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Old 06-26-2018, 09:47 AM   #1
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Is this an over flow tube?

Have had our camper for over a year and have filled our fresh water tank many times. Past two times we have filled it up, water came out of a white low pressure hose underneath the tank leaving us with practically an empty tank. Has anyone else experienced this or know why we are having this problem?Click image for larger version

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Old 06-26-2018, 09:51 AM   #2
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Yes that is your overflow line. If you over fill it, it can cause a syphon and the water will continue to drain. Happened to me on my first camping trip in my 26dbh. I thought I had a full tank and by time I got there I was just at 2/3 and not to mention I was boon docking
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Old 06-26-2018, 09:52 AM   #3
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Thank you!
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Old 06-26-2018, 09:54 AM   #4
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Yes, that's an overflow tube, and it's a problem others have reported before. Sometimes the hose ends up slipping further into the tank, and if it comes out the overflow, ends up being a syphon and drains the tank till the contact between the water level with the top of the hose is broken.

You can either:

a) Have it serviced (or do it yourself) to make sure the hose is back at the top of the tank

or

b) Put a shutoff valve on the hose. Open it when you fill it, close it when you're done.

It's not recommended to do the valve route unless you know for sure there is a another vent available the tank, like via a gravity fill.
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Old 06-26-2018, 10:05 AM   #5
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b) Put a shutoff valve on the hose. Open it when you fill it, close it when you're done.

It's not recommended to do the valve route unless you know for sure there is a another vent available the tank, like via a gravity fill.
If you don't have a gravity fill, re-open it before you use water from the tank, or you may implode the tank.
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Old 06-26-2018, 10:05 AM   #6
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I read a few post prior and allot say to fill it very slow
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Old 06-26-2018, 10:06 AM   #7
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Originally Posted by rockfordroo View Post
If you don't have a gravity fill, re-open it before you use water from the tank, or you may implode the tank.
That's why I said to only do it if it has another vent.
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Old 06-26-2018, 10:22 AM   #8
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That's why I said to only do it if it has another vent.
Not everyone here is knowledgeable enough to know the difference between a gravity fill and a hose-connected fill (and with potentially a valve in it to chose between city water and FW tank fill).

Just trying to help.
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Old 06-27-2018, 10:00 AM   #9
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If the overflow tube is glued into the fresh water tank the way it should be, it's almost impossible to adjust it. My solution was to drill a 1/8" hole in the top of the overflow tube at its highest point after leaving the fresh water tank. The overflow tube on my rig, much larger than the 1/2" pex water fill line, should never fill with water so it will never flow out of the hole I added. The hole breaks the siphon and prevents the overflow tube from draining the fresh tank.

I had to disconnect the overflow hose from its connection to the tank to add the hole. The hose was clamped to the top of the compartment and the hole I added is under the clamp.

Phil
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Old 06-27-2018, 10:17 AM   #10
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I added a cap on mine to stop the siphon effect. once the water is off I screw the cap on
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Old 07-02-2018, 02:47 PM   #11
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Originally Posted by pmsherman View Post
If the overflow tube is glued into the fresh water tank the way it should be, it's almost impossible to adjust it. My solution was to drill a 1/8" hole in the top of the overflow tube at its highest point after leaving the fresh water tank. The overflow tube on my rig, much larger than the 1/2" pex water fill line, should never fill with water so it will never flow out of the hole I added. The hole breaks the siphon and prevents the overflow tube from draining the fresh tank.

I had to disconnect the overflow hose from its connection to the tank to add the hole. The hose was clamped to the top of the compartment and the hole I added is under the clamp.

