Water filling

[D Calhoun]

We have a 2021 Forest River Sun Seeker 3010. Filling the water is a challenge it comes out as fast as we put it in. Any tricks on filling?

 

[Rittersrv]

Also lots of complaints about filling issues, I would do a search on the site for lots of suggestions.

 

[TitanMike]

We have a 2021 Forest River Sun Seeker 3010. Filling the water is a challenge it comes out as fast as we put it in. Any tricks on filling?

Where are you filling and where is the water coming out?

Without knowing specifics it could be the tank drain is open.

 

[Sunseeker16]

I have an older 3010 and it does shove water back out when filling. My solution was to add a piece of clear tubunig to the end of the hose and shove it down into the fill port. No matter what I can't fill it fast. Set the water for a slower fill and dont worry about a little spillage.

 

[D Calhoun]

Where are you filling and where is the water coming out?

Without knowing specifics it could be the tank drain is open.

We are filling in the hose connection to fill tank but the water pours out as fast as it goes in from the hose connection.

 

[D Calhoun]

I have an older 3010 and it does shove water back out when filling. My solution was to add a piece of clear tubunig to the end of the hose and shove it down into the fill port. No matter what I can't fill it fast. Set the water for a slower fill and dont worry about a little spillage.

Great that’s what I’ll try thank you.

 

[Chuck_S]

Not sure the exact problem here but for water to go in the air has to come out of the tank or the tank gets pressurized. This may be the purpose of the tubing mentioned earlier. My tank is vented and I stop filling when the water squirts out of the vent and fill -- hose just press fit in the fill -- but have to stand back when I pull the hose or the freshwater tank burps (polite term) a good bit of water all over me.

-- Chuck

 

[Sunseeker16]

I've changed the angle of my fill and vent tube to improve the gradient from the fill port to the tank and it still pushes water out when filling. You are correct Chuck, stand to the side when you pull the tube out.

 

[jimmoore13]

Some key info is still missing. I'll muster a couple of hunches.

Looking at a photo of one of these, it appears you have a gravity fill for your freshwater tank. (Black fittings right behind the driver's side rear tires.) (Some rigs have a "wet bay" and the city water connection has a diverter valve to switch from feeding the coach with city water to filling the freshwater tank.) Everything I mention is base on the gravity fill assumption, but the same issues might arise with a wet-bay connection.

Several things might be in play.

First, right next to the fill cap, you can see a small opening covered with screen. That is the air vent. The air vent connects to the top of the freshwater tank with a small hose that also connects to that screened opening. Sometimes the air vent hose can be kinked, or sometimes it can be a bit too long, and that creates a sag in the hose where water can collect and prevent air from escaping. This often leads to the water you are pouring into the gravity fill gushing back out at you, because the air in the tank has nowhere to go...so the water can't enter. If your air vent hose is kinked (during construction) or too long so it can fill with water and block the air flow, that's an easy fix. You may need to crawl under the rig with a flashlight to inspect, or all that plumbing may be visible from where the pump lives.

Second, and even more confounding, is that most rigs of your vintage also have a fresh tank overflow hose that is your telltale that your tank is full. You fill to the top, and then water starts running out of the overflow hose, you stop adding water, and after about a gallon or so runs out on the ground, the overflow stops.
AGAIN, if your air vent is blocked, a strange phenomenon can happen...sometimes, not always...where water jetting into the fresh tank is entering the tank on one side. That water can swirl at a fairly high rate. And the tank overflow is behaving like an air vent. A freakish set of circumstances can, rarely, cause the swirling water to hit the overflow connection in the tank and begin siphoning water out of the tank through the overflow...and continue relieving the building pressure inside the tank ... because the air can't escape. Water entering the tank flows to create a vortex of swirling water that soon reaches the overflow connection, and what goes in goes right back out.

Both of these problems can be related to a blocked air vent. The second problem is a crazy, hard to replicate bit of physics that few have experienced...but there are stories of it happening. The good news is that fixing the air vent usually does the trick.

I've had three different rigs, and I've never had the misfortune to have a blocked air vent. But it's not a difficult fix. In each of my rigs, this hose end adapter does several things. It smooths the water flow, and it gets the water down into the fill pipe by about 10 to 12 inches. But it will NOT overcome a blocked air vent. The good news is that if you fix the air vent on a gravity fill tank, the chances are VERY good that you will be able to fill as fast as the hose can supply the water.

 

[Mr Brian]

We have a 2021 Forest River Sun Seeker 3010. Filling the water is a challenge it comes out as fast as we put it in. Any tricks on filling?

We concur with @Sunseeker16 - and use the popular Camco item linked below to slowly fill the (identical to your) fresh water tank on our 2020 Forest River Forester 3011 - in which we have the identical issue.

https://www.amazon.com/Camco-Shutoff-Efficiently-Eliminates-Backflow/dp/B0006IX850/ref=sr_1_1_pp

Hope this helps.