My Wife=NOT HAPPY

lenny · 04-21-2010, 01:52 PM

So we hooked up and headed out for the first trip of the year, left Tuesday morning. I dewinterized Monday night. Water pump was giving me grief again, I thought it might work itself through it though. Nope. We overnighted in a Walmart just south of Salt Lake City, and to have a shower was like standing under a dribble of water. It gets better. That water was COLD! Why? I had the gas hot water heat on for most of the night? I went out and checked the bleedoff valve, it was hot. Carried on to Hurricane, and did some more tinkering. We now have hookups, so good water pressure. However, NO HOT WATER! I think the mixing valve on the back of the water heater is shot. Talked to our dealer on the phone briefly, and it turns out they forgot to fix the water pump when it was in last fall. They also figure the mixing valve is done. Stopped by a couple RV dealers in the area, they just gave me a blank stare. No help there. Going to call Atwood in the AM and see what they have to say. Ellen just went to use the campground showers, she is not too impressed. (She is a two showers a day kind of girl)Hopefully I can get a replacement and just throw it on myself.

albianne · 04-21-2010, 03:24 PM

I would be upset too, it seems like incompetence is the rule nowadays rather than the exception. On the upside at least you guys are out camping already, we have a few weeks yet before our seasonal cg is open.
I thought I read somewhere that installing some things yourself may void the warranty, not sure if that is accurate but I would check first.Â*Hope the rest of your trip is problem free.

krazed5er · 04-22-2010, 10:10 AM

Hi...had the mixing valve go bad on me this season...called atwood and they are sending me one...luckily it will be covered under warranty along with 1/2 labor...have a local dealer who is coming out to campground to replace it...just one other thing. My local dealer said that this has been a problem with this particular hot water tank?????

lenny · 04-22-2010, 11:09 AM

Called Atwood today and they gave me the number for a service guy in St George. He came out and confirmed that the mixing valve is done. Won't have parts till Monday or Tuesday though. Warranty is covering parts and labour, I just had to pay the initial service call fee. No charge when he comes out again to fix it. I figured that was easier than dragging it in to St George today, then again when parts arrive.

Ridgeman · 04-23-2010, 11:26 AM

Boyd, While you are waiting for the fix be sure to spend some time this weekendin Zion while you are so close. It is a beautiful park, particularly if you can get off on to some of the trails. The Utah high country is still covered in deep snow this time of year so that won't be an option.

lenny · 04-23-2010, 12:07 PM

We are going to check out Zion next week. We have our dog with us and there is only one trail we can bring her on in the park. My mother in law is going to be visiting us for a few days next week, so she can do some dog sitting so we can go on some other trails. This whole area is so incredible, we absolutely love it here.

Ridgeman · 04-23-2010, 12:21 PM

We've spent a lot of time hiking the trails in and around Zion, including 2, 2 days trips in the water hiking the whole length of the narrows. That's probably not an option for you this time of year. Way too much water flowing down the Virgin river. You'll never forget your times spent in Zion.

lenny · 04-23-2010, 02:44 PM

Thanks for the info, I appreciate it!

buddhabob1 · 04-23-2010, 09:51 PM

Wow glad the waterheater worked out!! We are going to be headed thet way in July and we are pretty excited about it!!!

lenny · 05-07-2010, 02:32 PM

Well, thanks to the lightning fast shipping from Atwood, we finally have hot water, as of 5pm this afternoon. At this point, I am just glad to have it taken care of. Now on to the next item, why won't my water pump maintain pressure? Dealer is going to check that out for me when we get home.

Stan · 05-08-2010, 01:59 AM

My pump will hold pressure for about 12 hours. Sounds like you have a small leak somewhere. Do you see any water on the ground? Can you hear water sloshing around on top of the membrane under the rig? How often does it cycle?

lenny · 05-08-2010, 02:40 AM

I should have phrased that differently. The pump will hold pressure fine, but as soon as you open a faucet, flush the toilet, or try to have a shower it just runs constantly. The shower is more like a dribble. Not good. It seems to me like the suction line from the fresh tank may have a kink in it, restricting the flow, or the pump is just junk.

