Water Pump Location??

[Morich]

Well, looks like three of us think alike!

Do we need tobote or anything?

Funny how things on the internet get delayed and arrive at different times with different posting times. I was probably going back to edit and add pictures, while you guys were going straight to the answer!

CITY FILL? Whose idea is that and what do they intend to fill? BOO!!!

[Blastvalve]

Circling back on the pump filter, I think this is it right here circled in yellow. You would be able twist open that capsule and pull out mesh filter. (Like all good plumbing projects do your best to make sure no pressure in lines and have towels handy). The filter can be cleaned by spraying out and if handy, a old toothbrush can get the stuck stuff out.

If you disconnect that capsule and water sprays everywhere, I’m going to quote Eagle5 and “PUT THE CANDLE BACK!” =)

You are learning the fun of RVs, the piece you need to fix is always in the place you came barely reach!

[BobC]

And, once you fix it, you'll know what to do if it ever happens again along with a gaining a lot of satisfaction from having done it yourself. None of us were born with DIY skills, we acquired them by DIYing. Even if I need to buy another tool for the job, it's a lot cheaper than $125/hour.

[LadyFaire]

OK, here is what I was told on the City and fill switch: If I put it on 'City', that means I'm hooked up to a constant water source, and am NOT trying to fill the fresh tank, and no water goes into the tank. The pump is NOT used with city fill, as the water pressure is furnished by the connection. The water tank fill is just that - to fill the tank. With that one, you NEED the water pump. In other words, it directs WHERE the water goes - either into the tank, or directly to the faucets. That is what I was TOLD (by the lady from whom we purchased the coach), and how I have been doing it for the past year and a half. Hoo boy. GADS. I am assuming she NEVER used the coach unless it was hooked up to water.


I switched it to 'city' with the hose turned off, and it works fine, the pump shuts off when it has achieved pressure, and the water flow is MUCH stronger. I'm just surprised that I have been using it that way for the past year and a half and it is only NOW that it cut me off.

I certainly feel like an idiot!! BUT!!! That is a shop bill of at least a couple of hundred dollars that is NOT necessary!

Thank you SO MUCH to all of you, and I marvel at your patience with a neophyte (read, idiot) and are so willing to keep helping people like myself. I'm grateful you DO, you understand, it is just that I have far less patience on my end.


Again, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!

[BobC]

That's how we learn. The next time someone has the same problem, you can be their expert.

[creativepart]

The ONLY time you put it to "Tank Fill" is when you want to fill the Fresh Water Tank. And, when it is in Tank Fill you pretty much don't use any faucet in the RV during that time. You only put it in Tank Fill to fill the tank.

All the rest of the time it's in "City Fill" (again, poor terminology). If you are connected to City Water (hose to the campsite water) you do not use the pump. IF you do not have a water connection at your campsite you still leave it in City Fill but now you use the pump.

I'm just reiterating the method for using your system. It sounds like you got it.

When in Tank Fill I make sure the pump is off because if I don't the water pump runs constantly for no reason.

I don't use any water in the RV when I'm filling the tank because it interferes with filling the tank.

[tperschb]

My water pump was working fine and then it wasn't. Being in the middle of a 4 and half month trip and boondocking coming up, I bought a spare pump just in case

I still have the spare pump because at least for now my problem was the input lines had worked just a little loose but enough to suck air so i tightened them all and the pump has been working well ever since.

I feel your pain when I look at your diagrams as mine was a simple matter of extending the back slide and removing the mattresses to get access.

Hope this helps

[Rick 99037]

For the record, because of the way it quit working, I don't think it's going to be the pump it's self. You described it as primed with water and pumping. Then it dropped off and quit. I'm assuming you could still hear the motor on the pump running at this point? When you flip it on, is it still making noise?

Hooking up to city water, and seeing resulting flow should eliminate clogged screens at the faucets as the issue, though a pump doesn't put out the 50PSI city water has.

As an additional test, assuming you know how to winterize it, (it's in your manual,) fill a jug of water, take the cap off the end of the short hose designed to stick in an antifreeze jug, (which I forgot to remove one fall, and couldn't figure out why it wouldn't suck.) And shove the hose to the bottom of the jug. Turn the water valves to the winterizing positions, turn on the pump, and open a couple faucets. If it pumps, you just verified pump function.

