would want to have that set to off once hooked up to city water.

[Mr. Dan]

Originally Posted by AlaskaRed

I admit I am totally new to RV stuff. Wife retired this year, I did so 6 years ago. She was a Toyota Dolphin owner 30 years ago before we met. We bought a 2018 Dynamax REV24CB in Jan in WA. First cruise two weeks in late May-early June.

Question: When we are hooked up to city water, and switch is set to that position, the water pump still turns on every time we flush the toilet or run water in a sink. (Have not used the shower yet.) Is this normal, or should we have a water pump that stays off while in City Water configuration?

About which switch are you speaking?

As stated above, turn off your water pump when you are hooked to pressurized "city water".

[rk06382]

Originally Posted by AlaskaRed

I admit I am totally new to RV stuff. Wife retired this year, I did so 6 years ago. She was a Toyota Dolphin owner 30 years ago before we met. We bought a 2018 Dynamax REV24CB in Jan in WA. First cruise two weeks in late May-early June.

Question: When we are hooked up to city water, and switch is set to that position, the water pump still turns on every time we flush the toilet or run water in a sink. (Have not used the shower yet.) Is this normal, or should we have a water pump that stays off while in City Water configuration?

to the Forum. I'm from Alaska, too.

[AlaskaRed]

Guys,
When we connect to city water, I was shown that the three position valve (not switch) located in the outside shower gear door should be moved from TANK to CITY WATER, past FILL. If I recall, CITY is 6 o’clock, FILL is 9o’clock, and TANK is 12 o’clock. There are two or three switches at that location, one I think is the water pump, with a duplicate switch at the entry door, but I didn’t do a good job of clarifying my procedure.

[Reverse_snowbird]

On those REVs there are two water pump switches.

One is located on the panel inside the rig.
The other one is located in the service bay where you select city, tank, etc.

If the inside switch is 'off', check the one in the service bay.

We had the same problem and it took us forever to figure it out. The one in the service bay had been 'bumped' when we were storing stuff and the water pump was turned on there.

[AlaskaRed]

Reverse Snowbird, thanks for the info. After reading the other posts, I suspected something like this was the situation. When we go Outside I about three weeks, for a three week trip, we will make sure to check both switches. Of course, it would have been very helpful for Dynamax to have a wiring diagram and/or electrical schematic that is used during assembly, available on line, but I was told everything is “done freehand” during coach assembly, hence no diagrams or schematics are available.
(I put myself through college working construction as an electrician, started in electrical engineering, and did all of my Dad’s antenna and AV installations back in the ancient days.). Thanks for the info, AlaskaRed

[Reverse_snowbird]

AlaskaRed,
You're going to find that all these rigs have 'head scratching' moments.
I thought we'd 'broken' our water pump til I realized that it had an automatic cutoff switch when the water got too low.
We've had ours for 3 years and are still learning its quirks. Please share any problems or solutions you find. Us REV owners are a minority in this rv world.

[AlaskaRed]

Reverse Snowbird,
Yeah, I figure RVs are like airplanes, no two are exactly alike. And yeah, I’ve noticed REV owners are a small group.

One other quirk in our unit: It has a Jensen DVD player/receiver connected to the Jensen TV over the cockpit. Seems to pick up radio stations OK when we use it for that in the CG, and plays DVDs pretty well.

However, the regular radio that was installed in the Dodge chassis doesn’t want to receive radio signals, like the antenna is not connected! Surprisingly, the navigation function of that unit seems to work fine, although I figured it would need antenna connections, too. When we go traveling in mid-September, the first stop is at a Car Toys store in Portland, OR, to have them check it out.

They are also going to check out the continuity of the cable TV connection between the back of the coach and the electronics up front. Our TV does better picking up TV stations off the air than on its “Cable TV” option.

Well like you say, scratch your head!

[Larry-NC]

Originally Posted by AlaskaRed

Reverse Snowbird,
Yeah, I figure RVs are like airplanes, no two are exactly alike. And yeah, I’ve noticed REV owners are a small group.

One other quirk in our unit: It has a Jensen DVD player/receiver connected to the Jensen TV over the cockpit. Seems to pick up radio stations OK when we use it for that in the CG, and plays DVDs pretty well.