Phil
I crack the cold water faucet on mine when I hear the overflow start running, seems to stop the siphon.
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Old 07-02-2018, 03:01 PM   #12
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I have this problem too. It doesn't always do that, which is puzzling. I put a cap on the vent hose. It has to be that the vent hose is too deep into the tank or not installed correctly. But the cap lets me fill and kept filled, the FW tank.
ww
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Old 07-03-2018, 07:41 AM   #13
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I have this problem too. It doesn't always do that, which is puzzling. I put a cap on the vent hose. It has to be that the vent hose is too deep into the tank or not installed correctly. But the cap lets me fill and kept filled, the FW tank.
ww
so you just open the cap while filling and then close the cap after you are done?

We just came back from our first trip with our new 2018 274DBH and ran into this issue. We filled at the station and by the time we got to our site we lost over 1/3 of our water.
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Old 07-04-2018, 11:17 AM   #14
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I crack the cold water faucet on mine when I hear the overflow start running, seems to stop the siphon.
Please, please tell me how you sound insulated your rig so you can hear the overflow dripping when driving down the road. Mine never siphoned when I filled it and the siphon started while I was driving.

Phil
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Old 07-04-2018, 11:59 AM   #15
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I just put a valve on mine . Open it it fill tank, when it starts running out close valve. Turn off fill water. Get to campsite, let the kids, as they do, run the sink, go to the bathroom, ect. Open vent valve and check to see if water level down enough so it doesn't siphon anymore. Then I Enjoy my camping experience.. Knowing that tomorrow, I will be totin water to refill with 6 gallon jugs.

Been doing this for four years. Never heard a vacuum on vent valve when opening. I don't believe fill cap has a gasket or o ring to completely seal off to cause the tank implosion.

Your results may vary
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Old 07-14-2018, 07:06 PM   #16
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Please, please tell me how you sound insulated your rig so you can hear the overflow dripping when driving down the road. Mine never siphoned when I filled it and the siphon started while I was driving.

Phil
It's prolly Bernoulli's theorem working there.

Fast moving air over the end of the hose causes low pressure, and voila! you have water sucking out of your hose.

I'd try the hole at the top of the hose trick mentioned above...
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Old 07-15-2018, 05:31 PM   #17
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so you just open the cap while filling and then close the cap after you are done?

We just came back from our first trip with our new 2018 274DBH and ran into this issue. We filled at the station and by the time we got to our site we lost over 1/3 of our water.
We had this happen on our same camper. Filled at the station till water ran out the overflow, drove to site, set up and water was still coming out of the overflow. We ran outta water at the end of day 3/ morning day 4 and I couldn’t imagine why we used so much water. Luckily we were headed home but I now see why we prob lost some of the tank water. What size cap goes on the end of this overflow, seems like an easy enough fix to prevent water from flowing out and creating the siphon.
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Old 07-15-2018, 05:42 PM   #18
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I would never put a cap on a tank overflow, Many times that is also used as the vent and if you forget to remove the cap when filling you can balloon the tank and damage the tank and the mounting, If you force air back into vent to get any water out of it and it should greatly reduce the chance of sucking out the water.
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Old 07-15-2018, 05:59 PM   #19
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I would never put a cap on a tank overflow, Many times that is also used as the vent and if you forget to remove the cap when filling you can balloon the tank and damage the tank and the mounting, If you force air back into vent to get any water out of it and it should greatly reduce the chance of sucking out the water.


1/2 inch ID
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Old 07-16-2018, 04:30 PM   #20
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It's prolly Bernoulli's theorem working there.

Fast moving air over the end of the hose causes low pressure, and voila! you have water sucking out of your hose.

I'd try the hole at the top of the hose trick mentioned above...
Bernoulli's theorm most likely doesn't apply here because the fresh tank overflow is supposed to have a self closing fitting on the end of the tube. My overflow tube has a squashed rubber hose at the bottom end of it. When there's no water in the tube, the hose is flat and doesn't present an opening for air to flow over. Once water starts flowing out of the tube, the siphon effect keeps it going until the tank end of the overflow is above the water level.

Break the siphon and it'll never drain the tank. You will, however, still get some overflow caused by sloshing of the water in the tank.

Phil
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