As for me, my 2005 Sightseer 29R inadvertently put my pump in plain sight, when I open one of my side compartments. Obviously, they corrected that oversight in yours!

I discovered the rear heater when I came home from a trip, and couldn't figure out why it was so warm in the back of the rig. I'd bumped the mystery switch on the dash. There's no end to the complexities hiding in these things to be found.

I hope you get this sorted out!

[Dennis4809]

Had the same problem, pump runs but no water. That small strainer had an invisible crack that allowed the pump to pull air instead of water. Unscrewed the water line, removed the strainer and screwed the water line directly to the pump. Eliminating the strainer fixed the problem. That style strainer doesn’t seem to be available anymore so I’ve been without a strainer for the last three years. No problem.

[LadyFaire]

As it turns out, I've had the switch in the wrong position the entire time I've had the coach. I was going by what the previous owner had told me, so I think I can plea honest ignorance rather than active stupidity.



What I do NOT understand, is why it worked (after a fashion - not much water pressure) for the entire time until just now!! Since I switched it to what I THOUGHT was only for direct water hookup ("city fill") it works great, and with delightful water pressure! It is still as noisy as all get out, but we've actually gotten used to it going off in the middle of the night.


I DO appreciate y'all setting me straight. This is my first coach and it is a long (apparently) learning process!! However, any day where you do not learn SOMETHING, is a totally wasted day.


Thanks again, all!

[BobC]

Originally Posted by LadyFaire

It is still as noisy as all get out, but we've actually gotten used to it going off in the middle of the night.

Going off in the middle of the night can an indication of a small leak or a faucet that's not completely closed, etc. It could be your toilet. It's an indication that there's a drop in pressure in the water lines that triggers the pump's pressure switch. I won't go as far as saying this is normal but it's not unusual. Tracking it down can be almost impossible but you can start by tightening every hose clamp you can reach, including those at the pump.

We usually keep our water pump off at night and, if on battery power, during the day as well. We also turn it off when leaving the MH, even when on shore power. You don't want a sudden failure while you're gone to cause damage. The same goes for the water heater.

You'll find that, even when the pump is off, there's usually enough pressure in the lines for a glass of water, etc.

[Morich]

Originally Posted by LadyFaire

As it turns out, I've had the switch in the wrong position the entire time I've had the coach. I was going by what the previous owner had told me, so I think I can plea honest ignorance rather than active stupidity.



What I do NOT understand, is why it worked (after a fashion - not much water pressure) for the entire time until just now!! Since I switched it to what I THOUGHT was only for direct water hookup ("city fill") it works great, and with delightful water pressure! It is still as noisy as all get out, but we've actually gotten used to it going off in the middle of the night.


I DO appreciate y'all setting me straight. This is my first coach and it is a long (apparently) learning process!! However, any day where you do not learn SOMETHING, is a totally wasted day.


Thanks again, all!

What you have "might" be just a gradual set of really small items which over time as each item wears just a tiny bit, it finally reached a point where it was noticed as a real problem. With lots of different points where different items are connected and valves, etc. , there are lots of potential for gradual wear on an RV approaching 20 years old!
Maybe you've just been really lucky and the gremlins have been busy in other parts of the world and just got around to picking on you?

[4x4van]

Perhaps this will make it a bit easier to understand: Your internal plumbing is all tied together, the faucets/toilet/shower, and will provide water to all of those fixtures as long as the system is under pressure. There are 2 ways for it to be pressurized; the pump and the city water hookup (they can actually both be used at the same time, but most often aren't).

The tank fill valve opens a valve (think of it as another hidden faucet) going into the fresh water tank. As long as that valve is open, water will flow from the pressurized system into the tank, regardless of where the water/pressure is coming from. If you are hooked up to city water, THAT is where the water/pressure comes from and flows into the tank. If you are using the pump instead (and not hooked up to city water), the pump pulls water from the tank, pressurizes the system, and puts it back into the tank (through that "hidden" faucet).

