Call all Oliver Plumbers! Low toilet and bathroom sink faucet pressure.

[Overland]

I guess you're referring to this?  Did you get everything working again?  Was debris the problem?

[TexasMarshall]

We will not have the time to deal with this untill we return home July 20. Since we picked up our ollie April of 2018 it has been on the road, maybe 50 days at most. There has been no mods done to it. Definitely no kinked hoses. We have never touched the valves but we checked anyway & they are all in the right position. The problem in the cold water line has to be after the kitchen sink as we have water at the kitchen sink. And the hot water line has to have a problem after the kitchen sink. The cold & hot water lines both have a tee at the kitchen sink. The plug in the line i think is at those tees. Oliver techs r wanting to blame it on hard water? We have been no where we might have used hard water and if we had it would have taken thousands of gallons to plug those lines. Oliver has a problem & so do I & I’m not happy!

[mossemi]

I still believe in innocence before guilt, so I don’t pass judgement until all of the evidence has been gathered.

 

Mike

[Overland]

I haven’t experienced problems yet myself, but I’ve read that hard water can become an issue in RVs much more quickly than at home - and I’ve learned the hard way when using campground water to wipe the shower down after use and not let dishes air dry, or you’ll get really bad water spots.

 

I suspect that the reason hard water is more of a problem in RVs is a combination of really hard campground water and intermittent use; i.e., letting water repeatedly evaporate out of the lines, leaving concentrated deposits in the low spots of the lines.  Those deposits then vibrate loose when traveling and end up clogging the faucets.

 

And I’m sure some of it also comes from the water heater - which is probably why Truma is so adamant about owners decalcifying regularly.

 

Mike and Carol have added a water softener to their trailer and seem to have had good luck with it.  And as suggested above, I’ve read recommendations for yearly vinegar treatments of the water lines, which I may start doing.  It shouldn’t be hard - just run a hose from the pump to a gallon of vinegar, pump it through all of the lines, and let it sit overnight.

 

That’s not to say that debris from construction hasn’t been an issue for some.  I’ve pulled plenty out of the filter on my pump and clearly in Foy’s photos above there are plastic bits along with what looks like a good amount of mineral deposits.  Probably some of that is inevitable when dealing with plastic pipe and fittings, and some owners will have none while a few will have enough to cause problems - though that’s probably not much consolation when you’re taking apart your faucets.

 

Additionally I don’t think that the screens on the pump and city water inlet are perfect at keeping debris out of the lines.

 

Anyway, I agree with Mike that it seems premature to bash Oliver when someone hasn’t even looked into the cause of their problem yet, though I can certainly understand the frustration.

 

 

[Mike and Carol]

We had a problem with water flow to the toilet. We happened to be on our way to Tennessee for some upgrades when it happened. The service guys found hard water deposits where the hose connects to the toilet preventing flow. We have been using a water softener since. We’ve been to some remote campgrounds that I’m sure had some pretty hard water. Mike

[STEVEnBETTY]

I have experienced low flow to the bathroom faucet, i’m assuming it was calcium deposits in the faucet cartridge, pumping white vinegar through the city water inlet took care of it.

 

Steve

[TexasMarshall]

Our Oliver is  just barely a year old. Hasn’t been enough water run through it to accumulate any calcium deposits.

[TexasMarshall]

I’ve owned travel trailers since 1970 & never run into this! Our first trailer was a 10 year old air stream we inherited from my Dad. We kept it 15 years & it never had a water problem. It was 25 years old when we gave it to my daughter to live in at college. It’s still in the family & still has no water problem! Seems to me to be an Oliver problem!

[dbp05ret]

We had a problem with water flow to the toilet. We happened to be on our way to Tennessee for some upgrades when it happened. The service guys found hard water deposits where the hose connects to the toilet preventing flow. We have been using a water softener since. We’ve been to some remote campgrounds that I’m sure had some pretty hard water.

 

Mike and Carol,

 

Which water softener do you utilize?

 

Darryl

[ScubaRx]

[postquote quote=178959][/postquote]

 

Have you ever filled the water heater and turned it on? If so, the “calcium deposits” you’re seeing are most likely coming from the sacrificial anode. If you’ve owned your trailer a year, it’s past time to drain it, wash out the deposits and inspect the anode. The anode should be pitted and look like it’s wearing out. This is normal, it’s just doing its job.

 

Also remove the aerators from the faucets and inspect them. They are probably filled with little particles from the anode.

 

I wouldn’t consider this a manufacturer problem. This is simply a maintenance issue.

 

As far as your 25+ year old Airstream not having similar issues, if water heater maintenance has not been regularly performed (at least yearly), the anode is long gone and the heater tank is in danger.

[Mike and Carol]

[postquote quote=179001][/postquote]

Ours is an ABCwater 16,000 grain softener. They are on Amazon. If I was doing it over I would get an 8,000 grain. The bigger one is heavy. I may still get the smaller one for camping and just use the large one I have for car and trailer washing. Mike

[TexasMarshall]

Did not get everything working. Will not have time to deal with it till we get home July 24.

[TexasMarshall]

On the airstream trailer the sacrificial annode was checked annually. I have removed the shower head & the sink heads & the water flow is the same. Nothing plugging up those. I removed the hose from the back of the toilet & checked the water flow. It’s definitely plugged up down stream some where after the kitchen sink. Good water flow at the kitchen sink & outdoor shower shower! Thanks guys for all your help.

[TexasMarshall]

Why doesn’t Oliver warn buyers of the calcium build up problem & they need a water softener, or better yet install a water softener in the trailer.

[STEVEnBETTY]

I posted earlier in this thread about running white vinegar through the water supply, while it has helped, I was still dissatisfied with the flow, I have since removed the restriction screen from the bathroom faucet, and I don’t plan on putting it back. To say there is a difference would be an understatement.

[STEVEnBETTY]

To clarify a prior post, there is a flow restrictor in the water line going to the bathroom faucet, to remove it you just unscrew the shower head from the flexible water line, the restrictor is in the end of the hose, I just pried it out with a small screwdriver and reattached the shower head.

 

Steve