Bleeding air from water supply to sinks

[dcgrout]

Hi everyone -

I am an RV newbie with no previous experience. My new 21c was delivered with a cracked water pump head So I bought a new one and replaced it as I want to head out own a trip this weekend.

Put the new pump in, pretty easy. However, when I follow the instructions in the manual for getting the onboard fresh water system to work, I am not able to get the air bled out of the lines, even after hours of trying and going through about 75 gallons of water. I have stopped and restarted the system each time I have had to re-fill the water tank. The water heater is also full. I see no leaks anywhere. The pump seems to be running normally. No bubbles in the clear line going into the pump from the tank.

Am I missing something obvious? Not so obvious? I think there must be some air bleeding into the system, but I can't figure out where. Any thoughts, ideas and suggestions will be most welcome.

[johnnyv]

Hmm, my pump lost prime when I winterized and then dewinterized. Took globe cap off, primed 3 or 4 times and she took off.

[huskersteffy]

Sure seems like an odd situation if you say you've gone through 75 gallons of water (?).

Do you have the winterizing "T" valve and hose by your pump? If so, you can use that to prime the pump (i.e., get water to it). After that, just open the kitchen faucet and the pump should kick on and eventually pump water. Mine does spit air for a while but then it quits and I just get water and no air spitting.

[Ron in BC]

I'm not clear on what's happening. If you've gone through 75 gal. of water the pump must be working. I admire your determination.

So is water coming out of all faucets including the toilet.? Is the problem that the pump just keeps running after all taps are closed?

Ron

[Gingerdog]

The hose from the tank to the pump may have a hole or loose connection.

[dcgrout]

To confirm, pump works fine, I think. I hear it running, see water going into it with no air bubbles, and see water coming out of the kitchen and bath sinks, and the toilet will flush. However, the water coming out of both sinks sputters and spits with the occasional one to two second full stream. Escape has had me change the pump (the first had a cracked pump head), and now is recommending I change the bubble/filter at the input to the pump, so I have ordered that. It should arrive this week. In the mean time, I am going to try to follow the line as much as I can to see if there is an air leak that is sucking air into the line, but I can see the water through the clear line going through the T-valve and into the pump. Don't see any bubbles in it when the pump is running and the water is spitting out the faucets. Hopefully it is a defective filter housing and the issue resolves when I swap it out. Thanks everyone for your input.

[TTMartin]

Originally Posted by dcgrout

Hi everyone -

I am an RV newbie with no previous experience. My new 21c was delivered with a cracked water pump head So I bought a new one and replaced it as I want to head out own a trip this weekend.

Put the new pump in, pretty easy. However, when I follow the instructions in the manual for getting the onboard fresh water system to work, I am not able to get the air bled out of the lines, even after hours of trying and going through about 75 gallons of water. I have stopped and restarted the system each time I have had to re-fill the water tank. The water heater is also full. I see no leaks anywhere. The pump seems to be running normally. No bubbles in the clear line going into the pump from the tank.

Am I missing something obvious? Not so obvious? I think there must be some air bleeding into the system, but I can't figure out where. Any thoughts, ideas and suggestions will be most welcome.

The water pump only draws water from your fresh water tank.

If you are using the 'city water' hook up the pump is bypassed.

If you didn't fill your fresh water tank and you have city water hooked up, it is possible that the water pump is pumping air that is mixing in your line and coming out the faucet.

The other possibility is you have a leak on the vacuum side of the water pump and you are sucking in air there and it is mixing with the water from your fresh water tank and coming out as air at your faucet.

[Viajante]

Dcgrout, this problem came up in the past year in a different post. In that case the cause was narrowed to either the winterizing valve was leaking air into the pump, or the filter housing was defective. The answer was the filter housing in that case. So you are right to swap out that part.

[John in Santa Cruz]

I start with my kitchen sink, and run the cold water until it stops spitting, then run the hot til it stops spitting, then I repeat this with the bathroom (usually much less time to blow clear).

then I turn on the hot water heater, and after its hot, bleed the kitchen sink hot one more time, there's probably some spit from the air that boiled out of the water.