[LadyFaire]

OK. Replaced the water pump - TWICE. Now on third pump in 4 months. Never COULD build pressure. The 'experts' at the RV service center told me that I kept getting bad pumps and that I should let THEM do the replacement. Well, we figured out the problem, but not sure how to fix it. The valve that switches city water to fill tank is apparently shot. Water ALWAYS goes into the tank, and because it is stuck open, we cannot build pressure in the system. So. How do you replace that flippin' valve?? Anyone know if it is a job I can do, or am I going to have to wait 3 months for an appointment just for them to 'diagnose' the problem?? Yes, I'm peevish, sorry. I'm really, REALLY sick of the service center 'experts'.

[creativepart]

It should be kind of easy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWIVMh6F5N8

[LadyFaire]

Our problem is that the valve switching from city water to internal water is stuck open. It ALL goes to the tank, and never just as a water 'source', if that makes sense. When you turn on the outside water, no matter WHICH position the switch is in, the water is shunted to the 'fill tank'. If the tank is full, of course, you wind up with the overflow up on the back wall just pouring water. We cannot use 'city water' AS city water, only as fill tank.

[Morich]

Okay, this is one that will take a bit of looking at exactly things fit but it is also not too technically hard! Just lots of things that may need to come off to get to the part that needs replaced! Look it over and see a screw to take out and then see if it gets you there before taking a few more screws out???
So some looking at how it shows things are put together may help!

Plumbing drawings here:
https://www.winnebago.com/Files/File...m/Plumbing.htm

Pass up the first group of drains and go to the fresh water parts on sheet 1 of 4!
Click these snips to get a betterview or go direct!
Check me on this being the correct valve to divert water to tank or use??



Detail arrow D should show a detailed view of the front of the panel, while detail B would be the back side!
Scroll down to find each.

Detail D


If correct with what you see so far(?) you can look at what is on the backside at detail B

How to get to that back side varies and that is where looking will have to figure it out! Those I have seen have screws all around the edges like I marked as maybe they show on the drawing at the small green circles??
Some of the panels are single while others have a joint in the middle so that only half the plumbing has to come loose. Cross the fingers and hope?


But once you locate where and what it takes to get there, it is somewhat easy to fix if used to plumbing. when you can get to it, cut or unscrew to get the old valve out and add anew one back, then it has to all go back together!

The "pipes" are shown as "tu-9" and that usually means it is tubing, so one can hope to pull the panel out enough to work and not remove ALL the parts from the front---but that depends on lots of luck!!

May the force be with you or at least not against getting it done???

[LadyFaire]

UPDATE: Took the coach to the RV service shop so they could yank my leveling jacks off - LONG story. I'll fill you in at the end of this post. Asked them to check the switch for water. No matter how it was set, it went into the fresh tank. And since we could never get pressure, we had to 'pump on - pump off' if we needed water for anything.

Since the shop was almost 100 miles from home, I had to wait for my coach any time they did work.


They pulled that front panel in the wet well and took a look. The switch had completely disintegrated. Since I couldn't leave the coach, the very nice techs decided to rebuild rather than order the parts, if they could even be located. They fixed the switch for me and the water system pressurizes!! However, the switch does NOT 'point' in the proper location for the function intended. No problem, I have a label maker. Got the coach home, hooked up water and tested. Stuck labels, and we now know what is what. YAY! The plumbing works!!



Now the leveler jacks.


When I bought the coach and brought it home, as I parked in the driveway, I noticed the "all up" light for the jacks was flashing. Hmmmm. So, I cycled (UP) the jacks and the light went away after a small bang. Got out of the coach and noticed that it appeared to be bleeding to death!! Seriously! The hydraulic fluid was blood colored and there was a massive, spreading puddle!!! Apparently, when I cycled the jacks, one cylinder blew. Had the jack system looked at by 2 different shops and decided I didn't HAVE to have jacks. We had 4 points in connection with the ground, and we could handle the swaying of the coach when people moved around, right? I could not afford $10K to replace them.



