2013 3800 Water Fill ?'s
- Thread starter lucey
- Start date
TomMar
Retired Texas-South Chapter Leader
lucey - I do not have direct knowledge of your 3800 but "Water Fill" should be to fill the onboard tank and it is NEVER recommended to fully connect the city water to the outlet when filling the tank. It is a slow process and you will find others on this forum use various methods, but none use a full connection. You might do a Search function (top right corner) to find other conversations. Good Luck.
Travel safe.
Travel safe.
danemayer
Well-known member
Hi Lucey,
Most of us have the older style gravity-fill hose for filling the fresh tank, so we're not experienced with the new style. I'd guess it probably fills at whatever the flow rate is from the city water hose. With a good water connection that could be 5 gpm.
The part I don't know is what prevents overfilling the fresh tank. The concern Tom mentioned is that with the old style gravity fill, we were warned to not feed pressurized water into the fill hose for fear of damaging the tank.
If I were to imagine how an engineer might address this in the design of the new system, I'd say that perhaps there's a flow reducer built into the system to prevent filling faster than water can come out the vent when the tank is filled. But that's purely a guess.
Perhaps someone with the new style has a better idea of how the new system avoids damage to the tank. In the meantime, I'd suggest 1) always use a pressure regulator and 2) monitor the tank level so you don't get an unpleasant surprise.
Most of us have the older style gravity-fill hose for filling the fresh tank, so we're not experienced with the new style. I'd guess it probably fills at whatever the flow rate is from the city water hose. With a good water connection that could be 5 gpm.
The part I don't know is what prevents overfilling the fresh tank. The concern Tom mentioned is that with the old style gravity fill, we were warned to not feed pressurized water into the fill hose for fear of damaging the tank.
If I were to imagine how an engineer might address this in the design of the new system, I'd say that perhaps there's a flow reducer built into the system to prevent filling faster than water can come out the vent when the tank is filled. But that's purely a guess.
Perhaps someone with the new style has a better idea of how the new system avoids damage to the tank. In the meantime, I'd suggest 1) always use a pressure regulator and 2) monitor the tank level so you don't get an unpleasant surprise.
danemayer
Well-known member
The original question had to do with the NEW style of water hookup. It doesn't use the gravity fill hose to the fresh tank that 99% of us have. Some of the answers address the new style; others are speaking to the old style.
Using the old style gravity fill hose, many people have to add water very slowly to keep it from backing up.
Using a pressure regulator may slow the water flow because inexpensive regulators don't allow much water flow - sometimes less than 1 gpm. More expensive regulators allow much greater water flow - 4-7 gpm in which case, it's likely to be too much for most of the gravity fill hoses.
Bksvo
Well-known member
Bottom line -- You should be able to fill up at full rate. Just don't walk away from it before it's full.
We attempted this at the Lake George Rally with Duane helping us.
The pressure valve did NOT spit water when it was full, instead something happened to our tank (overfilled?) and started leaking on the door side.
I don't know how to explain it. I hope this makes sense. I'm afraid of filling it up again.
Also does anyone know how to sanitize the new system fresh water tank? I had no idea that I wasn't supposed to leave water there after a trip and when I got in it the second time, the water smelled SOOOO bad.
I did drain and fill it up a few times and it got better, but I'd really like to add some bleach into the fresh water tank just to be safe.
Thanks.
Irene
The pressure valve did NOT spit water when it was full, instead something happened to our tank (overfilled?) and started leaking on the door side.
I don't know how to explain it. I hope this makes sense. I'm afraid of filling it up again.
Also does anyone know how to sanitize the new system fresh water tank? I had no idea that I wasn't supposed to leave water there after a trip and when I got in it the second time, the water smelled SOOOO bad.
I did drain and fill it up a few times and it got better, but I'd really like to add some bleach into the fresh water tank just to be safe.
Thanks.
Irene
FlyerChief
Active Member
Interesting discussion. Our motorhome had both a gravity fill and a valve to fill when connected to city water. The instructions were to leave the cap off the gravity flow when filling off the city connection. When the tank was full, the excess would simply overflow out of the gravity fill. When we did the PDI on my new Bighorn this weekend, it was explained that the only way to fill the tank was off the valve to the city connection in the UDC. I asked if the tank had an overflow and was told no. I asked what happened if you overfilled and was greeted with shrugging shoulders and a statement that, "I think it comes out the vent'" Considering that the vent is pretty small, I'm guess that you're not going to get a lot of pressure relief and could, conceivably, rupture the tank if you are filling with too much pressure.
I have resolved that I will closely monitor fill status at the info panel as I am filling. As it gets close, I will go to the UDC and throttle way back on the city water input.....slow it down to a trickle, until I get a little water out of the vent. Someone else here may have a better solution, but I would hesitate to just leave the city connection wide open.....that's asking to rupture the tank.
I have resolved that I will closely monitor fill status at the info panel as I am filling. As it gets close, I will go to the UDC and throttle way back on the city water input.....slow it down to a trickle, until I get a little water out of the vent. Someone else here may have a better solution, but I would hesitate to just leave the city connection wide open.....that's asking to rupture the tank.
danemayer
Well-known member
This was discussed in another thread. One of the ideas was to hook up your empty hose to the water inlet and leave disconnected from the faucet. Using a funnel, pour the bleach into the hose. Then connect the hose to the faucet and turn the faucet on to add water (and the bleach) to the fresh tank.
I called Heartland regarding these questions and the service guy Mike was super nice.
He mentioned that there are two lines coming out from the fresh water tank that will "leak" once it's filled. I didn't see anything under the belly, but he mentioned that I can have the dealer install a longer pipe so I can see it when filling... I'll have to ask the dealer about that.
Also when I asked him how to sanitize the tank, he said that I could something to mix the water and the hose... He said something like the miracle grow hose attachment, but just put the bleach or vinegar into it.
He also mentioned the putting it in the hose via the funnel and then attaching it to the city water as well.
Thanks. Sorry about going off topic.
Irene
He mentioned that there are two lines coming out from the fresh water tank that will "leak" once it's filled. I didn't see anything under the belly, but he mentioned that I can have the dealer install a longer pipe so I can see it when filling... I'll have to ask the dealer about that.
Also when I asked him how to sanitize the tank, he said that I could something to mix the water and the hose... He said something like the miracle grow hose attachment, but just put the bleach or vinegar into it.
He also mentioned the putting it in the hose via the funnel and then attaching it to the city water as well.
Thanks. Sorry about going off topic.
Irene
