Exterior water shutoff valve

[Ag&Au]

I am going through the systems in my new classic 31D and have run into an anomaly.
The exterior water shut off valve functions fine using internal water tank and pump. However when city water is used, the shut off valve has no effect, the water continues to flow.. I can see that the valve is bridged by pipe with some sort of brass device in line. Perhaps a check valve or something similar. I have an idea that it is working normally, but I would appreciate it if someone would explain it to me why it is this way. I've found nothing in the manual to help.
Thanks,
Ken

[Ag&Au]

First I apologize for bumping my own post. I assume that is poor etiquette.
However I posted it late last night, and I would like to give it try one more time for a response. The dealer has no idea about what is going on.
Thanks,
Ken

[richinny]

a picture would be a big help.

[Ag&Au]

Hi,
Here is a picture of the plumbing. The top of the left vertical pipe with the silver valve goes to the cold water plumbing. The bottom goes to the exterior water. (a standard outdoor faucet mounted in a lower outdoor compartment). The valve's purpose is to cut the supply to the faucet in freezing weather. As you can see, the valve is in the off position. If the trailer water supply is the tank and pump, the valve functions as one would expect. However if the supply is city water, the brass device that bypasses the valve is apparently allowing full flow to bypass the valve. I am wondering what the brass device is and what its purpose here is.
Thanks,
Ken

[easyride]

It is a check valve,and I can not understand why it would even be there,I can`t see what the purpose of it would be. I would delete it. Dave

[Gene]

w7ts,

I have this vague and possibly incorrect memory that this question has been asked before.

I believe the eventual answer showed that the manual valve and the one way valve made sense.

This is not much help I realize.

Not knowing the whole system, it's hard to figure out. I am unsure which way what flows from where. It sounds like there's an external hose bib the way you describe it, but in other trailers the lower outdoor compartment is where you fill the fresh water tank. Does the one way (check) valve permit draining of the pipes for winterizing—here I am in major speculation mode. On the other hand, the manual valve may be a bypass or for draining pipes. I am leaning toward the manual valve being for draining something and the normal position being closed. Which way does the check valve permit water to flow—downward or upward? It's all there for a reason because Airstream doesn't spend money on valves that don't have a purpose.

Our trailer has a similar manual valve for draining a pipe, though I don't know which pipe. It's below the water heater bypass and is not mentioned in the manual. Airstreams are full of mysteries.

Gene

[Ag&Au]

Hi Gene,
Thanks for the response. My posts #1 and #4 in this thread explain the purpose of the valve. Since the dealer doesn't know what it is, I am going to see what happens when I call Airsteam tech support and ask them.
regards,
Ken

[Ag&Au]

Originally Posted by easyride

It is a check valve,and I can not understand why it would even be there,I can`t see what the purpose of it would be. I would delete it. Dave

I was thinking maybe I will replace it with a silver valve identical to the other. That will cause some one to think 30 years from now.

[dwightdi]

I think this may be the manual valve which allows you to bypass the check valve so you can fill your fresh water directly from the city supply rather than having to pour water into the outside funnel to fill the tank. I would not take the valve out. The valve should normally be shut, so the city water would not overfill the tank.

[woppa 4]

Send an EM to: rmcneely@airstream.com. He is customer S rep and will respond ASAP. Randy is top notch, he is my go to guy on several issues.woppa4 ps include picture.

[DEITZ645]

I have the same plumbing in our '06 and I knew the brass fixture was a check valve, but I never have been able to figure out the purpose of the chrome valve.

I will try the fill the fresh water tank hypothesis this evening. But I though there was also a built in check velve in the water pump that would prevent any kind of back flow into the tank.

I also thought it might have something to do with draining the system, but even if you open it the built in pressure regulator / check valve where you hook up the city water would prevent any backflow.

I will be VERY interested to hear what the folks at the mother ship have to say about the mystery valve.

[Ag&Au]

Originally Posted by woppa 4

Send an EM to: rmcneely@airstream.com. He is customer S rep and will respond ASAP. Randy is top notch, he is my go to guy on several issues.woppa4 ps include picture.

Well, Thanks to everyone.
I had emailed Airstream customer service this morning using their web site. By coincidence, it was Randy who called me on the phone to discuss this. I now know what the brass object is and why it is there.
The exterior faucet and the City water connection are not only a few inches apart, they are on the same pipe. In other words they are both on the pipe below the valve and brass thing.
The purpose of the silver handled valve is to cut off the water to the exterior faucet when the temperature outside will be below freezing. Apparently the assumption(reasonable I think) is made that when it is freezing outside, you will not have the city water hooked up. The procedure is to close the silver handled valve and then go outside and open the exterior faucet to drain the pipe between it and the silver handled valve. The brass object is a check valve that allows water to flow up (in the picture), but not down. This is to allow the city water to reach the system even when the silver valve is closed. If the city water is hooked up, the silver valve does not come into play. Since the city water connection and external faucet are only separated by a short length of pipe with nothing in between, the exterior faucet will put out water regardless of the position of the silver valve.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it .
Thanks again to all.
Ken

[Gene]

On our trailer, you just disconnect city water when it is freezing and there are no valves at all. I wonder why they made it so complicated on the Classic?

Gene

[richinny]

do they do this to confuse us? lol

[Ag&Au]

Originally Posted by CrawfordGene

On our trailer, you just disconnect city water when it is freezing and there are no valves at all. I wonder why they made it so complicated on the Classic?

Gene

For some reason they figured we needed an outdoor faucet to wash our feet. Maybe people that own classics get dirtier feet. Mine aren't too clean right now.