# Another City/water Tank Question



## Starbuc71

After seeing all the post about water tank issues, pressure, water heaters, etc. it got me think that all my years of camping and living in FL (a non-winterizing state)I thought I'd ask some questions.
1. When you hook up to city water, does it atomatically start filling your hot water tank and should you wait a while before turning the heater on?
2. I have heard some people say that you need to have your switch for your water pump on even with city water connection and some say absolutly no. Which is correct?
3. Where is the check valve located and how would I know if I neede to replace it?
I guess with all the water topics questions these days I wish someone would post a water 101. I know the outbackers up north probably know more than us southerners since you all have to winterize. Thank you in advance for anyones help.


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## H2oSprayer

Starbuc71 said:


> 3. Where is the check valve located and how would I know if I neede to replace it?


Which one? There should be one on the back side of the city water connection to keep water from going out when the pump is on. There should be another one near the pump to keep the city water pressure to back flow through the pump. There is also one in the plumbing for the water heater.


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## sunnybrook29

On most installations you will always have water in your water heater. It flows in the top and out the top. If you lose pressure it will still have water. Your question, does it automatically start filling my water heater? It always has water, it might start replacing water if you open a valve and have pressure. The tank in your home is the same way , it should never get dry unless you open a drain in the bottom . You should not have to wait before turning on the heater and it might be a good thing to get in the habit of turning on a hot water faucet just to make sure that there is water flow thru the heater !
I see no reason to have the pump on when you are pressurized from outside.


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## thefulminator

I open the temperature/pressure relief valve on the top of the water heater while I'm hooking up the city water. It generally takes the tank 30 second or so to fill and you know it's filled to the top. I close the valve and go into the trailer to turn on the water heater. That way I don't forget to fill the tank by opening a faucet before I turn the water heater on.


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## sunnybrook29

Nope, I do not believe it! The hot water tank is always full if it is working proper . Opening a faucet is a way to check to see if you have flow and to insure there is water in the tank. I also believe that there is supposed to be a captive air space in the top to help alleviate the shock of off and on cycles .
If you are not hooked to city water and the pump is not turned on the water in the tank will remain in the tank, unless you winterize . My opinion , only ! Not my wife or dog!


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## thefulminator

I normally drain the water from the water heater between trips if it is going to be more than a couple weeks. I don't want to find anything growing in there.


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## ELSEWHERE

Starbuc71 said:


> 2. I have heard some people say that you need to have your switch for your water pump on even with city water connection and some say absolutly no. Which is correct?


Absolutely not, it will burn it up. You are getting the water pressure from the hose that you are connected to.

You won't burn your pump up. There have been several times I have been hooked to city water with very low pressure and when taking a shower I'll turn the pump on also in order to increase the water pressure for a more comfortable shower from our Oxygenics shower head which needs good water pressure to function as designed.


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## Scoutr2

Starbuc71 said:


> After seeing all the post about water tank issues, pressure, water heaters, etc. it got me think that all my years of camping and living in FL (a non-winterizing state)I thought I'd ask some questions.
> 1. When you hook up to city water, does it atomatically start filling your hot water tank and should you wait a while before turning the heater on?
> 2. I have heard some people say that you need to have your switch for your water pump on even with city water connection and some say absolutly no. Which is correct?
> 3. Where is the check valve located and how would I know if I neede to replace it?
> I guess with all the water topics questions these days I wish someone would post a water 101. I know the outbackers up north probably know more than us southerners since you all have to winterize. Thank you in advance for anyones help.


1. Your HW tank will automatically start filling when you hook up to city water or if you turn on the pump - unless you have the WH bypass valve set to the bypass position. The only way to know this is to open the pressure relief valve outside. If air and/or water comes out with the water on, then your HW tank is filling. As stated earlier, open up the HW faucet that is furthest from the HW heater to make sure you fill all the lines. You'll want to open the other HW faucets, as well, to fill those lines.

2. DO NOT run the pump when hooked to city water. You will burn up the pump if there is no water in your holding tank. The city water connection will provide the water pressure.

3. If you are referring to the check valve at the city water fill, you won't know if the check is bad if you are hooked to city water. But when running your water pump, which pumps water from the fresh water holding tank, the check valve will leak water outside, dribbling down the side of your trailer. Aside from wasting water in a dry camp situation, the pump will kick ON and OFF constantly. As the water leaks from the check valve, pressure drops in the system. When the pressure gets low enough, the pump will kick ON to boost the pressure back up. (The pressure switch is dumb - it doesn't know why the pressure is dropping - it's just doing its job.) The check valve may or may not be able to be replaced. Mine is not replaceable - I have to replace the whole city water/tank filler well assembly. My fix was to screw on a "Y", found at any hardware store, for splitting one garden hose to two lines. Mine has a ball valve for each leg of the "Y", so I can close the valve and no more dribbling! I carry one of these for the occasional campsite where I have to share a water hookup with my neighbor.

Hope this helps!

Mike


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## ELSEWHERE

2. DO NOT run the pump when hooked to city water. You will burn up the pump if there is no water in your holding tank. The city water connection will provide the water pressure.

[/quote]

There wouldn't be much point in turning on your water pump if there was no water in your fresh water tank to pump....


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## FLYakman

Ok so if I hear everyone correctly the "Fresh water connection" input is totally seperate from the "City water input" and the water pump works with the fresh water connection when there is water in that tank. Right? I always felt the fresh water tank was primarily used when you dry camp-am I correct?

