Born Free Leap'n Lions RV Club Info & Discussion Forum

The water pump is turned on.

I am not connected to the city.

My water reservoir is about 2/3 full.

The water heater is on and I felt the tank it and it is warm.

I do not see any leaks.

If I turn the water on the 'kitchen' sink faucet at a cold temperature setting, no problems.

If I move the faucet handle over to the hot water side, the pump starts to chatter and not much water comes out.

Here is the strange part: If the pump is turned on but the 'kitchen' sink faucet is NOT running, none of the other faucets or shower or toilet will engage the pump at all on any temp setting. Obviously, no water comes out of them.

Does that make sense?

Any clues?

Thanks

Tom,
Double and triple check valves at back of water heater. Valve on vertical line should be closed and valves on horizontal lines should be open, parallel with lines.
Good luck,
Ralph

No changes on the valves but I double checked it and they look fine.

Everything worked a few weeks ago.

It got cold last night but I kept the cabin warm. Maybe a freeze issue?

Could be the hot water line developed some ice and causing back pressure. Or the filter on the hot water line could be clogged.

For some reason, there is a filter only on the hot water line to the kitchen sink. I was getting very low pressure only from the hot water side when I was at the factory last year. They removed the filter and all was well.

John

good info. where on the line is the hot water filter located?

The Austin, TX area didn't get cold enough last night to freeze the interior water pipes. It needs to get down to 20* or below to freeze the interior water pipes. That is assuming it was around 40* or so the late afternoon before. Now if it is 30* all day and gets down to 24-25* the next morning then that is a different story.

Can you connect to city/shore water to be sure all faucets & temps work? If they work, it pretty much comes down to the pump or piping to the water tank.

By the what year/model BF do you have?

I can hook up to my outside faucet. Good idea.

1995 Born Free 24' Rear Side Bed

My bad!! I just checked the NOAA 3 day weather history for Austin Executive Airport and it got to 19* at 7am today. Maybe it did get cold enough to freeze. But keeping the interior warm should have kept the pipes from freezing.

the overnight low here in Pville was 20. The high today will be about 34 and the low overnight will get to about 24.

I kept the interior warmed to about 60F+ all last night.

What about the valves by the water pump? The knobs on the pipes to the drains should be crossways to the pipe and the other knobs should be parallel. On my 2005 RSB there are two drains, one for cold water/water tank and the other for hot water.

Can you take a flashlight and perhaps a mirror and look at the filter assembly on the water inlet to the pump. On my pump the filter assembly is clear and you can see the water shaking around in the filter when the pump is running.

Turning on the kitchen sink faucet and having the pump start running and turning off the faucet stops the pump means the water system is pressurized. When I have had air in my lines, it takes some several seconds for the pump to turn off when I close the kitchen faucet. It is not until I purge all the air from bath, shower and toilet lines does the pump stop almost immediately.

It is very strange that turning on the bath sink or shower faucets doesn't cause the pump to turn on. That means to me those pipes are completely blocked going to the water pump.

Very strange symptoms!

Everything seems ok now. I guess it was partially frozen and thawed out during the day.

Now the generator will not start...but that is another post


Thanks for all the help/advice.

If you have excessive calcium build-up in your water heater (not unexpected in a 95. We have a 99.) there is a possibility that calcium debris is present in your tank. If so, it is entirely possible that when the hot water system is pressurized (turning on the kitchen faucet with the pump on) a flow begins but calcium debris rapidly plug the outlet opening. That would explain why the pump starts running but no water. The other faucets in your rig would be far enough away from the hot water tank that turning those on might not create enough pressure to activate the pump.

Just a thought on my part.

Tom you might want to keep some cabinet doors open when it gets that cold . The furnace does not heat inside any cabinet . You should leave the water heater on to prevent it from freezing up .