2cd trip, some oddities happened

Tampakayaker

I did try to look up answers for some of these issues and found a couple but others I still have questions.

This was our second time camping in our NTU 2016 320S and the first time using water other than testing in the driveway.

Hooked up city water at the site using a filter at the tap, and a pressure relief at the TAB inlet.  Everything seemed fine.  Eventually the fresh water tank filled up and started coming out the fill port.  Turned off the city water and looked up fixes in the search.  Saw that my backflow flapper may be stuck/dirty, etc.  Tried turning pump on and off a few times to flush it, didn't seem to fix it.  Haven't had a chance to do further checking yet at home.  There was a mention of putting on an external backflow coupler on the output of the pump instead of replacing the pump.  Has anyone done this?

Does the pump pressurize the freshwater tank, or strictly pump from it.  I had turned on the pump a few times trying to clear the backflow then turned it off.  But we still had water pressure for plenty of flushes and hand washing.  Is that normal?  Eventually the water stopped flowing and I turned the pump on when needed.

First night with water off and Alde turned off, I could hear what sounded like a very slight water flow and gurgling that started just before dawn then stopped around the time we got up.  Pulled up the cushions, no water on the floor and dry underneath the trailer.  I did notice that the larger rubber hoses seemed to be warm and almost felt like there was a vibration in one of them (but the Alde display was dark). Any ideas?  The next night we fired up the Alde heat and there was no noise after that one time.

Thanks for being patient on what is probably silly questions, but I did try to do a search.

ScottG

Here are some of the basics that might help your diagnosis:

• The pump and freshwater tank are not used when hooked to city water. The system is pressurized by the city water supply.
  
• As you have noted, a check valve integrated into the pump should prevent city water from entering the fresh water tank via the pump line.
• When not on city water, the pump draws water from the freshwater tank and pressurizes the distribution lines in the camper. The freshwater tank itself is not pressurized.
• When the pump switch is on the pump should turn itself on and off automatically as needed to maintain the pressure in the lines.

This last point explains your observations regarding the water pressure, except it sounds like you were doing this manually using the pump switch.

I agree it sounds like you have a bad check valve in your pump. I'm not aware of anyone installing an external check valve but it certainly seems plausible.

I have no idea what was going on with your Alde. If the Alde was truly off it shouldn't be heating anything. Perhaps the gurgle was from your water lines, maybe related to the faulty check valve? Just guessing here.

pthomas745

The Alde only goes off with the Power button.  The Alde display could have "timed out" and turned itself off, but the Alde could still have been on.  If the display is dark, the only visual way to tell if the Alde is "on" is checking for that tiny green light embedded into the power button.  If you had warm pipes and a little gurgling, your Alde was on, I'm guessing.

Tampakayaker

pthomas745 said:

The Alde only goes off with the Power button.  The Alde display could have "timed out" and turned itself off, but the Alde could still have been on.  If the display is dark, the only visual way to tell if the Alde is "on" is checking for that tiny green light embedded into the power button.  If you had warm pipes and a little gurgling, your Alde was on, I'm guessing.

That could be it!  I was playing with the screen earlier trying to figure out how to make it work.  I found a you tube video that explained a little but then I found a totally different screen with all kinds of timers, etc and no explanation about those settings.  And if I remember correctly the initial setting for the temp was pretty low, so just before dawn the temp in the trailer might've gotten low enough to kick the heater on.

Sharon_is_SAM

The pump can be damaged if used while the system is pressurized with a city connection.  I think other owners just disconnected from city water and tried the pump again and the backfill may have corrected itself.  

“I had turned on the pump a few times trying to clear the backflow then turned it off.  But we still had water pressure for plenty of flushes and hand washing.  Is that normal?  Eventually the water stopped flowing and I turned the pump on when needed.”.  

When you turn on the pump it will usually run a couple seconds until it pressurizes, but in your case, maybe the system was already pressurized by the city connection.  Most owners will just use their city connection when water is provided at the campsite.  If not, fill your tank and then turn on your pump and you can leave it on.  Each time you open a tap, your pump typically runs.  If on a city connection, it is always best to turn off the water supply when you leave the area or turn off the pump.  You never want to return to a flooded Tab!

Tampakayaker

I had the city water turned off before I tried the pump, then that was only for a few seconds.