One last try

ColoradoJon · June 2018

Right on! A ball of plastic?? That's kinda weird

Glad it's fixed! What a relief, eh?

BrianZ · June 2018

Thanks for posting the cause & fix for your problem. Wondering how a ball of plastic ends up inside a water line. I wonder if there is/should be some kind of plastic filter screen inside the freshwater fill tube.

LauraRey · June 2018

What is interesting is that now I see how a properly functioning system works, I know that it never worked correctly, but finally got bad enough that I was forced to do something about it. Now? I turn on the water, the pump kicks in, I turn it off, the pump stops in just a second.

Haloo · June 2018

Hurray!!!

Sharon_is_SAM · June 2018

Plastic in which stack? You mean the fresh water supply line from the fresh water tank?

LauraRey · June 2018

I assume that is what he meant.

3DogTAB · April 2023

Hello. I hate to revive the dead, but we are encountering a similar issue. When de-winterizing, we could not get the pump to prime. Found plastic remnants in the filter - looks like it could have been a ball at one time, but unraveling. The plastic is clear and clean, so unlikely to be foreign debris - more like something breaking down in the tank or lines themselves. We cleaned out the filter, but still the pump won’t prime, so we think there is possibly more debris stuck in the lines. With seven 90-degree bends in the lines, it’s challenging to clear.
We are wondering - does the fresh water tank come with a plastic ball inside, perhaps to float on the surface or fall into the drain if there is no water? And now it has dissolved?
In general our plumbing lines are in good shape, and everything works fine on city water.
Unfortunately we did not take a photo of the debris because upon finding it we thought “problem solved”.
Appreciate any wisdom you can share.

Sharon_is_SAM · April 2023

There is no ball valve in the fresh water tank or the tank outlet. There can be debris from when they first drilled the tank inlets and outlets. Surprised it would take this long for this to occur in your 2015. The water from the tank goes through the pump filter, so, I doubt your other water lines are effected. If you suspect your pump is not priming due to obstruction, have you forced air down the pipe that connects to the filter side of the pump? Is the filter hand tight (any air leaks can reduce prime)? I remember another owner who pushed fishing line down the uptake pipe to loosen an obstruction.

Just a thought, it may not be due to further obstruction. Have you filled up the tank? Did you disconnect the intake side of the pump and try to prime it using a bucket of water?

3DogTAB · April 2023

Hi Sharon.
We have not forced air down because we are hesitant to just push the debris back into the tank. But that does appear to be the next step.
We did disconnect the intake side of the pump and use a bucket of water to prime and it worked instantly. We also filled up the tank. We also heard back from NuCamp yesterday, and they think there may be debris in the tank. It sounds like quite an ordeal to get into the freshwater tank, so we will probably go the route of clearing the lines with air and hoping it doesn’t happen again if we keep water in the tank (assuming the debris floats). We are planning to do a lot of boondocking this year, so it’s a little unsettling to think this may recur at any time. I suppose if air clears it we can just carry compressed air for repeated clearing.
We are also surprised this is happening after all of these years, but perhaps it is because we didn’t get a chance to camp at all last year. We have almost 40K miles on this little camper - it’s such a champ!
Thanks so much for your thoughts. I will repost when we know whether forced air solves the issue.

Bayliss · April 2023

@3DogTAB, I do not know how the 2015 T@B Max S fresh water tank and lines are configured (as compared to my 2019 320 S Boondock Lite), so I don't know if the following info will help. However, the below discussion thread describes my experience with a similar issue.

https://tab-rv.vanillacommunity.com/discussion/6993/no-fresh-water-resolved/p2

I resolved it by detaching the blue PEX line from the fresh water tank outlet, which leads to the water pump inlet side via those several 90-degree turns you referenced. You access the fresh water tank by partially lowering the belly pan of the trailer (i.e., the black coroplast cover under the trailer.) That is fairly simple since it just involves removing several screws along the passenger edge of the underside of the trailer in the area of the fresh water tank which, on my trailer, is located under the trailer frame and generally to the left of the camper side entry door.

The first photo below depicts the connection at the outlet side of the fresh water tank. The second photo shows how I used a PEX clamp removal tool to cut off the clamp ring. The third photo shows the 90-degree elbow that I had to detach from the blue PEX pipe. Once I got the pipe off, it was easy to unscrew the 90-degree elbow from the tank. However, the blue PEX did not come off the plastic 90-degree elbow/fitting by simply pulling it away from the 90-degree elbow. To get it off, I used a small heat torch to very lightly warm the PEX, which softened it for very easy removal. Don't apply too much heat, or you will melt the PEX.