Fast forward to October 13 of this year. We are getting ready for a trip to PA for youngest son's wedding. Had a spot at a very nice campground on top of a mountain (Mountain Top Campground in the Pittsburgh area) all ready for us. Rented a LITTLE car to haul up on the trailer behind the coach - just load everything and be ready to pull out at o'dark thirty! The day before we were to leave, hubby and I were taking the car hauler down to air up the tires and hit a little bump in the pavement where they had the road torn up to replace the water mains. THUD! WTH??? Stopped and hubby got out to make SURE the tongue jack on the trailer was all the way up. Yep. Crappola - "check the leveling jacks." Crappola again. Only about 2" clearance on the driver front jack. Got the coach and trailer back into the driveway and set about getting the jack back up. It took a bit, we had to use a lever (LONG pry bar) to get enough space to put a scissor jack under the pad, then we got the jack back up. Thinking hard, we decided a heavy duty cargo strap, from the frame, under the pad, back through the frame across to the OTHER jack pad, back up to the frame and TIGHTEN. That did for the trip, although we sweated it the entire time. When we got back home, I made the appointment to just yank the bloody jacks OFF. The plan is to have some REALLY heavy duty scissor jacks bolted to the frame before our next trip. A cordless drill and the proper sized socket will make deploying the jacks relatively quick and painless.



And as Paul Harvey used to say, "and that is the rest of the story".

[Morich]

Before going all the way and giving up on the hydraulic jacks, I might throw in some ideas that may help.
One is that Rv repair places are often NOT the best place to get things fixed! The problem is that they tend to hire folks who know a bit about several things and being mechanically inclined, they are willing to tackle things they have never seen before. So they are kind of ok for lots of things but really good at very few!
So when they get something like jacks that look really difficult, they just go for changing parts without much thought on saving you money as they are selling parts!

So do some thinking about the jacks before deciding what needs to happen? If you hang around any kind of machine like a backhoe that uses hydraulics, they are actually very much the same as the jacks on an RV but out where you can see what they do.
There is a control that turns on a pump to pressurize the system, then there are electronics to open or close valves we call solenoids to let that pressure go to the right place to make a shaft move in or out.
On our RV, that is the big shiny shaft that goes up and down and it is exactly the same idea on any tractor, backhoe or super big digging machine! The shaft goes out and goes back to move some other item, like our jack pads!

The trick with repair is often not the controls and yours seems to work but it leaks!
There are lots of places to leak. Lines and fittings at each end, then when that high pressure fluid goes into the cylinder, it has to have seals to hold the pressure and that can be a problem.
As that big shiny shaft moves in and out, it often gets dirt and grit that gets dragged into the seal to cut or wear the sealing parts and that can make it leak!
The biggest problem with hydraulics is the number of places where things start to leak. Bad lines that have leaking fittings that need to be tightened, dry rotted rubber lines that need replaced or the worst is the seal in the cylinder gets worn too much and the fluid leaks there.
But the really good way to deal with the leaks is to find WHERE it is leaking and replace that item. The red fluid helps you spot the leak, once you get the crud cleaned off to spot where it comes out.
Next step is to take it to a place that repairs/rebuilds hydraulic stuff and they know how to replace the seals, etc. as they are just small parts like we find on water lines, etc.
That means a good hydraulic line place, rather than an RV shop as the folks who do it for a backhoe can do it for an RV and they actually KNOW what they are doing!
You may need big work or it may just be a three dollar seal and 50-100 dollars to replace it??

And it's always good to be sure the fluid level is kept right while things are leaking as it stops going up and down if it runs out of fluid! Go to a hydraulic place and ask around who repairs things? When they sell parts, they often know who uses those parts and can give you a name or two to ask around.

[LadyFaire]

Richard, the problem was that there was no place around here that would do the work other than the skinners (folk who want your skin, along with the arm and leg), and the one place I COULD find to do work that had a good reputation was in Michigan. Far too long of a drive. I checked several 'commercial/heavy truck' repair depots, and they told me at LEAST 6 months before they would be able to even look at it. Meantime, if the jacks descended while driving at speed on the interstate, the least we could hope for would be a trashed frame. We were also tired of the hydraulic fluid leaks on the driveway. We had the entire driveway pressure/steam cleaned a year ago and it looked great for about 3 months. But the leaks kept happening. We decided that we didn't NEED the hydraulic jacks, and removing them was a huge worry off of our minds. We had to cycle the jacks 3 times before they just quit responding at all, due to them slowing dropping down when we didn't notice. It got to where we made it a point to duck down and look under the coach every day, just to make sure the jacks weren't down again. Yes, we would rather have kept them, but it just wasn't feasible.