Water shooting out of city water inlet when pump runs

CombatYoga · 04-30-2016, 10:27 PM

A friend of mine is having a strange problem.
He's got a new Keystone Carbon - we're camped together up here west of Ft. Worth.
When he turns any faucet on in his trailer (which kicks on the water pump), instead of water coming out of the faucet, it shoots out of the city water inlet.

There must be some sort of check valve stuck open I'd think?

He said he recently had some plumbing work done and this just started happening when he got it back. He suspects that they incorrectly hooked up some lines when
they did the work.

Any thoughts/suggestions on what might be going on?

CY

WFD · 04-30-2016, 10:39 PM

Pull off the screen at the city water connection, and just inside there is a plastic check valve you can easily reach with your finger. It may be stuck open. The same check valve you press when winterizing to make sure you draw antifreeze up into there.

TURBS · 04-30-2016, 11:43 PM

What wfd said

2008 2500hd Duramax
2015 Columbus 320RS
2016 nights camped "2"
2015 nights camped "34"

5picker · 05-01-2016, 07:25 AM

Yep, the check valve inside the city water port is designed to prevent exactly the situation you are describing.

5picker · 05-01-2016, 07:29 AM

Also, should the check valve be broken, a plug screwed into the port or a short hose with a kink to block off the flow could be used to get by until a proper fix can be done.

Mars · 05-01-2016, 07:36 AM

Yep, I had to do that once. Mine blew the check valve parts right out of the fitting. I found the parts on the ground when we where packing up a few days later.

Aeroguy · 05-01-2016, 11:52 AM

Might check if the inlet screen is defeating the check valve. Replaced mine but saw that the screen was pushing on the check valve until I bent the screen in a bit.

mike.t · 05-01-2016, 01:39 PM

Why is the pump on?

Wolverine 1945 · 05-02-2016, 07:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mike.t

Why is the pump on?

doc73 · 05-02-2016, 08:21 AM

I guess some camp at places where they do not have full hookups.. LOL

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2016251RKS · 05-02-2016, 08:30 AM

Yep. Just got my 2016 Surveyor back on Saturday from the dealer. I had that same issue, brand-new. Bad valve from the factory. Apparently not checked by the dealer because I discovered the issue at home - along with about 10 other items, pinched hoses, etc.

All good now. On board water works...city water works...potable tank disinfected, still need to mount bedroom tv. (oh, yeah, remember to lube the equilizer hitch. . . the dealer didn't mention that)

mike.t · 05-02-2016, 10:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wolverine 1945

Didn't realize you needed the pump on when connected to city water.

doc73 · 05-02-2016, 10:31 AM

He did not say he was hooked up to city water, said the water shot out. I think that is what threw us.

mike.t · 05-02-2016, 11:21 AM

You are correct doc. Looks like I need to read a bit more carefully.

Kaadk · 05-02-2016, 11:26 AM

Odd that it would only happen when there was demand at a faucet. Basically, the pump should kick on to pressurize the system and not kick off if not pressurized. As long as that check valve is stuck open, it shouldn't be able to pressurize and would be constantly running, shooting water out of the city water connection regardless of whether or not there was demand at a faucet.

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doc73 · 05-02-2016, 11:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mike.t

You are correct doc. Looks like I need to read a bit more carefully.

I read it bunch of times, though I missed it!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kaadk

Odd that it would only happen when there was demand at a faucet. Basically, the pump should kick on to pressurize the system and not kick off if not pressurized. As long as that check valve is stuck open, it shouldn't be able to pressurize and would be constantly running, shooting water out of the city water connection regardless of whether or not there was demand at a faucet.

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I was wondering the same thing the more I thought about it. Maybe pressure seals it, drop (opening faucet) unsealed it and when closed the pressure eventually reveals? I dunno.

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mike.t · 05-02-2016, 12:15 PM

Did it do this prior to having plumbing work done?

Kaadk · 05-02-2016, 12:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by doc73

I read it bunch of times, though I missed it!

I was wondering the same thing the more I thought about it. Maybe pressure seals it, drop (opening faucet) unsealed it and when closed the pressure eventually reveals? I dunno.

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I was thinking about this more while I was gone for lunch, I suppose it could be explained if the city water connection was installed on the inlet side of the pump instead of the outlet side. If it was plumbed that way, then it would explain it only coming out the city water connection when the pump is drawing water from the fresh water tank.

But if it was plumbed that way, whenever he uses the city water hookup that would be going through the pump and backfilling the fresh tank....unless it's one of those rigs with the selectable inlet. You know those ones where they have to switch between city hookup and filling fresh all though one?

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ScottBrownstein · 05-02-2016, 02:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kaadk

I was thinking about this more while I was gone for lunch...

Actually it wouldn't explain it. If the city water was incorrectly plumbed as you indicate, nothing would come out of it since it would be on the suction side of the pump. Now, if it were lower that the tank it would siphon, but all that still points to a bad check valve on the city water fitting.

Kaadk · 05-02-2016, 03:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScottBrownstein

Actually it wouldn't explain it. If the city water was incorrectly plumbed as you indicate, nothing would come out of it since it would be on the suction side of the pump. Now, if it were lower that the tank it would siphon, but all that still points to a bad check valve on the city water fitting.

It might be explainable if the check valve was installed in reverse. The way I'm picturing it as there's suction then the check valve closes due to the vacuum pressure, but as that's replaced with a draw from the tank occasionally the water pressure could force the backwards installed check valve open.

Kind of hard to explain, but this seems plausible. The failure side of this would be that if the check valve was installed backwards, it couldn't be used for city water....

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