Once I completed that part of the process, I used a portable air compressor to blew air through the water line from the water pump inlet hose back to the blue PEX that was now disconnected from the fresh water tank. My wife was watching the end of the PEX while I blew out the line. Although she did not see anything blow out of the line, that apparently resolved the issue. I say that, because the pump worked fine and pulled water from the tank after I later reconnected the PEX to the fresh water tank. I have no idea why that resolved the issue, but it works, so I'm a happy camper. Also, while I had the 90-degree elbow removed from the tank, I flushed out the tank just in case there was any debris inside. Again, I did not see anything come out, but at least I confirmed there was no debris floating around inside.

The last photo shows the "iCrimp" PEX tool that I purchased from Amazon to remove the old clamp ring and also crimp on a new clamp ring to secure the PEX to the 90-degree elbow. The tool I purchased came with several extra replacement 1/2" and 3/4" clamp rings. You will use 1/2" for the T@B water line connections. Of course, be sure to screw the 90-degree elbow back into the tank (after applying pipe dope to the threads of the fitting) before reattaching the PEX line.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021717/uploads/editor/xm/pjb4ee01y54s.jpeg

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021717/uploads/editor/eh/62ka1fvuzf0w.jpeg

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021717/uploads/editor/bm/qdcexvnqqq4n.jpeg

Sharon_is_SAM · April 2023

Here is ScottGs 2015 fresh tank outlet photo. @3@3DogTAB - is the underside covered? If not, you should be able to see this.

3DogTAB · April 2023

Thank you, Bayliss and Sharon! Yes, our t@b underside looks just like the above. We have been considering removing the lines as Bayliss describes - really appreciate the tips on how best to approach this. We are also considering removing the corrugated line on the side of the tank as it is larger in case we have larger debris in the tank - flush it out through there.
We will let you know how it goes…may take a few days depending on tool availability.

Sharon_is_SAM · April 2023

The corrugated line is the fresh water fill.

Bayliss · April 2023

@3DogTAB, I don't think you need to remove the fresh water fill (corrugated line), at least not until you see how Plan "A" (what I described) works out. The debris, if any, is likely to be small plastic bits, or caulk.

BUT, before even doing Plan "A", did you completely remove the 12" white flexible water hose connected to the inlet side of the pump (see photo) and separately blow air through it to confirm there are no obstructions there? It is easy to reach down behind the toilet wall and unscrew the connector. Reconnect it and try priming the pump again. I did that and determined that the hose was clear, but I decided to replace it anyway at the same time I blew out the rest of the water line. (TIP: Assuming you have a toilet in your trailer, I have found that it often helps to try priming the pump by activating the toilet lever rather than, or in addition to, the kitchen faucet. The toilet water inlet is closer in distance to the fresh water tank, so maybe that is why it helps with priming.)

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021717/uploads/editor/cp/yb91nzu7jzyu.jpeg

3DogTAB · April 2023

We did try to prime by activating the toilet lever - no luck. But I do not believe we have isolated this section of hose (some chance my husband did when I wasn’t around). We will give that a try. Thanks!

3DogTAB · April 2023

No luck - clean as a whistle. But thanks again for drawing our attention to it.

Sharon_is_SAM · April 2023

@3DogTAB - Just curious, any issue with draining the tank?

3DogTAB · April 2023

None.

3DogTAB · May 2023

Success… finally. Thanks to all for your guidance. We did as Bayliss recommended and disassembled the pex. However, we started on the end near the pump because we wanted to ream out the plumbing with weed-eater twine section by section (in addition to blowing out with air/water). The twine is flexible enough to pass through one elbow joint at a time. No debris was pushed out of the first section, and we reconnected the pex with the crimp tool pictured above. Before moving on to the next section of pex, we tested the system and it worked! A bit of air passed through the lines and the pump primed in about 20 seconds.
So our experience is similar to Bayliss - no sign of debris, but the issue appears resolved, at least for now.
This exercise certainly taught us a lot about the plumbing system that we have, until now, been able to enjoy without thinking too much. Thanks again!

Bayliss · May 2023

Wow, great news, @3DogTAB. Congratulations!

Out of curiosity, did you replace the 12" white flexible water hose as well? I've been wondering how much that had an impact on getting mine to work. There must be a mystery ghost air bubble lurking somewhere in the water line and you popped it. All is well that ends well.

3DogTAB · May 2023

We removed the white flexible hose and reinstalled after inspection. It was clean and in good shape. Maybe you are on to something…maybe a trapped air bubble. I certainly hope so. Hate to think debris is still lurking. Can’t wait to go camping!

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