Can I gravity fill my on board tank?

Since your trailer already has a pump, there is no need to buy another one. I just did a simple modification and now can draw water in thru my city water inlet, and send it to the tank.

Diagram

Thanks for all of the help everyone. I just wanted to get some opinions on this subject. To me it would be obvious that I could gravity fill through the vent hole if I need to. So I called the manufacturer and they said "It's not a problem to fill through the vent hole and that I need to go slow so the air can vent out." The pressure fill inlet line is just the 1/2 inch pex line, which makes gravity fill extremely slow if at all possible due to the size. So I will be getting a transfer pump and there will be modification in the future when the warranty expires.

Many rigs now come with wet bays and valves similar to motorhomes where valve selection dictates how/where water goes. Mine is similar in that I can fill the tank with a hose and use the onboard pump. I can also hook up hose and run off city water pressure. If I want to fill from a jerry can I hook up my short winterizing hose, select the valves and suck the water from the jerry can using my onboard pump...then set levers to "system use". Took some getting used to, but I like not hoisting jerry cans now. If I want to fill up from the 33 gallon tank in the back of my truck the separate hose has enough pressure to fill directly into the tank as if it was city water.

Daryll

Hunterred wrote:
This sounds so bizarre to me. Since when do trailers not have a full tube? That's the only way we fill our trailer, couldn't imagine not having one?!?!

Since he has a valve that allows filling the tank the gravity fill doesn't have to be installed. I have a similar valve and have never used my gravity fill.

UrbanNomads wrote:
A possible solution that I found in the manual is in the sanitizing the water tank section. It states that with the model I have I can pour the sanitizing solution in through the vent hole. So I would assume that I could gravity fill through the vent hole also.

Adding a small amount of liquid through the vent should work but not for filling the tank. When you attempt to fill the tank with the vent where does the air go with the vent blocked by water?

The above suggestion to buy a replacement pump to fill the tank is a good one.

This sounds so bizarre to me. Since when do trailers not have a full tube? That's the only way we fill our trailer, couldn't imagine not having one?!?!

Purchase the same one that is now your pressure pump, that way you can replace your on board pump with the one you are using to pressure fill your tank.

A possible solution that I found in the manual is in the sanitizing the water tank section. It states that with the model I have I can pour the sanitizing solution in through the vent hole. So I would assume that I could gravity fill through the vent hole also. It would appear that there is a one way spring tension valve on the main inlet, because it definitely needs pressure to fill the tank. So on that note, can anyone recommend an external pump to use? Again thanks for any help.

Read your owners manual- On my Open Range, I can set the valves to the " winterize " position and suck water in with the onboard pump.

On my Jayco same setup more or less. I think I can still use the single port to fill the tank via gravity the issue is getting a jug of water that high and holding it there while it empties 10 times +. However I also have the option to use the water pump by changing the valve settings like when winterizing but with different valve settings. On mine it is a bit of pain to get to the valves but is doable I just have to empty out the storage compartment, pull down/ remove the bulkhead panel to get to the valves. They have a little cutout but they are mistaken if they think you can see much less reach the valves from where the cutout is maybe if it were 5 time the size of the 6 square inch removable cutout. I plan on making a new removable cutout in the proper place and size to aid in that as well as winterizing. Another option might be to use a drill mounted pump I have one I have used to empty fuel tanks with a cordless drill it has suction on one end and discharge on the other. IT will pull 10 gallons of fuel out in a few minutes (obviously if I were to do this I would strictly use a new pump for water only). The pump is pretty cheap such as this one http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1278825&KPID=960087&pla=pla_960087