Forum Discussion

thankdog's avatar
thankdog
Explorer
Jan 09, 2017

Hot/Cold shower

Hi everyone - hoping you can offer some insight to this ongoing issue(s) -

we have a 2012 Fleetwood Discovery 40X

Two things maybe unrelated -

Most importantly when we take showers (if not hooked up to city water) the water fluctuates from hot to cold to hot and back again - we replaced the pump as was suggested and no real improvement.

Second issue the ice maker doesnt work. There is nothing wrong with the ice maker that anyone can find. We replaced the filter but that made no difference. Oddly - from time to time with no rhyme or reason it will make a tray of ice. I know, not a super important problem to have in the big picture but still we would love to be using the ice maker instead of simply using it to hold store bought ice.

Thanks! Preparing for a X country trip and wanting to get everything done.

Lynn
Class A
  • We_Cant_Wait's avatar
    We_Cant_Wait
    Explorer
    Jan 09, 2017
    As to the hot/cold thing, about the only thing that will lessen this issue when on the pump is the addition of an accumulator tank to even out the water pressure surge.
  • thankdog's avatar
    thankdog
    Explorer
    Jan 09, 2017
    We Cant Wait wrote:
    As to the hot/cold thing, about the only thing that will lessen this issue when on the pump is the addition of an accumulator tank to even out the water pressure surge.



    So this is a common issue? This began about 1.5 years after owning this rig - it wasnt always a problem. I was hoping it could be a simple fix.

    What is an accumulator tank and I am assuming this would be an after market 'fix' I could do myself?

    TIA

    Lynn
  • thankdog's avatar
    thankdog
    Explorer
    Jan 09, 2017
    I looked it up and watched a couple install videos on You Tube - I could do that no problem. Now just to see which one I need. Thanks for the tip!
  • ScottG's avatar
    ScottG
    Nomad
    Jan 09, 2017
    Can you tell us what model water heater you have?
    Some have a mixing valve that can cause these issues.
  • Bill_Satellite's avatar
    Bill_Satellite
    Explorer II
    Jan 09, 2017
    No, this is not a common issue. You should get the exact same water delivery to the hot side and the cold side of your plumbing system. Has anything been changed since things were working 1.5 years ago? A strange part of this question is that you do not seem to have this problem when hooked up to city water but you do when you are using water in your holding tanks and water pumps only. That should also not be the case. If you can think of anything else, let us know.
  • doxiemom11's avatar
    doxiemom11
    Explorer II
    Jan 09, 2017
    I agree that this is not common or usual. I get a good hot shower no matter if I'm using city connection or tank and pump. I have found that if you turn the hot water on all the way, let it get hot before you start mixing cold in, it works better. Ours at least did this. When I turned the water on with both some hot and cold and planned on adjusting temp like I did with the shower in our house, seems like I had hot/cold especially if I shut the showerhead off then turned it back on. Starting the shower as indicated above with all hot until hot, then add cold took care of that problem.
  • DrewE's avatar
    DrewE
    Explorer II
    Jan 09, 2017
    Possibly there's some mixing of the hot and cold going on in the plumbing somewhere. The usual places where this can happen are the water heater bypass (not being fully shut off) or the outside shower if you have one (the hot and cold knobs being on, but the flow shut off at the showerhead). The inside shower can also mix the hot and cold exactly like the outside one, of course, but not so much when you're showering there.
  • thankdog's avatar
    thankdog
    Explorer
    Jan 09, 2017
    I always turn on hot all the way and inch the cold until it feels good but it fluctuates nonetheless - I will order the accumulator and see if that helps. Nothing has been changed and I have been thru the entire system looking for anything out of order. Nothing looks out of sorts to me.

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