Hooking up the water for the first time

[Burwoods]

We did not just hook up everything at once and hope for the best, we have tried as you can tell with all our questions that we are doing one thing at a time on this old girl. Today it is the water. Again we have no idea what is up...lol. We have a pressure regulator, the hoses of course, going to look for a by pass for the hot water tank to make sure it is open. Plug the MH in and hope the pump and water heater work, and we see nothing dripping anywhere. We don't think we need to fill the fresh water tank for this test today....right? We don't really want the weight right now.

[Burwoods]

Old-Biscuit wrote:

Burwoods wrote:
Water hookup Update. We have decided we are lazy today, Canada Day here, and as a stat holiday have decided to not work on the water. Not to mention we keep having pop up thunder storms. Hard to see any drips under motorhome with the ground all wet. We are instead, taking out a chair and then next weekend going to live on the edge and take it to a campground. Hook the water up and say a little prayer, fingers crossed, so on and so on. Wish us luck.

I would still invest a little time in checking out the water system PRIOR to your camping trip. Hooking up hose (with regulator) and pressurizing the plumbing system only takes about 20 mins.You can then check for leaks, etc. and repair while at home vs in a campground.

Water heater bypass valve closed....cold inlet valve open and hot outlet valve (if you have one) open so WH fills then you can test it for operation.
Hooked up to shore power (plugged in) your converter should supply the 12 DC System (some converters need a battery to act as load for converter). Fridge needs 12V DC for control circuit, water heater needs it if you have a electronic type.

Basic water system......



Do a little 'driveway' camping.......less frustrating if something goes wrong

Yes that would be the best plan, we have to have it out of our driveway by this Thursday the latest..city by laws, before it out stays its welcome. Tonight would be our only chance and our weather is up and down here, we will see.

[Burwoods]

It is so hard to know that the other guy was like with maintenance, so on, but we are thinking it was not his strong point. So we are doing our best to educate ourselves (with much help from here). If we ask to many questions for you, please block our profile from your viewing, we do use search and try to find our answers. We are all for preventing a problem or doing all we can to, if possilbe, so we thank you very much for all your ideas and tips. If everything had worked perfectly the first time, would have been a walk in the park. It leaves for the mechanics again in the morning, nothing serious, but we hope and plan to start out with as healthy a MH as we can.

[AllegroD]

We use THESE in the hoses.

I too would check out the tank. It does not take very long. City water will help you sanitize it, as it already has chlorine. Adding a cup of bleach to a 40 gal tank, running some into the house lines (w/the pump), letting it sit for an hour and draining will get rid of the kooties of the previous owners.

[Old-Biscuit]

Burwoods wrote:
Water hookup Update. We have decided we are lazy today, Canada Day here, and as a stat holiday have decided to not work on the water. Not to mention we keep having pop up thunder storms. Hard to see any drips under motorhome with the ground all wet. We are instead, taking out a chair and then next weekend going to live on the edge and take it to a campground. Hook the water up and say a little prayer, fingers crossed, so on and so on. Wish us luck.

I would still invest a little time in checking out the water system PRIOR to your camping trip. Hooking up hose (with regulator) and pressurizing the plumbing system only takes about 20 mins.You can then check for leaks, etc. and repair while at home vs in a campground.

Water heater bypass valve closed....cold inlet valve open and hot outlet valve (if you have one) open so WH fills then you can test it for operation.
Hooked up to shore power (plugged in) your converter should supply the 12 DC System (some converters need a battery to act as load for converter). Fridge needs 12V DC for control circuit, water heater needs it if you have a electronic type.

Basic water system......



Do a little 'driveway' camping.......less frustrating if something goes wrong

[J-Rooster]

Burwoods wrote:
We did not just hook up everything at once and hope for the best, we have tried as you can tell with all our questions that we are doing one thing at a time on this old girl. Today it is the water. Again we have no idea what is up...lol. We have a pressure regulator, the hoses of course, going to look for a by pass for the hot water tank to make sure it is open. Plug the MH in and hope the pump and water heater work, and we see nothing dripping anywhere. We don't think we need to fill the fresh water tank for this test today....right? We don't really want the weight right now.