However, the regular radio that was installed in the Dodge chassis doesn’t want to receive radio signals, like the antenna is not connected! Surprisingly, the navigation function of that unit seems to work fine, although I figured it would need antenna connections, too. When we go traveling in mid-September, the first stop is at a Car Toys store in Portland, OR, to have them check it out.

They are also going to check out the continuity of the cable TV connection between the back of the coach and the electronics up front. Our TV does better picking up TV stations off the air than on its “Cable TV” option.

Well like you say, scratch your head!

There are (at least) two antennas (antennae?).

All frequencies below are in MHz.

AM radio: 0.540 MHz - 1.6 MHz
FM radio: 88 MHz - 108 MHz
GPS (navigation) 1300 MHz

Antenna size/shape is frequency dependent. While it's not impossible to design an antenna to receive both AM and FM (and frequencies in between), the GPS antenna is usually separate. Your symptoms suggest that the GPS antenna is working and the AM/FM antenna is not.

There have been many postings from RV owners reporting that the AM/FM antenna was never connected (or perhaps not even installed). I suggest you pull the radio out and see if anything is plugged into the antenna jack.

Larry

[AlaskaRed]

Larry,
Our first stop for the mid-September trip is Car Toys in Portland to check these antenna connections. (They were recommended by my brother-in-law who lives in Vancouver, WA just north of Portland.)

I will note those frequency ranges. Thanks,

[Larry-NC]

Originally Posted by AlaskaRed

Larry,
Our first stop for the mid-September trip is Car Toys in Portland to check these antenna connections. (They were recommended by my brother-in-law who lives in Vancouver, WA just north of Portland.)

I will note those frequency ranges. Thanks,

Car Toys will surely understand the need for two antennas, even if they don't pay attention to the frequencies.

Larry

[AlaskaRed]

Hey guys,
We just returned home after driving our 2018 Dynamax REV24CB home to Alaska. Three week trip, picked up the MH in Vancouver, WA, and had some work done. Then headed to Billings, MT, through Arco and St. Anthony, ID, through West Yellowstone, and across Yellowstone Park, out the northeast gate. Took the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway option to Billings, MT. Spent a couple days there.

Then back to Helena, MT, for a couple days visiting family. Then North. Five days on the Canadian roads, including the AlCan from Dawson Creek to Tok Junction, AK. Froze our butts off in Canada, saw temps as low as 17F, inside temp dropping overnight to about 50F. When we got to Tok, temps rose to 56F on Oct 4...came home to Alaska for warm weather! (Could use suggestions on how to keep inside a bit warmer in cold weather. And yes we turned on the tank heaters overnight.)

Took your advice and turned off water pump switch when hooked up to city water, everything worked fine, and much QUIETER, when using the sink or flushing the toilet.

Our Experience: when Canada says MHs are supposed to have mud/snow tires, and/or tire chains ready to use, after Oct. 1, there is a good reason. We creeped down several hills on the AlCan that were slushy, rime ice, or just plain glass ice, and extremely slick. The temps ranged from 20-30F and conditions were sketchy to say the least.

And cell service in Canada was nonexistent or spotty at best. We use TracFone for our primary cell service, and there was none in Canada. Our iPadPro has AT&T cell service for data, but this prepaid plan does not work in Canada either. AT&T does have prepaid cell service for phones, not iPads, available in Canada available on a by-the-month prepaid plan, but I have not seen a coverage map for our route.

And after Sept. 30, most of the RV parks and CGs along the AlCan shut down all services, except power.

Also discovered I don’t like driving winding mountain roads like Chief Joseph Scenic Byway from NE Yellowstone to Belfry, MT. Fortunately, wife was driving.

BTW: If you stay in the original Number One KOA Holiday CG on the east side of Billings, right next to the Yellowstone River, you will be spoiled for the rest of your RVing days, because of Five Star bathroom facilities. There are six individual bathroom/shower rooms, heated, well lit, roomy, and tiled with what looks like large natural stone on all surfaces. The work is beautiful, better than most four star hotels I have slept in! The showers have plenty of room, and some have built-in corner seats and/or heavy duty grab bars.

[Reverse_snowbird]

Glad you're back!
We've been 'chased' south more than once by rv parks closing in Sept. and mid Oct.
We'll put that KOA on our list for the next time we're in MT.