Filling fresh water tank

[AnnaK]

We are surely doing something wrong and need some assistance.

We took the Passport on its maiden voyage to a nearby KOA to test its systems. Everything worked okay, so far.

We had a little bit of an issue with the furnace which, when we turned it on, also turned on the a/c fan. The only way we could stop that overhead fan from blowing cold air into the unit was to disconnect its breaker. Changing the settings at the thermostat did not work. Likely there's something else we're not doing right but we could not find a manual for the a/c or the thermostat.

Back to the fresh water fill which we wanted to do while still at home. For one, we needed to flush the antifreeze out of the tank. For another, we like to travel with a few gallons of water in the tank because you never know where you wind up.

We put the hose in the opening, water ran in for a few seconds, then it started to sputter out the air vent. Pulled the hose, heard a few glugs, and then the trailer spit all the water back out through the fill hole. We did this twice and it gagged both times. Like there's a blockage somewhere. We opened the tank drain to totally empty the tank and with it open, we were able to get enough water in to flush the antifreeze out, but we cannot get more than a couple of gallons in without it coming back out at the fill hole.

What are we doing wrong here?

[Festus2]

Right beside the FW tank fill hole there should be a mesh-covered screen which is covering the FW tank vent. When you put water into the tank, you should hear air coming out of this vent hole. If you don't and water is "coming back out at you", then it is possible that the vent is blocked.

Try putting a small amount of water in, stop and wait for a bit, and then put more in. If the water goes in and doesn't gurgle or spit back, then I would think that the vent is blocked but by doing this, you are allowing the pressure to equalize.

Also, If you can trace the filler hose, check for a kink somewhere. It is possible that the hose is too long and has drooped down forming an obstruction. I would check this out first before looking for a blocked vent.

You said that you tried different settings on the furnace thermostat ----- is it set on Auto? If it isn't, it should be. Could also have a faulty thermostat???

[Dhuhn]

On the AC I had same problem looked in manual it says you have to have thermostat set to auto, I did that and it stopped the fan in AC when furnace came on.

[WYO 85]

When I bought my new Passport in 2010 2850 model it would take at least 1 hour to fill the fresh water. The vent tube had a low spot(10 inches low) so it would fill up with fresh water and stay in the line week after week and it would not let any air to vent out. Zip tied the vent line up with a high spot in it and now it takes about 5 minutes to fill.

[therink]

I would take an air hose and try blowing the tank vent line out. Even water hanging in a dip in the vent line can cause venting problems not allowing the tank to breath while filling it. If the vent line has a dip or kink it may need to be repositioed or shortened a bit. I have had this problem and was able to fix it myself easily.
Steve

[AnnaK]

Thank you very much for your replies! Now we have something to look for and possibly fix.

As to the thermostat setting, I don't know whether it was on Auto. I'll pass the info to Rich for him to check out.

Thanks again.

[AnnaK]

We got the water tank situation fixed. It was a too-long vent hose which curved and created a trap, just as you had suggested. Looks like they cut the vent tubing long enough so they can attach it to the outlet before the entire fitting is mounted on the trailer and that then creates a bend in the tubing. Dumb.

Thank you very much for pointing us in the right directions.

[justlkn]

When I bought my new Passport in 2010 2850 model it would take at least 1 hour to fill the fresh water. The vent tube had a low spot(10 inches low) so it would fill up with fresh water and stay in the line week after week and it would not let any air to vent out. Zip tied the vent line up with a high spot in it and now it takes about 5 minutes to fill.

You just have to love this forum! I was having the same issue and it was almost impossible to fill the fresh water tank. I took the inside wall down and sure enough the vent tube was wrapped around everything it could be wrapped around and running on the botton of the coraplast. I unwrapped it and zip tied it up level and filled the tank. Guess what? Took only about 5 minutes! Great fix!(tx)

[BulletOwner1]

With regards to your thermostat, I had a salesman/manager show me how to reset the system if both AC and furnace fans came on together.

Cycle thermostat to off (no display), press and hold the + button first and without releasing it press the on/off button and hold. After a few seconds the display will indicate --. Release both buttons and then press the on/off button to turn off the system. In the thermostat manual this is called the 'System Initialization' which should have been performed by the installer.

Hope this helps.

[AnnaK]

Thank you, BulletOwner1. Good info to have.

[08quadram]

I had the same problem with my 2920bh. 10 minute fix. shorten the hose.