[encantotom]

when we got settled in the rv park in tahoe with clarke and elaine this afternoon, i hooked everything up and needed to fill the water tank so decided to use the autofill. i normally dont use it but thought i would see if it worked. i hooked up city water, turned it on, turned the autofill on and watched it fill up and then the solenoid clicked as it filled up to the sensor but it kept filling up. the solenoid was stuck open. i drained enough water from the tank to allow the solenoid sensor to be off and the solenoid clicked as the switch energized it, but it was still stuck open. now the water pump didnt work when on tank setting because it was sucking air from the top of the tank because the valve was stuck open. so....i thought, hey i dont use it anyway, and i had plumbed it all in with sharkbite fittings when i redid all that a few years ago. so off to the hardware store that was 2 minutes away and bought two 3/4" sharkbite caps and the sharkbite removal tool. i would just take that section out, cap both the tank and the other end and not have the autofil for now.

now for the funny part. it is a bit of a reach to back where that line comes off the top right side of the water tank. without thinking i used the tool and removed the sharkbite fitting....now water was gushing out of the top of the tank as the water level was above the line. so i plugged it with my finger. but...i had not removed the plugs from some pretty strong packaging. at this point i was laughing pretty hard. i had my finger in the line, trying to open the package that had the plug in with my teeth. and when i got it open, i still had to take my finger out of the pipe to grab the plug. anyway...a gallon or so of water later i had it capped. meanwhile i was laughing the whole time and darlene thought i was nuts.

i took the entire solenoid valve out and capped both ends, and walla, i have water again....

tom

[lbrachfe]

but no longer "automatically" !! good story and visual for me ..

[bikestuff]

Tom,

I think you are on to something here. Several of us have noticed that our water pumps act wonky especially after filling the tank. I have always thought that air was getting into the feed line in bottom of tank, but what you may have figured out is that if the valve sticks open, it will allow air in the line. That in turn could cause the water pump to cycle.

So you have completely removed your autofill?

Could this be a thing?

bill

[encantotom]

I removed it completely

Tom

[bikestuff]

Tom,

So how do you fill the tank now? From the top port? Or do you have a manual way of filling from the city water port? I would like to be able to fill my tank manually, yet go through the sediment filter.


I really like the idea of taking the auto water fill out of the equation.

bill

[lbrachfe]

you can fill your tank from the passenger side aqua hot bay where there is a capped fill inlet and the same inlet on the side of the tank in the water bay, as well as the city water hook up using the shore water pressure. I fixed my autofill easily by taking it apart and cleaning the membrane with a q-tip and alcohol and then reinstalled it face down (Red Hat towards floor) 4 years ago and have never had a problem since. Most don't remember to keep the pump turned off if you are in auto fill mode as they don't work together. I fill my tank with pump off switch to city and auto fill on and in that order. After tank is full I switch to tank, auto- fill off, and pump back on. It is NOT designed to be left on and refill itself when level goes down. It was designed so you don't need to work with the hose for every tank fill, just the switches over the microwave. Most think it should be left on and with the pump and both are not true....I have come across more Newell owners that don't use it correctly than do.

[encantotom]

hi larry, yea, i am sure it just needs to be cleaned. since i dont full time, i am not sure it is a feature i care much about but it will be on my list to fix at some point. i can easily put it back in.

tom

[lbrachfe]

I was just sayin' and mostly for Bill and others in the post. I know that you would get the water in the tank with whatever means at your disposal Tom......If we make it to the lake I would be happy to clean and reinstall yours and will guarantee my work until we depart. Ha

[qcj]

I don't think I have autofill.  What i do is when I get to a park that I will be staying at for several days I fill the tank using the top hose input.  Then I put the hose up.  I can go for a week with a full tank. When the tank gets low I will fill it up again.  I don't know what autofill looks like.  I do have a hose input on both sides at the top and a hose connection at the lower down if I ever need to just leave the hose connected.  I'v never used the lower connection.

[Dmatz]

When taking my delivery of my coach Newell did not tell me turn the pump off at all. Connect to city water leave pump on it will only run if city pressure is not enough and will pull from tank as needed for additional flow. Turn auto fill on as needed to replenish tank. It has been working according to what they have instructed not sure the valve used or the pressure spec on it. If it's not rated for constant duty on 80psi I could see how it would fail. Never gave any thought to it being stuck open and its effect. I see a valve being added for this event. Good input from ya all!