Water Woes

[John&Vicki]

We're spending the month of October at Cape Blanco on the Oregon Coast as lighthouse hosts. Great place, great gig, but....

The water pump suddenly sounded unusally loud and water comes out of the faucents in dribbles with lots of air. I've removed the pump and looked it over and everything "looks" good. It apoears to be well made and was installed two years ago. I'm going to test it with some hose and a bucket later today. In the meantime I thought I would call on the wisdom and experience of this forum for input.

Thanks for your help!

Thanks,
John

[idroba]

Look for a leaky intake hose or cracked and leaky intake filter. Also for any loose clamps on the intake side of the pump. And of course the water tank must have enough water in it (don't laugh, I have done that too).

Anytime you get a lot of air coming out of your faucets it almost always comes from a leak on the intake side. I even found an intake hose which would not leak water out, but when under suction leaked air in, causing the same issue. That took some real sleuthing to discover.

[John&Vicki]

Thanks very much idroba. I suspect you've nailed it. When I removed the pump I noticed that the connector on the intake side was very eady to hand turn. There is one other possibility I'm thinking about though. This happened right after my wife took a shower. Is there a way that air could enter the system from the shower?

Cheers,
John

[idroba]

Originally Posted by John&Vicki

Thanks very much idroba. I suspect you've nailed it. When I removed the pump I noticed that the connector on the intake side was very eady to hand turn. There is one other possibility I'm thinking about though. This happened right after my wife took a shower. Is there a way that air could enter the system from the shower?

Cheers,
John

No, not that I know of. Look for the leak on the suction side of the pump.

[John&Vicki]

I just tested the pump outside of the trailer using a bucket and short hose - worked fine. Going to reinstall it.

John

[pcskier]

John and Vicki, off - topic, BUT...I'm picking up my new-to-me 2013 Flying Cloud 19 in 2 weeks in Eugene, then will be doing a maiden/shakedown trip on the Oregon Coast. I had Cape Blanco on my radar, among several other State Parks. Question: we'll be getting up there Monday October 19, give or take a day. I believe Cape Blanco is first-come, first-served; and even if it wasn't--by that late in October, can we expect to show up at Cape Blanco on a Monday and easily get choice of sites? And for other parks heading up the coast, should we reserve ahead just in case? We're kind of hoping to fly by the seat of our pants that would allow us to stay a day or so longer in a park that we really like.

In any case...look forward to seeing you in a couple weeks!

Peter

[John&Vicki]

Hi Peter...

You shouldn't have too many problems finding sites at this time of year. Except mabe the Northen Coast areas frequented by Portland folks on the weekends.

Stop by and say hello! The Lighthouse Host sites are on the road to the beach.

Cheers,
John

[John&Vicki]

I think I've figured out the problem. The fresh water tank is automatically filled when connected to city water. When it reaches 3/4 full a valve is triggered that closes the feed. That valve has evidently stopped working as it keeps filling until water flows out of the fill opening. The pump doesn't work from the fresh water tank because with the broken valve it simply pumps water out of the tank and right back in.

The ever helpful original Owner's Manual says there is a switch on the panel that enables closing of the valve to the fresh water tank. Of course there is no switch on our panel and I can't find any way to do it manually. So...

We can use city water if the fresh water tank is drained and if the fresh water drain valve is left open. But when the city water is on it still fills the fresh water tank faster than it drains out so we have to turn the city water off before the fresh water tank gets full and over flows. And part of the over flow comes into the trailer as the fresh water fill hose from the outside has ruptured due to the pressure.

We've traded some shifts and I'm going to haul the trailer back to Bend and have repairs made there. 500 mile round trip but worth it.

On the good news front, 20+ waves and high winds here at Cape Blanco. Love Oregon Coast storms.

Cheers,
John

P.S. If you know how to manually turn off the city water flow into the fresh water tank I will send you Christmas cards for life.