No Water -- Help!

Chris_and_Sarah

For some reason we woke up this morning and have no water in the t@b.

We're hooked up at a campsite with a working water connection and when I unhooked the hose, the water flows all the way through it -- so the water is entering the t@b.  

However, no water is coming out of any faucets.  If I turn on the water pump (we have water in the tank) then it will use the tank water -- but not from the hose.

The reason it's so confusing is because we've been here for a week without any problem.  In fact, we used the water around 11pm last night.  I checked the valves next to the Alde (I only have 3 in my 2014 Max S, seemingly fewer than some others have), and they all seem to be in the proper positions.

Last night's low was 33º so I don't think anything froze, and the Alde was also running all night.

Those are all the relevant facts of the case I can think of.  I'm stumped.

Chris_and_Sarah

Update: The water's back on.

I did some research and learned that there's a check valve where the water hose connects to the trailer, and that valve can sometimes fail.  

I disconnected the hose, crouched down so the water inlet was at eye level, and when I reached in with my finger I could feel the valve like a rubbery button.  I pushed on it but it couldn't get it to move. Next, I poked it with my screwdriver and there was a loud hiss of pressure releasing accompanied by a burst of water -- right in the face.

Water worked just fine after that, as I suspected it might.

Still not sure what actually caused the problem.  I'm in a pretty rural place (on somebody's land, not an RV park), and it could be that the water pressure from the hose got low enough that it wasn't sufficient to get past the valve, or it could be that the valve is starting to fail and will soon need to be replaced.  Either way, another t@b lesson learned.

DurangoTaB

Ditto to Boo...I wonder if it was a piece of crud...but odd that it'd hang up a check valve.  Good for you figuring it out!

ScottG

+1. My first thought when I read your post was "faulty check valve" but since I wasn't sure if the T@b had a check valve (or what to do if it went south...) I kept quiet.

Now I know the answer to both questions. Well done--thanks! 

Chris_and_Sarah

My initial attempt to solve the problem was to try to remove the whole assembly where the hose attaches -- it's held in by two screws.  However, once I removed the screws I was unable to remove the assembly, which puzzled me.  It's possible that it was just squeezed on there good, but the last thing I wanted to do was make my problem worse by using unnecessary force and possibly breaking something.  I thought that by removing it I'd be able to get a better look at the check valve.

It was in exasperation and unable to think of anything else to do that I started poking at it.

ScottG

Desperate times demand desperate measures. Sometimes a good strong poke is all it takes!

Thanks for the update. Keep us posted if the problem resurfaces or if you end up replacing the check valve. Access to that area behind the toilet is pretty tight, so it could require some creative solutions.

Michigan_Mike

I did a little further investigating of the city water valve and came up with the following information.  Since your trailer is no longer under warranty you could replace the city water valve on your trailer as it's actually an easy fix if you want to tackle it your self.  

Here is a helpful video that I found on YouTube that covers the city water valve replacement and doesn't look too complicated.  I'm guessing that this covers the other topic discussed (by another member with a leaky valve) as evidently the city water valves do go bad and when water is leaking it could either indicate a bad valve or potentially other possible problems.  The replacement  of these valves is easy enough and I know that in the future and with age they obviously can and will fail.  

https://youtu.be/1cBuGLHzV_4?t=6

I found the valve on Amazon (approx. $14) and they basically just screw on and off the threaded hose fitting that sits behind the valve and is concealed within the trailer body and undercarriage.  In the event you experience any further problems you will at least have the knowledge and information to change out your valve should another problem/water outage occur in the future.  The valves look to cost around I hope this helps!

I also happened upon an easy "quick-disconnect" adapter for the city water valve that looks to be very handy and easy to install that other owners might want to look at and consider for their trailers.  This video discusses multiple options for this chore and provides alternatives that make attaching a hose simple.  It goes without saying that you learn something new every day!  

https://youtu.be/BYQUSruFVgk?t=4

Chris_and_Sarah

Thanks for sharing these videos -- they're super helpful, especially the first one where I could see that it takes some obvious elbow grease to remove the inlet even after unscrewing in order to overcome the plumber's putty.  In retrospect I'm glad that I didn't take the whole durn thing off especially since my ninja poke solved the problem (for now).

I'm on the 2nd day with no problems.  For now I'm assuming the problem came from a drop in hose pressure;  The spigot I'm attached to has a splitter that's also used to supply an outdoor shower.  Probably somebody used the shower, causing my hose pressure to drop and the valve to seal.  It could have caused the valve to get stuck, but now I know what to do in case it fails altogether.

I'll post some pics later!

rustyshibley

We had a similar issue with our 2016 Tab CS-S and poked from inside the sink cabinet behind the city water connection to free up the stuck valve.  Water is flowing freely now.  Your posting was helpful to us so we narrowed down to this solution.