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Old 08-18-2014, 10:07 PM   #1
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Rookie Mistake

We just got back from 8 days camping down in Sunriver (just outside of Bend, OR) and had a great trip. One rookie mistake though, that I wanted to share to hopefully save someone else the trouble...

About day two, we opened the drawer under the sink to get to our pots and pans, and we noticed there was about 1/2-1 cup of water in the bottom of the drawer!

We cleaned it up, and immediately pulled the drawers and looked for leaks. We ran the water on hot, cold, warm, on, off, with sprayer hose on vs. full stream etc. and nothing. So we cleaned it up and monitored it for another day. Woke up the next morning and no water. WEIRD!

So the next day, we didn't even use our sink the entire day, but left the A/C running, and when we came back to the trailer that evening, there was again, about 1/3 cup of water in the drawer. WTH? So once again, went through testing the lines, looking for leaks with no visible leak spotted. Then we started worrying that it was condensation dripping down from the A/C unit on the roof since it was the only thing that had ran the entire day. Again cleaned it up, and went to bed. Next morning, again more water. OK so now I'm getting pissed. We happened to be camping down with my in-laws, and he came over to help try and problem solve it. Thats when we realized I'd made the rookie mistake.

We were not on sewer, but did have power & water. So I hooked up our water line, made sure I put on the pressure regulator, but then I went inside and turned the water pump ON. DOH!!!

When my father-in law came over to help trouble shoot, and we were running water, he could hear the water pump working, and he goes, "why is your pump running? We're on water here!" again DOH!

So I must have over pressurized the line, causing I'm guessing an o-ring in the sink to fail and cause a very slow drip. I haven't torn it apart yet as we were out camping, and I didn't want to mess with it, instead waiting to get home and deal with it. Luckily on the last test, I did actually see a drip come down from the hot water line, so that is where I'm looking first.

Fingers crossed it'll be a quick, simple, and cheap fix, and I'll never forget now, NOT to turn on the water pump while hooked up. Stupid rookies
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Old 08-18-2014, 10:31 PM   #2
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Water pump being on shouldn't have caused your problem. Your pump can be on at the same time you are connected to city water. You are only going to get the pressure of the highest out put item being city or pump. You will get more volume but not pressure. I've done it many a time in my 30+ years of RVing with no problem.
You did find a problem as when the pump is on & nothing is turned on & you hear the pump run it means there is a leak. Pump only works when there is a demand. A leak is a demand but not one you want.
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Old 08-18-2014, 10:35 PM   #3
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Water pump being on shouldn't have caused your problem. Your pump can be on at the same time you are connected to city water. You are only going to get the pressure of the highest out put item being city or pump. You will get more volume but not pressure. I've done it many a time in my 30+ years of RVing with no problem.
You did find a problem as when the pump is on & nothing is turned on & you hear the pump run it means there is a leak. Pump only works when there is a demand. A leak is a demand but not one you want.
Sorry, I must have not been clear. We only heard the pump run while we were running the water off the faucet steady, trying to find the leak. It was my assumption that the pressure coming from the park, was being boosted by my water pump as its taking the say 40PSI from the park and boosting/pumping it through my system.

When the faucet was off, the pump would not run/make noise.
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Old 08-18-2014, 10:43 PM   #4
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Don't agree. Neither the outside water or the water pump have enough pressure to "over" pressurize the lines. If you had water in the freshwater tank the pump was just using the freshwater supply to augment the outside water if the pressure dropped. Neither of these water sources should have caused a leak on there own. Something is loose. Keep looking. Mine leaked where the hoses connected to the kitchen sink. The fitting was loose and the O-rings were not seated properly.
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Old 08-18-2014, 10:46 PM   #5
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Don't agree. Neither the outside water or the water pump have enough pressure to "over" pressurize the lines. If you had water in the freshwater tank the pump was just using the freshwater supply to augment the outside water if the pressure dropped. Neither of these water sources should have caused a leak on there own. Something is loose. Keep looking. Mine leaked where the hoses connected to the kitchen sink. The fitting was loose and the O-rings were not seated properly.

Ok good to know. I'll look there first, when I get out to take it all apart. I just assumed it was because of too much pressure. Thank you for the insight.
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Old 08-18-2014, 11:06 PM   #6
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I thought my new water pump was bad, the rv mechanic said it won't run if you're hooked up to a water source. He was right. Although my old camper would...
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Old 08-22-2014, 11:41 PM   #7
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Ok good to know. I'll look there first, when I get out to take it all apart. I just assumed it was because of too much pressure. Thank you for the insight.
While you're under there looking at the plumbing, you might want to check the J pipe. I noticed on mine that both the kitchen and bathroom J pipes were barely secured, (loose). I proceeded to check all the plumbing fittings to make sure they were secured.
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Old 08-23-2014, 07:06 PM   #8
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Check the sink drain (strainer). I had to take mine apart and redo with plumbers putty because of a leak
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