Filling the fresh water tank - Page 2

ppine · 05-02-2019, 04:09 PM

Try much lower water pressure.

drelec · 05-02-2019, 04:19 PM

I would empty the tank and try again. Use fresh water drain or use your pump.

MadDog2020 · 05-02-2019, 04:21 PM

I had the exact same problem. It seems, based on posts I read to solve the problem, that there may be a loop in the vent line that traps water which then traps air in the tank. The trapped air pushes the water out. I placed a small hose over the vent and blew the water out. You could feel and hear it going out. I found that to prevent this I had to run the water very slow taking a long time to fill the tank. I had tried to fill it fast and wound up getting water in the vent line. Since there must be a loop in the vent line the water can’t drain back into the tank.

NJKris · 05-02-2019, 04:33 PM

I"m with PDQparalegal. Make sure those pot and pans aren't crushing fill hose. I put pot and pans in compartment below oven, and low and behold, the cheap and worthless partition they installed in the back of the compartment came loose from it's floor attachment point, and was squashing the heat duct going to the bathroom.

jimmoore13 · 05-02-2019, 08:53 PM

I presume gravity fill. (Some have a pressure fill from the shore water hose attachment - and a valve to divert from coach supply to fresh tank fill). You mention water coming back at you, so that sounds like a gravity fill.

Gravity fill will take water at full flow from a 5/8" garden hose. Use one of these.

If you have water jetting back out the fill pipe, and you've successfully filled once without problems, it sounds as if the vent pipe, right next to the fill pipe, is blocked and not allowing air to escape OR there is a kink or blockage in the fill pipe.

You mentioned water also spilling into the interior, so that could be a different problem. Bear with me. When I got my camper, the fresh fill worked fine. Over time, it started to leak. The culprit was that a cabinet screw was driven through the floor and straight into the fill pipe. Over time, road vibrations opened that screw hole and the pipe would leak fresh tank water onto the ground.

That's obviously not your problem, but it points to sloppy assembly and poor quality control. Now my point. It sounds as if you are experiencing something similar. The hint is loading your cabinets only to discover you can't fill the tank. This hints at the possibility that something is both blocking the fill pipe and making it leak into the cabin.

A POSSIBILITY TO CONSIDER
How old is the rig? How long ago was it manufactured, and how long did it sit? Even if you're the first owner, it might be 6 months or more old. If there was water in the tank at the dealer, a rare but known phenomenon is that "stuff" can grow inside the vent pipe. There are photos of these pipes containing whole ecosystems! Solution: Disconnect the vent pipe from the tank and direct it away from the tank. Use compressed air from the TOP (thru the screen) to blow out the vent pipe. If junk comes out, there's your sign, and a more thorough cleaning is in order.

MOST LIKELY
If the vent pipe is clear, that leaves only one option: some damage, crimp or other in the main fill pipe. Again, quality control issues may come into play. Sloppy workmanship can lead to a pipe that's too long, has too sharp a bend for the length, and voila, the pipe collapses and kinks. Imagine an assembler late on Friday afternoon stripping what should be 5 feet of pipe off the reel, but that's the end of the reel and the piece if 5' 6". Do you really think the assembler will cut off that 6". Not likely. And you get to deal with the aftermath.

Begin your search on your back under the camper. This stuff is not rocket science....just soft plastic flex piping with simple connectors. Feel free to replace factory clamps with regular hose clamps if you disconnect things.

As for sanitizing with a partial tank....not so much. If there was water in there from the dealer, that water may have "contaminated" the entire tank. I'd urge you to do it again and fill the tank full to the brim with the chlorine solution, run all taps and flush the toilet, then top off the tank, let it sit 24 hours, then flush EVERYTHING several times to get the chlorine stink out.

Good luck figuring this out. Fortunately, it should not be too hard.

jimmoore13 · 05-02-2019, 08:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MadDog2020

I had the exact same problem. It seems, based on posts I read to solve the problem, that there may be a loop in the vent line that traps water which then traps air in the tank. The trapped air pushes the water out. I placed a small hose over the vent and blew the water out. You could feel and hear it going out. I found that to prevent this I had to run the water very slow taking a long time to fill the tank. I had tried to fill it fast and wound up getting water in the vent line. Since there must be a loop in the vent line the water can’t drain back into the tank.

X2

jimmoore13 · 05-02-2019, 08:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ppine

Try much lower water pressure.

If your gravity fill won't take water at full pressure from a garden hose, there's something wrong. You'll be very happy if you find the problem and fix it.

Wolverine 1945 · 05-03-2019, 09:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Florida.Traveler

For some reason our 2018 Wildwood will not take water into the fresh water tank.
When we took delivery in January the tank was 1/2 full, so I drained it to reduce the road weight. I closed the drain value thats located, on the frame just under the kitchen window.

I 1/4 filled the tank to add bleach to clean the tank, all was good. I again drained the tank.

