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Old 04-14-2014, 11:24 AM   #1
Old Bear
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Rookie questions about Cougar 278 RKS

Is there not a real owner's manual for campers? I was expecting a binder or book telling me what to do, and how to do it. Like a car owner's manual. The individual component manuals are not very useful. Anyway ...

I drained and flushed the antifreeze out of the lines using a water line connected. In the little cubby hole where the lines come in, there is a two-position valve. I'm guessing that the way I have it turned now is for a city-water hookup, and the other position would be for running the internal water pump. The question is concerns a much smaller diameter hose that is also connected to the valve and is about a foot and a half long, but open on the end. Doesn't seem right to have a hose hooked up to a water system that is not plugged or going to something!

Do you typically leave the water tank full, even if you expect to have city water?

Last question, promise! I see a valve above one of the propane tanks with some kind of red/green gauge on top. The lever will pivot smoothly all the way from lining up with the left hose to lining up with the right hose. I have no idea how this is supposed to work, and it doesn't strike me a smart to experiment with propane!
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Old 04-14-2014, 11:32 AM   #2
Ken / Claudia
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I got a keystone manual with mine along with all the system manuals. The keystone is real general covering most if not all of the trailers and refers back to dexter, dometic etc. manuals. The best help I believe would be with the dealer at the saleman or service guy level. Phoneing the factory and speaking with a upper management guy who never has been in a trailer will not help. Also many questions might be answered on here. Good luck
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Old 04-14-2014, 11:38 AM   #3
Hercules1978
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The cubby-hole valve you are referring to may be the winterizing valve for your water heater.

The foot long hose with no end is most likely for drawing anti-freeze directly from the bottle.

The valve by the propane tanks is your tank crossover. If both tanks are full, it should show green on both sides. When one tank runs empty, it will show red for one side. Then when you change over to the full tank, it should display green again

Pictures, if possible, are greatly helpful.
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Old 04-14-2014, 11:44 AM   #4
Bob Landry
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The Keystone owners manual is worse than general. It's a one size fits all manual geared more towards CYA for Keystone than giving information on the trailer's subsystems.
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Old 04-14-2014, 11:45 AM   #5
440justin
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The valve by your propane tank is the selector valve to select what tank you are drawing from. This is a auto change over valve so the little window will go red when the tank you have selected goes empty. Of you have both tanks open you will start to draw from the second tank, but you will only get about 80% from the second tank unless you move the tank selector.

Pictures of the water connection will help people better understand your question.

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Old 04-14-2014, 12:03 PM   #6
Festus2
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We have identical units and I'm not sure which "little cubby hole" where the lines come in you are talking about. In our unit, the city water line and the potable water line both enter at the same place and you can find these lines by removing a panel that has the propane detector attached to the front of it. Yes, there is a compartment or cubby hole here.

The pump is also located in this same compartment. The hose that "goes nowhere" is probably a RV winterization hose which connects to a container of RV antifreeze. The two way valve you referred to probably shuts off this hose when not in use for winterizing.
The previous owner may have installed it as this year/model of Cougar does not have this bypass hose as OEM.

If this is the bypass valve that I just referred to it is not intended to open or close either the city water or FW tank connections. You should be able to draw water from either source. If you connect to city water, you don't need the pump or the FW tank and water will flow from the water outlet into and through your RV water lines. If you are not connected to city water and are using water from your FW tank, turn the pump switch to ON (it's on the wall near the tank sensor display) and you will get water from your FW tank.

The propane system utilizes an auto-switch over - the one with the red/green indicator and the two position valve. The posts above describe what it does. For a more detailed description of this two-stage changeover regulator, I'd suggest going to the Marshall website and download the small manual called "What You Should Know About Your LP Gas System and its Proper Care".

I hope this helps ....if not, send me a PM and we can exchange more info there.

PS - I don't like hauling around the 5th with a full tank of fresh water - especially if I am not going to be using it. If I am, I usually try to find a place that is either at or near my destination and fill up there.
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Old 04-14-2014, 03:54 PM   #7
hankaye
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Old Bear, Howdy;

2X what Festus2 said ... I too have the same model.
Boy am I glad he got to this before me. You would be
too if you'd tried to understand any explanation from me...
Good luck with your 3er...

hankaye
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