Caught our 36FB peeing on the ground last night!

[Gary Hage]

I'm sure there has been at least a thread or two started regarding the following, but I'm needing just a simple answer regarding location;


While in the bathroom late last night, my wife heard what sounded like running water directly beneath her, but outside like it was flowing onto the ground. Upon going outside to check, I found the overflow pipe for the fresh water tank discharging a fair amount of water onto the ground. NOT GOOD! Especially since we are hooked to the city water supply all of the time, and have not filled the fresh water tank for at least a month or two prior to finding this leak. Note: it has discharged water through this overflow pipe in the past, (like it is supposed to do if you overfill the tank) but usually stops flowing within moments after shutting the fill water off.



Coming from the engineering tech background as related to hydraulics as I do, I was immediately suspicious of the in-house check valve the RV industry uses to separate the city water feed and the fresh water tank connection into the common (shared) water pipe distribution system to prevent cross feeding into the tank and overflowing it. So, my question is, where would I find this defective check valve so that I can replace it? I've search all in the basement's utility area and traced both the cold and hot water pipes, but have yet to find any check valves. I bet Traveling Texans would know this answer, or anyone else who owns (or has owned) a Redwood 36 FB. Thanks in advance for your answers.

[Jim & Mary]

I think you'll find that the water pump has check valves preventing city water from filling the fresh water tank. I've heard many report this problem, so those check valves must fail often. Since we don't use the fresh water tank and are hooked up to city water all the time, I closed the quarter turn valve between the fresh water tank and pump inlet, stopping that from happening. You should be able to see and access through the water filter small door in the basement aft wall. Get a flashlight, turn the valve handle a quarter turn and that should stop the tank from filling with city water.

[Shane Wood]

Usually as Jim said the check valve in the pump
Shut off city water and empty tank with pump
This sometimes works or take the pump out and clean the filters. I had the same issue and ended up having the pump replaced. Also run the pump periodically to keep this from happening

[travelin' texans]

As Jim stated I just closed the valve ahead of the pump. Just remember if you do need to use the pump to open the valve or you'll scratching your head wondering why you can't get water from the tank.
I also left the fresh water tank drain valve open so when/if this happened again there was no fear of rupturing the tank from overfilling.
I think we used the fw tank & pump twice in 6 years due to parks having water line issues, we carried a 1 1/2 gallon jug of water next to the toilet for traveling potty stops & bottles of drinking water in the fridge, NEVER boondocked with the RW.

[Gary Hage]

Thanks again for all of your replies and guidance.Your suspicions are my suspicions when it comes to the check valves in our water pump failing. The sad part of it all is that I just changed that SureFlo pump with an identical one in April of this year, qnd we typically don't use it except to exercise it once (or twice) a month) to hopefully prevent this problem. So I'm going to see if there is any warranty time left on the pump and exchange it if I can, or order a check valve kit and rebuild the pump myself. One thing I love above the 36FB is that the utility area is easy to access and work inside of.

[Shastakid]

We have a 36 RL 2017 and experienced the same issue with the tank overflow leaking when connected to city water. I shut off the city water and used the 12v pump for a few days to flush out the check valve, this has happed a few times and it seems to work. Most likely minerals or solids build up in the check valve.

[mjdcwo]

I added a sliding access door in front of the water pump several years ago when I had to replace the inlet strainer on the pump. It makes working on things very easy.

[Rcary59]

As Shastakid, pointed out the check valves can get mineral build up on them. Or our case a large chunk of calcium deposit held the check valve open. So when we tried to winterize all the pink anti-freeze came flowing out of the water heater drain. So we put the plug back in the water heater and filled the whole system with pink, 13 gallons.
The following spring opened everything up and found a total of 3 check valves in the freshwater system. One on the water heater inlet, and two mounted on a board above the water pump. The other two for water tank isolation the other for city water isolation I think. Its a plumbers nightmare under there. So once in awhile cycle all your system this should keep things flowing in the right the direction.

Oh what fun we have learning about our rigs.