Water not running with pump on

Upasana

Today I sanitized my fresh water tank for the first time, in preparation for my first "dry camping" trip.  I followed the instructions, let the bleach water sit overnight, and then ran it out the sink and shower with pump on.  I also opened the fresh water tank drain.  When I filled the tank up again to run some fresh water through the system, the water is not running at all at the sink or the shower, even though the pump is on and the tank is at 100%.  What happened??

BridgerSunset

If you have the Nautilus system, have you returned the valve settings to "Dry Camping" after having it on "City Water Fill"  to fill the tanks?

Upasana

I'm not familiar with the Nautilus system.  This is a 2017 Tab 320s.  I followed the instructions for sanitizing in the manual, there is no valve setting for dry camping that I know of.  One thing that happened that I suspect might have contributed to this is that when I was filling the tank, I  had the hose running at very low pressure, left it to walk around and look at the fill level of the tank inside the trailer, and when I came out the pressure in the hose had increased quite a bit and water was overflowing. I shut it off immediately.  The manual says that filling the tank with high water pressure can cause "structural damage"   I don't know what that means and a I sure hope I didn't do that!  

pthomas745

What "instructions" did you follow?  If you put the camper into "winterizing" mode and bypassed the Alde, etc, you may need to go back and make sure your Alde valves, etc, have been put back into "camping season" mode.  It may also be the pump needs to be "primed" so it can begin to draw water again.  One quick way to do this is to flush the toilet a few times and get water flowing into it.

This link goes to the Winterizing files.  Winterizing 101 has a file for "Winterizing the 2016 and 2017 model".  There is a picture in the link that shows the proper valve settings for "Camping season mode", which is what you want.

https://tab-rv.vanillacommunity.com/discussion/6372/winterizing-manuals

And, it will take a while for water to get to the faucets, so give it a little time.  Here is another thread with other suggestions. 

https://tab-rv.vanillacommunity.com/discussion/11203/pump-running-no-water-flow

Upasana

Thank you for these suggestions.  The camper is not in winterizing mode.  I have used water from the fresh water tank before, on a trial run and it worked fine. Water was also running from the faucet and shower fine when I was releasing the bleach water after letting it set all night.  I haven't changed any settings.  The instructions I followed were in the manual that came with the Tab.  I'll try the toilet flushing.  

Alt_Tab

Just a suggestion but on a recent dry camping trip when we turned our pump on it ran continuously and used up quite a bit of battery.

I opened the taps to establish flow and it was quite weak but then came on stronger.

It seems there was air in the system. Air is difficult to compress compared to water and hence the system wouldn't pressure up.

Run the taps and make sure the camper is level.

Hope that helps.

ScottG

@Upsana, when you say the "pump is on" do you mean the switch is on, or do you actually hear the pump running but are getting no flow at the taps?

mona

Have you checked the filter on the pump? It may have debris in it. 

Upasana

I finally have this issue resolved.  I was able to get ahold of someone at the dealership where I bought my Tab last fall, and he told me to run city water through the faucet and shower, and that it would force some water into the pump.  He thought I had probably run the pump dry when emptying out the tank after sanitizing.  I did that and at first it still didn't seem to make a difference.  But I left it for a couple hours, went back and tried again.  I flushed the toilet several times, and it started as a trickle, but then increased until it looked normal, and then the faucet started working too.  So lesson learned is that when emptying the tank, don't do it with the pump on and faucets running.  Release the water through the valve underneath the trailer.  Thanks to everyone for your input!

SolidCamper

I just dewinterized my 2020 320S today. I had the same problem as discussed herein- pump runs, but no fresh water flows. After trying the easier solutions mentioned in this post- I watched a video that is linked to in the threads mentioned by pthomas745 above (thanks PThomas). The YT video below the photo discusses the stuck plunger inside the pump.

You have to remove and disassemble the pump to get at the plunger. About 40 minutes work.  When I got mine open, my plunger was very stuck. See photo below- my screwdriver is pointing to it.

I pushed it in quite hard and it released.  It can now plunge up and down properly. After reassembling- the pump worked like a charm. After speaking to Pentair Tech support, I concluded that it probably got stuck because I didn't get all the water out of it during the my winterizing blow-out.   Live and Learn. Hope this helps some Tabbers in the future.
 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rw-bR7SRsg

pthomas745

@SolidCamper thanks for reporting back!  I'm not sure if that solution has ever been brought up here! 

Did you detach the pump from the wall or was it possible to do this work with the pump in place?  (Now that I look at your picture, you obviously took it out!)

[Deleted User]

@soludcamper, it sounds like you didn't use antifreeze to winterize? Just blowing out doesnt do a good job getting water out of the pump. 

Sharon_is_SAM

I think carefully running the pump dry, draining the lines on both sides of the pump, leaving them off to allow for drying and emptying the cup is typically enough.  That is all that many owners do without issue.

Denny16

That is what I do, and have never had an issue so far.  But, I do not live in a long, hard freeze area either.  These are pumps designed to work on boats, that are not normally subject to freezing temps either, in normal use.

Cheers 

SolidCamper

PThomas745- Yes I did take it off the wall completely. Small pain to find a small S1 sq head drive to remove it off the wall on not drop the screws into the abyss, but really was straightforward-Thus  one more item demystified on the Tab.

TabbyShack- No I did not do antifreeze. As Sharon says, what is recommended is usually enough, but I obviously did something inadequately. Or just my dumb luck that it got stuck. If you watch this guys video, tons of people have had the same problem.

Sharon_is_SAM - you're probably right about what works to prevent the problem. This is my third de-winterize and first time I had the problem. But now that I know I can disassemble it pretty easily, I'm just going to pull it off the wall next in October and store it inside in the house.