Water Fill Port Issue

[ski3pin]

"Should that hose be disconnected?" eagle eyed Julie asked. We were doing a final clean up of our camper prior to delivery to the new owners. When I built all three of our camper interiors, what we call the deep "coffee drawer" sits just above the water tank. Remove the drawer (top hanger install) and I have a large access to the fuse block, water and propane lines, and the top of the water tank. Lucky, lucky, lucky.

This is the standard water fill on the exterior of the camper.

It has the water fill with a large tube inside to the tank, and a vent (or overflow) to the top of the tank. When we fill our tank with a hose, we know it is filled when water exits the vent.

Here's what Julie noticed.

Imagine the mess and issues filling and having all the overflow (unnoticed) flooding the interior of the camper cabinet. I found no evidence that this happened. The break must have happened after our last fill. The tank was drained and has been empty since last fall. Lucky, lucky, lucky. Marty and the guys at ATC were very surprised to see this break. It is very uncommon. The fill port was replaced and the new owners drove away with a new water fill on the camper.

 

[pvstoy]

Kudos to Julie for noticing! A hidden frustration prevented.
Congratulations on the sale.

 

[rjap]

Good catch. Was it pre-stressed or subject to a lot of vibration from the tube? Probably some components in our campers have a finite life/mileage and should be replaced automatically at some intervals or given a good going over every year or couple of years.

 

[goinoregon]

good catch. with your usage, most everything in the camper is at risk of coming loose, or breaking. i barely stress my van/camper ! compared to you guys.

 

[Jon R]

If you are going to be shaking the camper a lot, maybe it’s best not to fill the tank and fill/vent lines to the fill port spill level. If the lines are empty in top two feet, they weigh a lot less and put less force on the fill port connections when the camper shakes and vibrates.

 

[DesertDog]

If you are going to be shaking the camper a lot, maybe it’s best not to fill the tank and fill/vent lines to the fill port spill level. If the lines are empty in top two feet, they weigh a lot less and put less force on the fill port connections when the camper shakes and vibrates.

Good suggestion. What do you think. Fill it until vent line burbs, then drain a gallon out at the rear drain spigot?

 

[Jon R]

Good suggestion. What do you think. Fill it until vent line burbs, then drain a gallon out at the rear drain spigot?

A gallon is much more than needed to empty the top few feet of the fill and vent lines. The vent is maybe 1/2 inch diameter, and the fill on my Grandby looks like 1 inch. Assuming that’s correct and getting out my calculator, I calculate that 57 inches of those two lines would hold a quart. So taking out a pint or so wouid empty over two feet.

 

[DesertDog]

A gallon is much more than needed to empty the top few feet of the fill and vent lines. The vent is maybe 1/2 inch diameter, and the fill on my Grandby looks like 1 inch. Assuming that’s correct and getting out my calculator, I calculate that 57 inches of those two lines would hold a quart. So taking out a pint or so wouid empty over two feet.

Thanks! Great suggestion. Glad someone still has a calculator. (I put mine away when I retired earlier this year)

JB

 

[craig333]

Mine has the screw in hose connection in addition. Wonder when that changed?

 

[Vic Harder]

I broke one of those during an install. I can easily imagine it breaking if there is any sideways movement or load.

 

[Jon R]

Thanks! Great suggestion. Glad someone still has a calculator. (I put mine away when I retired earlier this year)

JB

I get out my old HP 15c engineering calculator from college in the 1980s at tax time because it still works great and is natural for me to use. The rest of the time for occasional use, I use a really cool free app on my phone that emulates that exact calculator. That same app creator has many other calculator model emulators. Here’s a screen shot of my calculator’s emulator app.

 

[pvstoy]

We use ours also....

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

Dang, I feel left behind with my old Pickett 1010 Power Trig.

 

[PaulT]

Steve,
So you’re the one that absconded with Wilson after his successful Soul career. I especially liked hearing Mustang Sally, In the Midnight Hour”
I was always a K & E guy myself but didn’t keep the box. It’s good to keep a salmon powered calculator handy.

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

Paul, you’ve got the wrong Pickett. These were made by George Pickett’s descendants. After his disappointing performance at Gettysburg, they started a buggy whip business that morphed into analog scientific instruments and other devices.

 

[Jon R]

Those of us who read Dune and saw The Terminator are keeping our slide rules just in case. The first consumer handheld calculator came out when I was in junior high, but I have my dad’s slide rule and he taught me how to use it.

 

[ski3pin]

In regards to water in the vent tube after filling, This one was short enough that it empties going around this first corner. I believe short tube with bend - continuious slight stress - failed after 12 years of hard backcountry use.

 

[Wyo4Life]

In regards to water in the vent tube after filling, This one was short enough that it empties going around this first corner. I believe short tube with bend - continuious slight stress - failed after 12 years of hard backcountry use.

I would bet that fitting got brittle after those 12 years and just a pressure from the hose caused it to crack.

It almost looks like something hit it as if something was stored in there and moved around on a rough road and hit it. But, that obviously did not happen as you would have said as much.

Glad you noticed it and were able to fix it before delivery to a new owner. That would not have been good for a new owner to start filling their tank and have a flood before they even left the driveway!

 

[DesertDog]

Those of us who read Dune and saw The Terminator are keeping our slide rules just in case. The first consumer handheld calculator came out when I was in junior high, but I have my dad’s slide rule and he taught me how to use it.

You know you are a Geezer if you remember walking to classes with a slide rule hanging from your belt.

 

[Vic Harder]

OK, I'm a geezer too then. Sigh...