City Water Connection

[Jeff T]

We have a 2017 16 Scamp. I was working to dewinterize by adding fresh water into the onboard tank and when I turned on the 12 volt demand pump I had water being forced out the city water connection. I worked with it for about an hour by cutting the pump, moving the inside spring around, and re-pressurizing the system. I finally got the city water connection down to a slow drip but never completely sealed.

Wondering what I did wrong ............ when I winterized last fall I used the fresh water tank and onboard pump to circulate the RV antifreeze. The last step was pushing "in" the city water connection to relieve pressure on the lines. It then went the winter.

On the plus side I have found no internal leaks so at least my efforts to winterize were successful.

Has anyone else had a problem with the city water connection? Perhaps the rubber dried out inside?? Hate to think I need to drill rivets and replace the city water connection just outside of warranty.

[gordon2]

Sounds like you did the right things to try and get the check valve working. Also hook up to shore water and run some water for a while.. maybe that will dislodge some debris that is not allowing the check valve to close.

As for replacing it.. might be needed.

This is what I did in a similar situation:

http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...lve-84521.html

I'll never have to worry about the check valve in the city water connection leaking ever again.

[Jeff T]

I wanted to update my posting....

I learned the following after doing some further reading. In the winterization process the last step most often involves pushing inward on the city water connection. This should display pink RV antifreeze and at the same time relieve the water pressure. I found several posts that WARNED that pushing inward on the city water check valve to relieve pressure can blow off the "O" ring that creates the seal. Thus the city water connection will leak. (Which I didn't find until this past spring attempting to sanitize the fresh water system.

The solution?
- Remove the city water inlet and attempt to gain access to the "O" ring. Some reported success and others just replaced the darn thing rather than mess around.

- Plug the outside with a threaded cap if you use onboard water. Otherwise with city water hooked up it doesn't matter anyway.

- My method. Having found a post where someone took detailed photos to fix the city water "O" ring I understood what was hidden inside that check valve and where the "O" ring should seat onto the plastic spring loaded shaft.

From the outside of the trailer:
(a) removed the washer screen
(b) using a plastic zip tie, inserted the flat end past the spring and worked it around the entire circumference of the opening. The plan was to push and reseat the "O" ring which should go into a groove. (This was all done blind as I didn't want to drill rivets and pull this thing apart.)
(c) after each attempt I would fit the screen/washer back into place, hook up fresh water having an on/off valve at the end of the hose. Having hooked up the hose shoot a burst of water and charge the lines. The real test was unscrewing the hose and see if I got a face full of water. (This happened more than once and thought about going for the swim suit.)

Final result; After many attempts it finally holds water pressure. I have the lines in the trailer charged with city water, have removed the hose, and will check in the morning to see if it held overnight. I don't see anything dripping outside so at this time I declared success.

Did I get lucky? Probably but we always use a city water connection so it really wasn't a hardship but it really bugged me that it leaked at all outside. So the lesson is NEVER push that plastic insert while under pressure. I think it would be OK if I held it open while the wife turned on the demand pump to see the pink RV antifreeze in the future. I will turn the faucet on at the sink if I want the relieve the water pressure.