Boondocking Fail: Faucets Working Fine

[Cort]

I was bringing water in from a water canister outside the trailer using the boondocking mode - which has worked great for us thus far. This time I forgot that I'd left the water pump on as I changed the valves into boondocking mode.  The sudden whoosh of water rattled me and I turned the rightmost valve to the normal position for a short period of time - and then turned it to the boondocking position again. 

The boondocking mode seemed to work for a while and then stopped.  When I returned the valves to normal mode we couldn't get any water out of the faucets either.

I saw another post by John Davies regarding an air lock. II closed the valve going to the faucets (the rightmost valve) and opened the valve going to the tank (next furthermost right valve) and ran it for a couple of minutes, then 5 minutes and then 10 minutes. Each time the faucet flows were restored but the boondocking is not working. 

????

 

 

[Cort]

In case this happens to anyone else this is what Mike at Oliver reported: 

 

It sounds like the that boondocking port may me air locked. You could clear this with a hand pump or with pressurized water by hooking to the boon docking inlet and turning the valves to the boondocking configuration but do not run the pump. 

[jd1923]

1 hour ago, Cort said:

It sounds like the that boondocking port may me air locked. You could clear this with a hand pump or with pressurized water by hooking to the boon docking inlet and turning the valves to the boondocking configuration but do not run the pump. 

In other words, just hook up a hose to the boondocking inlet, and then I would run the pump to allow it to prime and take over.

This happens to too many Oliver owners. Many can benefit from upgrading your water pump and valves. I replaced the $50 Made in Mexico Shurflo, spending $200+ on a Made in USA Remco variable speed pump. Also changed the manual valves that had 1/4" ID openings with electric ball valves with 12mm (.47") ID.

I have the pump running when I change the valves (they're wired on the same circuit), no issues. We use the water at night with the pump off, no issues. We have the OTT OEM defective Fresh Tank suction hose. that was installed on some old hulls, where it runs out of fresh water after 18 gallons. We run out of water often, filling from the boondocking port, no issues. The high-quality variable speed pump always primes itself, no air locks ever. See before and after pics.

[Cort]

 Nice! It got jammed up pretty quickly! 

Quote

 We use the water at night with the pump off, no issues. We have the OTT OEM defective Fresh Tank suction hose. that was installed on some old hulls, where it runs out of fresh water after 18 gallons. We run out of water often, filling from the boondocking port, no issues. The high-quality variable speed pump always primes itself, no air locks ever. See before and after pics.

 

Thanks for the ideas and the pics 🙂