Hot water bypass valve

Bobby A said:

O.k., going out now to try that, same method ad before, put hose in bucket turn on pump and open cold water knob on out side shower and press the handle, correct ?? but, I still would like to know if those valves are interchangeable ?? My gut is telling me yes, but I want to verify with you.

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Yes but this time you want to test the hose that goes right to the pump, after disconnecting it from the valve.

I'm not sure if the valves are interchangeable. The water heater bypass has 1 input and 2 outputs. The antifreeze valve has 2 inputs and 1 output. Water doesn't know which way it's flowing, so it's possible the 2 inputs could be used as outputs, but the orientation of the fittings may not be the same between the 2 valves. I've never experimented to know one way or the other.

danemayer said:

Yes but this time you want to test the hose that goes right to the pump, after disconnecting it from the valve.

I'm not sure if the valves are interchangeable. The water heater bypass has 1 input and 2 outputs. The antifreeze valve has 2 inputs and 1 output. Water doesn't know which way it's flowing, so it's possible the 2 inputs could be used as outputs, but the orientation of the fittings may not be the same between the 2 valves. I've never experimented to know one way or the other.

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O.K. thats what I did, and the pump came on but no suction !! That pump is only two years old, I only use it about twice a year to bleach out my lines. The tech used it this last fall to winterize. I called him after this test because I got frustrated. He said he has seen pumps need priming or something like that, but didn't go into detail, probably something that you referred to as air in the line ?? He is coming out in a couple weeks to re caulk the rig and will fix it. It frustrates me when I get good advise from you and other Heartland family and can't fix something !! I just want things on my trailer to function properly.

Thank you Dan for all your help and time, I am not gonna waste your time anymore, I will wait till the tech comes. I gotta give up on this for a while. Again I'm not good at this plumbing stuff, I don't want to start buying all kinds of parts and the expense of them without knowing exactly whats wrong. I will post back when I know for sure whats wrong. I can remove and replace if I know whats wrong, but testing is another story/

Thanks again.

Bobby A

If I have a water pump that is not in the trailer, what is the procedure for testing it ??

Thank you,
Bobby A

Bobby A said:

If I have a water pump that is not in the trailer, what is the procedure for testing it ??

Thank you,
Bobby A

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You'll need to connect a hose that you can put into a bucket of water. Connect to the suction side of the pump, where the strainer bowl is located. Apply 12V DC to the pump wires. Hopefully the wires are red and black. Red would go to the plus (+) side of the battery or power supply.

danemayer said:

You'll need to connect a hose that you can put into a bucket of water. Connect to the suction side of the pump, where the strainer bowl is located. Apply 12V DC to the pump wires. Hopefully the wires are red and black. Red would go to the plus (+) side of the battery or power supply.

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O.k. Dan, thanks for the quick reply, kinda like you told me before, hose in a bucket of water and if the pump works it will come out the other side ??

Bobby A said:

O.k. Dan, thanks for the quick reply, kinda like you told me before, hose in a bucket of water and if the pump works it will come out the other side ??

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Exactly.

danemayer said:

Exactly.

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up date to Dan/Dane,
First I would like to apologize for mistakenly calling you Dan, I believe your name is Dane?? Sorry for the mistaken your name all along.

I drained the water tank today and turned on the water heater bypass valve to bypass and turn on city water, water came out as if I was flushing the tank. I believe you said those results would indicate a bad valve. I really didn't have a good flashlight to look real good in the tank, but again the way the water was flowing it appeared from the bottom.

Next,

I took out the water pump and did a bench test, bucket of water, hose hooked up to the filter side of the pump and a 12 volt battery. When hooked up the pump would come on but not water suction from the bucket and out the other side of the pump.

I have another pump on order and will be in on Wednesday, I have two Swan valves hear to replace the B&B valves that is in the coach. I will also get a repair kit for the pump and have a second pump on hand.

Just wanted to give you an update, I will pick this back up when my pump arrives, any helpful suggestions are appreciated as always.

Thanks so much,
Bobby

It's Dan middle initial E.

Sounds like you're on track to fix it.

The only other source of water filling the water heater while bypassed would be a failing check valve on the hot water output from the water heater. If this was failing, I'd expect water to be filling from the top.

danemayer said:

It's Dan middle initial E.

Sounds like you're on track to fix it.

The only other source of water filling the water heater while bypassed would be a failing check valve on the hot water output from the water heater. If this was failing, I'd expect water to be filling from the top.

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O.k, back to calling you Dan. LOL !! Well, I do have a spare check valve, when I drain the water tank to replace the pump, should I go ahead and replace the check valve ?? The one on top, correct ??

Thank you,
Bobby

Bobby A said:

O.k, back to calling you Dan. LOL !! Well, I do have a spare check valve, when I drain the water tank to replace the pump, should I go ahead and replace the check valve ?? The one on top, correct ??

Thank you,
Bobby

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As much work and expense as you're already in for, while you have the area open, replacing the check valve makes sense. Pay attention to the arrow stamped into the metal.

danemayer said:

As much work and expense as you're already in for, while you have the area open, replacing the check valve makes sense. Pay attention to the arrow stamped into the metal.

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O.k will do, replace the top (hot) check valve correct?? does the bottom (cold) have a check valve also ??