If so how do I sanitize the "City Water Connection"? There does not seem to be a way to get a small amount of bleach into that system since it is a hose connection unlike the fresh water connection which has an opening for you to introduce bleach and water. Do you understand what I'm saying? I know I should know this but I don't and need expert advice.

Thanx


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## john7349

FLYakman said:


> Ok so if I hear everyone correctly the "Fresh water connection" input is totally seperate from the "City water input" and the water pump works with the fresh water connection when there is water in that tank. Right? I always felt the fresh water tank was primarily used when you dry camp-am I correct?
> 
> If so how do I sanitize the "City Water Connection"? There does not seem to be a way to get a small amount of bleach into that system since it is a hose connection unlike the fresh water connection which has an opening for you to introduce bleach and water. Do you understand what I'm saying? I know I should know this but I don't and need expert advice.
> 
> Thanx


The "City Water Connection" has no holding tanks, only the "shared" water lines that both systems use. It would be like trying to sanitize your house water lines. Hope that makes sense.


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## FLYakman

john7349 said:


> Ok so if I hear everyone correctly the "Fresh water connection" input is totally seperate from the "City water input" and the water pump works with the fresh water connection when there is water in that tank. Right? I always felt the fresh water tank was primarily used when you dry camp-am I correct?
> 
> If so how do I sanitize the "City Water Connection"? There does not seem to be a way to get a small amount of bleach into that system since it is a hose connection unlike the fresh water connection which has an opening for you to introduce bleach and water. Do you understand what I'm saying? I know I should know this but I don't and need expert advice.
> 
> Thanx


The "City Water Connection" has no holding tanks, only the "shared" water lines that both systems use. It would be like trying to sanitize your house water lines. Hope that makes sense.
[/quote]

Yes it does.Thank you.


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## CamperAndy

It does not matter in the pump is on or not if connect to shore water. The pump shut off pressure switch (located on the pump outlet) will be made by the shore water pressure and will not let the pump operate even if tuned on. Also due to the design of the pump it can pump air all day long without damage. If the motor burns up that is a different story but should still be able to run continuous operation. Since there is no water pressure load the motor will be running more or less unloaded.

To sanitize the city water connection pour some bleach into the hose before you connect it to the trailer. Then turn on the water just enough to push it into the piping and then let it sit for a little while. That should be all you need.


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## Lmbevard

If everything is working as it should, no water should be getting into your water storage tank when hooked up to the City water side. You can fill the tank and you can run both systems to get a little more water flow only if the flow from the water hose is low. Otherwise should be no need to run the water pump. One advantage to hooking up to the city water, no pump noise.

As far as the Hot Water heater goes, there is a bypass valve that has to be opened to allow water into the tank. Mine fills from the bottom and takes hot water out of the top. The important thing is to make sure there is water in the tank before turning on the heater. If it is the first use after dewinterizing you will have to open bypass and open either a faucet or easiest is to open the pop-off valve to the water heater until water comes out of it. If you have already used it before, just make sure there is water in the tank before starting.

As mentioned before there are 3 check valves on the camper. The first one is inside the water connection to the city side to prevent water from coming from the camper into the city water system and to prevent leaking. there are several styles, mine on the Outback is removable and repairable. You will know it's bad when you turn on the water pump with water in the tank and water squirts out 10' (I know, seen it before). the second one is either in the pump or next to the pump to prevent water from the city side from going into the storage tank. Would know that it's bad when after being hooked up to city water, water suddenly comes pouring out of the tank filler. The third one is on the discharge to the hot water tank. mine went bad and I could not get any hot water out of the tank eventhough it was heated. Mine had failed shut which is normal. otherwise if it failed open, cold water could back up into the hot water tank from the top making the heater work harder and again lowering the amount of hot water you can get from the tank.

Hope all of this helps. The water system really isn't that hard, just different. The only difference between the two systems is that when the water comes from the tank, it is sucked by the pump through one line and discharged to the water system. when hooked up to the city system, the water comes using the city pressure through another line and hooks up to the same system near the discharge of the water pump (I can see my connection by the pump).


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## ZHB

CamperAndy said:


> To sanitize the city water connection pour some bleach into the hose before you connect it to the trailer. Then turn on the water just enough to push it into the piping and then let it sit for a little while. That should be all you need.


Thanks for that tip Andy....I'll file that away in my maintenance info.


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## Jay Tee

I think I have a Fresh Water (FW) tank leaky reverse flow/check valve...

I've been living in my Outback Kargaroo for over 3 weeks and the other day I did my routine tank level check and happened to push the button for the FW tank and noticed it was FULL. I know I didn't fill it, I did put about 10-15 gallons in it, just in case I needed some. So, my guess is the check valve is slowly leaking from the city water system and filling the tank. Luckily it took 3 weeks to do it, so it's clearly a minor/slow leak.

Has anyone experienced this problem?
Is there a way to reseat the valve or exercise it so it won't leak?
I guess the final question would be, where is it located?

I will be doing some minor 'fixes' when I return home a week from now and wanted to add this to the list...it would be nice to know where it's located so I won't be spending a whole lot of time searching for it.

Thanks in advance!!!


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## viv

I own a 2018 Outback 260UML. This last camping trip, I started having a problem where when my city water hose is connected and turned on, it also fills my fresh water holding tank. I had to turn off the city water hose and use my water pump the rest of the trip. It sounds like a check valve problem. Does anyone know where the check valve on my model rv is located.


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