Alpine water compartment

[heli190]

I have a 2012 Alpine 3600. I discovered the 4th night on the road, being hooked up to park water, that my fresh water holding tank had filled up and overflowed into the storage area. I called my dealer and he told me I had the selector valve in the wrong position.The only problem with that answer is there is no selector valve. Anyone have the same problem and if so what was the solution

[BulletOwner1]

First let me explain that I have no idea how your particular TT is set up so what I'm throwing out here may not apply but here goes:

1. Your 12V water pump has a check valve built in. If that is malfunctioning city water may be pushing back through the pump into your water tank. Possible correction may be to use the 12V pump a little to get water flowing in the correct direction thru the pump to 'reset' the check valve.

2. The selector valve your dealer is talking about may be located at or near the water pump as opposed to being on a panel accessed on the outside the trailer.

Good luck, water issues with an RV are never good.

[JRTJH]

heli190,

There is, indeed, a spring loaded check valve in the water pump. That valve is designed to prevent backflow through the pump and into the fresh water tank. However, it is not foolproof and being a spring loaded valve, too much "city water pressure" can force the valve open and cause the water tank to fill or even to overfill. So long as the inflow is less than the fresh water tank overflow vent, no significant damage will be done, but if, by some chance, the overflow vent should plug or not be able to dump as much as is coming into the tank, you could possibly split your FW tank or even flood your RV.

We have had more than one member experience much the same issue as you have related, and many of them have found that by using a water pressure regulator on the city water supply, the check valve won't be forced open and their problem goes away.

If you're not using a regulator, you may want to obtain one, use it on the campground faucet to protect both your hose and your RV from excessive water pressure.

[heli190]

Thanks for the info. I suspected it might be going back through the pump:)

[mhs4771]

We had the same problem occur with our RW and as a work-a-round I closed the in-line valve between the water pump and the fresh water tank (valve is used during the winterization process to draw pink kool-aid from a jug vs out of the fresh water tank. Might look if you have a valve between the pump and tank that you could close, just a thought and something to check.

[heli190]

I solved my problem by replacing and replumbing the water pump.:)

[BulletOwner1]

Good job. Thanks for getting back and letting us know. So many times OP's never get back and those of us, my self anyway, are left hanging wanting to know if any of our suggestions we put out helped. "bouncey: (tx)

[PerryB]

Heli, glad you fixed your problem. I had a Holiday Rambler a few years ago that would slowly gain water in the fresh tank over the course of several days. I always suspected the water pump because when on tank water the pump would cycle on briefly every 30-40 minutes- indicating a loss of pressure-but there were no external leaks. It does surprise me that your trailer doesn't have a power fill valve. I have a 2010 Montana Mountaineer that has this feature and thought it was pretty common. Oh well, no big loss. I rarely use mine anyway.