Replacing the fresh water fill with marine grade fixture

[flaagan]

Originally Posted by aquinob

You're welcome. Post some pix when you are done.

I will try to remember to do that, I'm way behind on posting photos in my own project thread.

[flaagan]

Heya Bob, got it set up, and here's some pics. Thanks again for sharing this info with us!

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f354...ml#post1662321

[aquinob]

Originally Posted by flaagan

Heya Bob, got it set up, and here's some pics. Thanks again for sharing this info with us!

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f354...ml#post1662321

Beautiful work. The original water fill is just a poor design overall and if you depend on that water for drinking, it should be replaced and the tank dropped and cleaned.

[albert]

Great info, pics and help. I will be coming back to this thread many times! Thank you all!

[flaagan]

Originally Posted by aquinob

Beautiful work. The original water fill is just a poor design overall and if you depend on that water for drinking, it should be replaced and the tank dropped and cleaned.

No kidding. "Lucky me" mine was damaged by the previous owners!

[albert]

I would love to learn more about your valve system. I am gutting a new purchase of a 59 flying cloud and will be doing everything new. I like what you have done, if you would mind explaining it in simple speak, I would really really appreciate it! Perhaps via PM.

Thanks!

Originally Posted by aquinob

Hank
Both are boat fittings, but I think you are referring to the small vent on the bottom. The thought is that it is possible for the tank to backfill from the connection that the pump has to make to the main water supply. There is an isolation valve and should be checkvalve protected from water going back into the tank through the pump.

Isolation valve on the right between the pump and filter and the main water supply in blue:



But if that checkvalve fails and the isolation valve is open, the tank will fill from city water pressure and then it will overflow out. With the vent underneath, it could flood the inside of the trailer. Also, the new water fill is a tight seal, not open like it was originally so it would not flow out there.

An alternative would have been to direct the vent somehow into the sink drain. I did see some plumbing parts at Lowes that might have worked for that, but had already bought the vent fitting and installed it. But with the way it is set up now, if it does backfill then there is a easily seen flow, otherwise it could leak back into the drain and you would never know it. HTH.

[aquinob]

Albert
The cold and hot (blue and red) come from the back of the trailer. The picture shows incomplete plumbing, there are now two lines going up to the sink hot and cold faucet. There are also two valves that allow for draining each line down through the floor to winterize. When they are closed, pressure is maintained to the kitchen faucet.

If you look, there is one line that is the translucent tubing with the white cross hatching. That is the output of the water pump and it is cross connected back into the cold water supply. The idea is that if you are on city or park water, you close that valve and the water then can only go up to the sink. If you are running on the pump, you open that valve and then the cold water can go back to the sink as well as flow back aft to the rest of the system including the hot water heater.

The valve also serves another purpose, it isolates the pump and tank so that when you are on city water, the tank does not backfill, even if there is a check valve in place. As far as I know, this was the original setup with the copper plumbing as well. It may not look like it, it was much more of a mess when I first started working on it and it took some head scratching to figure out how they had it all connected.

Hope this helps, feel free to ask any more questions.

[Ppleasants]

Just to clarify, yours is not set up to fill the water tank from a direct hose (City) hookup, only through the fresh water marine fill? Some were mentioning using a set of valves to essentially bypass the water pump (and its function as a check valve) so that the tank can be filled by city water. I looked into this but haven’t found a clean and convenient way to attach the Pex to the hose from the tank. This isn’t difficult with the pump because it has fittings for each but I don’t want to have to jerry rig several NPT fittings with adaptors for both Pex and hose.

The easiest option would be to use a Pex tee fitting but I’m not sure how well the vinyl hose would seal against the ribbed surface vs a barbed one. Has anyone tried this?

Also, thanks a lot for the visuals and info on this thread. I just finished my install yesterday and will be building cabinets covering the plumbing and electrical in the coming weeks. It’s probably the prettiest and highest quality part of the Airstream now, ha.

[ROBERT CROSS]

FWIW....some of those same "Marine Cruisers" catch the rainwater and direct it thru those fancy intakes...admit it, it just looks better. 😂👍

Bob
🇺🇸

[Ncrango]

This entire thread has been highly informative, thanks for posting these pictures. One question I have is where did the little stainless filler vent come from? I would like to replicate this setup on my 77’ LY. Thanks!

[SotR]

Originally Posted by Ppleasants

Just to clarify, yours is not set up to fill the water tank from a direct hose (City) hookup, only through the fresh water marine fill? Some were mentioning using a set of valves to essentially bypass the water pump (and its function as a check valve) so that the tank can be filled by city water. I looked into this but haven’t found a clean and convenient way to attach the Pex to the hose from the tank. This isn’t difficult with the pump because it has fittings for each but I don’t want to have to jerry rig several NPT fittings with adaptors for both Pex and hose.

The easiest option would be to use a Pex tee fitting but I’m not sure how well the vinyl hose would seal against the ribbed surface vs a barbed one. Has anyone tried this?

Also, thanks a lot for the visuals and info on this thread. I just finished my install yesterday and will be building cabinets covering the plumbing and electrical in the coming weeks. It’s probably the prettiest and highest quality part of the Airstream now, ha.

Attachment 327518

That new aluminum/stainless plate is PERFECT!
Do you mind sharing where you got it?
I assume finding the fill/vent is easy enough? But i have no clue where to get that new plate.

Thanks!
-Jared

[Ppleasants]

Originally Posted by SotR

That new aluminum/stainless plate is PERFECT!
Do you mind sharing where you got it?
I assume finding the fill/vent is easy enough? But i have no clue where to get that new plate.

Thanks!
-Jared

I think you’re referring to the new aluminum plate that I used to patch the hole from the original filler cap. I bought a large sheet of Alclad for projects like this and I cut out patches as needed for repairs. I believe for this one, I used a jigsaw to cut, a file to shape the edges just right an smooth them, and a final pass with 200-320grit sandpaper to leave a nice smooth edge with no burrs.