2014 North Trail 26 LRSS Caliber Edition locate Hot Water and Cold Water By Pass Valves

[GaryFrench]

Hello,

I bought a 2014 North Trail 26 LRSS Caliber Edition brand new in the same year and up to now, I have not been able to locate the hot and cold water tank by pass valves. I have been directed to the bedroom where the access to the by pass valves are said to be located adjacent to the hot water tank, but have found nothing. I was told by someone there should be an access panel somewhere there on the inside near the hot water heater panel, but there is nothing there.

My trailer is stationary. I never move it from my park, so I don't need water in the tanks. But when I turn the water supply on, the tanks fill up. And when I turn my water supply off, with those tanks full, the back pressure pushes that water into my toilet and it has overflowed once, even with the water off.

I really want to find the by pass valves, so my tanks don't fill up every time I turn the water on.

Any help would be appreciated

 

[danemayer]

The bypass valves just bypass the water heater so that when you winterize, antifreeze bypasses the water heater.

There is no bypass to bypass the entire water system. The method of turning off the water is to turn off the faucet.

When connected to the faucet with the faucet on, your gray and black tanks should not fill unless you have water running through a plumbing fixture inside when not supposed to. For example, if the toilet has a problem, you could be inadvertently filling the black tank. But if the toilet bowl is overflowing when the campground faucet is turned off, you have something wrong with the toilet. Make sure your water pump isn't turned ON - if the campground water is OFF and the pump is OFF, there should be no way to supply water to the toilet. And even with some expansion, and a leaky toilet valve, it wouldn't be much.

If your fresh tank is filling by itself while connected to campground water, the internal check valve inside your water pump is stuck open. You can fix this with either a new pump, or by adding a check valve on the suction side of the pump. See our Fresh Tank Fills by Itself user guide for specifics.

 

[GaryFrench]

Thanks very kindly.

I really appreciate you taking the time to give me such thorough feedback

So, the black and gray tanks are not filling up. It is only the hot and cold storage tanks used for travelling as this is a travel trailer. But my trailer is permanently parked.

When the trailer was under warranty, a service person from the dealer where I bought the trailer, came to do some service and a day after he left, water was flooding out from the toilet, even with the water off. I was stumped, so I called the service guy back and he checked the toilet and said there was nothing wrong with it, so he did nothing.

So, I learned to prevent further toilet overflow by draining the draining both red and blue tanks from the low point drains every time I turned the water off. It seems a waste, but there was no other way to stop the tanks from filling up. This prevents toilet overflow every time.

This problem has been going since day 1.

As I am not too savvy with anything more than the normal trailer functions, I asked around and was told by many to find your by pass(es) and switch them so that the hot and cold water tanks do not fill up. But as I said, there was no by passes to be found.

And as you said, it seems there are no by passes. That seems very odd to me, but I am not an expert.

I will follow your advice and consider the check valve.

But there is no pump in operation at all. I hear no whining of a pump motor ever. It just seems that the storage tanks fill up as soon as the water is turned on.

 

[cookie]

So, you mentioned that you turn the water off. Are you certain that the valve actually stops the flow of water completely?
I see no way that the toilet can overflow without having water flow to the trailer.
One more thing not mentioned is whether or not you are using a water pressure regulator. You should be.

Peace
Dave

 

[danemayer]

There are no hot and cold storage tanks the way you describe. There is a fresh water tank and a water heater. If the pump is off and you are not connected to campground water, no water is getting from the fresh tank to the toilet.

If the water heater is full and heating, you could get some expansion in the water. But the toilet should be connected to the cold water line and shouldn't be affected by any hot water expansion. And, the valve on the toilet should withstand a pressure increase anyway.

But you may have a problem with the toilet valve, and if the toilet is hooked to hot water the combination might explain it.

Turn the water heater off and see what happens.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

 

[GaryFrench]

Thanks kindly Dave.

Yeah, the water shut off valve was just replaced and is definitely not leaking. I don't have a regulator, but I don't think anyone near me in my park has one either. I had an old used trailer that had no regulator and it all worked fine.

This is a conundrum. I am sure it can be explained, but I have to say this set up in this trailer is confusing to me. I will explore solutions from the advice I received from this thread tonight.

Have a great weekend Dave and thanks again!
Gary

 

[GaryFrench]

Thanks again.

I am obviously not that aware of the whole system, but I am getting educated here tonight and I appreciate it. Cheers!

Makes sense what you said about the toilet. I am sad that the tech who came from the dealer when it was still under warranty didn't replace the toilet. I don't think he believed me when I said it was overflowing.

I have tried what you said with the water heater off for long periods of time...no difference. I think you must be right about the toilet.

So, I wonder if, since I am parked always, is it possible to just get water from my supply through the trailer plumbing system without having the fresh water tank fill up. I mean can the fresh water tank be by passed, or is that just how the system works?

 

[danemayer]

On a North Trail, I'm pretty sure you have what's called a Gravity Feed to fill the fresh tank. There are usually 2 water fill connections side-by-side. A garden hose will screw onto the city water connection which directly feeds the water lines that go to the various fixtures inside the trailer. The other fitting allows you to loosely place a garden hose into the opening without screwing it in. The loose fitting is used to fill the fresh tank. I've attached a picture of what they usually look like.

You don't have to put any water into the fresh tank. And you have a drain for the fresh tank, usually just forward of the axles. If there's any water in the fresh tank, opening that drain line will empty the tank. You probably also have a blue and red low point drain that are typically located further toward the front. Leave them closed.

With the city water connected, assuming you have a pressure regulator, if the toilet overfills, there's a problem with the toilet. If you leave the fresh tank drain open and it continuously drips day after day, you have a problem with the water pump allowing water to flow backward through its internal check valve, filling the fresh tank unintentionally.

Take a look at our owner-written Water Systems Guide for more info, pictures and diagrams.

 

[Terry H]

It is possible that Mr. French hooked up the park water connection to the black tank flush system connection instead of the fresh water connection. That would cause the toilet to over flow.

 

[GaryFrench]

Thanks Kindly,
Yeah, the water supply is always connected to the correct port marked, City Water Connection.

 

[GaryFrench]

Thanks so much for the info and the picture.

Yeah, I have always had my water supply connected to the port marked City Water Connection and have water with good pressure: faucets and toilets are fed with water quite well.

Thanks for the tip on the fresh water tank valve. I have not touched that. I have only ever opened the red and blue low point drain valves to drain out water or else the water flows into my toilet. And when I open the blue low point drain valve after shutting off the water supply, it takes ages to drain out. I am assuming that is from the fresh water tank.

I see now that I am going to have to investigate my water pump and my toilet.

Such a shame. These issues have been going on since day 1 and there was never proper diagnostics done by the dealer tech when I still had warranty. They just said all looks fine. And as I was new to all this, I would not have known what questions to ask.

Thanks again so much. Now I have an idea of what to investigate.

Have a great weekend!
Gary

 

[Ricktara]

I think I would but the shark bite one way valve and put it in line before the water pump just to rule that out. Cheap insurance. I have a new North Trail 25lrss and added it to mine