Forum Discussion

pressure_welder's avatar
pressure_welder
Explorer
May 30, 2014

hot water tank not filling?

Good evening everyone, finally pulled the rig out to de-winterize it for our trip two weeks from now. Doing everything as usual, fill fresh water tank full with water and bleach solution, get rid of all the pink, and then I go to turn the by-pass to fill the hot water tank, I let the pump run for quite some time as "usual" as I thought it was filling the hot water tank. HOWEVER it was not, go pull the relief valve and nothing, did have a quick blast of air but of course no water, take out the anode rod, go back into camper and flip the hot water tap on and still nothing yet pump is still running and hot water tap is choking away. (turn hot tap off and pump still runs) go flip the valve the opposite direction just for ****s and giggles, and lots of water pressure on the hot side but pump shuts off when valve is closed. I tried with city water connection and same outcome, I am not sure what I am doing wrong,


just some information:

2013 keystone Laredo 266RL

water pump has single valve by-pass kit for the water heater? has a TEE- ball valve that you can open too use as a suction for anti-freeze through a tube. Hot water tank was of course fully drained before winter

6 Replies

  • Puddles's avatar
    Puddles
    Explorer
    May 31, 2014
    hmknightnc wrote:
    Your HW heater should have 3 valves associated with it. Cold inlet, hot outlet and bypass around them. Those valves will be inside your trailer directly behind the HW heater. Usually hidden by a screw on wooden panel. I don't know your trailer but I doubt these HW heater valves are any where near your water pump station.

    You need cold inlet and hot outlet open with bypass shut to fill and use the HW heater


    Correct... You need to close the bypass valve and open the cold inlet and hot outlet... all three valves need to be adjusted when you're changing from winter/summer usage.
  • Allworth's avatar
    Allworth
    Explorer II
    May 31, 2014
    My bypass valves are behind a panel in the basement (on the back of the heater).
  • Old-Biscuit's avatar
    Old-Biscuit
    Explorer III
    May 31, 2014
    OR your water heater only has one valve (3 way) on cold inlet. Turn one way water goes into WH turn it 90* and water bypasses WH and a check valve in Hot out stops water from going into WH.

    OR you could have 2 valves. One on cold inlet and one on bypass line. Cold open/bypass closed water goes into WH. Cold closed/bypass open water bypasses WH and check valve in hot out stops water from going into WH

    The 'winterizing valve' (should be closed so pump doesn't suck air) is for using pump to get anti-freeze thru plumbing lines.

    You stated you "flipped the valve the other way and lots of water pressure on the hot side but pump shuts off when valve is closed"
    hot water pressure WHERE? pump shut off when you closed valve---???

    Cold water from pump discharge or city water line goes in bottom of WH (cold) and then out top of WH (hot). Bypass line connects cold and hot
    Look at backside of WH (inside RV) and recheck valve set up
    WH not filling up....cold inlet still closed
  • hmknightnc's avatar
    hmknightnc
    Explorer
    May 31, 2014
    Your HW heater should have 3 valves associated with it. Cold inlet, hot outlet and bypass around them. Those valves will be inside your trailer directly behind the HW heater. Usually hidden by a screw on wooden panel. I don't know your trailer but I doubt these HW heater valves are any where near your water pump station.

    You need cold inlet and hot outlet open with bypass shut to fill and use the HW heater
  • pressure_welder's avatar
    pressure_welder
    Explorer
    May 31, 2014
    that's odd because their are no other valves in that area that I can see, and their was no anti-freeze sucked into the hot water tank
  • K_Charles's avatar
    K_Charles
    Explorer
    May 30, 2014
    The valve that you sure to suck in the antifreeze has nothing to do with the heater bypass.

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