tank fill hyperlite xlr

[johnnyfd]

Geez...try to find info on one of these. Forest River doesn't seem to supply much. I have one connection for both city water and tank fill, with a diverter valve. I was boondocking and tried to gravity fill my tank. I think check valves made this prohibitive. I removed the connection, jury rigged with fittings from a local hardware store to get me through, but at this point I'd like to eliminate the diverter valve by adding a direct tank fill connection, and having the city water connection simply remain apart from the tank fill. I see this as a simple modification. Any insight on this?

BTW....for those that own one of these, I don't see a by pass valve for the water heater. Also there is a ribbed hose approx. 1 1/2" dia., and about 16" long, protruding from the water tank. Is that a vent hose?

Meanwhile, i'm hunting for fittings to make a direct tank fill port.

[djmac1964]

I thought that I had heard somewhere that you could use the pump to fill the tank, but I cant say for sure since I've never tried it.

[zs325RES]

That ribbed hose should be the gravity tank fill.

[Dave_Monica]

Originally Posted by johnnyfd

BTW....for those that own one of these, I don't see a by pass valve for the water heater. Also there is a ribbed hose approx. 1 1/2" dia., and about 16" long, protruding from the water tank. Is that a vent hose?

Meanwhile, i'm hunting for fittings to make a direct tank fill port.

Welcome to the forum!

Don't own one but are there any valves on the supply/outlet of the WH? I'm thinking maybe 3-way valves may have been used.

I've never heard/seen any 1 1/2" drain or vent off the back of the WH. Any chance that you could post a picture?

You should be able to find the inlet and install. Here's a link... GO-RV.com - RV On-line Catalog
The FW tank would already be vented so you wouldn't have to run a vent line to the gravity fill port.

Dave

[johnnyfd]

I don't have access to the water heater, cept the outside panel, and there aren't any valves other than the pressure relief valve. The only supply line from the FW tank goes right to the area of the water heater(that would be the bottom connection in the pics). I cannot access any of it near the heater. My assumption is that the water pump may be there too, so if I ever need to replace the water pump, if it's not in the tank, then I'm gonna have to tear out the water heater. Just dandy.....Like I said, Forest River doesn't seem to publish information on these things freely. The owners manual that came with it is almost useless, and the website has nothing.

I posted pics of the FW tank, and attempted to attach here ( If didn't work, I created a folder in my profile). The ribbed hose as you will be able to see comes out of the FW tank. I still think it's a vent hose. It's wire tied up and I didn't want to mess about with it for pictures sake, but as you can see from the pic it has tape on the end of it. I believe a permeable fabric is taped to the end. Perhaps, I could make that the gravity feed and use the smaller 3/8"(?) hose for venting, but the larger ribbed hose is definitely not the fill line. I should also mention that I bought this new.

I should have posted a pic of the diverter valve (and I will) so that you can see how the factory set up is from the fill inlet; the one and only fill inlet. It doubles as city water supply too.

I wanted to wait until I acquire a gravity fill inlet to install before I tear everything apart. Dave that link will be helpful, thank you. When I get er done, I'll post a follow up.

[djmac1964]

If you have the 27HFS your hot water tank access is under the front bed. you would need to move the mattress off, and then lift up the plywood that is on hinges to access it. You will need to do this when you winterize, since there are valves there you need to open and close. And yes your pump is also located under there.

Like I said before, I have heard that you can fill your fresh tank by using the pump, but I do not know that it works for sure, since I have never tried it. You would need to hook a hose up to the inlet, stick the other end into your water supply, turn the switch to fill, and turn the pump on. I was told that it will suck the water into the fresh tank. It was someone at the dealership that told me that,so I don't know if they were blowing smoke up my backside or not, but I guess now I need to try it to see if it works.

I would try that before you start unhooking lines, and trying to plumb in a new fill line. Just one mans opinion.

[Dave_Monica]

Originally Posted by djmac1964

Like I said before, I have heard that you can fill your fresh tank by using the pump, but I do not know that it works for sure, since I have never tried it. You would need to hook a hose up to the inlet, stick the other end into your water supply, turn the switch to fill, and turn the pump on. I was told that it will suck the water into the fresh tank. It was someone at the dealership that told me that,so I don't know if they were blowing smoke up my backside or not, but I guess now I need to try it to see if it works.