On another note, our hot water glory was short lived. Got up this morning and no hot water. Had the electric water heater on all night, went out to the water heater and it is hot. Tried turning on the gas heater, but the water was hot enough that it wouldn't light. So, my thoughts are my fancy mixing valve that I waited 2 1/2 weeks for, lasted less than 12 hours. Pretty sure I am going to the hardware store to pick up a plug and a nipple, to do away with the mixing valve and get my hot water direct, unmixed. Any particular reason I shouldn't do this?

oldman · 05-08-2010, 03:32 AM

Lenny,

If your pump won't retain pressure - you have a small leak somewhere.
Check the diaphrams inside the pump. Clean out any residue. This style of pump is very reliable. But check valves could have some dirt in them. Pump is easy to take apart with removing screws holding body to motor first. No need to remove motor and wiring.
Find it, then add a 2 gallon pressure tank to system. See postings elsewhere here.
I got mine from Mennards.

CamperNJ · 05-08-2010, 07:08 AM

Sure you don't have a crimped suction line going to the pump? Or a clog in the suction line? From what I read the pump runs, stops, and maintains pressure. Doesn't sound like a leak to me on that side.

Where is the mixing valve? The only thing I know of is a little spring loaded check valve on the discharge side of mine.

lenny · 05-08-2010, 08:37 AM

Mixing valve is on the back of the hot water tank, at the top. It has three 1/2 inch NPT male thread ends. One goes into the tank. Another is hot discharge, and the other is cold water, off a jumper from the cold going into the tank. I think this is how they come up with the 16 gallon rating, it mixes the cold in with the hot so it lasts longer. Anyway, I went to the local hardware store here and picked up a couple pieces of pipe to delete the mixing valve. Got in there and had a look at things, and it was set up different than before. Almost opposite. So I took the mixing valve off, and of the 3 1/2 nipples on it, one has a screen in it. To me, that should be going into the tank, not the cold inlet. So I flipped it around, screen side into the tank, and hooked everything back up like it was before. I am cautiously optimistic, as we have hot water again. If it fails though, at least I have the parts to do without it.

As for the pump, the lines that are visible in the basement look good. Going to have a look at the check valves and the pump itself. Anything further will require dropping the belly, and I don't feel like doing that here. And an accumulator tank sounds like another thing added to my honey-do list!

lenny · 05-08-2010, 09:32 AM

Here is the mixing valve on the back of my Atwood water heater.

The white valve in the center of the picture is the hot water discharge line. It goes up behind those two lines on the left and hooks up to the left side of the valve. The valve itself is screwed into the hot water tank, and the white flex hose is a jumper that goes from the cold supply to the valve, and mixes with the hot as it leaves.

Took the pump apart, everything looked like it was in very good condition. Took the suction line off and I am pretty sure that is where my problem is. It was very hard to suck water out of it. I don't have an air compressor with me, or I would have tried blowing it back. The line would move almost a foot total forward and back, but that didn't seem to have any affect on the pumps performance.

Here is what the water output is after a couple seconds

As I said, I don't really feel like dropping the underbelly in the campground here, so I guess we will have to deal with it till we get home.

Stan · 05-08-2010, 11:20 AM

I have a better understanding of the issues now... Thanks. I have seen a lot of issues here on the forum on that mixing valve. It appears to be problem prone. I would probably do away with it. As far as the water volume issue, it could be a bad pump. Is it possible the mixing valve is somehow bypassing the water back into the tank causing both problems??? I don't have one so am not positive how it works. You could switch your winterizing valves to bypass the H/W heater to test this. I assume your rig worked fine when you first got it and these are issues that have cropped up over time?

lenny · 05-08-2010, 11:45 AM

The water supply has always been intermittent when using the pump. Sometimes it worked good, sometimes not so much. When on hookups, everything worked great, with the exception of our mixing valve this year. The pressure problem was on the list when we dropped the trailer off at the dealer last fall, but got missed. They are going to take care of it when we return home.

jeb · 05-09-2010, 05:41 AM

If your pressure problem is with the shower only, I would look into that plumbing and look for a kink or maybe some blockage which is causing the "dribble". If it was the pump itself, the problem would manifest itself on all faucets and the toilet.

Try disconnecting the head from the shower hose and see what happens. If it still dribbles, disconnect the hose and see how it responds (if you can do that without making a mess). I think you might also try each side (hot and cold) and see if both are dribbles. If so, and if it's the shower only, I'd say the shower hose or head is the culprit.

gossamar · 05-09-2010, 01:23 PM

I would also look at the shower head assembly. An easy test would be to take the shower head off and see what kind of water flow you get out of the line. If you have good flow, then at least you have narrowed down your options. Sometimes those buttons can malfunction as well on the shower head...not often, but it has happened. Good luck...keep us informed.

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