Loosing Water From The Fresh Water Tank

[ChopperBill]

Not to nose in here but I wouldn't even attempt to "fill" the tank if it did not have the cross brace. Mine did not have the brace and the tank fell down, at about 3/4, the first time I tried to fill it. Take in a account mine was one of the last of the "06's" built.

 

[Uncle Rog]

30 Gallons Short?

Howdy, Happy New Year to everybody. I have had my suspicions about my fresh tank capacity so today I ran a little test. We filled the tank to overflow then ran the kitchen faucet for a few seconds to equalize the pressure and the overflow stopped. We then drained the tank into a measured 5 gallon bucket stopping the flow at every filling. This was quite tedious since it is 75 degrees and required several bottles of measuring fluid, notwithstanding the beer, I have a witness and we were only able to fill the bucket 9 times, barely! Now the tank was totally empty with the pump sucking air and no faucet worked inside. My math 5x9 equals 45 gals the stated capacity of the tank is 75 gals, where in the world is the other 30 gals? I do not think it is in the 6 gal water heater. Anybody have any Ideas? ..............UR

 

[timk]

Another thought, if your measuring capacity by pumping out the tank. You might be leaving some water in the tank. You could try raising the door side of the rig a bit, and see if you get some more out.
TimK

 

[phranc]

Uncle Rog,, could the solution to losing water while traveling be as simple as what you did ? That is to run a faucet for a minute or 2 after filling to equalize the pressure .... opinions ??

 

[timk]

Yet another thought, I found a formula in the net for figuring gallons for cubic feet. (you can always trust the net) HxWxL in inches divided by 231 equals gallons.

I am guessing at the size of my tank from memory but here it is anyway.

If you do 36x48x10/231 you get 74 gallons.
If you use standard vents then you tank is only about 8 inches tall.
Then 36x48x8/231 you get only 59 gallons.
If your tipping the tank about 2" to the off door side, you will be about 14 more gallons short from vent loss, and from the pump sucking on the wrong side. So now your down to 45 gallons, take another 6 out for the water heater now your at 39 gallons. So now your getting close to your findings. Thats all I got.

TimK

 

[svd]

The spec sheet I have shows a tank volume of 63.5 gallons, and a hot water tank of 10 gallons. Did you install a tank brace, and could doing so reduce tank volume? I wondered about that when I installed my brace.

 

[ChopperBill]

Pretty sure the fresh tank capacity is figured on some Heartland engineer filling the tank under IDEAL conditions which will never happen in real life, or being optimistic of the tank manufactures specs. Could be kind of like my 45 gallon black and grey tanks filling up in 5 days! I am a pretty healthy guy but on my best day I couldn't fill a tank up that big in 5 days! Good thing the dealer found out the sewer drains were going up hill and the tanks weren't completely draining. (Thanks Valley Camper for going the extra mile to fix them!) That is why I always showed a 1/3 full after a dump station trip. Darn near made a visit to my urologist after the first camping trip!

 

[Uncle Rog]

Befuddled

My rig is less than 1 degree out of level in any direction and I have done my test twice, looks like I am going back to J&L, my witness and brother in law who owns a Prowler has a snicker on his face, mostly being from new years. I give up for now................

 

[sislv]

Fresh Water Tank Vent Lines etc.

See my post at:

//heartlandowners.org/showpost.php?p=8631&postcount=23

I think Loco and others had the best idea on how to cure the fresh water tank vent line problems. Doing the modifications suggested you don't have to worry about the tanks draining. You won't have to plug/unplug the vent lines, turn valves on/off, and shouldn't have to worry about losing water while going down the road.

Happy New Year to all.....

Tom & Sharol

 

[Uncle Rog]

Howdy, I read about running a little water to brake the flow at the overflows in a previous post, my spec sheet shows a 75 gal capacity, and the "repair" of my broken tank was done by an authorized shop and reinstalled "properly". After running my test as stated the monitor panel shows dead empty and the pump sucks air. I guess my issue is when I fill the tank I want to be able to drain 75 gals of H2O not 45. My best guess is that the vent / overflows are monted too far down from the top of the tank which is unaceptible if that is the case.....I will report later when the shop has made the fix....I want 75 gals !!!!!..........UR

 

[Fordsd250]

Has anyone tried filling the tank with measured amounts to see what can be put in the tank?

 

[Uncle Rog]

Yup, at a timed 5 gal per minute my overflows go off at 9.5 minutes....

 

[phranc]

Here is a posting on another forum about the 'losing water while traveling'
http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/18906516.cfm

 

[Uncle Rog]

Collapsed Tank?

I talked to my service out fit yesterday about my less than advertised FW capacity and he told me that it is common with the large flat tanks. That if they COLLAPSE the water fills up the sides and will not fill the middle! They should be made with rigid enough plastic to at least keep their shape, I would think. Since my tank has been repaired once already I am a little skeptical at best of the condition of the tank. Any ideas? My warranty is up in March, with 5-6 weeks extension for previous service work down time, and I am a little concerned about not getting this thing right before I am orphaned by HL......

 

[willy]

HI, We have a 2006 2955RL, just tried dry camping. Put the hose in, water started to come out the overflow...thought it was draining, plugged it. then it came out the other line plugged it, etc. I ended up plugging up all 3 lines. From the posts I learned there are two overflows..what's the other line? My tank drain, I think, is under the hot water tank. Happy camper!!