Gravity Water Fill

The manufacturer did you a big favor by not putting a gravity fill on your mode. It "saved" you $7.29 or so! It's a good example of how they scimp and delete things we take for granted.

I assume you looked around on the exterior and didn't find a fill hole?

If you don't: You could stop by the hardware store and pick up a garden hose end fitting. It would only take a minute or two to put it on, fill up and then 30 seconds to pull it off. Just have the fitting and a screwdriver handy by the front seat when you pull in.

I think he needs a "Water thief".

https://www.amazon.com/Camco-Connects-Standard-Various-Sources/dp/B000EDOSKG/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3L6G2U4160R8N&dchild=1&keywords=water+thief+faucet+adapter&qid=1600194863&sprefix=water+thief%2Caps%2C288&sr=8-1

I have a Coachmen as well, and wanted to be able to fill my tank from some 5 gallon jugs. I thought I could just hook up a short hose and use a funnel to fill it through the freshwater fill, but there's a backflow prevention valve or something there that prevents it from filling unless the water is under pressure.

So I bought an RV freshwater pump, attached hose fittings and wired it to my batteries, and used that to pump water from the bottles into the freshwater tank. I keep the pump around as a spare in case the one in the RV fails.


If the hose you're filling from has good pressure, you might be able to use something like a water bandit to slip over the water source hose.

If you have a winterize setting, to pump antifreeze from a bottle, you can use that to pump water from a container into the tank. It's not the fastest operation ever. Just set the valves for winterization and open the fill valve and turn on the pump.

DrewE wrote:
If you have a winterize setting, to pump antifreeze from a bottle, you can use that to pump water from a container into the tank. It's not the fastest operation ever. Just set the valves for winterization and open the fill valve and turn on the pump.

Seems to me if this were correct, a person would have to fill the water tank with antifreeze, in the process of winterizing.

There is normally a check valve on the tank side of the pump to keep water/antifreeze from flowing backwards into the tank.

Mine does not have a gravity fill either so I just use one of my over flow tubes from the FW tank to add water using my solar shower bag.

coolmom42 wrote:

DrewE wrote:
If you have a winterize setting, to pump antifreeze from a bottle, you can use that to pump water from a container into the tank. It's not the fastest operation ever. Just set the valves for winterization and open the fill valve and turn on the pump.

Seems to me if this were correct, a person would have to fill the water tank with antifreeze, in the process of winterizing.

There is normally a check valve on the tank side of the pump to keep water/antifreeze from flowing backwards into the tank.

The fill valve connects the pressure side of the water system (after the pump) to the tank, allowing city water to flow into the tank. When closed, the check valve in the pump prevents this flow, as you note. For normal winterization, the fill valve is not kept open, and the tank does not fill with antifreeze. (It probably would be a good idea to briefly open it to force any water in the fill line out, and thus get a very small amount of antifreeze in the tank.)

valhalla360 wrote:
I assume you looked around on the exterior and didn't find a fill hole?

If you don't: You could stop by the hardware store and pick up a garden hose end fitting. It would only take a minute or two to put it on, fill up and then 30 seconds to pull it off. Just have the fitting and a screwdriver handy by the front seat when you pull in.

How do you by pass the check valve to allow water to flow in?

I find it remarkable that new entry level rigs are not are equipped with a fresh water gravity fill. The gravity fill is essential for the way my wife and I travel. I would be furious if I bought a new rig to learn that it lacks this basic motor home item.

This leaves me to wonder.... "What Else Is Missing?"