City Water Check valve

[Mike & Rebecca]

Cate&Rob, mine has a small dimple on one side so I'll pick up a replacement at the parts store this morning. However, the problem seemed to be that the spring valve (I"m not sure what the correct name is for that valve) closes itself and pushes the screen out as soon as I remove pressure. Maybe it's not reseating correctly when I screw in the hose?

[Mike & Rebecca]

howson, thanks for those links! I'm not interested in building an external pump system but reading that chain did reveal Cate&Rob's commentary about how the pump needs water in the system to help it prime. I think I understand that. Since I already wasted so much time yesterday trying to get the antifreeze past the City Water check valve, I think I'll put 5 gallons of water in the freshwater tank, see if I can get the pump to prime. And then try the antifreeze again through the City Water connection.

If I'm adding antifreeze, as opposed to blowing out the lines, there shouldn't be any harm in not draining the system first, correct? And I have the Furrion hot water heater, so I'll be adding antifreeze to that as well.

I do have an additional question from yesterday's experience - and I pondered this while I couldn't sleep last night - when I successfully connected the antifreeze bottle hose directly to the water pump, why did it force antifreeze to spew out of the City Water connection? Wouldn't the spring-loaded check valve have prevented that? I'm a little confused why connecting directly to the pump didn't work.

[TedS]

Ted, a regular hose fitting will fit inside of that fitting? That looks pretty small. Hopefully my RV parts shop has that becase I need to get this done today. Next couple of nights are mid 20's and there's a brand new hot water heater in the rig. Thanks for the suggestion!

No. It has pipe threads.

[TedS]

howson,

I do have an additional question from yesterday's experience - and I pondered this while I couldn't sleep last night - when I successfully connected the antifreeze bottle hose directly to the water pump, why did it force antifreeze to spew out of the City Water connection? Wouldn't the spring-loaded check valve have prevented that? I'm a little confused why connecting directly to the pump didn't work.

The check valve seal has probably been damaged and will not seal.

[Cate&Rob]

If I'm adding antifreeze, as opposed to blowing out the lines, there shouldn't be any harm in not draining the system first, correct?

. . . when I successfully connected the antifreeze bottle hose directly to the water pump, why did it force antifreeze to spew out of the City Water connection? Wouldn't the spring-loaded check valve have prevented that?

Hi Mike,

There is absolutely no problem with skipping the "blow out with air" before introducing antifreeze. I winterized many boats for many years (and my own RV) without using the air step. This does mean that there will be more water pushed out ahead of the antifreeze. (BTW - I catch this water in a bowl, as I open each faucet, so that it does not go into the tanks.) The air step does not get rid of all the water (as evidenced by the water pushed out ahead of the antifreeze, even if you used air) but does create air pockets which will cause the onboard pump to have difficulty drawing in liquid. If this happens, you need to open a faucet to allow the pump to clear the air pocket.

As Ted has noted, the check valve may be damaged and not sealing properly which is why antifreeze came out the city water connection. A quick fix for this is a hose end valve between the RV connection and the city/antifreeze supply hose. Sort of a "manual" check valve until you get the original replaced.

Rob

[Mike & Rebecca]

Thanks for everyone's input. It gave me the confidence to try some fixes, and the ultimate (although short term) solution. Snow was falling on me as I completed the job. It's going to be cold tonight and there's a brand new Furion Water Heater in there!

The short-term solution was buying a hose end plug at Ace Harward and plugging the City Water inlet. I connected the hose from the antifreeze bottle directly to the pump and it was a quick job after that. I did make one more attempt at siphoning the antifreeze through the City Water inlet per the instructions, but it didn't work. I'm not sure yet what I'll do long term, but I have until October to figure it out.

The consensus of the two local shops I spoke to is that the check valve in the City Water fixture is bad and needs to be replaced. I'm not convinced, but I think I'll order one just in case. Is that a part that can be ordered via Grand Design (it's not under warranty) or do I find it on Amazon or some other place? The RV shop I visited this afternoon had nothing similar.

Does anyone know how to remove the clip on the back side of the City Water fixture? The clip looks like it's pretty "locked" in place by the plastic tabs surrounding three sides. I started messing with it and was afraid I was going to break something.

[TedS]

Nautilus-P1-Repair.pdf

Mike & Rebecca Look in this repair manual.

[Country Campers]

Mike & Rebecca

Using a think screw driver or knife lift the lower end of the clip over the ridge below it and it will slide off.

Brian