When we took our first trip in our Reflection 297RSTS four years ago, we ran into the issue were we were losing fresh water out of the overflow while traveling. It's hard to find fresh water at some of the places we go camping in the Arizona desert, so we usually fill up at home. On that first trip, I lost 2/3 or our water!
In order to keep from losing a significant portion of our water while on the road, I installed a shut off valve on the overflow. This actually worked out well until our last trip. Here's the procedure that used to work well.
1. Fill up the tank until water started to flow out of the overflow.
2. Shut off the water supply, and close the valve on the overflow hose.
3. Set up camp, turn on the pump, and set the Nautilus panel to "Dry Camping".
4. Open the overflow valve and have the Mrs. run a faucet inside. This would typically break the suction and you'd hear air shooting up into the overflow.
As soon as the air would start rushing, the water coming out of the overflow would stop and we'd camp as normal. BUT - On our last trip, this didn't work. When I attempted to run step #4 above, water kept flowing out of the over-flow and wouldn't stop. After it filled a five gallon bucket, I closed the valve. I'd open it from time to time as we were using water, and it always kept flowing. I couldn't hear any air going back up the overflow tube.
I'm home now, and have time to fiddle with it. The tank was showing 2/3 full, but water was still flowing out of the overflow and you couldn't hear air entering. So I left the overflow open, and opened the tank drain. Amazingly, water was flowing out of both, and now air was entering. Finally, when the tank was about 1/3 full, I heard a huge rush of air, and finally water stopped flowing out of the overflow. I closed the tank drain and you could hear air being sucked into the drain tube for at least 60 seconds.
This tells me that the tank is collapsing and no air can enter the tank until it finally gets low enough on water for the suction to stop. Next week, I'm planning on dropping the coroplast for some other work and I'll work on developing a method for proper tank venting if I can. In the mean time, I need to make sure to leave an air space at the top of the tank while filling.
Jim
In order to keep from losing a significant portion of our water while on the road, I installed a shut off valve on the overflow. This actually worked out well until our last trip. Here's the procedure that used to work well.
1. Fill up the tank until water started to flow out of the overflow.
2. Shut off the water supply, and close the valve on the overflow hose.
3. Set up camp, turn on the pump, and set the Nautilus panel to "Dry Camping".
4. Open the overflow valve and have the Mrs. run a faucet inside. This would typically break the suction and you'd hear air shooting up into the overflow.
As soon as the air would start rushing, the water coming out of the overflow would stop and we'd camp as normal. BUT - On our last trip, this didn't work. When I attempted to run step #4 above, water kept flowing out of the over-flow and wouldn't stop. After it filled a five gallon bucket, I closed the valve. I'd open it from time to time as we were using water, and it always kept flowing. I couldn't hear any air going back up the overflow tube.
I'm home now, and have time to fiddle with it. The tank was showing 2/3 full, but water was still flowing out of the overflow and you couldn't hear air entering. So I left the overflow open, and opened the tank drain. Amazingly, water was flowing out of both, and now air was entering. Finally, when the tank was about 1/3 full, I heard a huge rush of air, and finally water stopped flowing out of the overflow. I closed the tank drain and you could hear air being sucked into the drain tube for at least 60 seconds.
This tells me that the tank is collapsing and no air can enter the tank until it finally gets low enough on water for the suction to stop. Next week, I'm planning on dropping the coroplast for some other work and I'll work on developing a method for proper tank venting if I can. In the mean time, I need to make sure to leave an air space at the top of the tank while filling.
Jim
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