Freshwater Tank Filling issues 2021 T@B 320 (Nautalist P2.5)

Da_Birds

I have been unable to get my fresh water tank to fill from a city water connection without turning the pump on. The Nautalist P2.5 manual does not say you need to turn the pump on. I follow the "Filling Fresh Water Tank "Tank Fill" procedure outlined in the manual but the only way I get the tank to fill is if I then turn the pump on. At first I thought this was just something unique to the T@B but I can't find any information that is the case. I suspect it may be due to low water pressure as I've not had the best water pressure at any of the sources I've used.

Anyone out there have similar issues?

On a side note, I read you should not overfill your FW tank but I have seen videos where they say it's OK to fill until you see water coming from the FW overflow drain? Any opinions on this on?

Da_Birds

I most certainly have my hose connected to the city water (right) connection and have the levers in the "fill tank" positions (green up/blue down). The only other thing I can think of is that I may be connecting the hose to the faucet first and then to the city water connection because I really don't see what difference that makes but maybe it does?

I have the manual saved and printed! I save nearly all user manuals in both hard copy a digitally. I referenced the manual when I tested filling my tank at home before our first trip and still ended up needing to turn on the pump to get the FW tank to fill. I work in tech support so reading user manuals is practically ingrained in my DNA. I even tried without the pump on the second time when we filled at the campground during our first trip. Gave it a good 20 minutes because at times it sounded like it was filling and the monitor still read "E". Turned on the pump and I had 1/3 full tank in a few minutes. That's why I just assumed there had to be something different about the T@BS's plumbing. But if you can fill without the pump on it must be something I'm doing wrong. I'll very likely be doing some troubleshooting this weekend. There must be an explanation!

DougWW

This surprises me too. 
The first time I filled the T@B through the Nautilus, nothing much happened. I re-checked the settings and made sure the hose was turned on, and there was a flushing sound and the tank started filling. Then I was faced, like you, with the question of how to know when it was full. the gauge is a long way from the Nautilus window. The trailer started venting water out of the middle back area. I turned the valve back to "city" and then turned the water off. Easy and simple.

mntrails

What you're doing 'sounds' correct.  Here's a picture of the back side of the Nautilus (2021 T@B 320 Boondock) in case you want to check hose connections.  The white hose on the left side of the Nautilus goes to the pump connection nearest to the driver's side wall. The white hose on the lower right goes to the pump inlet that has the filter and is closer to the center of the T@B.  When hooked up to the hose and the switches in the 'tankfill' position, I can hear water running and filling immediately.  I do fill the hose first before connecting to the T@B city water to get most of the air out but that shouldn't account for the problems you're seeing. It does take awhile - I haven't timed it but maybe up to 10 minutes? Good luck.

Da_Birds

I'm heading out shorty to try again. Part of the plan is to check the plumbing to see if it is plumbed as expected. Thanks for posting what it should look like because I can't find a 2021 320 plumbing diagram.

I also have another question I think I may be asking about the hot water tank drain. I have not been able to find the yellow valve everyone talks about. I believe I read that the low point drains in our model replaced the yellow drain under the drivers side bench but I have not been able to locate that discussion again. Anyway before I ask I want to be 100% certain that I do not have the yellow hot water drain valve while I'm in there today.

I should have an update later today or tomorrow.

mntrails

@Da_Birds - if you look just a little bit toward the center of the trailer from the rear of the nautilus, you'll see the Alde drain cock - see yellow handle below. There are also a hot and cold low point drain inside the Nautilus compartment on the far left side accessed from the outside. 

Da_Birds

Troubleshooting complete! For starters I found the yellow hot water tank valve. It is hidden below the clamshell kitchen sink drain close to the Alde. It is not as nearly in the open as I've seen in other pictures. Probably because we have the clam shell kitchen.

As for filling the tank, I was able to get the tank to fill with no pump this time. I am near certain the issue was lower water pressure. My first time filling at home I did not open my faucet all of the way because we have very good water pressure and since I was using my pressure regulator for the first time I didn't want put full pressure on it the first time and find it was defective. I did the same the second time and all of the other times, at the campgrounds, the pressure a the faucet was very low. To give you an example it took us over 10 mins to fill our 7 gallon spare water jug at the campgrounds.

I used full pressure this time and the tank was 1/3 full in no time! I then drained the tank and tried again with the faucet only partially open and it was either painfully slow to fill or not filling at all (15 minutes and still not 1/3 full). Turning the pump on sped things up noticeably (1/3 full in a few minutes). I let the pump run until I started to see the 2/3 full light flicker and then turned it off. It took about 10 minutes from there for the tank to get to a solid 2/3 full light.

I'm happy with my takeaways:

1. trust your water pressure regular and use full pressure at the faucet!

2. IF you are filling from a low pressure faucet running the pump will either help get things going or speed things up.

Sharon_is_SAM

@Da_birds - I have read that you can damage the pump if you run it while using the city water connection.  Be careful.

Da_Birds

I was wondering if it was OK to run the pump when using the city water connection but couldn't find a definitive answer because most discussions are older (pre-Nautalist). But in those discussions the consensus was it should be OK.

In any case, I'm not sure I have much choice in these low water pressure situations. However, I will try to be more judicious in using the pump in this manner. Per my testing it seems I may only need to turn on the pump briefly to get water flowing into the FW tank. I will try this next time if this issue arises. The only thing I can think of is using the winterize connection and drawing water from a bucket while simultaneously filling the bucket from the faucet or keep refilling the bucket. That just seems a bit ridiculous.

 

Da_Birds

We returned to one of the campgrounds that had low water pressure and needed to use the pump. They installed a new faucet and the water pressure was much better this time. I did not need to use the pump this time.

On a side note about the water heater tank drain. I'm not so sure you need to open the yellow valve as it seems opening the low level drains do the same thing. I have yet to get any water to drain after opening the yellow valve if I open the the low level drains first. Unless I read anything new I will still open the the yellow valve as part of my draining routine just to be safe.