First time water tank fill?

[Dill]

Hello everyone!

This is my first post on this forum. I have been a silent observer for a few weeks. Now I am ready to fill my fresh water tank but I don't know how. I spent this evening looking like a fool I am sure. Here is my story.

Bought water hose. Unlocked a door that showed a non threaded pipe. I put the hose in there and my Water tank level rose while looking at my panel. Turned on water pump and antifreeze came out of lines. I figured this is normal, maybe was winterized. The odd part was my shower would not drain at all. After I removed the water pipe from the RV the shower drained immediately. This had me thinking maybe I was putting water in the wrong spot.

Next I hooked the hose to the threaded pipe that was not behind any kind of lock. I thought maybe it was the city hook up. Immediately I had nice water and strong pressure... Maybe too strong. I decided to keep going and looked under  my sink at my water heater and turned the only valve I saw that was closed. I heard the rush of water flowing into my hot water tank. At this point I am getting excited. Then suddenly from the hot water drain plug outside of the RV I see water shooting everywhere. I think it may have been a pressure relief valve or something. I am not sure why It happened but it did not stop until I removed the hose and turned off the water.

I may have left the water pump on during all of this. Anyway I then put the hose back into the original pipe and filled until I saw 1/4 on my water tank panel. I then turned on a faucet and no water came out. My pump was no longer running. At this point I decided to stop messing with it and consult you fine people to make sure I am doing everything perfectly. The only known damage I caused was previously the threaded hookup had a spring loaded something inside of it and I could push it in and some water would run out. Now it seems like it may be stuck down due to possibly the pressure I used.

Thanks for helping me everyone and I look forward to sharing much more with you all. I know there will be more issues for me and I will make new posts as I go along!

[HandyDan]

Oh my, does this bring back memories!  Actually, I think you did everything sort of right.  You have two options in the way of water.  Both of which you utilized.  You can fill up the holding tank through the non-threaded pipe behind the door.  Or, you can bypass the holding tank by using the city water intake (the threaded connector).  More than likely the water heater valve was left open for winterization and only needs to be closed.  The spring in the city water connector is a check valve to keep water from spewing out when the water pump is pressurizing the system each time you turn a faucet on.  You probably blew the "o" ring out when you pressed in on it.  Depending on what type of connector it is, you can take it apart and replace the ring or you might have to install a new connector.  They aren't hard to install.  Because the check valve is now not working, the water pump can not pressurize the pipes and you have no water at the faucet.  You can still hook up a hose to the city water connector and run the faucets normally IF all the pipe drains are closed.  Sometimes they are left open for winterization.  As to the shower not draining, that one has me stumped.  Does your water pump have a switch to turn it on and off?  You might even have more than one switch.  I have seen an extra switch in the bathroom, on the tank monitor board, and in the kitchen.  However, mine only has one on the monitor board.  Good luck.  I can't even think about dewinterizing my MH for at least three more months.

[Rickf1985]

I see you are in Pa.? I hope you are draining and winterizing everything right away again!!! It is 14 degrees here in NJ.

[Dill]

Haha, yeah. I'm really just trying to figure out exactly what to do for when the flowers start blooming.

I think that the drain plug was partially unscrewed which allowed water to flow, I see it is also a suggestion you said handydan. I closed it up and now just have to wait until I can drive it back out to a hose.

The odd shower issue remains... Did I block a vent?

[Oz]

Please start new topic for the shower vent as it's unrelated to the water fill question.

[sasktrini]

Wonder how this went... I have a thought that is unique to shower fixtures.

Some shower heads have a stop-flow feature that may be on.  Then either the faucet is shower only or bathtub-style with a diverter which could be in the divert position.

If the above is true, then technically your hot and cold water circuits could be connected through the fixture, and flow through each other.

Yes, you will have to learn location and operation of:
1) fresh water drain valves
2) city water and fresh water tank selection valves

Seems like most everything works, just not in the right combinations.  Hope it has all worked out.