Fresh water tank and sensor panel

Radio_Flyer · 10-06-2012, 04:54 PM

This is our 2nd weekend in our 36RL and we are really enjoying it. I did a search and didn't come up with any hits, so I thought I'd ask. Put about 10 gals of water in the fresh tank and opened the drain valve. Nothing came out. Inserted a coat hanger about 8 inches up the tube and hit something solid. Could be plugged up, no way to tell at this point. Also, two weeks with black tank closed and nothing showing on the sensor panel. Fresh water isn't showing any levels and with grey tanks closed all weekend nothing is showing. Scared to put any more fresh water in. Any thought or suggestions? I can deal with no fresh water, site water hooked up but would like to have sensors working. Thanks.

Tobys Home · 10-06-2012, 05:36 PM

The only time our fresh water tank was filled was at the dealership for there pdi. As for the gray tanks both ours always shows 1/3 even after dumping. Can't figure it out. And I always use a tank cleaning/deoderizing solution on all my tanks.

5th_Time · 10-06-2012, 08:39 PM

Jay,
I had the same issue. Turned out the tank sensors were wired in the wrong order. Each sensor has a color coded wire to it which turns on a specific light on monitor panel (E, 1/3, 2/3, & FULL). Mine worked fine after Redwood dropped the front belly pan and fixed this.

Radio_Flyer, sounds like you have bigger problems. You should get your dealer involved with this one.

Adamsvr · 10-06-2012, 09:27 PM

I might be wrong,but I kind of doubt that the drain valve tube is clogged. Try filling the fresh water 1/3 full and then open the drain valve. There are actually two blue drain valves on the bottom of your 36RL. Give them a quarter turn and turn on your water pump and it should flow.

In regard to your black tank, you can buy a back flush valve that attaches to your sewer hose. Just open your black tank valve, close the back flush valve, hook up a garden hose and turn on the water

Hoistman · 10-07-2012, 01:22 AM

My experience with tank level indicators tell me this is common no matter what you do. You have to keep an eye on your freshwater usage if you are not on a water hookup. Other wise it is a guess.

**Dave&Ginny** · 10-07-2012, 02:24 AM

As for your fresh water tank....it's a big square tank that isn't much more than 6 or 7 inches thick. Was your unit sitting level? Also, remember the hot water heater is 12 gallons so it's pretty easy to loose 12 gallon if your water pump was on.

Since these tanks are measured in 1/3 stages and these are 45 gallon tanks, you can have 12 gallons in your waste water tanks and they won't show anything. We've camped for a few days doing dishes and the galley tank still shows empty even though it isn't.

Tobys Home · 10-07-2012, 08:59 AM

Thanks everyone. When my inspection comes up I will put it on my list. I just didn't want to have more water in the tank after winterizing and putting pink in the tanks.

Radio_Flyer · 10-07-2012, 02:54 PM

Thanks for all the tips. I pulled the sensor panel off and all the wires were loose. I did what I could to get everything straightened out and now have sensors for batteries and grey tanks. Still have to see what's going on with the fresh water tank. As a side, anyone using Dish receivers, after getting everything working, my IR remote wouldn't work. I tried everything. My solution was a sticky note stuck to the front IR port on the receiver. The Toshiba tv refresh rate causes too much interference. Hope this helps someone having same problem.

You may also like: