It has been over 10 years since I had an RV.  My memory has failed me again.  When filling the fresh water tank, do I have to keep a facet open to allow air pressure to escape?  Do I need to have the water pump on?  We just purchased a 1979 Sportscoach 3300, we did get a basic manual with it, but not RV's for Dummies.
Any info to get my memory back on track would be helpful.  Thanks.  Ann   

There should be a small vent hole right next to where you fill the tank.After filling the tank then you turn on pump and open all your faucets to vent air in lines.

-- Edited by Racerguy on Thursday 6th of August 2009 03:25:14 PM

Thanks for jarring whats left of the ol' brain.

 Now, I've gone and done it!  I volunteered to fill the water tank.  I followed the instructions that came with the filter and new hose.  Hook up, purge filter, hook to coach, and ta-da, "Water Leak" at 6'o'clock.  Husband crawled under coach and found that at one time someone must have hit something and cracked the water tank, and apparently they did not fix it properly.  When we go to town, next trip for supplies, we will have to pick up a tank repair kit.  Plodding forward through the mire again.

AnnDon,  let the tank fill up a few gallons then turn the pump on in a few mins, open both hot and cold faucet for a min or two, wait a few mins and open the fauets again, then repeat.   This way you get the most water in your rig, you are filling up the hot water tank (which is 6 gal.) and the plumbing pipes (which hold another gallon or two).  Thus you have more water than you would by just waiting for your tank to fill up and then turning on your pump.  The key is purging the air out of the system as the pump builds up pressure. BTW I hope you can get your fresh H2O tank repaired. 
 
Flyone
 

It's the wife again.  Hooked up hose to city water, from our stick house outside faucet (we have a well).  We have water pressure in kitchen faucet, bathroom faucet and tub shower unit.  But we have no water coming into toilet when valve is pushed.  We looked behind the toilet in the compartment and there is now valve located there.  Also, even with faucets open water comes out the water tank fill valve on the exterior of the coach (which is approximatly 3 feet from the city water inlet hookup), both inlets are at the same height on the exterior left rear of the coach.  Any ideas?

I would think there must be a valve for the toilet somewhere...just follow the hose until you find it. The water coming out of the tank fill valve is probably a check valve stuck. How long has it been since this coach was actually used?

Ann, all my directions on filling the water tank state that the fill hose must be smaller than the inlet opening so air can escape as it is displaced by water. Tank expansion could result causing damage to the tank and in one case I know of, floor buckling as the tank expanded without adequate venting. Marty

I checked and there are air release openings on both fill areas. We know also that water was getting to the toilet by the condensation on the exterior of the pipes running to it. I will let the head mechanic (the husband) know there might be a check valve stuck going into the toilet. The coach has been sitting for over 5 years. We were suprised at how much actually did work, considering it is 30 years old with only 47 hours on the generator and only 35K on the engine. The people we got it from (We call them "The Brothers Grimm" (they are professional writers) bought it 5 years ago and did not have the means or the know how to really do anything with it. And they bought it from a guy they called "Redneck Fred" who had it in a barn, and only took it to a few races. When we left CT to bring 250+ miles home to PA, we only had headlights; and one turnsignal on one side and one brake light on the other. The further we drove it, the more stuff started to work, so we named her "Christine" (after the Fury in the Stephen King movie). She still is suprising us with things that look not so good, turning out okay, but she still has some needs we are trying to rectify. Thanks to all of you for being such wonderful help to us. Ann and Don

I agree with Nor-Cal on the city water inlet to the fresh water inlet problem,  there should be a check valve on the outlet side of the fresh water pump which should keep water from back flowing thru the pump and out the fresh water inlet.  It sounds like it is not functional or is missing.  As far as the toilet, there may be a kinked hose somewhere between the piping and the valve- or the water outlet valve right at the rim of the toilet may be stopped up somehow, (bug nest maybe) or the outlet valve may have gotten frozen or broken and not working properly.  I think if water is getting to it but not coming out of it, something is wrong inside the valve, good luck. 
 
Flyone

My old Sunnybrook toilet did that once after setting for a while.The valve on it was cable operated and the cable got stuck.Flap would open but valve would not open far enough to let water in toilet.Had to pull toilet off and use wd40 on it to get it to work. Worth a look any way.

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