Water Pump location on Carbon 31

[gary31]

Well after many inquiries and lack of response from the factory I decided that I needed to take action and get to my water pump. I knew that it was located under the stove and behind the heat vent panel located in pic1. The problem was that the panel was stapled from behind and was not readily accessible. To access a major piece of hardware that needed to be winterized why would they make a permanent panel and not give access? Obviously if this is the standard for the Design it is FLAWWED, however if it was a factory worker just slapping staples in the panel to hold it in so they could install the vent then I can understand how this happened. Regardless it is WRONG. After pushing the staples out I was able to gain access to my Pump and can now do what I needed to do from the beginning. Pic2 shows the panel removed and full access to my pump. So If you are like me looking for your access panel here it is just be careful pushing the panel along the edges until the staples push out.

[jsmith948]

Hard to imagine that is the access panel. It looks as though the pump is between the panel you removed and the water convenience center. Maybe that panel is more easily removed?

[gary31]

Good observation, and I too went down that road first. The water fill panel is only about 4-5" square and too small to ever really access anything. You would never be able to replace anything with one hand. Secondly this panel is caulked with a silicone to the coach so removal would have been a messy. It really makes no sense why this was done like this but you can be assured when I am done adding a Winterize kit it will be much easier to deal with in the future..

[gary31]

I even asked the tech when we did the pre inspection at the time of purchase and he was stumped. This pump had no user friendly access, just sloppy design. But not for long I will resolve the issue on my own with a few brackets it will be accessible in the future.

[JRTJH]

Originally Posted by jsmith948

Hard to imagine that is the access panel. It looks as though the pump is between the panel you removed and the water convenience center. Maybe that panel is more easily removed?

From the photos the OP posted, It appears there is either a drawer (which could be removed) or a cabinet door (which when opened would allow access-possibly by removing a panel). It's tough to believe that there is no "factory provided access" to the water pump.

Also, looking at the floorplan, if the water pump is under the range, then not only is there access from under the sink (to the right) but the refrigerator is on the left with the furnace under it. That entire "grated panel" is removeable, which would give access to the water pump. Possibly I'm looking at the wrong location? but I think there's access, just not "straightforward" to find it.........

[gary31]

Trust me when I say there is no access. The grated panel under the Fridge is removable and excellent access to water heater and furnace, right side solid wall to pump location under stove. Right side of stove and under sink where you would think there should be access panel, NO access solid. the front panel is the most logical however awkward with the heater vent attached. Just a removable panel would have been nice.

[jsmith948]

The fw tank is in the rear of our Cougar (I've always assumed for weight distribution) so our pump is in the bottom of one of thr rear cabinets. Cabinet has a full length door but there is a removable panel behind the door (2 screws). I agree with the OP's idea of constructing an access panel thet will be more easily removed.

Hard to understand the "engineering" sometimes

[ClydeMcChylo]

I took the stove out to winterize mine. It took 20 min just to find the thing. I bought a bypass valve and want to valve it in, but I don't know where to buy 6' of pex tubing and 2 fittings.

[jsmith948]

The Lowes store in our area carries all manner of pex fittings and 1/2" pex line can be purchased in 10' lengths.

[ClydeMcChylo]

The hard pex is a dime a dozen in my area as well. The OEM stuff is flexible like garden hose. Plus, I can't find the OEM pex barb 90 x female garden hose.

[dcg9381]

What are you guys using for PEX tools? The crimp tools used to cost a small fortune. Have they come down?

[jsmith948]

Shark Bite slip on fittings. Only tools you need are a pic cutter and a tape measure.

[jsmith948]

pvc not pic

[gary31]

Here is the modifications I did to the access panel for the water pump. While doing this I also added the winterizing kit. Now it is a simple open the door and insert the tubing to the valve and pump antifreeze. Pic #1 is the original design from Keystone with NO access.

[busterbrown]

Originally Posted by gary31

Here is the modifications I did to the access panel for the water pump. While doing this I also added the winterizing kit. Now it is a simple open the door and insert the tubing to the valve and pump antifreeze. Pic #1 is the original design from Keystone with NO access.

Very nice mod. I plan on doing the same thing this spring with my Bullet. I'm going to add some sound deadening material too as the pump is located next to the master bed.

[gary31]

I think I will add that to my project list as well. I need to see why the pump is so loud when running. Now that I can access it I will run it and see what's making the noise, my guess is the floor as its screwed to the floor. Maybe a little padding will soften the noise.

[PARAPTOR]

Yeah pump scewed to floor is source of noise. We have had threads over the past years on pump noise as well as mods. Try a search on the forum for say pump, pump noise, ....

[canesfan]

Originally Posted by gary31

I think I will add that to my project list as well. I need to see why the pump is so loud when running. Now that I can access it I will run it and see what's making the noise, my guess is the floor as its screwed to the floor. Maybe a little padding will soften the noise.

I've tried all sorts of suggestions to quite the pump. It's still noisy, just not as much. I have rubber "bushings" under it, I have "decoupled" it from the pex with flex lines, I have added foam hose insulation where these flex lines touch anything before connecting to the pex, etc. After doing this over and over I have come to the conclusion it's easier just to spend a few extra $ and buy a quieter pump.

[JRTJH]

The pump is mounted to the floor with 4 "rubber bumpers" that are supposed to isolate the vibration. If the screws are too tight it will compress the bumpers and transmit the vibration, essentially making the floor a "drum"...

Other than that, the most common cause of noise is the "essentially rigid" PEX tubing vibrating against either a cabinet, a wall or appliance on the run to the first faucet.

I built a rubber "isolation pad" to mount the pump to and then mounted the pad to the floor. I also used the black foam pipe insulation to cover all the pipes from the pump to the first faucet. Where the PEX goes through a wall or a cabinet side, I used the "floatie foam noodles" to further secure the PEX in the center of the hole.

While this won't make the pump "silent" it will significantly reduce the noise from the pump. Honestly, you DO want to be able to hear the pump, otherwise, if something should start leaking, you could easily empty your entire fresh water tank, flooding your trailer without even knowing there was a problem until the pump overheated and started smoking. Some "non-intrusive" noise is, I think, a "good thing"......

ADDED: Here is a drawing of the water pump mount that I made. It's screwed to the trailer floor through the holes in the top plywood (and only secured by the bottom plywood), then the pump is mounted to the top plywood. That allows the top wood and pump to "float" on the foam rubber, isolating much of the vibration to the top plywood, eliminating the transfer of vibration to the trailer floor.