When it's time to fill the fresh water tank do not over fill, this can can damage to some tanks! Fill about 7/8 full that will be fine.

[vegasfoodguy]

Burwoods wrote:
We did not just hook up everything at once and hope for the best, we have tried as you can tell with all our questions that we are doing one thing at a time on this old girl. Today it is the water. Again we have no idea what is up...lol. We have a pressure regulator, the hoses of course, going to look for a by pass for the hot water tank to make sure it is open. Plug the MH in and hope the pump and water heater work, and we see nothing dripping anywhere. We don't think we need to fill the fresh water tank for this test today....right? We don't really want the weight right now.

Did you notice the "Search" block on the top of the page?

[Burwoods]

Water hookup Update. We have decided we are lazy today, Canada Day here, and as a stat holiday have decided to not work on the water. Not to mention we keep having pop up thunder storms. Hard to see any drips under motorhome with the ground all wet. We are instead, taking out a chair and then next weekend going to live on the edge and take it to a campground. Hook the water up and say a little prayer, fingers crossed, so on and so on. Wish us luck.

[Burwoods]

Mr.Mark wrote:
Burwoods, just for future reference, anytime that you connect to a spigot, always turn the water on for 10-15 seconds to flush out any bugs that may have crawled up into the spigot for water.

You don't want to introduce the bugs into your plumbing as they might plug up your filters and/or screens on your faucets.

Good luck,
MM.

Thanks

[Mr_Mark1]

Burwoods, just for future reference, anytime that you connect to a spigot, always turn the water on for 10-15 seconds to flush out any bugs that may have crawled up into the spigot for water.

You don't want to introduce the bugs into your plumbing as they might plug up your filters and/or screens on your faucets.

Good luck,
MM.

[DiskDoctr]

Bumpyroad wrote:

Burwoods wrote:
We have a pressure regulator, the hoses of course, going to look for a by pass for the hot water tank to make sure it is open. Plug the MH in and hope the pump and water heater work, and we see nothing dripping anywhere. .

you don't want the bypass open, you want water filling up the heater tank, if you are going to see if it heats.
bumpy

I'll add....make sire the hot water tank is FULL before turning it on. If it has electric also, it will burn out the element quickly otherwise.

You can open the pop-off valve in the tank until water comes out to be sure.

[Bumpyroad]

Burwoods wrote:
We have a pressure regulator, the hoses of course, going to look for a by pass for the hot water tank to make sure it is open. Plug the MH in and hope the pump and water heater work, and we see nothing dripping anywhere. .

you don't want the bypass open, you want water filling up the heater tank, if you are going to see if it heats.
bumpy

[M_GO_BLUE1]

rgatijnet1 wrote:
No need to fill the water tank but make sure that you input valve is set for shore water instead of fill water tank. Good luck!

You will need to fill up the water thank to check that the water pump is woking correctly...again make sure you knobs are in the corect position when using the water pump

[Burwoods]

RoyB wrote:
The only time I turn on the water pump on my setup is when I have water in the fresh water tank. My water pump ONLY draws from the fresh water tank and provides water pressure as required. Although the water pump is designed to operate without water at its input port I really don't think it is a good idea to power the pump up unless you actually have water in the fresh water tank. My water pump input port has no physical connection to the city water.

The City water connection when used provides the water pressure for my system.

Some water systems may be setup different but I think this is the basic concept for most RV units including motorhomes.

Roy Ken

I would be surprised if anyone reinvented all the plumping, I agree about not working water pump without water.

[RoyB]

The only time I turn on the water pump on my setup is when I have water in the fresh water tank. My water pump ONLY draws from the fresh water tank and provides water pressure as required. Although the water pump is designed to operate without water at its input port I really don't think it is a good idea to power the pump up unless you actually have water in the fresh water tank. My water pump input port has no physical connection to the city water.

The City water connection when used provides the water pressure for my system.

Some water systems may be setup different but I think this is the basic concept for most RV units including motorhomes.

Roy Ken