Please explain how plumbing works

[stw1111]

Hi,
We just purchased a Cyclone 4100 King. On our way to the Grand Canyon. Last night we hooked up at an RV park. Had very little hot water for showers. Can someone please explain the whole water tank/hot water tank/city water thing? The manual was not much help. My main question is how does the water get into the hot water tank to start with?

 

[cookie]

Hello stw1111 and welcome to the forum. There is a lot of good information here.
There are a couple of things to look at for your hot water.
One is you need to be sure that your winterizing valves are set to 'Normal'.
Also be sure that all faucets are turned off, including the outside shower if you have one. Also the inside shower if it is not in use.
The water gets into your water heater by directing the flow of water there by means of the winterizing valves. If they are not set to the correct place you will get a mix of hot and cold water and it sounds like that is what is going on.
I assume that you have the water heater turned on. There should be two switches for the AC side and one for the LP.
One AC switch will be inside the coach and look like a red illuminated house switch. The other will be a small rocker switch on the water heater itself.
Never turn on the electric side without water in the tank.
Oh, and I don't know what you mean by very little hot water, temperature or volume of hot water available. Your water heater is probably around 12 gallons.
Let us know what you find.

Peace
Dave

 

[cookie]

One thing that I failed to mention is that there is a wealth of information in the forum Manual Section.
They can be found by clicking on 'Tools' at the top of the page. Then follow the drop down.
Here is a link that may help you.

Peace
Dave

 

[wdk450]

Here's a couple of generic RV plumbing diagrams I got of the internet. These pretty much follow our trailers, although my Bighorn has 2 Grey tanks (bathroom and kitchen) in addition to the Black tank. The 1st one omits the winterizing (antifreeze) inlet and valves, the 2nd one has these:

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl...o8UcevH8blyQGB54GIAQ&ved=0CEUQ9QEwBg&dur=9091

http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&sour...cL4Z5JTY46T7vu3a8AH4ZUww&ust=1363029384374749

 

[TeJay]

The three valves around the hot water tank are for winterizing. They allow you to fill the lines with the pink antifreeze but not fill the tank. When winterized the hot tank is empty. It makes sense so you don't use 6-12 gallons of pink stuff. If the valves are not correctly adjusted then as said you will have cold water mixing with the hot and therefore not much hot. If it's coming out hot then warm then cold that's the problem. Read your manual to determine the exact positions for those valves. When you are connected to the city water outlet you have water all the time. Your pump is only used if you need to pump from the fresh water holding tank. We travel with the fresh tank about 1/4 full to allow us to potty and maybe have lunch while en-route to our destination. If you are not going far and want home water then put more in the fresh tank. If you are going longer distances then adjust accordingly. Water is heavy and no use paying to haul what you won't need.
Good luck & happy camping !!!!!!!!!!
TeJay

 

[danemayer]

In the manuals section of the forum, we also have a User Guide for the Water Heater. Here's a link.

 

[stw1111]

Thanks for the info. Very helpful!