How much should remain in fresh water tank?

[MR.M]

Originally Posted by rlocicero

We have never used ours. Flagstaff 829 fks is 10 years old.

And that helps the OP how ?

[09grizzly1]

If the water pump pick up outlet is on the side of the tank you will pick up air when the water level reaches the top of the outlet fitting leaving the water level at least 1 inch above the bottom of the tank. I put an elbow coming out of the the side fitting pointing down to below the bottom of the tank and then teed off to the tank drain and to the water pump inlet hose. This allows for getting all the water out of the tank to the bottom of the fitting outlet.

[NavyLCDR]

Originally Posted by Alan H

You know, I've never measured how much I can get into it, but it is parked on the level on my RV pad when filling. The short intake line is my concern, hence the question. When the pump can't get anymore out, how much water should remain? Mine seems excessive, to me.

Once you go to a campground where you have to ferry water in a 5 gallon collapsible jug to fill your freshwater tank with, you'll know exactly how much water you put into it! Crater Lake National Park Campground, in the pouring rain. 7 jugs.

[Mr Towed]

Originally Posted by NavyLCDR

Once you go to a campground where you have to ferry water in a 5 gallon collapsible jug to fill your freshwater tank with, you'll know exactly how much water you put into it! Crater Lake National Park Campground, in the pouring rain. 7 jugs.

Reminds me of a fun story when we went to a campground that did not have hookups but had water spread out around the campground on the access roads, so you’d have to stop your rig in this one lane road and block anyone else who wanted to come that way while you filled up. The pressure was on so we were as quick as possible scrambling to get everything connected, fill up, disconnect and clear the roadway. We went on to our spot and backed in and when I went to crank up one of the levelers I hear water dripping. In our haste we had left the drain open from our previous outing and it was slow enough that were still able to fill the tank up but not slow enough that it wasn’t empty again by the time we backed in to our site. Not wanting to go through it all again we moved on to shuttling the 5 gallon jug back and forth.

[Tacky]

Yes, you SHOULD be able to get all the water out of the tank. Welcome to reality. The outlet to your water pump is often on the side of the tank, well above the bottom. I wish I knew why. It may leave a significant amount of water in the tank after the pump runs dry. On my previous TT, I plumbed the pump into the tank drain, which let me get all the water out of it. My current TT has an enclosed bottom, and I have not tried to change anything. Yet.

[Silverado333]

Total Newbie here, don't even have my RV yet, but hopefully soon. I'm wondering, I assume its easy to determine the actual size of your fresh water tank. How do you know how much water remains, after you've started using it? Is there an actual gage in the rig, or is it like an idiot light or lights. If your eater usage gets to the point where your below the outlet port, and the pump starts to cavitate, can you hear it, is the an auto shut off to stop the pump? I assume this varies on the type of rig - just wondering how this works?

Thanks for any info?

Steve

[DougW]

Originally Posted by Silverado333

Total Newbie here, don't even have my RV yet, but hopefully soon. I'm wondering, I assume its easy to determine the actual size of your fresh water tank. How do you know how much water remains, after you've started using it? Is there an actual gage in the rig, or is it like an idiot light or lights. If your eater usage gets to the point where your below the outlet port, and the pump starts to cavitate, can you hear it, is the an auto shut off to stop the pump? I assume this varies on the type of rig - just wondering how this works?

Thanks for any info?

Steve

Most have idiot lights on them, you push a button and the lights come on to indicate empty, 1/3, 2/3, or full. Once the pump starts to draw air you can usually hear the difference in how it runs. At this point it is best to use the manual switch to turn the pump off because it will not build pressure when drawing air and the pump can be damaged by running dry. There is a pressure switch which turns the pump on and off for normal operation but it normally does not work when there is air in the pump.