Puzzling Plumbing Problem

[wguss]

A few years back I installed a regulator in the city water system intake to control water pressure. I also installed a pressure gauge to set the regulator and to keep an eye on the pressure to see if the regulator was holding. I set the pressure to the pump shut-off pressure which was about 45 pounds. The regulator has no effect on the pump. The pressure gauge also shows the electric pump pressure and I've noticed that often when driving with the pump on that at the end of the day the pressure often pegs the gauge at 100 pounds. At first I thought my pump had malfunctioned and was not shutting off correctly. I rebuilt it but also decided to get a new pump and keep the old one as a spare. The new pump pressurized the system to about 45 pounds but again, the gauge will show much higher pressures than the cut-off pressure of the pump after driving for a period of time.
The only way to insure that the pressure will not jump is to shut-off the pump and open a faucet. I never hear the pump running or cycling except when we open a faucet. I'm wondering if somehow air is being forced into the system but really can't figure out how.

Thanks for any suggestions.
Bill

[StirCrazy]

2112 wrote:

StirCrazy wrote:
where is that gauge taking its reading from?

At the regulator

I saw that, I ment where in the regulator, is it the equalation tube in the regulator, the inlet side or the outlet side. Usaly not the best place to read from depending which section it is reading, as it is usaly just a test port.

[dougrainer]

Larry Cad. One Thing Winne/Itasca did starting in about 1981 was use Atwood Water Heaters with Motoraid on all their Motorhomes. I KNOW this because I started in 1979 as a Tech and we sold Winne/Itasca until we dropped them in 1989. AND I replaced a LOT of Atwood Motoraid inner tanks over those years due to freeze damage. SO, I KNOW how they are constructed. To your point. SMELL would be the LEAST of my worries in your scenario. If you got smell from the hot water, then you had AUTOMOTIVE ANTIFREEZE contaminating the fresh water system(Deadly to ingest). I don't doubt you may have had a smell, but it was NOT from Coolant getting into the tank or Water piping system. AND, it would be at EVERY Faucet, not just the Shower head. Most common Water Heater odors problems are rotten egg smell from OLD water left in the tank or a high mineral content of the water(usually well water). Doug

[larry_cad]

dougrainer wrote:

larry cad wrote:
A number of years ago, some friends had a Winnie class A and began getting foul smelling water from their shower head. Long story short, it turned out to be a leak between the Motoraid and the fresh water that was being heated. We disconnected the hoses from the Motoraid, and blocked them off and the problem went away. They lost the Motoraid heating, but didn't have automotive antifreeze in their fresh water system.

Don't know if this kind of problem could have any relation to yours, but I do know I don't like Motoraids.

Not really correct. IF the Motoraid tube somehow leaked coolant into the Hot Water Heater tank reservoir, then disconnecting the Motoraid hoses would then cause a fresh water pressure leak into the back side of the RV behind the Water Heater. ALL a Motoraid is, is a plain Aluminum tube about 8 inches long WELDED to the OUTSIDE of the Aluminum Water Heater tank. The Motoraid coolant NEVER goes thru the W/H tank and is NEVER connected to the fresh water system. Doug

Sorry Doug, I didn't include many details since this took place about 20 years ago. I only remember we disconnected black hoses from what we assumed was the heat exchanger, and connected them together away from the heat exchanger. We also connected the fresh water hose together after we located a leak there as well. Fuzzy details after all this time. It was a Winnie Adventurer, early 2000. Trying to remember where the heat exchanger was located, and seem to remember it was inside the hood, but may have been elsewhere.

[Grit_dog]

dougrainer wrote:

larry cad wrote:
A number of years ago, some friends had a Winnie class A and began getting foul smelling water from their shower head. Long story short, it turned out to be a leak between the Motoraid and the fresh water that was being heated. We disconnected the hoses from the Motoraid, and blocked them off and the problem went away. They lost the Motoraid heating, but didn't have automotive antifreeze in their fresh water system.

Don't know if this kind of problem could have any relation to yours, but I do know I don't like Motoraids.

Not really correct. IF the Motoraid tube somehow leaked coolant into the Hot Water Heater tank reservoir, then disconnecting the Motoraid hoses would then cause a fresh water pressure leak into the back side of the RV behind the Water Heater. ALL a Motoraid is, is a plain Aluminum tube about 8 inches long WELDED to the OUTSIDE of the Aluminum Water Heater tank. The Motoraid coolant NEVER goes thru the W/H tank and is NEVER connected to the fresh water system. Doug

Doug, people say a lot of things that don’t make sense. This was just one of them!

[2112]

StirCrazy wrote:
where is that gauge taking its reading from?

At the regulator

[dougrainer]

larry cad wrote:
A number of years ago, some friends had a Winnie class A and began getting foul smelling water from their shower head. Long story short, it turned out to be a leak between the Motoraid and the fresh water that was being heated. We disconnected the hoses from the Motoraid, and blocked them off and the problem went away. They lost the Motoraid heating, but didn't have automotive antifreeze in their fresh water system.

Don't know if this kind of problem could have any relation to yours, but I do know I don't like Motoraids.

Not really correct. IF the Motoraid tube somehow leaked coolant into the Hot Water Heater tank reservoir, then disconnecting the Motoraid hoses would then cause a fresh water pressure leak into the back side of the RV behind the Water Heater. ALL a Motoraid is, is a plain Aluminum tube about 8 inches long WELDED to the OUTSIDE of the Aluminum Water Heater tank. The Motoraid coolant NEVER goes thru the W/H tank and is NEVER connected to the fresh water system. Doug

[StirCrazy]

wguss wrote:
It could be a cheap gauge? Here's the install...

where is that gauge taking its reading from? to me that looks like it might be on the city fill side of the valve, depending on the valve configuration. I would try moving it to the line after the valve so it isn't possibly reading the back pressure from the city water line.

[larry_cad]

A number of years ago, some friends had a Winnie class A and began getting foul smelling water from their shower head. Long story short, it turned out to be a leak between the Motoraid and the fresh water that was being heated. We disconnected the hoses from the Motoraid, and blocked them off and the problem went away. They lost the Motoraid heating, but didn't have automotive antifreeze in their fresh water system.

Don't know if this kind of problem could have any relation to yours, but I do know I don't like Motoraids.

[wguss]

Interesting, thanks for the response. I wonder why my water heater will come on and run for about 10 minutes even after driving all day?

Still a little puzzling!

Bill

[dougrainer]

wguss wrote:
Doug if you happen to come back to this thread I have one more question. If it was the expansion of the water from the motoraid that is causing the problem, why do you think the pressure gauge doesn't rise when the water heater is used when we're at rest overnight?

Thanks,
Bill

Simple, The WH tstat is 140 degrees. The Motoraid heats the water to almost 180 degrees in transit. There is NO tstat for the Motoraid function. So the water will get as hot as the engine coolant. That is why I suggested bypassing the motoraid. Remember, you NEVER thought you had this type problem until you installed the pressure gauge. Ignorance IS bliss. Kind of like a person with a watch KNOWS the time, but a person with more than 1 watch is never sure. Doug

[wguss]

Doug if you happen to come back to this thread I have one more question. If it was the expansion of the water from the motoraid that is causing the problem, why do you think the pressure gauge doesn't rise when the water heater is used when we're at rest overnight?

Thanks,
Bill

[wguss]

Thank you, Doug. I will give that a try.

Bill

[dougrainer]

The cheapest and simplest fix is to just bypass the Motoraid. Doug

[Grit_dog]

^What he said.
And stop driving with your water pump on.