One other thing comes to mind. When its time to replace both valves, since the new valves are Swan and whats on the coach now are B&B valves should they connect up the exact same way ?? They are both in a T formation, and look very close to each other, in other words take one hose off at a time and connect it exactly in the same spot on the new valve ??

I really appreciate all your guidance and time spent walking me through all this process,

Bobby

Existing check valve would be on the top (hot outlet). I don't think there's one on the bottom.

I don't know whether the Swan valves will have the same arrangement as the B&B valves. It would make sense for that to be true, but I've never had both in hand to compare. At least one comment on Amazon for the Antifreeze valve says it's the same hookup as the original.

I'd take a picture of the existing configurations and draw a diagram of where each hose goes (what it connects to). Label the hoses. Do one valve at a time, test to see if it's working right. If you do that and have to back up, you'll have enough info to get back to the original condition.

danemayer said:

Existing check valve would be on the top (hot outlet). I don't think there's one on the bottom.

I don't know whether the Swan valves will have the same arrangement as the B&B valves. It would make sense for that to be true, but I've never had both in hand to compare. At least one comment on Amazon for the Antifreeze valve says it's the same hookup as the original.

I'd take a picture of the existing configurations and draw a diagram of where each hose goes (what it connects to). Label the hoses. Do one valve at a time, test to see if it's working right. If you do that and have to back up, you'll have enough info to get back to the original condition.

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O.k. thanks Dan,
Thats great information, I will post back later this coming week after the pump and install is done, or if I run into problems.

Thanks so much, have a good week,

Bobby

Bobby A said:

O.k. thanks Dan,
Thats great information, I will post back later this coming week after the pump and install is done, or if I run into problems.

Thanks so much, have a good week,

Bobby

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HI Dan,
Another thought came to mind, just wondering if you think it would be helpful to start another Thread to see if any of our Heartland family have switched B&B valves to Swan valves and if they hook up identical ??

Bobby

Bobby A said:

HI Dan,
Another thought came to mind, just wondering if you think it would be helpful to start another Thread to see if any of our Heartland family have switched B&B valves to Swan valves and if they hook up identical ??

Bobby

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Bobby,

Most of the people who actively participate on the forum probably use the "What's New?" button and would see these posts. If they don't answer here, they aren't like to answer to a separate thread.

The value of a separate thread would be for someone researching the question in the future by browsing this subforum. So once the answer is known, you might post a picture of both types in a new thread along with your findings.

You might be overthinking it, Bobby. From your earlier photos of back of the valves and outside panel, I’m pretty sure they hook up the same.
Should have called me, I was home until this morning. Back in Indian River now for 3 weeks.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

danemayer said:

Bobby,

Most of the people who actively participate on the forum probably use the "What's New?" button and would see these posts. If they don't answer here, they aren't like to answer to a separate thread.

The value of a separate thread would be for someone researching the question in the future by browsing this subforum. So once the answer is known, you might post a picture of both types in a new thread along with your findings.

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O.k. good thinking, I will wait till its all done and over with. Also, I just took a look at my hot water tank, and it appears as I have a check valve on both hot(top) and cold (bottom) connections. They look identical !! Obviously I can't get into it until I drain the tank, and that won't happen until my pump comes in on Wednesday. I guess I should replace both of them ?? This is a fairly new tank about 4 your old I guess, had a mobile tech in Fl. replace it.

danemayer said:

As much work and expense as you're already in for, while you have the area open, replacing the check valve makes sense. Pay attention to the arrow stamped into the metal.

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Up date, to Dan and everybody,
If you have been following this thread you see I have a couple problems. Today my new water pump came in a day early. I replaced it and was able to flush out my lines with bleach out of my holding tank. Thats how I tested it to make sure it was working, along with a quick bench test per Dan's instructions. I then drained the water tank again and started changing the check valves in the hot water tank. To my surprise there was two check valves on the water heater. The bottom one (cold) was defective, it came apart when I took it out. Thanks to Dan mentioning to pay attention to the arrows on the check valves. The top check valve arrow was pointing out and thats the way I put the new one back in. The bottom (cold) arrow was pointing in towards the tank, and again thats how I put the new one in. I'm quite sure it came that way from Suburban. I had a mobile tech in Fl. remove the old one and he sent me to his supplier while he removed the old one to pick up the new one. Oh, btw, I replaced the little cone shaped seals that go in the lines
that people forget about and the lines leak afterwords. I always keep 10 on hand. All is back together with NO LEAKS !! I am gone to take tomorrow off and maybe start the winterize valves on Thursday, hope that goes smoothly as today did.

Blessings,
Bobby

JohnDar said:

You might be overthinking it, Bobby. From your earlier photos of back of the valves and outside panel, I’m pretty sure they hook up the same.
Should have called me, I was home until this morning. Back in Indian River now for 3 weeks.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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I would like to thank JohnDar for posting the Swan diagrams for the hot water bypass and the winterize valves. That will come in handy for me/us whom valves have become defective with our older units. My original valves are B&B and they are brass, the new replacement valves from B&B are plastic, a sure remove and replace but I wanted brass, thats why I went with Swan. Again this will come in handy in the future for someone.

Bobby