I would try that before you start unhooking lines, and trying to plumb in a new fill line. Just one mans opinion.

That will work if you talking about using an external 12V pump to pump water from a jerry can/barrel. That wouldn't work using the camper's water pump as it's suction line is from the tank and has a check valve to maintain prime to the pump.

Dave

[johnnyfd]

Thanks DJmac. Mine is a hfs 19. I think you're right about the access under the bed. I've never noticed that the outside storage compartment below doesn't go all the way across. I'll check that tomorrow.
I am somewhat dubious about using the pump to siphon water, because the lamo owners manual can't say enough about not running that pump without water in the tank. I think changing over from the diverter valve is going to work out well , but at least now with your information and Dave's I'll discover the bypass valve. Good information.

[johnnyfd]

a friend of mine was using an external 12V pump, but he was unhappy with the results. Slow going. What I was doing was more laborious, but I think went faster. But I still need to make it right. I'll keep ya'll posted.

oh, and he had a gravity feed inlet.

[johnnyfd]

It's done. Works 1000% better. I should send this thread to the hyperlite section. Pic 510 shows the diverter valve set up. The blue PEX end is the supply inlet. Water goes to the diverter. The opposite side is to FW tank. The middle hose is connected to the cold water supply at the sink, which supplies the whole system when using CW. The diverter valve lets you fill the FW tank. But, the inlet has a check valve which requires pressure to pass through; not going to work for gravity feed. And all those 90 degree connections for 1/2" hose don't help neither.
If you look at the pics in reply #5, the 1 1/2" hose at the FW tank was the vent as you can see in pic #542 after I removed it. The floor already had a cut out large enough to push a 1 1/2 hose through(pic 531, which makes me wonder. But it made my job easier. I put a new, longer 1 1/2" hose on the FW tank and fed it through that hole (see pic #539). I made a bracket to keep the hoses out of the way (something that FR doesn't care to do). While I was at it, I neatened up the wall cut out (I know FR isn't craftsman quality, but geez it's so unprofessional). I'll paint at a later date.
I bought a vented gravity feed inlet. I had to cut a larger hole in the plastic door panel(see pics # 534,535, and 536). I was able to use the screws supplied. It even leaves me with a security door(for what it's worth) on my FW supply.

I connected the original 1/2" FW supply line to the vent.
So that's it. pic #541 shows complete under bath sink.
I used a 1" hose and funnel to gravity fill the FW tank, just as I would have to do while boondocking. Worked like a charm.
Seems to me Forest River traded functionality to save a couple of bucks. I guess a diverter is cheaper than about 5' of 1 1/2" hose and an inlet. I'm thinking that toy hauler users are gonna do a bit more boondocking than RVers. Bottom line.......the factory set up sucked. Unless I'm missing an important technical reason for the set up, but I can't figure it.

[Dave_Monica]

Nice job! The manufacturer does the diverter valve set-up thinking that you'll always be filling with a pressurized water source, not adding to the FW tank with jerry cans.

Dave

[Bpenn]

Does the water pump have the wintering kit installed on it to suction rv anti-freeze from a gallon container? Or do you have to install it yourself? I have a 2013 Hyper Lite XLR 24HFS.

[johnnyfd]

I didn't winterize properly last winter. I drained everything and used anti freeze in toilet, but that was it. I'm not in a terribly cold climate. It wasn't until this whole job that I was directed to look under the bed. There it was. I'm not sure what exactly you are looking for, but I did take pics of that area and attached two pics here. I think it's what you want, and it's under the bed (or whatever is behind your heater). That's where it is on my 19xlr. Good luck.

[Bpenn]

Looks like yours has the suction tube for winterizing. I hope ours does we will get into it this weekend. Thank you for the pics!!!!!

[djmac1964]

Originally Posted by Bpenn

Looks like yours has the suction tube for winterizing. I hope ours does we will get into it this weekend. Thank you for the pics!!!!!

Our 2013 27HFS had it form the factory. Was very happy to see it when it came time to winterize last year!