Now I'm going on an extended trip into the Everglades, and need to refill the fresh water tank, BUT when I place the hose from the fresh water supply into the tanks entry, all the water comes flooding back out, and I noticed a bit of water inside the trailer on the floor near the kitchen sink.

The only difference between the 1st 2 fills is I placed pots & pans in the cabinet below the sink and near the fresh water inlet pipe.

Question is there a directional valve in the fresh water tank inlet, that could be malfunctioning, one that preserves pressure or something.

Thanks on advance

Sorry Late to the Party !!!
With a small hose blow the air vent clear, careful you may get wet !!!

Florida.Traveler · 05-03-2019, 02:15 PM

I have a list of the suggestions youll provided. Will report what worked. Hope I can go on my trip, a tropical storm is brewing and may flood my planned bike trips out.

OburgOrange · 05-09-2019, 07:48 PM

You have an air lock in your vent. This worked for me. Wrap a rag around your water hose about 2 inches from the end. Insert hose into freshwater fill hole while forcing rag around opening to create a seal so no water will back out. This forces the water into the tank and pushes air and water back out your vent hose. Takes about 30 seconds. And it works

Pmccullers · 05-09-2019, 07:57 PM

Probably a long shot but I had a bad check valve on my fresh water pump and every time I hooked up to city water it would fill my fresh water tank. Maybe your tank is full.

Florida.Traveler · 05-09-2019, 10:37 PM

Did that tank is empty thanks

Florida.Traveler · 05-09-2019, 10:38 PM

Thank you I'll take your post and do a check off

Florida.Traveler · 05-09-2019, 10:41 PM

Did that water intake is not running in the area where the pots & pans are stored

Florida.Traveler · 05-09-2019, 10:46 PM

I've cut off the connector in an old fresh water hose and I will attempt to put this hose as far as I can into the filling tube then I'll wrap a wet cloth to see if I can get a bit of a seal and then slowly turn of the water
Great suggestion thanks

Wolverine 1945 · 05-10-2019, 08:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Florida.Traveler

I've cut off the connector in an old fresh water hose and I will attempt to put this hose as far as I can into the filling tube then I'll wrap a wet cloth to see if I can get a bit of a seal and then slowly turn of the water
Great suggestion thanks

No need for a seal, just blow into the vent first !!!

azccj · 05-11-2019, 12:09 AM

I had this very same problem with my 2019 Palomini. Whenever I attempted to fill my fresh water tank I could never fill it more than 1/8 full. Water would just start shooting out of the fill inlet and also run down on the floor of the trailer. I took the bed platform apart to get to the water intake and flesh water tank. The problem was the way they built the thing. The fresh water intake was nearly level with the intake port of the tank, and since the hose which runs from the inlet to the tank sagged a bit, and even more when it was filled with water, the water I was trying to put in was trying to push the water uphill that was in the intake hose between where I was inserting the house hose and the tank's intake port at the top of the tank. After going online and looking at pictures of other trailers using the same type of duel fill inlet, it appears FR installed the assembly wrong, installing it horizontally instead of vertically. Had it been installed vertically the fresh water inlet would sit above the city water inlet and the hose that goes from fresh water inlet to the tank would have been sloped. My fix was to install a new fresh water inlet in the trailer's side wall and support the middle of the tank's fill hose so the hose has a nice slope from the inlet to the tank. Now all is well and I can fill the fresh water tank very fast using my home's water hose and not spill a drop out of the trailer's fresh water inlet. It wasn't a lot of money to fix just a pain, and the first of many fixes I've completed, on my brand new travel trailer. So much for quality control.

And before you ask why I didn't just have the dealer fix the water problem, and all the other stuff. I bought the trailer out of state 2000 miles from home and I wasn't going to trailer it back. Even if the dealer had been local I still would have fixed it myself because I discovered long ago, dealers usually break 2 things for every 1 they are paid to fix.

azccj · 05-11-2019, 04:42 PM

Attached is a picture of how the water intake is now.

Captain Jim · 05-13-2019, 08:25 AM

Sounds like you may have hooked to the”city water” line which requires an pressure regulator, or you can blow a line or fitting apart! Be sure you are on the fresh tank fill fitting, not city water! You may have some repairs if you hooked up to “city water” without the regulator!

Hope this helps!

jeff64 · 05-13-2019, 08:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OburgOrange

You have an air lock in your vent. This worked for me. Wrap a rag around your water hose about 2 inches from the end. Insert hose into freshwater fill hole while forcing rag around opening to create a seal so no water will back out. This forces the water into the tank and pushes air and water back out your vent hose. Takes about 30 seconds. And it works

See post #13

This also works along the same thought train. Been doing this for last couple years. Camco water bandit attached with double female garden hose connector. Fits nice in the opening and performs as above. Using this idea in conjunction with blowing the vent clear a (shower) hose 1st works better IMHO and subjects the tank to less pressure buildup. It will still belch out a gallon when you disconnect the water hose though. Once all settles down there will likely still be some water settle in the low spot of the vent hose. Hasn't caused me any issues and I know how to work around the problem

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