Couple of Plumbing/Water pump questions (2018 Elite II)

[hobo]

I have searched old posts and some touch on my questions but here goes:

 

I sanitized my system for the first time and actually used the "pump" feature for the first in doing so.

 

1) The pick up function at the rear right where the pump draws from a bucket is painfully slow (at least on my unit). Having said that, I did make a mistake and used a solution of clorox (1/2 cup to 2 gals of water) but I mistakenly used the "sudsing" version which I think was most of my problem. Too much air in the mix. However, assuming I was just using plain water; what would be a reasonable amount of time to expect for a couple of gals to be sucked into the system?

 

2) Again, using the on-board pump (to drain the system), I opened both the bathroom faucet and the kitchen faucet and the flow was abysmal. More than a trickle but certainly nothing like I would have expected. Even shutting one faucet down, fairly weak. I checked the screens and found them to be clean. I then checked the system water filter near the pump and did find a fair amount of white plastic chips within that filter and cleaned them out. That helps a little. My question is whether this is typical performance for this set up?

 

3) On the shower head in the bath: Is there a way to have the spray function stay in that mode while showering? On mine, it defaults to the regular stream when I release the button. Is this normal or is mine defective?

 

Finally; is the real fix to replace the shower head in the bath? I noted some recommendations in an earlier thread but the posting was fraught with warnings of having to make modifications. I think the final suggestion was to replace the whole faucet and not just the head but I never saw a link or mention of the whole product to completely replace the bath faucet.

 

Thanks in advance for input.

 

HOBO

 

 

[Landrover]

Hobo

If you still have low water flow at the sink. And you found white plastic in the pump strainer. You’ll need to remove the steal braided line going into the pump. Use a coat hanger and run it through you should find it packed with plastic chips. Once its clean you should have normal flow and your shower head should stay on when you use the spray. If it cures the problem let service know.

[Landrover]

Let’s try this again tried to post and got a 404 error lost everything.

Hobo

If you still have low water flow at the sink and you found white plastic chips in the pump strainer, you’ll need to remove the steal braided line to the pump. Use a coat hanger and run it through you should see it packed with plastic. Once cleared you should have normal water flow and your shower head will stay on spray. If this cures the problem let service know. Sorry for the double post i lost the first post then it appeared.

[hobo]

Landrover,  Thanks (again).  I too keep getting these 404 errors when I try to access something and then must try again.  Not sure what's going on there.  It's been happening for a couple of weeks now.  I'll report back what I find in the braided line.

[topgun2]

Hobo -

See the "404 error" thread at the top (in blue) of the Recent Topics page. This problem is still being worked on.

Good luck with the water flow problem - identifying the problem is simple, you have a blockage. Finding the blockage is the hard part.

Bill

[Landrover]

Just wanted to show what you might find. it will restrict the water flow.but not stop it.

[topgun2]

Sure does look like you found the hard part!

Assume that this has fixed the flow problem?

Bill

[Landrover]

It did for me. Hobo described the same problem i had. It will be interesting to see his outcome.

[hobo]

OK, Landrover hit the nail on the head. I removed the stainless water line leading to the filter and it was PACKED with white plastic shavings. It was quite the effort getting that stuff out. Pushing a heavy copper ground wire through it (after several attempts to dislodge the debris with my air compressor) only served to pack it in on either end. I took a small drill bit and once the debris was compressed at one end, I (by hand only) twisted the drill bit into the plastics and dislodged it little by little. Then I would compress the debris to the other end and repeat. Took a dozen or so sets of this before I could finally get the heavy copper wire all the way through. Put everything back together and the water flow, everywhere, is excellent using the pump. Shower head also retains the spray function now.

 

Only question I have is "what the heck size are the fitting nuts? 3/4" is too big, 5/8 is too small, 13/16 is too large. I didn;t have an 11/16s on hand. I need tools on board for this. I ended up using vice grips and pliers but not my favorite tools for this job.

 

Thanks again to all who chimed in.

 

HOBO

[Overland]

It kills me that those plastic shavings are still a problem. Will someone please donate a vacuum cleaner to Oliver?

[Landrover]

Hobo

 

glad it worked out for you. You may want to also fill your fresh tank and let it drain out through the tank drain valve.You should be ok i think every thing gets sucked in the first time you use the pump.  Please call service and let them know they will want to hear about it, Thanks

[hobo]

In fact, since this issue surfaced when I was doing a sanitization of the fresh water tank, I used the drain for the fresh water tank several times during the process.  That however leads to another question:  The drain from the tank is also painfully slow so I am assuming that the plastic debris from the tank could also have made its way into the shut off valve too.  How would one check and/or clean out that valve to see if its running as free as possible?

[Landrover]

My drain is also slow it’s livable for now I’m sure there is some buildup at the valve. Clearing the line will be easy. Taking the line off is the hard part with all the permanent clamps used. As far as the fitting size, not sure i used two stubby adjustable wrenches.

[Overland]

I suspect that even perfectly clear that drain wouldn't be very fast. Pro tip - open the drain on your water heater, turn on the pump and just pump the water out.

[ScubaRx]

I suspect that even perfectly clear that drain wouldn’t be very fast. Pro tip – open the drain on your water heater, turn on the pump and just pump the water out.

 

“Drain”, on the suburban water heaters, means you need to remove the anode.

[hobo]

OK, I have the Truma which I took out of the loop for the entire sanitization process.

 

In regard to the fresh water tank drain valve, I am wondering if there is any danger in opening the drain valve while filling the fresh water tank from a city water hose: then when the tank is full and the overflow starts to come out, plug the overflow outlet with a stopper thereby forcing the excess to go out only through the bottom drain line?? This would provide some pressure to the drain line perhaps forcing whatever debris might be in there to make its way out. I don't however; want to put undue pressure on the system but at normal 40 psi restricted flow, I wouldn't think that would be a problem.

 

Any thoughts??

[Overland]

I’ve kind of experimented with that. I didn’t get anything visible out of the drain and it still trickles. If you try it just know that you’re gambling that the overflow drain isn’t going to pop off the other end.

[hobo]

Hmmm, hadn't thought of that.  Might just let a sleeping dog lie. I can always pump the contents out via grey water tank.

[DavidS]

There is a way to speed up draining the fresh water tank, besides waiting for the infernally slow drain. Turn on the water pump, and open the valves on the outdoor shower. Drains in about ten minutes.

[bugeyedriver]

Due to where the exit port is on the grey tank (rear, street side) I've found that by significantly raising the nose of the trailer (easy to do on an Elite One) and tilting towards the street side (battery side) I can easily drain that tank in 3 minutes, or less.