Greetings from Portland, OR!

[Horsfall]

After our first trip - a 3 night dry-docking campout at Kalaloch, WA (great place) in our 2016 23' Flying Cloud FB - I was left with a list of questions and repairs. It is nice to discover this community of like-minded souls. Thanks for being here.

Here's a couple of rookie questions: 1) We hooked up to the Park's water, attaching the white hose from the site's faucet to our "city water" inlet. After a while our fresh water tank registered 100%. Sure enough, it was full. I didn't think the AS's water tank was involved when hooked to city water, right?
2) Do I need a specific type of coaxial cable to hook up to the Park's cable? I used just a basic Radio Shack 12' coax cable, but the TV said there was no connection. I tightened the cable on both ends, but still no cable. Any help?

Looking forward to all the info on this site. Thanks-
Mike

[mpsgolf]

Congratulations and Welcome!

From right out of the gate to dry camping - good for you.

On my AS, there are two water connections. One is for "full hook up" where you will be using water directly from the RV park's supply. This bypasses the onboard tank. The other connection is to fill your onboard tank, and that is what registers "100%" on your status board. Using this water requires using your water pump. This connection is behind a door on my AS.

There is no special coax required. Note that there are different kinds of coax (diff resistance) and you need to make sure you have the right one (75 ohm) for TV usage. You may have a powered tv antenna. Look for an outlet plug sized panel on your wall. It will have a small button to push and a light. This will power your antenna and possibly pick up a signal if there is one strong enough to pick up.

Enjoy and be SAFE!

[OTRA15]

Originally Posted by Horsfall

After our first trip - a 3 night dry-docking campout at Kalaloch, WA (great place) in our 2016 23' Flying Cloud FB - I was left with a list of questions and repairs. It is nice to discover this community of like-minded souls. Thanks for being here.

Here's a couple of rookie questions: 1) We hooked up to the Park's water, attaching the white hose from the site's faucet to our "city water" inlet. After a while our fresh water tank registered 100%. Sure enough, it was full. I didn't think the AS's water tank was involved when hooked to city water, right?
2) Do I need a specific type of coaxial cable to hook up to the Park's cable? I used just a basic Radio Shack 12' coax cable, but the TV said there was no connection. I tightened the cable on both ends, but still no cable. Any help?

Looking forward to all the info on this site. Thanks-
Mike

As I said in the other thread, Mike, welcome to the forum! It is OK to ask a bunch of different questions in one place BTW, especially in this Member Introduction sub-forum.

1. Some models apparently have this feature, permitting the hose connection to city water to fill the tank. Your owner's manual may discuss, and I would check with your dealer. IMO it is a lousy feature, which robs you of control over what quality of water you put in the tank.

2. Regular CATV cable is fine IMO, but the TV set-up menu may require you to toggle on the CATV input? You might also consider that the park's signal at your site's outlet was not good? When you have time you should also get a TV signal from the antenna so you know about the signal booster mentioned earlier, and another feature of the TV set up menu. You can auto-select the channel line up too. We were amazed at the number of HD TV stations available, and I imagine Portland is full of them!

Edit re: city water filling tank - plus the bypass valve which diverts the city water to the tank is just one more mechanical device which can go wrong. Unfortunately the joys of owning an Airstream include the random discoveries of things that don't work right, or break down the road, Hope you like tinkering with things!

On hose hook-ups in general, it is recommended that you use an in-line filter for both city water and filling your tank manually via the exterior fill port (assuming you have one). We also have an in-line pressure regulator in the hose, even though the trailer has its own right behind the fill location. [Belt and suspenders] Also, best to turn off the hose bib when you leave the trailer alone. We turn it off overnight too if we remember, as a broken pipe in the middle of the night, although low probability, is a pain to deal with.

Lots to learn, but this is a great place with many experts in a variety of fields! [not including myself in this category -- just a bunch of experience in the 90's with another AS]

Cheers,

Peter

PS -- Another item to be considered is a surge protector for your electrical connection. You can search for everything via the Search function above, but be sure to use the lower Google search function. Also recommended is doing a general Google search in your browser, with the first search term being "airforums.com" following by your specific terms of interest.

[moosetags]

Welcome to the Forums. We're glad to have you with us.

As to your questions:

1. Your city water connection should not add any water to your fresh water tank. Sometimes this can happen due to a plumbing issue. A back-flow valve could have stuck open. I would suggest emptying the fresh water tank. I would use the outside shower to do this. Reconnect to city water and see if the the fresh tank refills. If not, the problem has probably been corrected. If not, take it to the dealer for service.

2. Any coax should work fine. Make sure that you didn't mistakenly connect the coax to the SAT connection. Also make sure that the little green light is off on the coax connector panel next to the television. Make sure that the the television is set to cable input.

Good luck.

Brian

[OTRA15]

Good catch on the stuck back-flow valve possibility Brian, but wouldn't a stuck valve result in water flowing out the tank's manual fill port as long as the city water was on? Is it possible some of the new units have an auto-fill feature?

Thanks again for your recent travels thread. Good stuff!

Peter

[OTRA15]

FYI here is a recent thread on the check valve issue:

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f443...er-152539.html

If one "bounces up" [see blue organizational order at top left] to the Fresh Water Systems sub-forum's list of topics, other older threads may also be informative:

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f443/

FYI

[Stefrobrts]

Just wanted to say hello to another local! Sounds like you're off to a great start. There are always little fixes and adjustments to make.

[John&Vicki]

Welcome Mike. I encourage you to look into the Oregon Unit of the WBCCI:

http://oregonunit.wbcci.net/

Great bunch of people and we have some great rallies.

Cheers,
John

[Horsfall]

Originally Posted by John&Vicki

Welcome Mike. I encourage you to look into the Oregon Unit of the WBCCI:

http://oregonunit.wbcci.net/

Great bunch of people and we have some great rallies.

Cheers,
John

Hello! Thanks for the invite. We are one of your newest members now, and hope to meet y'all at a rally sometime. Hope to stay in touch. Mike

[Rob Edgerton]

Mike, just saw your post. We have exact same model, just two years older. Hope all is coming together for you. Folks at AirstreamNW are great if you need answers or repairs. Ask for Tim in service.

Our major problems after two years have been a few popped rivets inside and one outside, and problems with our electric brakes. Some of the rivets I fixed myself and a couple were done on warranty.

We grab a couple of gallons of bottled water at the store for cooking and drinking. Water in the tank is for shower, flushing, and dishes. Water quality is pretty erratic at all of the parks so that is how we get past that frustration.

Our longest boon dock has been seven days in AZ. We made it on one full tank of water and about three or four gallons of bottled.

We bought a 2200watt portable gen at Costco to recharge the batteries on a daily basis since I have a bipap. Costco also occasionally has a battery maintainer for sale that works great for keeping your batteries on float charge. I leave them in the box and flip the circuit breaker for the house charger. That way I know it is off and no chance to " cook" your batteries. Buy some distilled water and a battery filling bottle or turkey baster to fill them and you are good to go.

Rob Edgerton, Yamhill

[Caffeinated]

Regarding the TV. If the little green led is lit, (hard to see, check where the tv is plugged into the wall) then your roof antenae is powered on and you won't get cable. Push the little black button next to the led and it will go off, and then you can receive cable but you will probably have to run the setup menu on the tv to find the available stations.

Mike